A review by efrancart
Blue Heron by Avi

emotional reflective tense
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This book read like a reddit post asking for advice. 13 year old Maggie is spending time with her dad (50), stepmother Joanna (28), and new half-sibling Linda (4mo). Apparently, the couple has been married for 3 years. Maggie’s dad divorced her mom when she was 6. Joanna was her dad’s secretary. They don’t specifically say when the relationship started. I could see him posting on r/aita and going down in flames or Joanna posting and being told to run. He has so many red flags! I feel awful for everyone around Maggie’s dad. I can understand why Maggie gets so fixated on the heron. 

I also really appreciated seeing Maggie confront her own assumptions. I don’t generally enjoy realistic fiction, avid escapist over here, but Avi did very well portraying the struggles of a child of divorce. I resonated with Maggie and her joy in nature. 

Joanna didn’t do the best with Maggie, but in fairness she is 28, a new mother, and mentally/verbally abused by her 50 year old man child of a husband. She is doing the best she can. I really liked her realization about her baby, Linda. We get to watch her realize that her daughter is a whole person she will never fully and completely know. And she takes that to mean that maybe she should start working and learning about herself. If only more parents thought this and then did the work to follow through and heal their own traumas. Joanna makes mistakes but I stan. She is the step parent i wish i could have had. 

Bonus points to the story for being disliked by a weird Christian site who disliked that it was mentioned that dragonflies were around 350 million years ago and that the parents were divorced, also for the very light swearing. The horrible treatment that the dad puts everyone through is fine. But sometimes they say not quite naughty words like “heck” so that’s not a book to be recommended. 🙄
Expand filter menu Content Warnings