Cambridge, England, 1905. Jane Porter is hardly a typical woman of her time. The only female student in Cambridge University’s medical program, she is far more comfortable in a lab coat dissecting corpses than she is in a corset and gown sipping afternoon tea. A budding paleoanthropologist, Jane dreams of traveling the globe in search of fossils that will prove the evolutionary theories of her scientific hero, Charles Darwin.
When dashing American explorer Ral Conrath invites Jane and her father to join an expedition deep into West Africa, she can hardly believe her luck. Africa is every bit as exotic and fascinating as she has always imagined, but Jane quickly learns that the lush jungle is full of secrets—and so is Ral Conrath. When danger strikes, Jane finds her hero, the key to humanity’s past, and an all-consuming love in one extraordinary man: Tarzan of the Apes.
Jane is the first version of the Tarzan story written by a woman and authorized by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate. Its publication marks the centennial of the original Tarzan of the Apes.
Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan
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Review
“Not only is it wildly entertaining and more swoon-worthy and tastefully erotic than Fifty Shades of Grey or any of its knock-offs, but also, Jane has heart and soul. If you are looking for a stellar historical romance and adventure story, Jane should definitely sit on your bookshelf. It has charming and fascinating characters and sociopath villains who scare the living daylights out of you. Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan has positively reinvented the beloved couple for the modern age.”
—The Huffington Post
“Jane is a triumph! A triumph of imagination, adventure, and character. Here we have the true ‘missing link’ that we've always wanted—Jane's side of the story.”
—Margaret George, New York Times bestselling author of Elizabeth I
“Finally an honest portrayal of the only woman of whom I have been really, really jealous. What a wonderful idea to write this book. Now I am jealous all over again!”
—Jane Goodall PhD, DBE, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute, UN Messenger of Peace
“With riveting action and suspense, earthy humor, a piquant look at the debate over evolution, and the love between heroic, resourceful, and tender Tarzan and smart, strong, and passionate Jane, this is lush and satisfying entertainment.”
—Booklist, starred review
“Excitement, danger, labyrinths, pyramids, treasure, and volcanoes abound, as Jane and Tarzan learn to trust and love each other.”
—Library Journal
“Jane Goodall and Isak Dinesen would be right at home with Miss Jane Porter. A respectful, exciting and disarming update of one of the last century's most oft-told tales.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Authentic and compelling, Jane was a book I couldn't put down. Robin Maxwell's talented storytelling ability brought these fabulous characters to life for me. Don't miss this unique and thoroughly enjoyable book!”
—Brenda Novak, New York Times bestselling author of In Close
“My Dad, John Coleman Burroughs, and my Grandad, Edgar Rice Burroughs, would often discuss Tarzan's relation to Jane. `Now there is an idea for a good book....one that really brings Jane into focus,' Grandad would say. Robin Maxwell's book does this brilliantly. Not only do Tarzan and Jane transform into a living, breathing couple who bring the Tarzan saga to new life, but the thrills and adventure leap off the page in the grand tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs himself.”
—John R. Burroughs, Grandson of Edgar Rice Burroughs
About the Author
ROBIN MAXWELL is the national bestselling author of eight historical fiction novels featuring powerful women, including Signora da Vinci and the award-winning Secret Diary of Anne Boleyn, now in its twenty-fourth printing. She lives in the high desert of California with her husband, yogi Max Thomas.
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More About the Author
Bestselling author and screenwriter Robin Maxwell often wonders how growing up a suburban New Jersey girl, an education at Tufts University as an occupational therapist, stints as a music business secretary, parrot tamer, casting director, dozens of Hollywood script development deals and marriage to yoga master Max Thomas prepared her for a career in writing. After fifteen years and eight novels of historical fiction, she has jumped genres with the publication of "JANE: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan" The first Tarzan classic in a century written by a woman and told through the eyes of the ape-man's beloved Jane Porter, JANE is enthusiastically supported and authorized by the estate of Edgar Rice Burroughs.
