it is what it is.

I read this last fall, I believe, because Meg & Dia wrote a song about it and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I was also all about a woman getting her books published in 1832 Europe, even if she had to take a fake man’s name.

However, I hated it almost instantly, but wound up reading the whole thing due to having many a long Metra ride during my courtship of a boy in the city.

SPOILERS: Basically, this douche of a dude Raymon is secretly sleeping with Noun, a maid to Indiana, who is 19, has a nervous condition and is married to an old guy she doesn’t like much. Well, Noun gets knocked up about the same time the Raymon decides he’s actually totally in love with Indiana, and Noun decides to drown herself. Indiana is real upset, but doesnt know her new lover is responsible. After a million pages of bullshit later, in which Indiana faints a lot, Indiana gets taken to an island, jumps on a ship to run away back to France, Raymon is the biggest asshole ever and fucks with her emotions and she’s dumb enough for fall for his shit most of the book, and then Indiana wants to jump off a waterfall with her much older cousin who I guess she decides she’s really in love with after all this time, but they decide to live in a cabin on a little island instead.

Conclusion: It was rough, and I don’t recommend it. The Meg & Dia song ‘Indiana’ is pretty alright, though. For some reason, the only version I can find on youtube is the acoustic, which is not as good as the full band.

Other books I really dislike: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper, The Awakening by Kate Chopin, As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner