Reading Jane
A Daughter's Memoir
by Susannah Kennedy
Pub Date 05 Sep 2023 | Archive Date 04 Sep 2023
Sibylline Press
Biographies & Memoirs| Nonfiction \(Adult\)| Parenting & Families
Netgalley and Sibylline Press have provided me with a copy of Reading Jane for review:
Initially, I want to say that this was a very impactful book, because it dealt with a very difficult subject, suicide, and reminded me how suicide affects those who are left behind.
In the world's eyes, Jane is an opinionated, inner-city teacher and public activist, a lover of Italy, proud and successful, whose life narrative is carefully constructed. Susannah is her beautiful only child, her intended protege.
Susannah's childhood is chronicled by Jane once a day. During those magnetic twosome years, "Mommy, can I read your diaries?" was a common question. After saying "Some day," Jane changes it to "When you're the age I was when I wrote them," then "Maybe," then "No, probably not."
The diaries recede. Susannah grows up. Jane, who is 75 years old and fit, decides to commit suicide, insisting it will be better for everyone this way. That controlling assessment is wrong from the moment Susannah hears the news and has to identify the body.
She actively resists reading the 45 years of diaries her mother left behind in order to resist the control imposed by her mother's seductive tale. It's like unlatching Pandora's Box when she finally begins to "read" Jane.
For a year, Susannah reads, comparing what she remembers with the strange pull of her mother's public tale. Each memory encased in her body is accompanied by physical symptoms. Then she uncovers yet another secret, one that forever changes her mother.
In the end, Susannah is able to separate, heal, and embrace her own story.
I give Reading Jane five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
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