Young Jane Young: A Novel

Do you ever wonder what happens to notorious people after their Warholian "15 minutes of fame" are up? If they're smart, I guess, they blend back into the obscurity from which they came. In her book, "Young Jane Young", novelist Gabrielle Zevin looks at a composite Monica Lewinsky/Chandra Levy young woman who becomes famous after being exposed for having had an affair with a married US congressman right before the attacks of 9/11. To escape her notoriety, Aviva Grossman of south Florida, flees to rural Maine and becomes Jane Young. The disguise and life makeover is successful until she is exposed while running for political office herself. It is then that the secrets come piling out...Do you remember the summer of 2001? That innocent time in American society where CNN and the newspapers were full of "where is Chandra Levy"? Levy was the young Jewish woman from Modesto, California, who had moved to DC after college and became an intern in the office of her congressman, Gary Condit. Levy and Condit began an affair and Levy's disappearance after running in Rock Creek Park became tabloid and CNN fodder til 9/11 knocked it out of the news. Chandra Levy's body was found about a year later and the presumption was that she had not been killed by her creepy married lover. In Ziven's book, the Chandra Levy character is conflated with Monica Lewinsky and the result is Aviva Grossman/Jane Young."Young Jane Young" is a wonderful character study of both Aviva/Jane, but also the peripheral people in both parts of her life; before and after. Most of the women, including her mother and grandmother, her young daughter, her mentor in Maine, and the wronged-wife of the congressman are brought alive through Zevin's skillful writing. The men are less vividly drawn and tend to be somewhat caricatures; the cheating father, the lecherous congressman, and Jane's opponent in her mayoral race. The only part I didn't particularly like was the blog, but it seemed to be the best way to advance the plot. Gabrielle Zevin's book is a fun read about interesting people, who I was left wanting to know more about at book's end.(By the way, my 5 star review can be balanced by some of the 3 star reviews. In particular, the review by "Sarah's Book Shelves", who raises many excellent points about the book's second half.)

I loved this novel, minor faults and all. It's an amusing and fast read, as others noted, but its lightness belies some weightier themes about choices and responsibility and relationships. It goes down easy, but sticks with you. Zevin has a distinctive style and voice -- witty, charming and wry -- and couches some sharp insights about life in a way that surprises and delights. At the same time, I thought she succeeded in giving each of her narrators a distinctive voice of their own, although all shared some clear attributes of the author herself -- intelligence, insight, humor, empathy and self-reflection. Who wouldn't like these women or want to hang with them?A number of reviews cited the two distinct "halves" of the book, and particularly the last section with its life "options," but I thought the entire book had a coherence, with each section building on the one before in a clever way. You learn about these characters in "layers," with each adding their distinct perspective to the whole. And the penultimate is Aviva herself, who uses the neat trick of presenting and crossing out options to vividly illustrate how (if not always why) she repeatedly opted for the seemingly worst choice available to her at each juncture in her life as a college student and intern. I imagine many of us could make similar lists of actions we might have taken but didn't, for better or worse. And of course she's right in saying the "safe" choice every time would make for a boring story (if perhaps not a boring life)! In a book that focuses heavily on women's choices, this device worked really well.As for the minor flaws, I do agree the male characters were almost all ciphers and somewhat cliched. They were there really just for the women to react to and against, and in the aggregate, displayed all of the worst (if stereotypical) qualities of the generic male: selfishness, infidelity, sexual aggression, insincerity. One story thread I did find inconsistent was Jane's decision to withhold her mother from Ruby (and herself) -- denying her daughter not only a dad, but a grandmother. This seemed inconsistent with how Jane/Aviva had evolved, and how Rachel herself might have behaved (doing everything she could to find them and work herself back into their lives).Overall though, this was a lovely read, as was AJ Fikrey, and I look forward to reading whatever Zevin does next.

An excellent book that I could write a lengthy review about but let me just condense it to this very basic question: How great would it be to see a super handsome, powerful man who is living the "American Dream" of a life in the spotlight have an affair with a beautiful young "nobody" and when the affair becomes public have the super handsome, powerful man who is living his life in the spotlight have his life ruined while the young "nobody" goes about life unscathed (meaning she's not stuck with a "label" such as slut and the ones that are even lower than that and that she doesn't hear whispers as she walks through a room that sound something like, "that's HER!") and even better have the child that is the result of this lopsided union be unaffected by the whole thing and grow up completely self-confident? If only! Now run out and buy this book by Gabrielle Zevin. It is awesome even if the fairytale of a question that I posed does not completely come true.

This is one of those books that's hugely enjoyable to read. It's funny, well observed and has a good range of really likeable characters. Unlike most books, where I'm racing along to the end, I didn't want it to finish as I was enjoying the experience of reading it.The story wasn't as I expected from the blurb. The story starts with a scandal - a senator caught having a relationship with an intern. After being castigated on the internet, said intern is forced to flee across the country and change her name in order to have a chance at a normal life. The scandal part of the story gets much less page time than I'd expected - whilst it is the event that sets up all the others, the novel is much more about the women living with its aftermath many years later.It is divided into sections narrated by different characters - 'Jane Young' the grown-up former intern, her mother, her teenage daughter, the wife of the straying senator, and the young intern herself. That section is particularly interesting, being written in the style of a 'choose your own adventure' novel (although the reader doesn't get to choose). All of these woman are interesting, believable and likeable.My only frustration is that the plot tails off leaving some key questions unanswered. I really liked the characters and wanted to know better what happened to them and how things turned out. It was a shame when I'd liked the book so much that I felt the ending was a bit of a let down.If you enjoy books that are humorous, well written and fun to read then I'd recommend 'Young Jane Young'.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book.The characters were likeable and the story was thoughtful and emotionally intelligent.It raises the issues and terrible impact that social media and society judgements can have on a life, and yet remains upbeat, when strength of character and kindness to others wins through.

It's nowhere near the excellence that was A.J.Fickery. The pace changed mid way when the story was told from Ruby's view point. From then on there were gaps in the narrative & it felt slack. The ending was too quick & unsatisfactory.

This characters are a bit two dimensional. I didn't feel any empathy with any of them. Good idea for a story but less than riveting.

Absolutely fantastic book. I loved every well chosen word of it. I only wish there was more of it. I'd love to know what happened next.