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59 of 72 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I honestly expected to love this book. I had read and loved ERB's Tarzan books, I had read and loved most of the pastiches, and the premise sounded absolutely brilliant: Tarzan's story from Jane's point of view. The cover illustration was magnificent! How could it possibly fail to be great? But as I read my way through it, my discomfort grew until it transformed itself into horror. Robin Maxwell hadn't gotten a few things wrong.
She'd gotten EVERYTHING wrong.
Let's start with the frame story, a perfectly acceptable storytelling device, often used by ERB himself, in order to increase the sense of realism. But it places limitations the author needs to be aware of. In this case as other reviewers have noted, the idea that a woman would confess a story containing intimate sexual details about herself to a male total stranger would be hard to believe in 2012. In 1912 the idea is laughable.
Second, while it was an intriguing idea to have Jane tell her story to ERB himself, why was it necessary to portray ERB as so utterly seduced by her beauty, to the point that he is making disparaging comparisons between Jane and his own real life wife, the mother of his children? Why did we have to know she was the sort of woman he frequently fantasized about but heretofore believed existed only in his imagination? Why did he have to be portrayed as inviting her back to an apartment that his wife and children are conveniently absent from? As behaving like the world's clumsiest philanderer? I assume it was intended to be funny, but it just made me uncomfortable.
Third, other than as the necessary gimmick to introduce Jane to ERB, why was Jane giving controversial presentations to skeptical audiences with most of her evidence tied behind her back? Readers are presumably supposed to blame the skepticism on sexism, but in truth it is Jane's fault for not presenting her strongest evidence. Of course one could make a very good argument for withholding said evidence: the personal privacy of the one who must give it, but if she has so decided, why endure the inevitable ridicule of someone merely going through the motions? I actually suspected it would turn out to be a deliberate attempt to further obscure the truth, but, no, it turned out to be a case of Jane (and the author) not bothering to think it through.
Fourth, though it represents a change from the original, there was a certain logic to portraying Jane and her father as atheists, given their professions in this version, but why was it necessary to portray them as such obnoxious atheists? There is one very ugly scene that doesn't advance the plot in any way in which Jane and father while away the voyage to Africa by cruelly baiting a missionary couple that has the misfortune of sharing the ship with them. Their only perceivable motives appear to be anti-Christian bigotry and perhaps embarrassed envy at the realization that these people are taking far greater risks for far less selfish reasons than our "heroes" are. To my mind it would have made a lot more sense to have the villain doing this with Jane and her father embarrassed and shamed by it, but perhaps the author was trying to convey her own views on the topic.
Fifth, while there was merit in trying to work the Congolese Holocaust into the plot, especially in light of how much it has been forgotten today (see King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa for the history), it would have been better if the author could have come up with an evil plot that made more sense. Essentially the villain's evil plot is to survey a railroad to the sea through French territory that will enable King Leopold's brutes to more efficiently loot the Congo Free State,...
a railroad that already existed on Congo Free State territory bypassing 300 miles of unnavigable river at the mouth of the Congo. Not that another railroad wouldn't have been profitable for trade purposes; the French eventually built one there precisely for that reason after the Congo Free State was taken away from Leopold and made into a "normal" European colony, but as the basis of an evil plot it is kind of pathetic. Nobody successfully gets away with "sneaking" a railroad through someone else's territory, at least not through the territory of someone who is able to defend it, which the French certainly were, against Leopold's mercenaries.
Sixth, for some reason Ms. Maxwell felt it necessary to fill Jane's head with all sorts of ideas that merely made her look silly as opposed to perfectly reasonable desires for women's equality and concerns for oppressed peoples, ideas like opposition to the rich having servants (We're not talking slaves here; we're talking people who might very well have starved if Jane had her way), almost proudly regarding cruelty to animals as worse than cruelty to humans (kind of diminishes that whole concern for oppressed peoples bit), and extreme guilt over her privileged and wealthy status (not enough guilt to give up the money of course but enough to provoke condemnation of those of her class less inclined to self-loathing.)
