Jane: The Woman Who Loved Tarzan

On a scientific expedition with her father into the rainforests of Gabon, Africa, paleoanthropology student Jane Porter is rescued from a leopard attack and nursed back to health by Tarzan, a remarkable (and remarkably attractive) wild man. The story beautifully captures Jane and Tarzan’s powerful yet naïve attraction and Jane’s wonder and joy as she explores the jungle by Tarzan’s side. Maxwell’s reimagining, authorized by the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate, makes smart changes from the original: caricatured cannibals are replaced by the more complex Waziri tribe of later Tarzan novels, whose hidden treasure motivates some formidable European villains. Unfortunately, the early chapters hammer home the spunky heroine clichés: Jane is an atheist, a spinster at age 20, and prone to quarreling with her mother about split skirts. Given that she also fights enraged elephants and treks deep into the jungle, Maxwell’s Jane is so obviously heroic and feminist that the usual tropes are hilariously unnecessary. Agents: David Forrer and Kim Witherspoon, Inkwell Management. (Sept.)