Texts from Jane Eyre
Ratings14
Average rating3.6
15
Ratings14
Average rating3.6
A whimsical collection of text conversations in the styles of favorite literary characters imagines what Scarlett O'Hara might say to tempt Ashley away from Melanie, Mr. Rochester's passionate all-cap missives to Jane Eyre, and Daisy Buchanan's orders while driving.
"Hilariously imagined text conversations--the passive aggressive, the clever, and the strange--from classic and modern literary figures, from Scarlett O'Hara to Jessica Wakefield. Mallory Ortberg, the co-creator of the cult-favorite website The Toast, presents this whimsical collection of hysterical text conversations from your favorite literary characters. Everyone knows that if Scarlett O'Hara had an unlimited text-and-data plan, she'd constantly try to tempt Ashley away from Melanie with suggestive messages. If Mr. Rochester could text Jane Eyre, his ardent missives would obviously be in all-caps. And Daisy Buchanan would not only text while driving, she'd text you to pick her up after she totaled her car. Based on the popular web-feature, Texts from Jane Eyre is a witty, irreverent mashup that brings the characters from your favorite books into the twenty-first century"--
Reviews with the most likes.
So funny! If the chatacters you know and love as well as the one you hate had a cell phone, this is what they would say. And we get to laugh.
The answer to the question nobody asked: What would some of the most famous literary figures (characters/writers) say if they texted their friends and family? Well, Mallory Ortberg asked it, I guess. Most of the answers she cooked up are worth reading – some will induce chuckles, maybe a guffaw, and many smiles.
The Jane Eyre conversations (as might be suggested from the title) are the best of the batch – although the Poe material is just as strong (Hamlet's close to that). The rest is a step or two back, in my estimation. Some of the rest of the material is pretty weak, but Ortberg makes the most of it. Typically, the reader's appreciation of these text messages will line up with their familiarity with the source material.
Still, no collection is going to be free from bad apples, and The Hunger Games' conversations aren't just weak, they're disappointing. I don't see how Ortberg could've missed so completely. But that's just 2 pages out of 200, that's more than a pretty decent percentage.
A nice break from heavier reading, I recommend taking these a few pages at a time – not the whole book in a sitting or two (although it'd be easy to knock out that way). Try for too many at once, and they lose their punch. Some funny stuff for book nerds here.
