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A review by stefs_books
Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
5.0
This might be my new favorite book.
As I saw noted as a complaint in some other reviews, it's not very plot driven. Mary Jane is more of a slice-of-life book about a 14 year old learning that there are all kinds of different people in the world, none of them without fault, but all of them worth loving. “... I hadn't understood that people you loved could do things you didn't love. And, still, you could keep loving them.”
*vague spoilers ahead*
The Cone's, while dysfunctional as hell, were the found family I wished I would have had at Mary Jane's age. They taught her to be confident in who she was, that she didn't always have to blend into the background and stay in her "place." And while it certainly seems at times that the book is trying to tell us the Cone's are doing life right while Mary Jane's parents are doing it wrong, I don't think that's the intention at all. Mary Jane points out that there are flaws in how her employers-turned-family are living, and Dr. and Mrs. Cone don't get a happily-ever-after. Mary Jane doesn't even seem upset with her father at the end, when he doesn't come along with her and her mother to see Izzy and Mrs. Cone. That's just how things are, and that's okay. And I think that's the true intention of this book: to show that there are many ways to live your life, and as long as you're being true to yourself, it's okay to have a messy house or smoke a little weed or cook dinner for your family every night or go to church or be a rock star. The world has all different kinds of people, and we all bring something useful.
As I saw noted as a complaint in some other reviews, it's not very plot driven. Mary Jane is more of a slice-of-life book about a 14 year old learning that there are all kinds of different people in the world, none of them without fault, but all of them worth loving. “... I hadn't understood that people you loved could do things you didn't love. And, still, you could keep loving them.”
*vague spoilers ahead*
The Cone's, while dysfunctional as hell, were the found family I wished I would have had at Mary Jane's age. They taught her to be confident in who she was, that she didn't always have to blend into the background and stay in her "place." And while it certainly seems at times that the book is trying to tell us the Cone's are doing life right while Mary Jane's parents are doing it wrong, I don't think that's the intention at all. Mary Jane points out that there are flaws in how her employers-turned-family are living, and Dr. and Mrs. Cone don't get a happily-ever-after. Mary Jane doesn't even seem upset with her father at the end, when he doesn't come along with her and her mother to see Izzy and Mrs. Cone. That's just how things are, and that's okay. And I think that's the true intention of this book: to show that there are many ways to live your life, and as long as you're being true to yourself, it's okay to have a messy house or smoke a little weed or cook dinner for your family every night or go to church or be a rock star. The world has all different kinds of people, and we all bring something useful.