Seventh, one of the tropes of "raised by animals" "noble savage" fiction like Tarzan (and Mowgli for that matter) is that the result would be almost superhuman physical development, strength, and abilities, even in comparison to native human tribesmen growing up in the same place. This is debatable of course, but it it makes a lot more sense than having Jane develop similar physical abilities under Tarzan's tutelage in a matter of WEEKS. Among similar changes, while having Jane be the one to teach Tarzan to read makes MUCH more sense than ERB's Rube Goldberg version that had Tarzan all but inventing language itself, having Jane be the one to teach Tarzan archery because he was apparently too stupid to pick it up from observing the Waziri he'd taken the bow and arrows from in the first place was, again, laughable.
Eighth, though by now I saw it coming, nevertheless I was still reduced to gales of laughter by the Female Chauvinist Theory of Evolution on display in the Mangani/Missing Link tribe, where all evolutionary advances come from the females, except for the male discovery of tool use...
for the purpose of bashing in skulls and making it easier to rape the females, of course. Ironically, a certain amount of this could have been justified as a reaction to history; the early (almost exclusively male) evolutionists were some of the most virulent sexists (and racists) you'd never want to meet. Perfectly understandable if you think about it, European Man couldn't derive much support for assumptions of his superiority from that annoying old Bible, but Evolution offered him what looked like scientific proof, which was a long time dying out.
But finally, the worst thing Robin Maxwell did to our man's man of an old-fashioned hero was to turn him into a sensitive, vulnerable, delicate creature in need of a lot of hugs. Jane takes the death of her father ON THIS EXPEDITION as reported to her by Tarzan a lot more "like a man" than Tarzan takes the death of his parents SIXTEEN YEARS before as revealed by their diary Jane reads to him. A certain toning down of the "strong, silent type" was merely to be expected, but turning Tarzan into a whiny (if one can whine silently, and based on this, methinks one can) emotional basket case, no matter how justified by the modern wizards of our wounded psyches, just makes him into someone I don't really want to read about. Nor can you attribute this to my being a knuckle dragging male chauvinist pig; I review ROMANCE NOVELS for crying out loud! (I don't admit to READING them yet, but that's another issue.) This reaches its apotheosis at the end of Jane's narrative. Those familiar with ERB's books know that one of the somewhat overused plot devices is to separate Jane from Tarzan and see what happens. Though much more a woman of her time than Maxwell's Jane, ERB's Jane is no pathetic princess helplessly in need of rescuing, she does what she can in the given situation, and anyway she'd have to be remarkably tough just to survive what ERB throws at her with her sanity intact. ERB's Tarzan on the other hand is a force of nature that will allow NOTHING to separate him from her, except a misunderstanding about who she's really in love with. In short you did not want to be a member of the army, however large, standing between ERB's Tarzan and Jane. Ms. Maxwell's Tarzan, after getting some idea of the sort of life he might face in Jane's world,...
bails on her like a lazy boyfriend ordered to go out and get a job.
Of course the ending frame story clears a lot of this up and threatens us with a sequel ("The Horror! The Horror!") to explain how we got here, but I won't be reading it if it ever comes out.
I don't recommend reading this book either.
She'd gotten EVERYTHING wrong.
Let's start with the frame story, a perfectly acceptable storytelling device, often used by ERB himself, in order to increase the sense of realism. But it places limitations the author needs to be aware of. In this case as other reviewers have noted, the idea that a woman would confess a story containing intimate sexual details about herself to a male total stranger would be hard to believe in 2012. In 1912 the idea is laughable.
Second, while it was an intriguing idea to have Jane tell her story to ERB himself, why was it necessary to portray ERB as so utterly seduced by her beauty, to the point that he is making disparaging comparisons between Jane and his own real life wife, the mother of his children? Why did we have to know she was the sort of woman he frequently fantasized about but heretofore believed existed only in his imagination? Why did he have to be portrayed as inviting her back to an apartment that his wife and children are conveniently absent from? As behaving like the world's clumsiest philanderer? I assume it was intended to be funny, but it just made me uncomfortable.
