Well, it took me a while to finish CROSSING JORDAN, even though it’s not a very long book. I was mostly just busy, but I think that although I was way into it, the subject matter was a bit touchy, so it was hard to keep going in case something bad happened. I won’t say if it did or not, but I will say I really, really liked this book. I have two other books by Fogelin here to read and I’m looking forward to them based on how much I liked this book.
The characters were extremely strong and well-developed and the main character’s voice was great. I think everyone behaved within their characters, which might not make sense unless you’ve read the book, but it was important in a book like this.
The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the author’s use of Jane Eyre. She wove the plot points of the book throughout her book, and she did a fantastic job of it, but she completely spoiled Jane Eyre for anyone who hasn’t read it. And yes, I have read it, so not for me, but how many of her readers have read it? Probably not a lot of them. One could argue that by the time they get around to it, CROSSING JORDAN will be a faint memory at best and they won’t even remember having heard the story before, but I don’t believe it. I truly believe that if I’d read this book at age 12 or 13 and then picked up Jane Eyre when I was 18 or so, I would still remember how it went. I might be wrong, but I do think that’s true. On the other hand, some people (my husband) could read CJ today and pick up JE next year and not remember it! Still, I am vehemently opposed to authors spoiling the plots of other books in their own.
Anyway, despite that, I found the book extremely engaging and I really liked it a lot. I just suggest that if you haven’t read JE, and you think you might, you read it first.
Read well,
Joelle
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