“The Thing About Jane Spring” is Sharon Krum’s hilarious social comedy about a rather hard-bitten Manhattan prosecutor who turns to the movies for inspiration when both her social and professional lives appear to be going nowhere. Jane was raised by a military father who instilled a no-nonsense gruffness in his daughter. She’s beautiful but dresses in a very utilitarian style and rarely gets asked out for a second date. Jane is so tough in the courtroom that juries often feel sympathetic toward the defendants who face the prosecutor’s wrath.
On the eve of an important case, Jane is stuck in her apartment by a blizzard and watches a Doris Day marathon on cable. The prosecutor remembers how much her grandmother loved Day and that the beloved relative modeled her own personal style on the actress. Jane decides to use Day as an inspiration to turn her life around – utilizing a trunkful of grandma’s vintage 1960s designer clothes for her “costumes” — and the novel shows how borrowing from the star’s sexy-but-nice persona works like a charm.
Each chapter starts with an appropriate quote from a Day classic such as “Pillow Talk” and “That Touch of Mink.” Krum scores many laughs from the strange juxtaposition of 40-year-old Hollywood comedies and the much tougher philosophy of Manhattan circa 2005. Some people adore the “new” Jane Spring. Others think she’s lost her marbles. “The Thing About Jane Spring” reminds us of the mildly feminist slant of the Day working girl comedies, and Krum makes a strong case for modern women adding a pinch of old-fashioned niceness to their arsenal of work and dating tactics. The book can be read as pure entertainment, but it also works as a smart satire of feminine behavior in two entirely different eras.
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