Book Review - Rachel Hawkins's The Wife Upstairs
Published by: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: January 5th, 2021
Format: Kindle, 227 Pages
Rating: ★
To Buy (different edition than one reviewed)
To be one of the housewives of Thornfield Estates, now that would be something. The gated community feels a world away from the apartment "Jane" begrudgingly shares with John, literally the last person she wants to share a roof with, but he is literally her last lifeline. Perhaps that's why Jane takes the odd piece of jewelry while walking the housewives' dogs, not just to help herself financially, but to feel like she's one of them. But if things go according to plan she won't be a dog walker for long. One of the houses seems different from the other McMansions. It's set back a bit from the street and Jane can't help but admire it. While she's standing in the middle of the street one day the owner of the house peels out of the driveway and almost hits her. Luckily the only thing hurt is the car. Eddie Rochester's car. The mysterious widower whose wife Bea ran the famous Southern Manors lifestyle brand and tragically disappeared with her best friend Blanche the previous year while at their lake house. Eddie Rochester who would be a catch in anyone's book. Jane knows she has to play this right. She can tell that he's interested and actually finds the "real" her funny. It's not long before she's out from under John's thumb, despite his attempts to extort her and Eddie for money, and under Eddie's roof. She even starts to ingratiate herself to the other housewives. But she has two big problems to overcome, their love of Bea and Blanche, and the fact that she's not a wife. Until Eddie puts a ring on it it seems the housewives will be friendly but still hold her at a distance because they aren't sure if she'll be sticking around. If Jane has anything to say about it she'll be there for the long haul. But the longer she's there, as soon as that ring is on her finger, she starts to wonder is this all there is? And what about the rumors about Eddie? What really happened to Bea and Blanche. Once Blanche's body is found everything changes. Will Jane lose this life she's fought so hard to get or will Bea take it all away from her?
Rachel Hawkins premise for this book is Jane Eyre deserved better than Mr. Rochester. While I disagree for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that given Jane's situation in life in the original novel her prospects were limited, I don't disagree that it's nice that Jane got the money and the dog in this version. The problem I have is this version of Jane. This isn't my Jane. This isn't anyone's Jane. Unless you like manipulative grasping assholes. Sure, she's a survivor, but does she have to be such a bitch? Rachel Hawkins clearly thinks that Mr. Rochester was below Jane and instead of elevating him she brought Jane down to his level. Why!?! I mean, really, why? I just don't get the purpose of this retelling other than the author airing her own grievances without really keeping it all in context. And she's drawing from some classic material, not only is she reinterpreting Jane Eyre, but there's also a lot of Wide Sargasso Sea folded in, and a huge helping of Rebecca, which makes a ton of sense given Daphne Du Maurier's obsession with the Brontes. But that's where so many of my issues then come from. These three books are classics, they are beautiful and lyrically written, and this, this is just workman language. Therefore whenever Rachel Hawkins actually uses a line from the source material, for example when she says that "[w]hatever souls were made of, mine and Jane’s were the same - or at least similar enough" dragging Emily Bronte and Wuthering Heights to the table, you are just gobsmacked by how basic this book's writing really is. But when Bea declares that "[r]eader, I fucked him" I'm sure my groan was audible for many miles. If I wasn't reading on my Kindle, well, the book would have been hurled. Much as I felt like doing. I'm sorry, that's not a funny joke and the fact that Rachel Hawkins thinks it is is a true sign as to why I would never have liked this book. I am so wary of retellings and yet, despite everything in me saying, oh, this could be different, this could be good, reader, I hated it.
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