This is one of the best books I have read recently. It was well written with a plot that made me want to continue reading when I should have been doing chores. I love the characters and their interactions.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

3 stars rounded down!! I think I’d appreciate this more if I had kids (but would be triggering immediately post partum) but I really enjoyed certain passages and the message I think it was trying to make about mothers in our society. I also liked the twist at the end.

As with many a book by Karen Thompson Walker, this is a weird but mesmerizing story. It revolves around a psychiatrist, Dr. Byrd, and his patient, Jane, who seems to be losing time, hallucinating, blacking out, and more. She's found in a local NYC park, with no idea of how she got there or what happened before she arrived. Jane is a new mother--and single parent--to her young son Caleb and Dr. Byrd is trying to determine if her symptoms are related to her newfound motherhood or something else.

The book has a vague, hazy feel, where you never know quite what is real, even between Jane's version (including journal entries) and Dr. Byrd's account of their sessions. It doesn't help when we learn that Dr. Byrd has a slightly disgraced past.

Jane is a confusing but sympathetic character. Why is this happening to her? Is tied to the loss of someone she cared about when she was 17? Or is she simply an overworked and exhausted mother whose body and mind have been pushed too far? Beyond trying to figure out what is happening to Jane, the book posits that motherhood can slowly erase parts of your self.

This is a quiet sort of book, filled with lots of thinking and discussion, but it's fascinating. I won't say much more to ruin any of the plot twists. It's a different read, but a good one.

3.5 stars. Jane — who has a photographic memory — suffered from short-term amnesia that discovered after she left her child behind, went missing for a day, and remembered nothing about those 24 hours. Through her visits to her psychiatrist, Dr. Byrd, the reader discovers not only so very much about Jane and her mental state but also about Dr. Byrd. Told from both Jane’s and Dr. Byrd’s points of view (including the doctor’s clinical notes and Jane’s letters to her son), this novel really delves into the inner workings of the human psyche and makes for a very interesting read, one that should stay with the reader for quite some time.

3.5 stars! This was such a unique read. I loved the dual POV between the doctor and Jane. At times, I had to remind myself that this wasn't a true story because it felt so "real" within the pages. While I may not have been completely satisfied with the ending, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough trying to figure out what was going on with Jane. Thanks to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review - it's out now!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an ARC for review.

I've read other books by Thompson Walker and liked them. This one, unfortunately, fell really flat for me. The story alternates between a psychiatrist's session notes and letters written by Jane, his patient, who keeps disappearing and suffers from dissociative fugue. It all felt very clinical and the ending solidified anything. I just felt bored throughout this novel.

Thank you to Random House and Netgalley for the complementary digital copy of The Strange Case of Jane O. I was very excited to snag this advance copy, because I am a Karen Thompson Walker completionist. Having now read all three of her novels, I would say this one was slightly different than the first two with a more ambiguous sci-fi/speculative aspects, but still riveting stuff.
As a new mother seeks the help of a psychiatrist when she experiences a series of unexplained blackouts, hallucinations, and a powerful sense of foreboding, it becomes increasingly mysterious as to what might be happening when she “disappears” from her life. That the novel is told from the psychiatrist’s perspective was engrossing as I, the reader, was trying to figure out what was happening alongside him. Walker apparently used actual case notes from the neurologist Oliver Sacks, who I’ve always meant to read and have now put ‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat’ on my TBR. How reality for some people can seem stranger than fiction is fascinating. There are also chapters written from the woman’s own perspective, but in the form of letters to her child in case something happens to her, which added to the unsettling and mysterious tone.
I will say, if you are not a fan of ambiguity and concrete explanations, especially with endings, this might be a frustrating read. I found it compelling and thought provoking reading, as I love this genre of literary fiction with just a tinge of sci-fi/speculative fiction. When asked about choosing this genre for her novels, Walker said in an interview with Lit Hub, “There is a pleasure in being reminded that we don’t yet know all there is to know about the universe—much less about one another.” YES.

