The Usual Rules: A Novel

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Summary: The Usual Rules rules!
Review: Wendy is exhibiting all the usual traits of a 13-year-old living in Manhattan. Things with her mom have not been so great lately. Wendy has even taken to attacking her stepfather, whom she loves dearly, and ignoring her little brother. Everything changes on the morning of September 11, 2001, and the usual rules no longer apply. We watch Wendy deal with her grief by accompanying her "real" father to California, where 9/11 is somehow less real. Through Wendy's "secret" choice of foregoing school for a while, and the development of new friendships in California, she begins to deal with the overwhelming grief and loss she has experienced. Time and love help heal Wendy, and only then can she return to her father and brother back east. Seeing 9/11 through Wendy's eyes gives the reader a new perspective on this terrible tragedy and the healing that can occur in the aftermath. The Usual Rules, by Joyce Maynard, allows the reader to look at Wendy's life before and after through a series of memories. As Wendy struggles to deal with the reality that her life has been forever altered by an event beyond her control, she begins to appreciate and honor the life with which she is left. This bittersweet novel will leave readers thinking about their own lives long after the book is finished.

Rating:
Summary: A Believable Story About Post 9/11
Review: Wendy,the 13 year old heroine of this book,is a "typical" N.Y teenager with a loving mother and step-dad and younger half-brother. Then the tragic events of 9/11 unfold and her mother disappears while working in one of the Twin Towers.The book really makes you re-live the horror and loss of that day and the girl's grief is belivable,although at times she seems a bit too stoic. (...)In addtion,Wendy meets a lot of other people at a crossroads in their life and that's the main fault of the book,as it should focus more on Wendy and the tragedy of losing her mother at such a young age. The author does show that were not alone in our searching for family connection and a sense of closure,which she herself never truly has(...)A good book to both read and discuss.

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Summary: An unforgettable story
Review: When I first picked this book up and read that it was about a young girl whose mother is killed on 9/11 I almost put it back down. I was afraid the subject matter would be much too sad and intense. I'm so glad now that I did not pass on reading it. It is a beautiful novel and I absolutely loved it!

On the morning of September 11, 2001, thirteen-year old Wendy is living in New York City with her mother, stepfather and four-year old brother, Louie. Shortly after Wendy leaves for school her mother, Janet, leaves to go to her job as an administrative assistant on the eighty-seventh floor of one of the World Trade Center Towers. Later that morning the tragedy unfolds and as hours turn into days and there is no word from her mother, Wendy and her family must face the devastating fact that Janet is one of the victims and will never again return home to them. Wendy's biological father shows up shortly thereafter and persuades her to leave New York and return with him to his home in California. Even though he has never before taken much of an interest in her life he now feels that she belongs with him, and not the beloved stepfather she has known for the past five years.

This story is very emotional and often heartbreaking but also uplifting and above all, excellently written. Ms. Maynard draws the reader into Wendy's warm and loving home life from the very first paragraph. You will come to feel as if you are a member of this family and will definitely feel the same devastating loss of Wendy's mother, a fun-loving somewhat quirky woman whose dream had always been to become a famous dancer on Broadway. By far the most appealing facet of the novel, though, is its focus on Wendy's relationships with her father and stepfather, two completely different men who both just happened to love the same woman at some point in their lives and who now each have something positive to offer Wendy.

The book offers a great deal of insight into what it must have been like for those who lost family members on Sept. 11, 2001. The author's descriptions of New York City in the hours and days shortly after the tragedy are very enlightening, especially for those of us who do not live in that part of the country. The overall sense of despair and the desperation to find family members cannot really be adequately transferred through news reports on a television screen. Ms. Maynard does an excellent job of conveying at least some of these emotions here. This is a wonderful book and an unforgettable story. I highly recommend it!