Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
In 1970s Baltimore, 14-year-old Mary Jane loves cooking with her mother, singing in her church choir, and enjoying her family’s subscription to the Broadway Showtunes of the Month record club. Shy, quiet, and bookish, she’s glad when she lands a summer job as a nanny for the daughter of a local doctor. A respectable job, Mary Jane’s mother says. In a respectable house.
The house may look respectable on the outside, but inside it’s a literal and figurative mess: clutter on every surface, Impeachment: Now More Than Ever bumper stickers on the doors, cereal and takeout for dinner. And even more troublesome (were Mary Jane’s mother to know, which she does not): the doctor is a psychiatrist who has cleared his summer for one important job – helping a famous rock star dry out. A week after Mary Jane starts, the rock star and his movie star wife move in.
Over the course of the summer, Mary Jane introduces her new household to crisply ironed clothes and a family dinner schedule, and has a front-row seat to a liberal world of sex, drugs, and rock and roll (not to mention group therapy). Caught between the lifestyle she’s always known and the future she’s only just realized is possible, Mary Jane will arrive at September with a new idea about what she wants out of life, and what kind of person she’s going to be.
Yall this book was SO DAMN ENJOYABLE.
I don’t even have any little fun quips or antedotes like usual to bore yall with before I get down to the business of reviewing.
I’m just hopping right on in.
Because I just completely loved this book.
The New York Times Book Review called it “Almost Famous meets Daisy Jones and The Six” and yall…
That description NAILS IT.
I can not think of any of my own words to describe it better…so I’m just quoting theirs and nodding my head fiercely in agreement! 😆
Suffice to say if you loved those two books (WHICH I TOTALLY DID!) you will fall head over heels for this one too, my friends.
This story is a coming of age tale…14 year old Mary Jane embarks on her first job being a summer nanny for an eccentric and fascinating set of neighbors.
The narrator–Caitlin Kinnunen–had the PERFECT voice to embody the character of Mary Jane.
Her tone, her expression, her annunciation…so on POINT.
I couldn’t figure out why she sounded so familiar ….and when I finally looked up the name of the person who was reading to me, it hit me like a ton of bricks…
SHE WAS EMMA IN “THE PROM” ON BROADWAY!
😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
No WONDER she sounded ah-freakin-mazing when she sang here and there in this audio production!
(all you fellow musical theater geeks out there are probably also equally as excited as I am for this revelation…but for those of you who have ZERO CLUE what I’m talking about, don’t worry about it…won’t interfere with your enjoyment of her reading the audiobook ONE BIT)
The author AND narrator both PERFECTLY embody how terrifying yet at the same time EXHILARATING it is to begin to come into your full self as a teenager.
Those confusing and wonderful moments when you start to shed your childhood bit by bit…. and begin to pick up newly discovered pieces that amaze and frighten you.
When you start daring to shed your parent’s or family’s or culture’s expectations of you….and figuring out your own full self completely separate from them or anything familiar.
When you start to realize toxic behaviors or traits from your parents you have never noticed or realized before…and realizing how different of a person you want to be.
When you start having a whole entire other life that doesn’t involve them…and how liberating and puzzling and fun and frustrating it all is.
How it all feels so right…yet also so wrong…and you question EVERYYYYTTTHHHING.
The author NAILS it in the voice of Mary Jane.
Mary Jane is discovering things for the very first time–like rock and roll and desire and deep, real, full adult conversations about heavy issues–and it feels both simultaneously weird AND wonderful to her.
In this book, I feel like music is it’s very own character.
Remember being a teenager and “discovering” certain bands or types of music for the very first time?
Remember how it felt like some world changing, soul filling turning point when your ears heard a certain song or album?
Remember how listening to songs over and over put your feelings into words that you had no idea how to express on your own?
Remember how when you heard certain voices or rhythms you felt like the world opened up into something brand fucking new and astounding and tragic and magical?
Somehow this author manages to write perfectly about this from a 14 year old point of view.
Mannnn…..this story brought me BACK to my own teen years in the 1990s…and how I felt when I listened to Nirvana or Pearl Jam for the very first time….life changing. It’s like that music marked a huge turning point in my growing up journey…
Music can be so so so many things besides a fun beat to bop around to…it can be heart crushing and soul filling and life giving and mind opening.
Mary Jane has a pivotal summer working for her neighbors.
She is naiive…but at the same time, she has a certain wisdom, maturity and ability to nuture that goes deeper than most of the adults she is around are capable of.
This story delves into addiction and also neglect….but in a way that shows that people are never *just* one thing.
An addict is never JUST their addiction…they are a full human being who has kindness and love and talent…but sometimes their addiction overshadows everything else.
A neglectful person is never JUST neglectful…they are also a full human being who has kindness and love and talent…but sometimes their own issues and problems leave them incapable of knowing how to care properly for others.
A beautiful message that this book delivers is that there are so many ways to love and be loved…to express and create…and to heal and connect.
WONDERFUL book to indulge in this summer.