Imaginative, compelling and so beautifully told - I could not put this down. A real winner.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House for an ARC of this novel.

I’ve loved this author’s other books (I still regularly think about The Age of Miracles over a decade after reading it) so I was thrilled to see she had a new book out. I’ve heard good things about this one, but unfortunately, it wasn’t a hit for me.

The premise was cool and the ending was unique and thought-provoking, however, I had such a hard time getting into it. The story is told in alternating POVs from both the title character and her therapist, but I never really connected to either. I think it was the way that it was written — in a very distant, clinical style (which made sense from the therapist’s POV but left me feeling disconnected to and uninterested in the MC) is where this book lost me.

I do think KTW is undoubtedly a very creative and talented writer, and I’d definitely read her next book. This one just wasn’t a hit for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for a free egalley in exchange for an honest review

The Strange Case of Jane O. by Karen Thompson Walker is my idea of the perfect book. The book is written in the format of a case history, interspersed with a journal by the patient in question.

Jane is a librarian and single mother by choice who seeks out the services of Dr. Byrd when she experiences a blackout and goes missing for a day before being found with no memory of the time she was missing. Dr. Byrd is increasingly perplexed and intrigued by his patient and her experience; through their therapy sessions he discovers Jane has a photographic memory as well as a traumatizing incident from her past.

As any good critical theory student knows, as we learn about the patient, we learn as much about the psychiatrist.

This book completely pulled me in and I wept when it was over. If you like excellent writing and literary psychological fiction, you will love this book.

I have read all of Karen Thompson Walker's novels and this one might be my favourite yet.

I'll be sharing a review on my Instagram page @earsinabook

I was so excited to read this. I loved the dreamers so much. This has such potential. I loved the psychology background of the story but the ending just left so much open-ended and there was just nothing left to latch on.

Probably closer to three and a half stars.
A psychiatrist begins meeting with a woman experiencing strange, unexplained fugues/blackouts/hallucinations.
It was an intriguing story, but much like Jane's condition, which was never really figured out, the unresolved story was somewhat unsatisfying.
Thanks to #netgalley and #randomhouse for this #arc of #thestrangecaseofjaneo in exchange for an honest review.

This novel really didn't work for me. I struggled to connect with Jane and with her therapist and there were so many more questions than answers. I feel like the suspenseful state was supposed to keep the reader on their toes, but it made me feel like I couldn't care enough about these characters to stay invested in what was really going on with Jane. The ending REALLY didn't work for me. I listened to the author on a podcast describe some of her inspiration for the novel, which was interesting and made me bump my rating from one star to two, but still, I simply did not enjoy this.

Sci-Fi/magical realism story set in the world of psychiatry. I previously enjoyed this author's book :"The Dreamers", and she is again exploring consciousness and how it relates to the events in our life. Dr. Henry Byrd is a psychiatrist who is raising a young daughter alone after the death of his wife. He has a new patient named Jane who says he saw her 10 years earlier although he doesn't remember her. Jane is a public librarian raising a one year old son on her own. She is seeking help after being found lying in the park where she forgot her son and was apparently in a fugue state for many hours and didn't pick her boy up from daycare. The novel is structured by Dr. Byrd's notes and some chapters which are Jane's diary, that she is writing for her son to read someday.

Jane has an unusual brain as she remembers every minute of her life and can recite every book on a bookshelf and what the weather and news were on each given day. Yet she is experiencing some strange things such as seeing a man she knows to be dead for many years who warns her leave New York and she continues to have episodes where she is in some kind of altered state. Both the doctor and the patient are not fully reliable narrators and this is not a straight forward mental health story. I did want to know more about Jane and felt worry over her taking care of a son while she kept experiencing fugues The author decided to have one of the states be about a pandemic that she doesn't call COVID, but is certainly meant to be the same virus. I liked the questions posed by the book but it seemed to just trickle to an ending that explained nothing and seemed more suited to a romance story. Thank you to the NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this ARC in exchange for a review.

