A review by ageorges
Stepping Stones by Lucy Knisley

2.0

I have mixed feelings about this book. On one hand, I like how it shows Jen processing her emotions about moving, her parents' divorce, and her new (maybe?) stepsisters. On the other hand, the two main adults in this book are both kind of horrible. Part of that was probably to show how unfair Jen feels the situation is, but it went way to far in the opinion. It's possible I'm misinterpreting this, but based on the flashbacks we get it seems like the mom left Jen's dad because the dad didn't like nature enough? I get that what we're seeing might be skewed by Jen's perspective and there's probably a lot more to it than this, but that seems like a really weird reason to divorce someone you have a child with. Then there's the mom's boyfriend. He is repeatedly disrespectful to Jen. More than once he calls her "Jenny," a name she doesn't like. He strongly implies he thinks she's stupid. This is not okay. Both the mom and Andy talk about how much a jerk he can be, but no one really does anything about it. Why is the mom not advocating for her child? I expected there to be a scene where the mom called him out or he apologized or something but it never happened. The way the book ends makes it seem like we're supposed to be happy about this family coming together, but I really hope mom dumps the boyfriend Jen is headed for a life of emotional abuse.