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  • Writer's pictureJaime Leigh

Nice Try, Jane Sinner Review-(Finally I'm Reading Again!)


Hello, hello everyone!

I hope that you all are doing well. Shout out to all of us that are not currently at BEA/BookCon!

I actually read two books in the month of April (I know!). I started writing a wrap up for May, but I realized that I had more thoughts than I initially realized. Therefore, I am writing two reviews rather than one big wrap up. This time around is Nice Try, Jane Sinner by Lianne Oelke. Nice Try, Jane Sinner (NT,JS) was the first of the two books that I picked up this month. If you follow me on Instagram (@Officalsamepage), you will have seen me posting quite a few photos with this book. One, the cover is amazing! Who can pass up bright orange with chalkboard font? Two, NT,JS was one of my most anticipated books of Spring 2018, so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it.

Unfortunately, NT,JS was not nearly as good as I hoped it would be. The concept is very intriguing. As someone who went to a community college, and hasn’t seen many represented in literature, I was interested in the setting. Even though I am not a fan of reality TV, I thought the combination of a community college, a teen girl on a mission for self discovery, and a reality tv show was a recipe for success. Although all the pieces of the puzzle were there, I don’t think they fell into place.

Jane is an interesting protagonist. She has created a bullet proof, no BS exterior to hide behind after an incident in high school altered her perceptions of life. As a unlikable narrator, Jane grows on the reader within chapters. Hilarity ensues when Jane moves into House of Orange, a melting pot of personalities drastically different than her own. The interaction between Jane and her fellow HOO contestants is definitely a highlight of the narrative overall. HOO itself is just as interesting as its contestants themselves. If NT,JS was solely focused on HOO, it might have had less pieces to put together, which may have allowed the pieces to fit together better they they ultimately did.

My major problems didn’t have much to do with the HOO storyline. Rather, I had the biggest problem with the religious tones of NT,JS. After living with a stereotypical Christian family and best friend, Jane struggles with her faith a lot once she removes herself from her religious roots. As someone who is religious, I actually didn’t have a problem with Jane questioning her faith. I believe that questioning is a key part of faith and that it is something that happens a lot when young adults are exposed to a world outside of their family. My problem was that Jane never made any conclusions concerning her faith. By the end, she hadn’t chosen to be religious or not, or to even continue questioning. Her questioning felt unresolved, incomplete and irritating. I would have appreciated this aspect of the story to be wrapped up in some way by the end, no matter what the outcome. To me, being left hanging was the most irritating part of Jane’s journey. I am also not sure that the side plot of Jane's faith meshed well with the other aspects of the novel. It was interesting, don't get me wrong, but I feel like the tone was different than the rest of NT,JS. The religious aspects of NT,JS could have been an entirely separate book, which might have been better.

Second, I felt the structure of Jane’s story, at least until the “big reveal”, was very gimmicky. Jane’s family and friends would mention the before and the after so often, working it into conversation every 20 pages or so, it felt like I was being led on until Jane finally let us in on her secret. I might have had less of a problem with this if little hints were given along the way. We know something happened, something life changing, and severe enough to send Jane to the hospital and to a therapist. Beyond that, the intrigue becomes stale until Jane’s big reveal, which is written in a way that is abrupt and disorienting (which may, in part, be due to the journal format of NT,JS). After Jane’s reveal, it felt like her mental health was used only when advantageous. She brings up her story to convince the dean to let her back into school. Other people around her use it to get what they want. It felt less like a part of Jane that she was working through and more like a pawn she was waiting to use at the most advantageous moment in order to get what she wanted.

Slight spoilers ahead so watch out!

The way that Jane’s suicide attempt and failing mental health was used to attack her by those on HOO rubbed me the wrong way. It is never okay for someone to use your mental health, or your private musings against you as blackmail or bate. I understand the logistics of what the HOO members were trying to do with her information. However, I still found their actions pretty despicable. I wish that NT,JS would have made it painfully clear that such actions were not okay in any circumstances and allowed Alexander to be punished for his actions.

Overall, Nice Try, Jane Sinner wasn’t the book for me. While it was mildly entertaining, I had several major problems with the story and mental health representation. Although NT,JS isn’t toted as a “mental health” book, it does include mental health representation. However, I feel like NT,JS is a good example of mental health functioning as a plot development strategy and less of a story centered around the holistic representation of the life of someone suffering from mental illness. With that said, just because I didn’t think it was good mental health rep doesn’t invalidate someone else’s experience with the novel.

Rating:

2 stars out of 5

60% out of 100%

-Jaime


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