Allison--The Thing About Jane Spring

The Thing About Jane Spring                                                                                                                                    

                  The Thing About Jane Spring, written by Sharon Krum, is most definitely one of the best romantic comedy novels I have ever read. Imagine a sexy, beautiful, brilliant thirty-one year old blonde living in Manhattan employed as an assistant district attorney. Now add a militaristic, serious, domineering hellion attitude to your vision of Jane Spring.                                                                              Not having her mother as a role model, Jane Spring grew up with a West Point general for a father and successful older brothers which she realizes influenced her into not being feminine enough to please men in relationships. Her  topics during dinner dates (assault weapons ban. Time to repeat?, Presidents new tax plan, good or bad?, Decline in public morality) and her bloody steak orders had the men running away without looking back. After overhearing her colleagues opinions about how they would love to be with her, if she was not so terrifying, Jane decides that she must change dramatically. Watching Doris Day marathons, and being envious of how Doris Day always got the man she wanted, Jane takes excessive measures to become just like the quintessential all-American woman. Losing the pantsuits, and replacing it with pencil skirts, along with dyeing her hair, painting her nails, using makeup, softening her voice and even adding vibrant furnishings to her apartment, Jane becomes exactly who you want to date or who you want to be. Men line up for Jane, dates last the whole night, and she gained some self confidence she didn't realize she lacked.  But like most self-fulfilling novels, Jane realizes during a relationship that she cannot always pretend to be someone else. Her ideal man was not someone who would want ditsy, dependent, lovely Jane Spring; no, he would have wanted strong, independent, lovely Jane Spring.  She kept the things she enjoyed from the Doris Day experience and but ultimately reverted to the fierce lioness in and out of the court room. And, of course, at the end of the novel there was a handsome, loving man wanting her exactly for who she was .

The well-written novel  will retain the attention of the reader throughout the whole book. It is three hundred and seventeen pages long and the speaker of the book is in third person perspective.  The book has plentiful dialogue to show how bitter sweet Jane Spring can be and has a great use of imagery for the speaker to visualize the changes. Also, most of the novel takes place during the last months of the year, especially snowy December which makes it even more delightful to read during this time.

The struggle Jane Spring experiences with herself is a common struggle for a majority of people, which is that we consistently would like to become better. Whatever you consider better is, the story points out how it is important to not pretend to be a different person. As Jane Spring said, "You need to do this for yourself" and it is this central message that makes the novel  valuable.