The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard

The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard
Review by Jamie Farber

The flyer reads, “Last seen on her way to… Tower 1… eighty-seventh floor. Brown hair, hazel eyes… Any information at all,” but this flyer is no different than the other bulletins in the city posted by people searching for their missing loved ones (Maynard 41).

Thirteen-year-old Wendy, her step-father, Josh, and her half-brother, Louie, are torn apart by the news of the terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, especially since Wendy’s mother works in one of towers. After a stagnant seven-week period since her mother’s “disappearance,” Wendy comes to the realization that her mother is no longer “missing,” but instead dead, like the majority of the missing victims of the attacks.

It is at this point in the novel that Wendy is faced with a tough decision: continue to live with Josh and Louie during this critical time of emotional healing or move miles away to live with her “real” father who abandoned her years ago. After much soul searching, she decides to visit her father, Garrett, in California.

Attempting to cope with the death of her mother while living far away from her remaining East coast family and friends, Wendy skips school, wanders the city, and befriends a kind bookstore owner. More importantly, however, during this time in California she realizes that her “real” father is not Garrett, her birth-father; instead, she finally makes the connection that her stepfather Josh owns that role and it's Josh and her brother whom she needs in order to navigate through the tough times after her mother’s death. Remaining in California, however, by the end of the school year, Wendy manages to forge a stronger relationship with Garrett while gaining a better understanding of the family dynamics between her, Josh and Louie back home in New York.

The character Wendy in The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard is a personable girl in a realistic plot about coping with death. Throughout the novel, Maynard's writing style allows the reader to easily identify with the struggles in Wendy’s life. Maynard successfully allows the two settings of the story, Brooklyn and California, to reveal the many interesting characters who influence Wendy and who help her most in her time of need.