ningerbil (ningerbil) wrote in 50bookchallenge,
ningerbil
ningerbil
50bookchallenge

Book 13- Texts from Jane Eyre

13. Texts from Jane Eyre, by Mallory Ortberg. The concept of this book is interesting: Literary characters (and even a couple authors) text each other. Of course we see texts from Jane to Rochester, but fictional texters include Medea, Scarlett O'Hara, Nancy Drew, Pride and Predjudice, Edgar Allen Poe, and characters from the Babysitters Club. The funniest were the ones from Medea, The Great Gatsby and Nancy Drew. Many of the text were pretty amusing but a problem with this book is that if you are not familiar with the original source material, you probably aren't going to get the jokes. I know there were a couple that went over my head. That's problem one. Problem two is that the source material that inspired the text exchanges run from classical to gradeschool serial. Nancy Drew is one thing, she's fairly universal. But unless the reader is/was a hardcore Babysitters Club or Sweet Valley High, you probably aren't going to get the humor there (I remember reading those books eons ago, but only perhaps three or four from each series). Also, current readers of these books probably aren't going to be steeped in the classics. I think this book either needed to go all contemporary or all classics, and pick an audience. Also, while whom was texting whom could usually be gleaned from the context, sometimes it was tough- having names would have helped. Indeed, the made-up handles the fictional characters created could have been its own source for hilarity.

Currently reading: The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan, The Romanov Sisters, by Helen Rappaport, and Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson.
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