The Evolution of Jane

An interesting story that doesn't really pan out. Jane takes a guided boat tour of the Galapagos Islands and finds that her guide is herformer best friend and cousin, Martha. Surrounded by the marvels of evolution, Jane can only ruminate on the evolution of her failed friendship, leading to a most anticlimatic ending which must take the place of closure. The pace of the novel switches between the present and Jane's childhood memories. While the author does well with scenery descriptions, the novel gets bogged down with Jane's self-conscious obsession over Martha.

It all starts when Jane's mother thinks twenty five year old Jane needs a vacation to mend a broken heart. Jane has been left by her husband of only six months and while it has taken Jane only half that long to get over the abandonment she does not dispute her mother's "quaint notion." It is on this trip she has always wanted to take, to the Galapagos Islands, that Jane discovers her long-lost, once best friend, and cousin Martha is a guide. As Martha and Jane had fallen out of friendship Jane is baffled by this coincidence and is unsure how to proceed with her feelings and actions. She spends the entire vacation obsessing about the failed relationship.
The story itself jumps from the past to the present in an effort to explain Jane and show more Martha's childhood friendship. Despite a mysterious family feud that split the rest of the family the two cousins were inseparable for a period of time. Until one day they weren't. Jane's obsession over what went wrong dominates the trip to the Galapagos. Even when her roommate tells her "let sleeping dogs lie" she can't let it go. show less

The right people aren't reading this on goodreads - it really probably does deserve a slightly higher rating. It's not a bad book, but it is only of interest to some. The cover says it all. A pretty young woman goes to the exotic Galapagos to ponder the melodramatic Mysteries. Analyses and coincidences both abound. If it intrigues you, by all means pick it up - it's short. You might adore it.

I love that cover but what I could remember of my reason for losing interest was the MC is a spaz. She talks non-stop. Isn't that silly to say that about a book?

I haven't gotten back to it and reading some reviews, I'm going to let it go. If I read for covers I'd definitely be reading this but the content is outside my interest.

Book club didn't enjoy this book. The word obsessive comes to mind. The general sense of the group was that her obsession over why the friendship ended gave us a clue as to why Martha doesn't want to be her friend anymore.

A very disagreeable main character, in my opinion. I've liked this author's other books, but this one is disappointing.