Jane

July 2, 2012
On a scientific expedition with her father into the rainforests of Gabon, Africa, paleoanthropology student Jane Porter is rescued from a leopard attack and nursed back to health by Tarzan, a remarkable (and remarkably attractive) wild man. The story beautifully captures Jane and Tarzan’s powerful yet naïve attraction and Jane’s wonder and joy as she explores the jungle by Tarzan’s side. Maxwell’s reimagining, authorized by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, makes smart changes from the original: caricatured cannibals are replaced by the more complex Waziri tribe of later Tarzan novels, whose hidden treasure motivates some formidable European villains. Unfortunately, the early chapters hammer home the spunky heroine clichés: Jane is an atheist, a spinster at age 20, and prone to quarreling with her mother about split skirts. Given that she also fights enraged elephants and treks deep into the jungle, Maxwell’s Jane is so obviously heroic and feminist that the usual tropes are hilariously unnecessary. Agents: David Forrer and Kim Witherspoon, Inkwell Management.

August 15, 2012
The old "Me Tarzan, You Jane" dynamic established in Johnny Weismuller movies gets a radical update by shining the spotlight on adventuress Jane Porter. The author fully reinvents the character of Jane Porter, so often the "damsel-in-distress," by making her a budding paleoanthropologist and giving her good reasons to explore the wilds of Africa. At 20-something, Porter is considered a spinster by her family, save her beloved father, a fellow scientist. They're both intrigued when American Ral Conrath invites them to join an expedition to West Africa, luring them in with tales of the apelike, croc-killing creature with white skin. A neatly framed narrative finds Jane recounting her story to budding storyteller Burroughs during an encounter in Chicago in 1912. Meanwhile, flashbacks to 1905 find a rifle-wielding Jane nearly shooting Ral Conrath, a cad and corrupt treasure hunter, before falling into the arms of the missing Lord Greystoke and his tribal comrades (it's worth using the Mangani-English glossary helpfully included). Maxwell ticks all the boxes, including offering up a hunky Tarzan, primeval jungle life and a bit of tasteful lust on Jane's part. "You do not live in Africa, my dear," she's warned. "Africa lives in you." Jane Goodall and Isak Dinesen would be right at home with Miss Jane Porter. A respectful, exciting and disarming update of one of the last century's most oft-told tales.

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July 1, 2012

Edgar Rice Burroughs, a struggling pulp fiction writer, meets paleontologist Jane Porter, who regales him with details of her African journey and encounter with Tarzan, a mysterious Englishman raised by apes. Authorized by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate and published on the centennial of the publication of the first Tarzan story in 1912, Maxwell (O, Juliet; Signora da Vinci) retells Tarzan's story from Jane's point of view in a more politically correct style (she treats native peoples in a more modern light than Burroughs and acknowledges their poor treatment by Europeans). Smart, athletic and fearless, Jane is more than capable of overcoming her trials in the African jungle. VERDICT The chapter describing the meeting between Burroughs and Jane stretches the reader's credulity, but the rest of the novel features enough action and adventure to satisfy most Tarzan aficionados. Excitement, danger, labyrinths, pyramids, treasure, and volcanoes abound, as Jane and Tarzan learn to trust and love each other.--Sally Bickley, Del Mar Coll. Lib., Corpus Christi, TX

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2012
Best-selling historical-fiction writer Maxwell (To the Tower Born, 2005) is the first woman writer authorized by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate to create a Tarzan tale, a breakthrough that marks the centenary of Tarzan of the Apes, Burroughs' first novel featuring the aristocratic ape man and Jane, the intrepid young woman he rescues. Maxwell's new and improved Jane, a budding scientist undaunted by rampant misogyny, accompanies her professor father to West Africa on a 1905 expedition organized by charming explorer Ral Conrath. But Conrath turns out to be a vicious outlaw, who abandons Jane to die a brutal death. Tarzan, of course, swoops in and rescues her; then, as their unlikely love deepens, she saves him. Maxwell improvises brilliantly on Burroughs' indelible novel (recently handsomely reissued by the Library of America). In her eventful, keenly imagined, and thrilling tale of African life, colonial crimes, an opulent lost city, and living missing links (the primates who raised Tarzan, the orphaned Lord Greystoke), Maxwell also orchestrates glorious sexual awakenings in an Edenic jungle. With riveting action and suspense, earthy humor, a piquant look at the debate over evolution, and the love between heroic, resourceful, and tender Tarzan and smart, strong, and passionate Jane, this is lush and satisfying entertainment.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)