Third, other than as the necessary gimmick to introduce Jane to ERB, why was Jane giving controversial presentations to skeptical audiences with most of her evidence tied behind her back? Readers are presumably supposed to blame the skepticism on sexism, but in truth it is Jane's fault for not presenting her strongest evidence. Of course one could make a very good argument for withholding said evidence: the personal privacy of the one who must give it, but if she has so decided, why endure the inevitable ridicule of someone merely going through the motions? I actually suspected it would turn out to be a deliberate attempt to further obscure the truth, but, no, it turned out to be a case of Jane (and the author) not bothering to think it through.
Fourth, though it represents a change from the original, there was a certain logic to portraying Jane and her father as atheists, given their professions in this version, but why was it necessary to portray them as such obnoxious atheists? There is one very ugly scene that doesn't advance the plot in any way in which Jane and father while away the voyage to Africa by cruelly baiting a missionary couple that has the misfortune of sharing the ship with them. Their only perceivable motives appear to be anti-Christian bigotry and perhaps embarrassed envy at the realization that these people are taking far greater risks for far less selfish reasons than our "heroes" are. To my mind it would have made a lot more sense to have the villain doing this with Jane and her father embarrassed and shamed by it, but perhaps the author was trying to convey her own views on the topic.
Fifth, while there was merit in trying to work the Congolese Holocaust into the plot, especially in light of how much it has been forgotten today (see King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa for the history), it would have been better if the author could have come up with an evil plot that made more sense. Essentially the villain's evil plot is to survey a railroad to the sea through French territory that will enable King Leopold's brutes to more efficiently loot the Congo Free State,...
a railroad that already existed on Congo Free State territory bypassing 300 miles of unnavigable river at the mouth of the Congo. Not that another railroad wouldn't have been profitable for trade purposes; the French eventually built one there precisely for that reason after the Congo Free State was taken away from Leopold and made into a "normal" European colony, but as the basis of an evil plot it is kind of pathetic. Nobody successfully gets away with "sneaking" a railroad through someone else's territory, at least not through the territory of someone who is able to defend it, which the French certainly were, against Leopold's mercenaries.
Sixth, for some reason Ms. Maxwell felt it necessary to fill Jane's head with all sorts of ideas that merely made her look silly as opposed to perfectly reasonable desires for women's equality and concerns for oppressed peoples, ideas like opposition to the rich having servants (We're not talking slaves here; we're talking people who might very well have starved if Jane had her way), almost proudly regarding cruelty to animals as worse than cruelty to humans (kind of diminishes that whole concern for oppressed peoples bit), and extreme guilt over her privileged and wealthy status (not enough guilt to give up the money of course but enough to provoke condemnation of those of her class less inclined to self-loathing.)
Seventh, one of the tropes of "raised by animals" "noble savage" fiction like Tarzan (and Mowgli for that matter) is that the result would be almost superhuman physical development, strength, and abilities, even in comparison to native human tribesmen growing up in the same place. This is debatable of course, but it it makes a lot more sense than having Jane develop similar physical abilities under Tarzan's tutelage in a matter of WEEKS. Among similar changes, while having Jane be the one to teach Tarzan to read makes MUCH more sense than ERB's Rube Goldberg version that had Tarzan all but inventing language itself, having Jane be the one to teach Tarzan archery because he was apparently too stupid to pick it up from observing the Waziri he'd taken the bow and arrows from in the first place was, again, laughable.
Eighth, though by now I saw it coming, nevertheless I was still reduced to gales of laughter by the Female Chauvinist Theory of Evolution on display in the Mangani/Missing Link tribe, where all evolutionary advances come from the females, except for the male discovery of tool use...
for the purpose of bashing in skulls and making it easier to rape the females, of course. Ironically, a certain amount of this could have been justified as a reaction to history; the early (almost exclusively male) evolutionists were some of the most virulent sexists (and racists) you'd never want to meet. Perfectly understandable if you think about it, European Man couldn't derive much support for assumptions of his superiority from that annoying old Bible, but Evolution offered him what looked like scientific proof, which was a long time dying out.
