Retellings of classics are generally hit or miss for me. I haven’t figured out the sweet spot for me, because sometimes I like very faithful retellings and sometimes I like retellings that veer far from the original. I’ve recently read a few retellings and they’ve been all over the map. 

Interestingly, when compiling these mini-reviews, I started looking at Goodreads lists of retellings and it struck me how limited the spectrum of retellings really are. There are loads of Jane Eyres (um… and quite a few naughty versions) and a number of Jane Austens, but really, there’s not a broad range. I don’t know if I’d like to see more retellings, but if it’s something that’s going to continue as a trend, I’d love to see adaptations take on a broader swath of source materials.

Jane by April Lindner

{Original: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte}

And he left me to dreams that were anything but sweet.

 

I likely would never have read April Lindner’s adaptation of Jane Eyre if if hadn’t been for Angie’s enthusiasm for it. This is a very modern version of the source material (Rochester is an aging rockstar name Nico), but it’s also extremely faithful to the original story. The relationship between Nico and Jane should have really bothered me because it, like in the original, is not particularly functional. However, also like in Jane Eyre, the story is creepy and atmospheric. I do wish that Nico/Rochester’s Big Secret had been modernized to the extent that the other elements of the story were, because it did read as quite implausible. 

{Amazon | Goodreads}