Jane is Trying (W&N Essentials)

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Many authors might be tempted to define their character purely by these concerns, but Suttie’s made them just part of Jane’s complex character, not all of it. Many of the characters blend together and names were often used without context which made parts of the narrative hard to follow. The story of a near-40 year old trying to conceive, being cheated on and moving back to her parents' in the provinces had themes common to many other books I've read.

I also enjoyed the ending, and how it didn't exactly follow the predictable ending I was expecting, but instead felt like Jane making some 'happy compromises', which felt like quite a wholesome ending.I should caveat my review by saying that this isn't by any means the worst book I've read and I definitely swithered between giving it a 2 or 3-star rating. Everyone assumes they know best but all their interventions buffet her away from the happiness she’d get from being in control. Now, she’s trying to make a new start back home with her overprotective, charades-obsessed parents - having left her career and cheating fiance behind in London.

I really did enjoy the first part of this book, I laughed out loud and enjoyed finding out more about Jane. I’ve seen her live, I’ve listened to the love letters countless times, and this sounded like it might be a longer version of that, so I was excited. Suttie has a keen eye for supplementary detail, which makes her story seem all the more real, and an ear for a nice turn of phrase, which makes it delightful to read. As for the circuit, my worry is that up-and-coming comics from a less-privileged background have been forced to give up and they might not start again. And it's at this point of the story that I started to lose patience with the character and the book.I thought that the big reveal of what happened in Room 3 would go some way to explaining Jane’s motivations and actions in her adult life but in the end it felt a bit of a let-down. Jane’s struggles with conception, anxiety and undiagnosed OCD are immaculately written and Jane is Trying covers the ‘not knowing’ and ‘trying to figure it out’ aspect of life really well. There is some intricate commentary at play around mental health and agency, and I liked how Jane’s growth directly explored this.

As for OCD, I’ve never had it to the same incapacitating extent as Jane but yes, that’s another indicator that my head is too full.Even before the book starts she’s had to flee her successful job in London and long-term relationship with Jonathan, her business partner and the man she was trying to start a family with, after discovering he was having an affair. Then the last-minute romance with Robbie felt rushed and kind of came out of nowhere, as though the author had run out of ways to keep the book going so she threw in another source of tension. So I raced through Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy and a few of Erin Kelly’s books, which I loved.

There she finds she can’t escape the gravity of the past and immediately reverts to her childhood status. The story didn't intrigue and the themes such as mental health etc were dealt with at a superficial level. I was desperate to know what Jane was made of today, and how she would deal with the "characters" in her life. Jane is Trying is about a woman in her late thirties, desperately trying to have a baby with her husband but struggling to conceive. Jane is a woman in her late thirties, stuck in her parents house in the Peak District after leaving her boyfriend behind in London.I was really pleased to hear Isy Suttie was writing a novel, as I've loved her comedy for a long time and we come from the same county.