William Lavender

Just Jane is probably the only memorable American Revolution story I've read. It manages to bring the time period out of the ridiculously boring stereotype that most people associate it with. Jane's character is interesting and fresh, as is her lifestyle and situation during the war.

However, even with those positives, the story comes down to Lavender's writing. I can't stand the way he writes women characters. Here is an author that truly cannot write the opposite sex. His male characters outshine the female ones by far. Jane is constantly "walking away without a word", "turning away before they could speak", and "leaving everyone speechless" by leaving. I caught at least four of these repetitive sentences throughout the book, and was extremely annoyed. I can't stand when an author repeats something throughout a book to the point that it is noticeable. There are plenty of words in the dictionary, so use them.

Jane is a fickle, very annoying character. She is portrayed as a calm, wise, kind, composed, mature english girl shoved into new circumstances with her family and the war. But her character was so poorly written that none of the things Lavender wanted her to be were true at all. Although I love this book, Jane is one of my least favorite main characters.

Basically, William Lavender's lack of ability to write a female character decreased the book from amazing to simply good.… (plus d'informations)

Think of any book you’ve read by Ann Rinaldi written about the American Revolution. Double the number of people who are wounded, die or go insane. You’ve got [Just Jane].

[Just Jane] is a YA novel written about the life of British native, Lady Jane Prentice, newly arrived in the colony of South Carolina on the eve of the American Revolution. Torn between the loyalist side of the family and the “rebels” (who also happen to be within the family), Jane must decide which side is right and realizes the answer to that question isn’t always very clear.

While well-written, Just Jane was just plain. Although admittedly unfair to Lavender, in my opinion, he tackled a subject and time period already well covered in YA literature, and others have done it better. There was so much inter-family strife, and the rather uncharacteristic addition of the issue of slavery, that I occasionally lost the thread and thought we were talking about the Civil War.

In the end, although enjoyable, there are better books available on very similar themes.… (plus d'informations)