Rachel L's Reviews > Mary Jane

4 stars

Set in 1970’s Baltimore, this book is about fourteen year old Mary Jane who is hired as a babysitter for a psychiatrist and his wife. Mary Jane is used to a straight laced/rigid lifestyle, so she’s shocked when the Cones have a relaxed lifestyle with almost no social family norms in place. And then a rock star addict patient and his movie star wife come to stay for the summer, and Mary Jane begins to question who she is and what she wants in life.

I have to admit, the beginning of this book was a little bit rough for me because I didn’t realize this book is more of a “in the life of” or a “slice of life” kind of book without a conventional plot structure. I kept thinking to myself while listening “where is this going?” and then I realized I needed to let that go and enjoy the ride. And I did, and I am really glad I read this book.

The majority of this book is Mary Jane witnessing and experiencing new things and then altering her life perspective from there. I would say not much drastically takes place, but when you grow up in a rigid white household with strong conservative ideals, seeing things more relaxed and free can be a shock, and I think Mary Jane handled a lot of her situations with grace (way more than I would have if I was a teenager in her situation). And while this book is from the perspective of a teenager, it is not a young adult novel. It is an adult fiction novel 1000% based on the happenings of the book and the subject and I will die on that hill.

If you like audiobooks I would recommend listening to this book instead of reading it because there were quite a few musical elements and the audiobook was great at adapting those and it really enhanced the story.