jane anonymous by laurie faria stolarz

title: Jane Anonymous
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author: Laurie Faria Stolarz
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publishing: January 7th 2020 by Wednesday Books
format: hardcover
source: library
genre: YA; mystery; thriller

“Jane” was just your typical 17-year-old getting ready to start her senior year. She had a part-time job she enjoyed, an awesome best friend, overbearing but loving parents, and a crush on a boy who was taking her to see her favorite band. She never would’ve imagined that in her town where nothing ever happens, a series of small coincidences would lead to a devastating turn of events that would forever change her life.

Now, it’s been three months since “Jane” escaped captivity and returned home. Three months of being that girl who was kidnapped, the girl who was held by a “monster.” But, what if everything you thought you knew―everything you thought you experienced―turned out to be a lie?

This summer I made the decision to use my library to mainly check out YA titles I was curious about but wasn’t sure I wanted to add to my physical book collection. I chose to pick up Jane Anonymous in part because it was published by one of my favorite imprints: Wednesday Books. I have consistently enjoyed the Wednesday Books titles that I’ve read and always look forward to the titles they release! I can’t remember exactly how this came onto my radar, but probably my Goodreads feed. I am also a sucker for a good mystery thriller, thus picking up Jane Anonymous felt like a no brainer.

Jane Anonymous was one of the most exciting YA books I’ve read in a long time; I felt so gripped by the plot that I found myself carrying the book around with me as I did in Middle School, squeezing in a few pages while the kids I babysit watch T.V., avoiding spilling cereal during breakfast…the list goes on. I couldn’t put this one down, in part because Stolarz did such a fantastic job on holding out details for the reader until the very end.

Jane Anonymous is written in the first person, which I will admit is usually not my favorite, but I think it really worked for this title. The style of the novel allows Jane, the protagonist’s pseudonym, to reflect and record her experience in captivity. All this being said, I was actually really close to DNFing this book at the beginning because I was really concerned with the therapy bashing in the first couple of chapters. Therapy isn’t a perfect tool, but it is so personal and important for so many people I was worried that it could be damaging to be so critical of it in a novel for teens. However, Jane’s journey of self advocacy for mental healthcare was really powerful–it showed her working carefully to find a therapist that fit with her! Ultimately, what I was so worried about turned out to be the perfect depiction of therapy in real life–of working to find a provider that meets your needs, even if it’s not the first person you meet.

I do want to acknowledge a TW (trigger warning) for kidnapping, though there are no graphic descriptions of abuse in the novel. That being said, it was painful at times to read Jane’s traumatized state of mind as she works through and describes her experience. There is definitely still hope.

Stolarz has a fantastic grasp of the teenage voice, unlike anything I’ve ever seen in a YA thriller. The writing in Jane Anonymous felt like the contemporaries of love written by Sarah Dessen or Morgan Matson but as a thriller! Jane and her friends have such perfect characterization. More than that, I thought the novel as fantastically paced. I wrote above that I felt like I couldn’t put this down…this truly was one of the most engaging novels I’ve read in a long time.

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