Book Review: We, Jane by Aimee Wall
“She had walked into the room and immediately realized they were going to do icebreakers and activities, and she felt the urge to flee.”
We, Jane is a quiet novel. So quiet, in fact, that one might be tempted to overlook it. That would be a mistake. This debut novel from author Aimee Wall elegantly captures what it means to have purpose, what it means to belong.
Marthe, a woman in her early thirties and originally from Newfoundland, lives in Montreal and works as a waitress. She also makes a choice that shapes her future in subtle and unexpected ways. Isn’t that the way of things? An event occurs and we are forever changed by it, though the shift be slow—imperceptible, even—until we can look back, look outside of ourselves, and connect the dots. This is the gentle brilliance of Wall’s writing: it reflects the quiet movements of an individual’s ever-changing, ever-unfolding life.
Enter Ruth, a.k.a Jane, and Trish, also Jane, and Therese—all of them, Jane. A sisterhood modelled on the Abortion Counselling Services of Women’s Liberation (a.k.a The Jane Collective) which operated in Chicago during the 1960’s. Marthe follows Jane back to Newfoundland where she agrees to learn and carry on the collective’s necessary work. Together, they minister and care for the needs of women in rural Newfoundland. Women working with women. Women caring for women. Here, Marthe finds purpose and hope.
Wall’s characterization of Marthe is masterful, as is her use of interiority. I loved this character! Marthe vibrates with a longing for all that could be. As a reader, I couldn’t help but recognize that same longing within myself—the desire for belonging, for purpose, for something… more.
Likewise, Marthe’s love/hate relationship with her home province is painfully familiar and relatable. Whether readers hail from the East coast or grew up attending 4-H clubs in small-town Alberta, Wall’s description of rural life will resonate. From the regulars at the local bar (you know the ones… those guys you went to high school with, those big talkers who never actually left) to the lady next door who gossips while cradling a casserole wrapped in tinfoil against her hip, rural living is rural living. When Marthe returns to Newfoundland, she is forced to reconcile what has changed with what has stayed the same—both at home and within herself. If We, Jane is a love letter to Newfoundland, it’s the kind you might shove through the slats of a high school locker: awkward and ambiguous in its affection, fumbling over curly-cued lettering and heart-dotted “i’s” in search of the right words to say “be mine” or, just as easily, “let’s be friends.” If Marthe was on Facebook, which she most certainly is despite her ardent claims of being above social media culture, her relationship status with Newfoundland would read “it’s complicated.” Here, Wall expertly captures what it’s like to break free of one’s past, of one’s choices, and yet remain tied to it.
Wall’s prose punches you in the gut with a double dose of reality. Nothing in the novel gets sugar coated, yet it simmers with unabashed hope. We, Jane is a quiet gem of a book and Wall is a terrific writer with a distinctive style and voice. Well worth the read!
Many thanks to Book*hug Press for sending me this book to read and review!
You can learn more about the author, Aimee Wall on her website at: http://www.aimeewall.com
We, Jane by Aimee Wall Book*hug Press, 2021, 199 p.p. ISBN: 978-1-77166-670-1