Is there anything more interesting that reading a book that takes place in a neighborhood that you are familiar with? My parents live in Beachwood, Ohio - they go to Corky & Lenny's and I am too too familiar with Beachwood Mall! Plus, not only is the neighborhood familiar, the people seem to be also!

Jane Horowitz is not plain - she is real - not a girl yet not yet a woman (thank's Britney!) - she's a middle child - constantly being overshadowed by her beautiful older sister Caroline and putting up with her pathological liar younger brother, Willy. Instead of going to college (even though she was valedictorian of her high school class), she works as a secretary to her therapist (whom she secretly has a crush on). She is engaged to a man she can barely stand but just doesn't know what to do with her life.

Eve Horowitz writes this book in a female "Holden Caulfied" type of way - except that the characters are Jewish and live in Ohio instead of NY. There are plenty of NY references though as Jane's sister is marrying an orthodox man (who's lifestyle is as alien to Jane's family as her family is to their's).

The only disappointment is that the author seems to have only written this one book. I'd love to read another one.

I, too, just picked this off of the library shelf thinking it would be a quick, fun, read, but it was really insightful! I came to Amazon to see if Eve Horowitz wrote any more novels, and was diappointed to see that Plain Jane was her first and only! I'll keep checking, though, because she is a very talented writer! She really captured all of the conflicts experienced by an almost 20-something!

This book is truly a delight. Through her self-deprecating humor and sharp take on those around her "Jane" takes us through a rocky time in her life to emerge so much wiser.

I signed on here to try and find other works by Eve Horowitz and am disappointed to find there aren't any.