I thoroughly enjoyed this book. So often we hear or read about tragic deaths--and murders. Janeology brings to attention what we might so easily forget: behind those stories are people. People just like us.

In this book Tom has to grapple with his own changing emotions while wading through the history of his wife's ancestors. Has her terrible crime come to pass because of nature, nurture or even something else? Viewing the domino affect which has taken place brings to light the fact that while we must make our choices individually, our choices still have an affect on others. Though Tom is the key protagonist, this story is really one of many characters. Even during these glimpses into history, readers will find themselves looking to the future and wondering with Tom about the outcome of his daughter's life.

Despite the seemingly grim situation, there is a pervasive reminder of hope throughout the book, leading up to a unique ending. ( )

A mother attempts to murder her young twins and succeeds in killing one of them, as well as the family dog. A father stands trial for his wife’s crime, accused of criminal negligance. A lawyer employs a psychic to delve into the past of his client’s wife, determined to prove that she was genetically predisposed to injure her children, and her husband had no way of predicting it. Oh, and the book is described by many as a thriller. If that doesn’t sound like a great description of a book I would normally try to avoid and would probably dislike reading, I don’t know what does.

Luckily for me, I read rave reviews from other book bloggers and participated in a LibraryThing author chat with the the author before I really heard all of the description above (I promise that nothing you read above is a spoiler, by the way). I was also lucky enough to win a copy of this book direct from the author during the aforementioned author chat.

Karen tells the story of Tom (the husband on trial) and Jane (Tom’s wife) with such ease and skill that at times I nearly forgot I was reading. The story comes together so seamlessly that I really didn’t even have to stop to suspend disbelief about the workings of the psychic. It probably helped that Tom was fairly skeptical himself, particularly at the beginning of their sessions. I basically just latched on to Tom’s thoughts and emotions; I am not sure I have ever identified so strongly with a male main character, but everything he was going through seemed so real. I would have perhaps liked to see him interact more with his surviving daughter, but it seemed realistic to me that the combined continuing disbelief of what his wife did along with the stress of his ensuing trial would give him a numb, internal demeanor.

I don’t think I would really classify this as a thriller. I think it is a fantastic story of family, dysfunction, pain, and the realization of how our actions effect other people. Since I could barely put this book down and read it in less than a day, I would definitely say I recommend it.

http://www.devourerofbooks.com/2008/1... ( )

Janeology, Karen Harrington’s first novel, opens after Jane, young mother of toddler twins, who suffers from depression following a miscarriage, turns manic and drowns her son Adam and nearly drowns her daughter Sarah as well. This novel, however, does not tell this story from Jane’s perspective. Instead, it is told from her husband Tom’s perspective. After Jane is found innocent of Adam’s murder by reason of insanity, Tom is indicted for neglect. The state decides to prosecute him for not recognizing the depth of Jane’s illness and for leaving his children solely under her care while he went to work. This truly is something that could very easily happen today.

Once the initial shock of what has happened to his family wore off and Jane’s trial came to an end, Tom was eager to be or at least to feel punished for what happened to his family. He might not have even defended himself at all had his mother not hired an attorney. Luckily, she did, and Dave Frontella proposes a revolutionary defense strategy. In it, he holds Jane’s genealogy ultimately responsible for what happened and this was nothing that Tom could have ever known. Not only is the defense unconventional, his means of determining what it was in Jane’s genes is entirely controversial. Dave locates Jane’s half-sister Mariah, a clairvoyant. Mariah knows about a family trunk in the attic. Inside this trunk are photographs and other heirlooms of which Tom was completely unaware. She uses those to invite Jane’s ancestors to tell their stories.

Just like Tom, I had to suspend disbelief as Mariah embodies Jane as a young child. As the stories of her family keep unfolding, I was drawn more and more into the history until I was almost frustrated with Tom for being so stubborn and not admitting that things are making more and more sense. This mixture of historical fiction within a “ripped from the headlines” story worked very well for me. Tom is a college literature professor, but like many such men, he comes off as being somewhat removed from his own emotions. He is numb and could only seem to feel safe experiencing his life was back when things were right – back when he and Jane were young and in love. Jane’s ancestors, however, are quite the contrary. They are true to their nature. They are messy, they are passionate, and they are entirely flawed. I may not like them all, but I could wrap my arms around them and feel compassion. I was acutely aware that my feelings toward Jane’s ancestors mirrored those Tom held in his heart for his wife. He was unable to shake his love for Jane because he could not forget the story of their lives and love before she snapped.