But finally, the worst thing Robin Maxwell did to our man's man of an old-fashioned hero was to turn him into a sensitive, vulnerable, delicate creature in need of a lot of hugs. Jane takes the death of her father ON THIS EXPEDITION as reported to her by Tarzan a lot more "like a man" than Tarzan takes the death of his parents SIXTEEN YEARS before as revealed by their diary Jane reads to him. A certain toning down of the "strong, silent type" was merely to be expected, but turning Tarzan into a whiny (if one can whine silently, and based on this, methinks one can) emotional basket case, no matter how justified by the modern wizards of our wounded psyches, just makes him into someone I don't really want to read about. Nor can you attribute this to my being a knuckle dragging male chauvinist pig; I review ROMANCE NOVELS for crying out loud! (I don't admit to READING them yet, but that's another issue.) This reaches its apotheosis at the end of Jane's narrative. Those familiar with ERB's books know that one of the somewhat overused plot devices is to separate Jane from Tarzan and see what happens. Though much more a woman of her time than Maxwell's Jane, ERB's Jane is no pathetic princess helplessly in need of rescuing, she does what she can in the given situation, and anyway she'd have to be remarkably tough just to survive what ERB throws at her with her sanity intact. ERB's Tarzan on the other hand is a force of nature that will allow NOTHING to separate him from her, except a misunderstanding about who she's really in love with. In short you did not want to be a member of the army, however large, standing between ERB's Tarzan and Jane. Ms. Maxwell's Tarzan, after getting some idea of the sort of life he might face in Jane's world,...
bails on her like a lazy boyfriend ordered to go out and get a job.
Of course the ending frame story clears a lot of this up and threatens us with a sequel ("The Horror! The Horror!") to explain how we got here, but I won't be reading it if it ever comes out.
I don't recommend reading this book either.
18 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan / 978-0765333599
I picked this up because while I haven't read the original "Tarzan of the Apes", I have seen several movie renditions and I feel like the underlying fantasy of Tarzan and Jane is incredibly compelling. (Plus, look at that cover. That cover should win an award, if it hasn't already.) So I was expecting a nice action tale with a fresh-and-feminist narrative viewpoint.
And, well, I got that -- but it took a long time to get there.
My copy of this book weighs in at a reasonable ~300 pages, but this feels like one of the longer books I've read in awhile. The pacing at the beginning is slow enough that several times I was tempted to give up, and it's not until about the halfway point that things really picked up for me. Tarzan himself doesn't even appear until page 130, outside of a few brief tantalizing flashbacks that interrupt the narrative of the "main" flashback.
And I think I'll take this moment to register a quibble. This book starts with Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the original Tarzan stories, as a character in the book, and the whole story is told to him by a 'Real Life' Jane. I'm not really a fan of this kind of plot device; no one is going to be fooled into thinking this was the 'real' origin of the Tarzan story, and the whole thing is largely vestigial: an opening and closing chapter that weakly attempt to explain why this version and the original version don't align neatly.
This flimsy explanation was not, in my opinion, necessary -- and raises more questions than answers in my mind. I don't know if the author genuinely thought this attempt at melding the old and the new was a good idea, or if this was insisted upon by Burroughs' estate, but it feels very clunky -- especially when things get hot-and-steamy and the reader is forced to remember that Jane is narrating extremely intimate details of her sex life to a complete stranger so that he can write it all down as a fictional story.
Anyway, returning to the narrative, once Tarzan enters the picture, things pick up -- but it's not a race to the finish by any means. There are long periods of teaching, learning, training, and diary reading, and finally I realized that this isn't an adventure book. It's more of a romance novel slash world building novel set against the lush backdrop of the Tarzan mythos. And once I realized that, I was still able to enjoy the book even though it wasn't quite what I'd expected going in. Tarzan and Jane are larger than life characters, and the prose here is gorgeous, so I enjoyed the book, if not always the pace.
