Jane on Her Own: 08/18/10

When I read Catwings Return, Jane the kitten was my favorite character. OK, second favorite, since I have to be partial to a flying cat named Harriet. So I was curious to read Jane on Her Own by Ursula K. Le Guin.

In Jane on Her Own, Jane just doesn't fit in at the farm. She's restless, nervous and skittish. She decides to return to the city of her birth to face her fears and find her forever home.

In the City she finds a new life as "Miss Mystery." The book blurb says the man she lives with "keeps her prisoner" and "exploits her for money." Yes, he trains her to show off her flying talent and yes he makes money from their show but he didn't strike me as a bad person.

But the ultimate redemption for Jane isn't in her life of show business. It is with her wingless mother. Finally she can face her fears and move beyond them to find a forever home for both herself and her mother.

What bothers me most though about the book is Jane's stuttering. When I first "met" her I took her "HATE HATE HATE" as just typical kittenish talk. If a kitten were to talk, why not like that? In Jane on Her Own her simplistic talking is described more as a response to her difficult kittenhood. It seemed after all the bravery she'd shown in the previous book that this tidbit was out of character for her.

I borrowed the book from the library.

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