I loved this so much! It was super absorbing and I couldn't wait to get back to it, which has been rare for me lately. If I had one criticism, it's that I got to 92% and it wasn't clear how she was going to wrap it up because it didn't FEEL near the end, and then the explanation bit for Jane's condition felt a bit rushed and more told than shown. That didn't take away from the book for me though and I thought it was otherwise masterfully woven together.

Told as part psychiatrist’s log and part patient journal, this book has a clinical tone yet is viscerally suspenseful. Even Jane’s own journal has a formal and detached tone. The storytellers are unreliable - adding to the guessing game, for Jane and the reader, of what’s real. I liked this although as with the mysteries of the human mind, definitive answers are elusive. Very interesting structure - can’t wait to discuss with @kraysbookclub and @downtogetthefictionon for #notyomamasbookclub!

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for the advance copy of this book!

[4.5 stars]

Karen Thompson Walker writes my favorite kind of Speculative Fiction - slightly Sci-Fi stories that feel literary and grounded in reality other than the one Sci-Fi wrinkle. I was advised to go into this book blind and I recommend that! Jane is a young mother who, in the first year after her child is born, begins to experience strange symptoms like amnesia, hallucinations, and premonitions. After meeting with a psychiatrist for the first time, Jane goes missing for a day. When she turns back up, she has no memory of what happened and Jane and her psychiatrist go on a mission to figure out what's going on with her. The Strange Case of Jane O reads like a medical mystery - told from the perspective of Jane’s psychiatrist - mixed in with chapters told from Jane’s perspective in the form of a journal / letter to her young son. Walker was inspired by the real life psychiatrist Oliver Sacks, and she drew on his case notes to add authenticity to her fictional story. The vibe is unsettling and, even at 50% the mark, I had no idea where this was going, but I was totally into it. The story delves deep into psychiatry and how the human brain works. There’s a curiosity here to push beyond the limits of what’s currently known and accepted. I will say this story feels different from Walker’s previous two books - those were more straight up Slightly Sci-Fi. This one isn’t quite that and I think it’s one of those books that’s very hard to categorize.

Jane is our main character and she struggles with bouts of memory loss and a blurred line between reality and delusion. In this story we get snippets of her journal and case notes from her psychiatrist, Dr. Byrd. As the story progresses, the reader rides the wave of Jane’s devolving mental health and struggles to make sense of what’s going on in her world.

I enjoyed the building tension throughout this novel, the air of unreliability from both narrators, and the constant questioning of reality, memory, and perception. It’s a mind bender, and I recommend going along for the ride. You’ll want to pay close attention but also don’t overthink it too much so you can enjoy the story!Thanks to NetGalley for a digital ARC of this book.

This book made my brain itch, but in the best way. Sometimes, for me, the sign of a good book is when I find it near impossible to categorize it because it is such a unique story that doesn't fit within the parameter of one or two genres. The Strange Case of Jane O. is literary fiction, it is psychological fiction, it is speculative fiction, and the list goes on. I love a good unreliable narration and this gives you a dual POV in addition. You have Jane O. writing personal letters to her son and you have Jane's psychologist, Dr. Byrd's clinical notes summarizing his sessions with Jane. It's hard to identify what is real happening as Jane's main issue is that she enters into dissociative stages with zero memory of what occurred during these times. But what is stranger is that Jane also has hyperthymesia which ensures she remembers every single thing that has occurred during her lifetime, not limited to her own actions but also to everything surrounding her. Jane's case is fascinating and though I tried really hard to figure out where this was going; I really didn't know. This book haunted my thoughts for weeks after I finished it. Highly recommend for fans of psychological stories where the narrator (or one of them) is the patient.

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and Netgalley for my copy; all opinions are my own.

I love a good speculative tale, and this one kept me turning pages - at first. I did lose momentum in the middle and found myself wanting to find out what the mystery was all about. This isn't my favorite of this author's books, but a solid and interesting read.