We, Jane
Aimee Wall
Book*hug Press, 2021
Review by Kris Rothstein
Marthe is a young woman going nowhere; her waitressing job is a dead end, she doesn’t really like her friends, and though she has lived in Montreal for a few years, she is a Newfoundlander at heart. She is searching for something to join, a source of direction, and the thing she cares about most is access to safe, supportive abortions. She yearns for a purposeful female community; she wants to fight injustice.
Then she meets a woman called Jane. Jane is not her real name—she is referred to as Jane in honour of the Jane Collective, an anonymous group of women, initially in Chicago, who offered access to abortion when it was still illegal. Jane is older, and is affiliated with a small group in rural Newfoundland who help women in need of abortions. She inspires Marthe, who worships her. Together they plan a life of social action, their plans and dreams not unlike those of a couple imagining their life together after marriage.
We, Jane has an unusual structure and pacing. It begins in uncertainty, followed by thrilling personal connections and promises, until Marthe and Jane arrive in Newfoundland. There is then a period of stasis before Marthe is absorbed into the group, slowly and thoughtfully. By then she is sure that this is what she wants from life. In this novel, we get all of the lead up and in-between moments that are often left out of a story. While we often expect novels to make outcomes seem clear, determined, and inevitable, We, Jane makes our lives and purposes seem contingent and accidental. It is an unconventional and sometimes unsettling reading experience, but the slower pace works well within its context.
Trish, Jane’s mentor, is a mature midwife and lesbian who provides access to abortions. She keeps a low profile, and while Marthe expects excitement upon meeting Trish, what she gets is a slow, rural lifestyle. Marthe fills her time wandering, and takes a job as a maid. She pokes around the local town, which, to her chagrin, is slowly gentrifying. She meets the women who circle Trish—former and current lovers—and tries to befriend them. This period of watching and waiting to be initiated into the group of women is central to the novel—most of her training and service takes place in the future, outside of the book’s scope.
This novel speaks to the ongoing struggle for women’s reproductive autonomy; the novel is affected by contemporary rumblings from America, but even beyond the increasingly regressive policies down South, Wall suggests that Canada shouldn’t be complacent. Stigma remains, as do economic barriers. Marthe’s desire to take direct action feels urgent—she, and the book as a whole, are deeply unsettled by threats to female reproductive rights.
In addition to the focus on reproductive rights and health, an arresting aspect of the novel is its atmosphere. The atmosphere overshadows the plot, and is strangely ominous. There is a sense of grand emotions and struggles below the surface, but within the narrative they are tamed and clamped down. We, Jane also captures the banal rhythms of daily life as Marthe waits to be accepted and for her direction to become clear. There is a sense of anticipation, but it is often muted, and a sense of danger, heightened by opposition to the women’s work. A level of uncertainty permeates the narrative, but what remains certain is that the women will continue to provide abortions, support, and ressources to women in need. This may not play out exactly as Marthe imagined—but big changes in our lives rarely feel the way we expect them to.
This is a book which focuses entirely on complex female characters—not all of them likeable, but all mysterious. Wall does not feel the need to explain people to us, to make them understandable. Instead, she attempts to show them as they are: complicated and inconsistent. Our protagonist Marthe, for example, is an uncertain person, self-conscious and not all that self-possessed. She is often jealous of others who are more confident, and is worried about being seen as an outsider. Her awkwardness often consigns her to the fringes. Having worked primarily as a translator before writing this novel, Wall employs a strong sense of nuance and subtlety in language and storytelling to explore multifaceted characters. We, Jane takes risks from start to finish, making it a consequential and rewarding read.
Kris Rothstein is a literary agent, editor and cultural critic in Vancouver, BC. She writes regularly for Geist Magazine and can be found blogging about film, comedy and books at geist.com/blogs/kris.