Plain Jane

by Joan Barfoot

Barfoot, Joan

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Joan Barfoot is an award-winning novelist whose work has been compared internationally with that of Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Margaret Drabble and Margaret Atwood. Her novels include Luck in 2005, nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as Abra, which won the Books in Canada first novels award, Dancing in the Dark, which became an award-winning Canadian entry in the Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals, Duet for Three, Family News, Plain Jane, Charlotte and Claudia Keeping in Touch, Some Things About Flying, and Getting Over Edgar. Her 2001 novel, Critical Injuries, was longlisted for the 2002 Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the 2001 Trillium Book Award. In 1992 she was given the Marian Engel Award. Also a journalist during much of her career, she lives in London, Ontario, Canada.

Reviews

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alas, I was waiting for something to finally happen in twenty-eight year old Jane's life, even at the end of the book. But it all seemed to be happening inside her head.
A good primer on the travails of living alone with a vibrant imagination for company, and a commentary on how self image is so important to our functioning in society, even pre-social media. I wondered, as I laid this book down (it is a quick read), whether Jane's life would have been easier if she had been twenty-eight when online dating went prime time, and whether the author would have had to write another novel if she were writing it now.

[Anna Dowdall · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of a few Joan Barfoot books I haven't read. It's pretty hard to categorize. It's part wry cautionary tale and part even more wry romantic suspense, and all page turner. Jane drives you crazy as she waits for the penitentiary to disgorge her demon lover, with whom she's started an ill-advised pen friendship, and yet...Jane, c'est nous. Its themes include violence against women, the barriers between women, the everydayness of danger in women's lives, the hope, the folly, the pain of love.

[Carol Balawyder · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a criminologist who worked with prisoners in halfway homes, I was very much interested in how this novel would unfold. Through letters between Jane and Brian (a man about to be released from prison) a romantic type of relationship develops. The focus is on Jane and her life working in a library. With an unsatisfactory relationship with her mother and the few friends she has, Jane is seeking adventure in what has been in her twenty-eight years a rather plain and dull life. As Jane learns of the crime Brian has committed, she finds herself justifying it so as to save her fantasy about a life with him.
Much of the novel takes us inside Jane’s head (which I love) and the ambiguity she has about meeting Brian once he is released from prison. There is something universal about Jane in that we all, at one point, fantasize about a better life for ourselves. She is a character with a good heart but also one driven by loneliness and boredom and a sense of duty as she struggles to find “a line of thought that makes good sense.”
Moreover, the novel’s strength is in the author’s ability to keep the tension high from beginning to end, her excellent writing skills and how she engages the reader: “But she was strict with the cabbie, wasn’t she?”
This is my second Joan Barfoot novel and I was pleased to learn that she has written a whole lot more.

[Erin Moxam · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, I loved Jane and her plain, boring life and her wild imagination. I love how on one little whim, everything changes for her, first in her mind and then in her actual life. I've read a few books by Joan Barfoot now and enjoyed them all. She's an excellent writer and I highly recommend her.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled to be interested enough to want to read the book. Although the detail around Jane was drawn out I still found her a sketch of a character, perhaps a product of her insecurity, and only half a person - did she need Anna? A tongue in cheek play on Romance, but in the end not enough to make me want to read more.

[Julie Seidel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this a very, very light read and it seemed to take a long time for anything of substance to occur. Jane I found to be tedious and frothy,naive and quite silly. The premise is promising but doesn’t deliver on any level

[Elena Kaufman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this a while ago but it has stayed with me - the quiet inner life of the protagonist and the churning thoughts and plans inside her. Excellent read.

[Stef Rozitis · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's possible there was some nuanced thing going on that I didn't get (#autism) but it seemed like a mean-minded book

[Kate Littlejohn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book promised so much more, but sadly it didn’t deliver. There was quite a sad element to how Jane thought & lived her life, but even with empathy, she wasn’t very likable.

[Janet Coates · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book - some of it was quite hilarious but much of it made me wince for Jane - a bit of Jane resides in all of us - maybe more than we'd like to admit. The impending "meeting" kept me closely engaged - but in the midst of Jane's struggle I found myself struggling to stick with her to the end. Another good read from one of my favourite authors!

[Jennifer]

an easy read

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently it is very common for women to marry convicts, and this novel tells the story of plain Jane, a fictional library clerk, who dreams of romance with a convict. Jane is very shy & introverted, but she has big plans.