Mary Jane - Jessica Anya Blau

Fiction

Rating: 7.5/10

No one was more bewildered than I that I found myself utterly charmed by a book that was about…well, nothing.  

This is one of those slice of life stories that follows an absolute delight of a young girl over the course of a summer in the ‘70’s as she discovers new things about not only herself, but others as well.

Mary Jane finds herself caught between her straitlaced family and the ragtag group of eccentrics and artists she is nannying for over the summer. As she leaves her mark on this family with touches of steadfastness and care, she herself is enveloped by the pure joy and love that they inundate her with.

I imagine that my love was born of the fact that the book evokes those precious and rare moments in life when your world is on the precipice of change, and the thought of what’s to come overwhelms and thrills you.

Full disclosure, if you are looking for a deep dive into bold adolescent counterculture, look elsewhere.  This is at its heart, sweet and sentimental.

Book Pairing(s): Gone To Pot by Jennifer Craig, The Storied Life Of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin, In Five Years by Rebecca Serle,