Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
Reviewer: Deb Alig, Circulation Assistant
Genre: Fiction
Suggested Age: Adult
What is this book about? The year is 1975 and fourteen year old Mary Jane lives in a conservative home in an exclusive neighborhood of Baltimore. Her mother Betsy is a stereotypical Stepford wife who teaches Mary Jane how to cook and keep house and how to behave like a proper young lady. Gerald, her racist and anti-Semitic father, is a lawyer who believes in hard work, family, and patriotism. When Mrs. Cone, the wife of a local doctor, asks Mary Jane to be a nanny for her five year old daughter, Izzy, her parents agree as they feel it is a respectable summer job for their daughter. Or is it? The Cone’s lifestyle is nothing like Mary Jane’s. Their home is cluttered with books, clothes, and toys that are strewn all over the place. Bonnie Cone does not cook for her family. They mostly eat take out. And she doesn’t wash or dress Izzy or put her to bed. Mary Jane is naturally shocked by the lack of structure so she decides to help the Cone family get organized. She bathes and dresses Izzy, prepares breakfast and supper for the family, and helps straighten up whenever she can. But caring for the Cone family soon becomes even more challenging when a drug addicted rock star named Jimmy and his movie star wife named Sheba move into the house so that Dr. Cone can help Jimmy get sober. Jimmy and Sheba are entertaining and affectionate characters, but they are also dysfunctional. Jimmy is addicted to heroin and Sheba is addicted to fame. Though Mary Jane has never met people like them, she soon becomes attached. They literally introduce her to sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll, and by the end of the summer, she questions the sheltered and elitist way in which she is being raised.
My Review: Mary Jane is a fun, coming of age novel that transports the reader back to 1975 when young people lived for sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll. Even the photographic cover of the novel cleverly depicts the absurdly nostalgic story that waits inside. I think that just about anyone who grew up in the 1970’s would enjoy reading this book as much as I did.
Rating: 5/5
Three Words that Describe this Book: nostalgic, far out, coming of age
Give This A Try If You Like: The Trouble with Lexie by, Jessica Anya Blau, The Wonder Bread Summer by, Jessica Anya Blau, The Summer of Naked Swim Parties by, Jessica Anya Blau
