Book Review: Mary Jane

In 1970s Baltimore, fourteen-year-old Mary Jane (shy, quiet, bookish) is 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 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 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.

Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau was published May 2021 by William Morrow / Custom House.

This one has been on my to-read list since September of 2022, so I am finally able to get to it now.

This was a light, quicker read. Blau captures the feel of the era, right down to the rotary phones, vinyl turntables, and the lemon-scented Pledge. It brought me back instantly to 1975 when I was about the same age as the titular character of this coming-of-age tale. The visit to the record store in chapter 11 definitely captured the music of the era nicely.

Because the narrating viewpoint is from that of a naive, fourteen year old girl, the story comes across from her limited world view. The adults are mostly portrayed from a surface level (very little depth), and everything centers around Mary Jane in way that borders close to a "Mary Sue" take on occasion. I wanted the story to go deeper and give me something more.

So, if I didn't find it meaty enough for adults, would I recommend it for a young adult audience? Well, given its mature themes and language, I would only suggest it for someone well into high school or above. That might, in fact, be the sweet spot audience since they are still close to the age of Mary Jane to be able to relate to the changes she is going through as her world-view expands.