This is a book by an author I discovered about 20 years ago and yet have only read just a few of her novels. Both novels were ones I enjoyed. One of those books I read earlier this year. How the Light Gets In was reviewed by me here. It was absolutely fantastic and I rated it a 10. I have also read Count the Ways, reviewed here. That one was also a 10. Then this one, Under the Influence, was an 8. After Her I read 11 years ago and I gave it a 7. It was just ok. I also read her book Labor Day although I don't think I did a blog review as it was a long time ago.
If you're looking for a good read with some drama, history, humor, and a feel-good message, this book is for you! I also highly recommend How the Light Gets In.
STORY SUMMARY
Brooklyn, NY, on this particular September morning, is one of those perfect end of Summer days. Wendy, age 13, is in middle school and heading off to school which just started about 3 days ago. Her mother, Jan, is heading off to work in an office in the twin towers in Manhattan. Her step-dad, Josh, has a gig later that evening. He plays bass in a local band and is also a stay-at-home dad to Wendy's half brother, a preschooler, named Louie. He is named after Louis Armstrong because Josh and Jan love jazz music and the band Josh is a part of plays jazz. Wendy herself, although she didn't inherit her mother's gift of dance, did inherit her biological father's gift of art. She loves to draw and play clarinet.
As Wendy is getting ready for school, she and her mother have an arguement about the letter Wendy received from her biological father Garrett, who lives in California. Garrett, although he has never paid child support nor has not visited Wendy much at all over the years since the divorce when she was preschool student, has invited Wendy to come out and visit him. He seems to not even realize summer vacation is over and the children are all back in school! Wendy's mother is adamant about not letting Wendy go. Wendy leaves for school.
An hour later, the news comes that there's been an attack on the World Trade Center and the plane has crashed right into and through the tower that Jan works in.
Life all of a sudden takes a horrible turn.
They put up posters everywhere with Jan's face and info. No phone calls come, no one has any information about where she could be. The truth is slow to sink in for Josh, Wendy and Louie. Kate, Jan's best friend, tries to help the family cope.
A few weeks later, Garrett shows up in Brooklyn with no warning. He is there to take Wendy back to California with him.
Wendy begins to re-invent herself out in Davis, CA. Her new life now includes a new friend named Violet who is an unwed teenage mother living on her own in a one bedroom apartment in Sacramento. Wendy meets her because Wendy, unbeknownst to her dad, has been skipping the school where he enrolled her.
Garrett has a girlfriend, Carolyn, who collects and sells cactus. She has recently reconnected with the son she gave up for adoption 20 years earlier. She becomes a good friend to Wendy and tells Wendy she can call on Carolyn at any time.
Wendy also befriends the owner of a bookstore owner named Alan who has a son, aged 19 named Tim. Tim lives in a home for teens on the autism spectrum. Alan's wife Linda has escaped to an ashram for awhile. It appears she doesn't plan on coming back. Alan introduces Wendy to some good books particularly The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Wendy also has a new guy friend named Todd who is a homeless skateboarder and aged 14. He is on a mission to find his long-lost brother.
Over that winter and into spring, Wendy moves between the memories of her mother and the discoveries that come with living with her biological father for the first time. Wendy is pulled between her old life in Brooklyn (and misses her best friend Amelia) and her new one in California where life is vastly different than living on the East Coast. She is faced with this new world where the usual rules no longer apply.
She learns that she is a survivor. Will she decide to stay with her father or will she go home to the man she knows as dad and her little brother?? Which will she choose? and why?
MY THOUGHTS
This was deeply moving as it's told all in the voice of Wendy. In fact, there's no quotation marks in this book. That was rather different for me. It's literally a conversation that Wendy has in her head in a sense.
The character development and the plot are so very well established.
It is so moving to hear Wendy's thoughts, although a fictional character, about the tragedy of 9/11 and the aftermath in NYC. Because I live so close to the City, this was especially moving to me in a more personal way than I was expecting.
The main themes in this story are: terrorist attacks; death of a parent; grief; blended families/family dynamics; friendship; family; honesty; love; divorce; coming of age; hope and healing in personal and national tragedy; forgiveness.
There were a few quotes that really jumped out at me:
"...that's about the best way you can honor a person you loved that died. To keep on with your life and do the best job you know of living it." (pg 280 The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard c. 2003.)
"I'm not sure which is harder, he told her. When you feel like you can't go on any more, or when you start to realize you will." (pg 307)
"If you spend all your energy thinking about the past, what's left to put into the future....?" (pg 354)
At the back of the book is an afterward by the author explaining how and why she came to write this book. It was very moving .....just as much as the plot!
In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 14 and older.
On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.
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