The Thing about Jane Spring (2005)

If Sue Sylvester wasn't so busy trying to crush a certain show choir in Ohio, she would make a great "before" Jane Spring. As a cutthroat Ass't District Attorney in NYC, Jane takes no prisoners in the courtroom or in her personal life. She decides to take action and with the help of her grandmother's old trunk, revamps her look to mimic Doris Day. This is a cute, light story that will have you reaching for the TCM listings to see if Pillow Talk or Touch of Mink are on anytime soon. Que sera sera! ( )

This I think will become a guilty favorite. The writing isn't bad, there's nothing technically wrong with it, and its amusing if not laugh out loud funny. My love for the book comes from the girl in me that watched the Doris Day movies and longed to be so effortlessly a lady. Though the plot is implausible, and the characters turn around and realizations happen at break neck speeds, it is so reminiscent of a Doris Day Technicolor movie, it doesn't seem that off.I'm more than halfway through this book, of a hard no nonsense District attorney raised by a colonel (well, more like trained, much in a way the colonel trained in the military) becoming Doris Day to catch "the one" that will stay forever.Not only has it become a guilty favorite already, its made me plan a Doris Day marathon of all those great movies of hers that I began watching in 7th grade. Soon.Just finished reading it...I couldn't stop myself from finishing it. It really was a fun read, but I suppose that in large part, the fun comes from having been obsessed with the Doris films in my youth. I also, though, liked the character of Jane on her own. I don't think a person would enjoy the story if they started reading it from a highbrow perspective. It's campy fun, well worth the read, if you can let go and believe with a 60's kind of idealism =) best quote "This meant taking time with her hair and make-up as well as changing the polish on her nails. Jane had never realized how much time women took getting ready until she'd decided to impersonate one." ( )

Normally I'm a bit wary of books marketed as 'chick lit', so I got this out of the library to see how I liked it. I LOVED IT!

Jane Spring is a hard, ruthless lawyer who has been brought up by her military general father under strict discipline as 'one of the boys', rigidly tutored in duty and honour and the immorality of civilian society outside the army base. The problem is, she's lonely. She's been on dates, but oddly none of her suitors ever hang around for a second date. What's wrong with offering constructive criticism to her dates, and discussing weaponry and politics over dinner? When a blizzard strikes New York, Jane finds herself watching back-to-back Doris Day movies all afternoon, and has an epiphany. Doris always got her man - so Doris she must become.

It's essentially a formulaic plot - stern badly-dressed woman transforms into a princess and gets the guy - but the idea is so lovely and the writing so sparkling, even laugh out loud at times, that it really works and stands out a mile from its peers. Jane's transformation is well thought out and the characters circling her are just as wittily drawn and give her move from tyrant to siren more depth and background. I raced through the last third of the book and finished it with a huge smile on my face - and what more can you ask from a light girlie read? ( )

Doris Day, or more accurately her character in Lover Come Back, That Touch of Mink and Pillow Talk, is a mentor ala Elijah in folklore who models how to be feminine. Like Tootsie or any other character who pretends to be someone else, she realizes that her new persona can solve formerly difficult problems.

Jane was raised by her Army father, who was disappointed that she was born a girl. When Jane loses a case and realizes that she will never have a relationship lasting longer than one date, she decides to live her life and prosecute her cases as Doris Day. Fortunately she has the magical objects to do this: her Grandmother's trunk of the right kind of outfits. With these new clothes, she becomes kind and in control of her temper. And people around her change for the better as well.

There seems to be an implication that kindness is feminine; painfully straight-forward honesty is masculine. I disagree. I also think she could have bought shoes and bras that fit her and still maintained the Doris Day image. ( )

This book start out with promise, a standoffish, ice queen lawyer who tries to reinvent herself into a man magnet. However, it is the reinvention process that the author loses me. It is a fanciful piece of work which is rather enjoyable but not at all credible and lots of loose ends. ( )