Other things I liked about this novel: I liked the character growth of Jane (once we got out of the first 100 pages which made me uncomfortable with all the repeated comparisons to her 'natural' beauty against the 'artificial' beauty of Every Other Woman in England). I liked how well the fantasy of Tarzan as a person is handled here; he's equal parts vulnerable and powerful, and the fantasy is played to the hilt. I liked that there's a very real and actually pretty decent discussion here about privilege and prejudice, as Jane acknowledges that she has both and works hard to overcome the latter and not be judgmental of other cultures. (She even comes to realize that the Primitive Savage concept is more complicated than that, which I thought was nice in a property that ultimately hinges on that fantasy.) I liked that there are plenty of people of color in this novel, and they are portrayed (in my opinion) with respect and depth of character.
I do recommend this book for climbing into the fantasy of Tarzan and living for a few sweet hours. Twice during my time with this novel, I set it down and popped in one of the two Tarzan movies I own, just to see the visuals and dwell in the experience. If that reinforces my gripe about the slow pacing, it will hopefully also underscore that there's a lot here to be savored. If you can bear a slow pace for an emotionally fulfilling payoff, then I can recommend this book.
NOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through Amazon Vine.
~ Ana Mardoll
I picked this up because while I haven't read the original "Tarzan of the Apes", I have seen several movie renditions and I feel like the underlying fantasy of Tarzan and Jane is incredibly compelling. (Plus, look at that cover. That cover should win an award, if it hasn't already.) So I was expecting a nice action tale with a fresh-and-feminist narrative viewpoint.
And, well, I got that -- but it took a long time to get there.
My copy of this book weighs in at a reasonable ~300 pages, but this feels like one of the longer books I've read in awhile. The pacing at the beginning is slow enough that several times I was tempted to give up, and it's not until about the halfway point that things really picked up for me. Tarzan himself doesn't even appear until page 130, outside of a few brief tantalizing flashbacks that interrupt the narrative of the "main" flashback.
And I think I'll take this moment to register a quibble. This book starts with Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author of the original Tarzan stories, as a character in the book, and the whole story is told to him by a 'Real Life' Jane. I'm not really a fan of this kind of plot device; no one is going to be fooled into thinking this was the 'real' origin of the Tarzan story, and the whole thing is largely vestigial: an opening and closing chapter that weakly attempt to explain why this version and the original version don't align neatly.
This flimsy explanation was not, in my opinion, necessary -- and raises more questions than answers in my mind. I don't know if the author genuinely thought this attempt at melding the old and the new was a good idea, or if this was insisted upon by Burroughs' estate, but it feels very clunky -- especially when things get hot-and-steamy and the reader is forced to remember that Jane is narrating extremely intimate details of her sex life to a complete stranger so that he can write it all down as a fictional story.
Anyway, returning to the narrative, once Tarzan enters the picture, things pick up -- but it's not a race to the finish by any means. There are long periods of teaching, learning, training, and diary reading, and finally I realized that this isn't an adventure book. It's more of a romance novel slash world building novel set against the lush backdrop of the Tarzan mythos. And once I realized that, I was still able to enjoy the book even though it wasn't quite what I'd expected going in. Tarzan and Jane are larger than life characters, and the prose here is gorgeous, so I enjoyed the book, if not always the pace.
Other things I liked about this novel: I liked the character growth of Jane (once we got out of the first 100 pages which made me uncomfortable with all the repeated comparisons to her 'natural' beauty against the 'artificial' beauty of Every Other Woman in England). I liked how well the fantasy of Tarzan as a person is handled here; he's equal parts vulnerable and powerful, and the fantasy is played to the hilt. I liked that there's a very real and actually pretty decent discussion here about privilege and prejudice, as Jane acknowledges that she has both and works hard to overcome the latter and not be judgmental of other cultures. (She even comes to realize that the Primitive Savage concept is more complicated than that, which I thought was nice in a property that ultimately hinges on that fantasy.) I liked that there are plenty of people of color in this novel, and they are portrayed (in my opinion) with respect and depth of character.