Reading Janeology was a powerful experience for me. As someone who suffered from post-partum depression, I could relate to Jane very well. I could also very well understand Tom. I feel that he very much did his best to make it through Jane’s depression, hoping that one day she would come back to her family. In that way, he provided insight into what my own husband experienced. I was also lucky to have read this novel while I was in Boston because some of the most important revelations about Jane’s family centered in that city. It was thrilling for me to have come back from a three hour walking tour of historic Boston only to read about one of streets I crossed along the way. It made that section of the novel that much more real for me.

In addition to being compelling, most especially during Mariah’s sessions with Jane and her ancestors, Janeology asks a question that cannot easily be answered: How much of who you are is determined by what your ancestors were? In some ways this makes me wish I had a Mariah who could tell me the stories of my family. In other ways, I think I’d rather not know. Regardless, I enjoyed my time reading Janeology and look forward to reading Karen Harrington’s next novel.

http://literatehousewife.wordpress.co... ( )

I haven't had much time for extra reading lately, but once I opened this book I had to make time. Janeology by Karen Harrington is a book that draws you in from the first page and you can't stop reading until you know what happens. The story follows Tom Nelson through a thorny criminal trial in which he is accused of having not paid attention to the signs of post-partum depression in his wife that led her to commit infanticide, killing their two-year-old son and nearly drowning his twin, two-year-old Sarah.

While Tom is still reeling from the death of his son, and young Sarah is confused about losing her twin and her mother, the state of Texas is looking for someone to blame for the deaths since the mother is found to be mentally ill at trial and is sentenced to a mental institution. As the story unfolds, Tom's attorney takes an unorthodox defense of his client, saying Tom's wife, Jane, was pre-disposed to this life because of her genes. They then go through the lives of past generations from Jane's family, with the help of a clairvoyant, and discover the unsavory details of her genealogy.

While the clairvoyant may be a bit of a stretch for some readers it actually seemed to be just a quick way for Harrington to get this story out. It wouldh ave been far less effective to have Tom and his lawyer digging through old newspaper articles for the entirety of the book as they unearth the details of Jane's family. The story moves at a quick pace, with each chapter leading into the next and making it impossible to put down.

I thought this was an interesting look at a subject that seems to be in the news more and more these days (very Jodi Piccoult-esque), as well as at how blame gets pushed around in the legal system. There was also an interesting underlying theme of how objects in our lives can keep us connected to pasts and memories we may wish to forget. And it will get you wondering how much of you is made up of your ancestors.

This book was also published by Kunati, and independent book publisher, so if you're interested in debut authors and independent booksellers you might check them out. ( )

In our world, most everyone has heard about a mother killing her own children. Yet it still does not feel commonplace because we cannot understand what went wrong. Society glorifies familial bonds and promotes the idea of a mother's unconditional love and particularly special bond with her children. I lived in Houston when Andrea Yates (who was originally sentenced to life in prison) killed her five children and watched the details of the horrifying case unfold. It's a murder where society almost cannot bear to declare the murderer as anything but insane, since no sane mother could do such a thing. In the Yates case, I definitely felt Russell Yates deserved to bear more consequences for his role in the children's deaths.

This is the matter JANEOLOGY addresses: Is protagonist Tom complicit in his son's death? He spent his time at work rather than with his family and failed to notice the deterioration in Jane's mental health. He received a nasty wake-up call when he discovered Jane drowned their children; their daughter Susan survived by luck alone. As his trial approaches, he finds comfort in alcohol. He believes in his guilt because he never saw the darker side of Jane. The woman she is now is not the one he married.

His lawyer will not work for someone who has already given up. He hires Mariah, a psychic related to Jane, to explore her genealogy. She came from a long history of abuse and criminal behavior. Dave, the lawyer, pushes a dark biology defense. By nature and nurture, Jane was a ticking time bomb and Tom had no way of knowing this about her history. The psychic element could seem goofy, but Harrington makes it work simply by making the story engaging.

Both the main and embedded stories are filled with dark subject matter, but JANEOLOGY does not feel like a downer. Instead it's a gripping glance into the environment that produced a terrible crime. I'm not so fond of the ending, but it's hard to finish something that explores such a difficult question.

Tom was neither a good husband nor father, but he did love his family. He did not notice the changes in Jane because he only saw the woman he loved. One feels sorry for Jane as the secrets of her past spill forth, even as nothing can absolve her of her crime. I do not think JANEOLOGY is for everyone, but Karen Harrington makes a difficult subject highly readable. ( )