Book Review: Looking for Jane

Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Wow, just… wow. This book is absolutely heartbreaking, brilliant, historically accurate, and yet poignantly relevant to todays world.

The below review was written minutes after reading the last page and closing off the book. It is much more emotionally charged than my usual reviews. But because of the subject matter I have chosen to leave it as is.

I can barely find the words to describe the multitude of emotions, feelings, and frustration I have after reading these combined stories. From illegal abortions to adoption practices to lies lived for a lifetime to the excitement of abortion being legalized; Looking for Jane will take you into an account of what life was once life, what life is still like for some, and what life is about to be like for so many American women. The relevancy of this novel cannot be overstated at this point in time.
While I am a childless woman, and will never have a baby of my own (partially because of infertility, and partially by my choice); all I can say is that without a doubt MY BODY is mine. And no one; not the government, the church, other women or men, or even the father should be allowed to use my body for their own means or gains. Nor should they be allowed to decide what does or does not happen with it.
Looking for Jane brings so many poignant pieces of the struggle together that by the end all I can do is still here stunned, breathless, angry, and resolute that abortion MUST remain a woman’s right. It MUST remain our choice what happens to our bodies.

All I can really say to fellow women, supporters of the right to choice, those scared of what the reversal of Roe vs. Wade means for other basic human rights, and any men whom have had to grapple with what the women around them have done: READ THIS BOOK.
While set in (my home country) Canada (and written by a fellow Canadian); it tells the illegal abortion networking stories of all of North America; and the atrocities put on pregnant women when the church was all too involved in ‘health and safety’.

I won’t lie, it’s nearly 3am, I couldn’t put this down in the end; and now I’m riled up with anger, fear (for the future), frustration, and extreme sadness all at once because some people can’t mind their own business and worry about their own lives and how what they do impacts others. So forgive my extreme emotional reaction at this exact moment.

One thing I have always believed, and has just been reinforced for me by Heather Marshall, my body is MINE! Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do with it. Especially when the emotional turmoil of said decision will haunt the woman forever. No woman takes abortion lightly. No one. I’ve seen the haunting look in other women’s eyes who made the hard choice, and while I’ve never met someone who regrets their abortion; without a doubt they all hurt from it, even decades later.
If nothing else, Heather Marshall depicts the haunting grief all women feel either for: themselves or their fellow females (be it lovers, family or friends) in a way that I believe will remain with any reader forever.

Please note: I received an eARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. This is an honest and unbiased review.

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