I do recommend this book for climbing into the fantasy of Tarzan and living for a few sweet hours. Twice during my time with this novel, I set it down and popped in one of the two Tarzan movies I own, just to see the visuals and dwell in the experience. If that reinforces my gripe about the slow pacing, it will hopefully also underscore that there's a lot here to be savored. If you can bear a slow pace for an emotionally fulfilling payoff, then I can recommend this book.
NOTE: This review is based on a free Advance Review Copy of this book provided through Amazon Vine.
~ Ana Mardoll
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By Dr. Fred
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I really feel a little guilty being in the minority, especially when this book had the potential to be a perfect read. Half way through I had to read other reviews to find out where I was going wrong. Upon finishing it I had to conclude that my fault is that all of us have our own images of certain favorite characters. My Scarlet O'Hara and Rhett Butler for example may not be your Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler. I learned this some years ago when I wrote and had published a novel based on a once popular science fiction series. While the majority of readers felt I was spot on, there were a few who felt certain iconic TV characters were not as I had envisioned them. My particular character was not their vision of that person. So I must find myself like one of those few when I say this was not my Jane and not my Tarzan. I know in my heart and soul who they are and that is how they will continue to remain. I read with interest the great support the author received for her research and the support she has from the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate. No less a person than the grandson of the great man himself applauds the author. Impressive and certainly to her credit.
2012 of course is the 100th anniversary celebrating Edgar Rice Burroughs having the publication of his first Mars and his first Tarzan stories. I loved the Disney version of The Princess of Mars out earlier this year and regret it did not have the theatrical success it deserved. I am a third generation Burroughs reader having been introduced to the books by parents and grandparents. This I have passed on to my children and grandchildren. I have shelves full of all of the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs as well as books about him and his writing. I read and reread all the Tarzan books as well as many of the others. I am especially pleased with a letter I have from Mr. Burroughs in answer to one I wrote him at age twelve. I had the gall to send him a story idea which he kindly reviewed and wrote back to me with a message I will always treasure. I also loved the Tarzan films, especially Johnny W., however even as a child I was able to put the two Tarzans into alternate universes. In the past I have used both in my classroom teaching. I do not claim to be an expert, certainly not like the ones who the author consulted with. I am just a fan.
Now I will say the book in itself is well written. I do wonder at the author's time in trying to push evolutionary theory as though the debate needed to be here under the cover of a story about the love between Tarzan and Jane. In fact for me it wasted time that could have been better spent in expanding the plot. Frankly, the Jane in the Edgar Rice Burroughs books was just as strong and just as real as the author tried to make her version of Jane. The original Jane was revealed to me as stronger and more real than envisioned in this book. While most of the movie Janes have not been very outstanding, even Maureen O'Sullivan's portrayal was better than this one. Also, there were certain facts about Jane's past as revealed by Burroughs that were distorted in this book. Of course an author has poetic license to bend things when it appears necessary.
I did think it interesting that some of the reviewers giving five stars admitted that they had never read the original books. Consequently they were rating the author and not Edgar Rice Burroughs. Sadly I must confess that my love of Edgar Rice Burroughs prevented me from finding the flavor in his books that should have been in this one. Frankly, for another alternate view that is close to this one and better written is Philip Jose Farmer's novel Tarzan Alive. It is written as an interview by the author of Tarzan himself. I wish I could give more than one star, however I feel I would be insulting what I know deep down was the real
Lord and Lady Greystoke, Mr. and Mrs. John Clayton, or as we remember them best, Tarzan and Jane.
2012 of course is the 100th anniversary celebrating Edgar Rice Burroughs having the publication of his first Mars and his first Tarzan stories. I loved the Disney version of The Princess of Mars out earlier this year and regret it did not have the theatrical success it deserved. I am a third generation Burroughs reader having been introduced to the books by parents and grandparents. This I have passed on to my children and grandchildren. I have shelves full of all of the books by Edgar Rice Burroughs as well as books about him and his writing. I read and reread all the Tarzan books as well as many of the others. I am especially pleased with a letter I have from Mr. Burroughs in answer to one I wrote him at age twelve. I had the gall to send him a story idea which he kindly reviewed and wrote back to me with a message I will always treasure. I also loved the Tarzan films, especially Johnny W., however even as a child I was able to put the two Tarzans into alternate universes. In the past I have used both in my classroom teaching. I do not claim to be an expert, certainly not like the ones who the author consulted with. I am just a fan.
Now I will say the book in itself is well written. I do wonder at the author's time in trying to push evolutionary theory as though the debate needed to be here under the cover of a story about the love between Tarzan and Jane. In fact for me it wasted time that could have been better spent in expanding the plot. Frankly, the Jane in the Edgar Rice Burroughs books was just as strong and just as real as the author tried to make her version of Jane. The original Jane was revealed to me as stronger and more real than envisioned in this book. While most of the movie Janes have not been very outstanding, even Maureen O'Sullivan's portrayal was better than this one. Also, there were certain facts about Jane's past as revealed by Burroughs that were distorted in this book. Of course an author has poetic license to bend things when it appears necessary.
I did think it interesting that some of the reviewers giving five stars admitted that they had never read the original books. Consequently they were rating the author and not Edgar Rice Burroughs. Sadly I must confess that my love of Edgar Rice Burroughs prevented me from finding the flavor in his books that should have been in this one. Frankly, for another alternate view that is close to this one and better written is Philip Jose Farmer's novel Tarzan Alive. It is written as an interview by the author of Tarzan himself. I wish I could give more than one star, however I feel I would be insulting what I know deep down was the real
Lord and Lady Greystoke, Mr. and Mrs. John Clayton, or as we remember them best, Tarzan and Jane.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Review on Jane
An amazing portrayal of the story about Jane and Tarzan written in a way that is not only accurate, but also makes the famous story
of the man who lives in the wild relatable... Read more
of the man who lives in the wild relatable... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Michael D. Cummings
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Jane for Today's Woman
When I found that this book was available, I couldn't wait to open it and start reading. Yes, it is hard to put down and pulls you in to Jane's experiences and, of course, those... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sharon Ann Backman
5.0 out of 5 stars
'There is no Tarzan without Jane'
Like fans worldwide, I've always felt that the films never did Lord Greystoke justice. So, it was with a little trepidation that I tackled this book. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Nik Morton
5.0 out of 5 stars
jane, med student at cambridge u in england
Was delivered immediately after ordering, just in time for bookclub choices for 2013. we're excited to read this book, esp since my family lived only 14 miles from cambridge u for... Read more
Published 2 months ago by gloria merritt
5.0 out of 5 stars
I loved this adventure---& from a woman's viewpoint!
Heck, I've always loved the Tarzan movies and I keep meaning to get round to Burrough's words. This might be the novel that sets me in search of the first---Tarzan of the Apes... Read more
Published 2 months ago by K. D. Davie
5.0 out of 5 stars
Jane: Filled With Drama and Excitement
Robin Maxwell, in writing Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan, has created an instant classic and I feel sure it will endure the test of time. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Joyce Owen
2.0 out of 5 stars
Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan
This book remains surprisingly close to its source material, while adding a few more erotic scenes. Unfortunately, the Tarzan who this Jane loves is the watered down travesty... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Joseph A. Aycock
5.0 out of 5 stars
Creative tale with a strong female protagonist
I thoroughly enjoyed Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan. Jane is not a woman of her times; she is strong, curious and an independent thinker. Read more
Published 2 months ago by LynSue
4.0 out of 5 stars
Should be made into a MOVIE!
Robin Maxwell has outdone herself in my opinion, by creating a great book from a wonderful legend that many of us grew up with. Read more
Published 2 months ago by WOB
5.0 out of 5 stars
Outstanding
I was very excited to read about one of my favorite characters as seen from the point of view of the woman in his life. This would be great if there were sequels.
Published 2 months ago by Wayne Saindon
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