Whatever Happened to Janie, aka "How You Shouldn't Introduce a New Child to a Family."
When Janie is ordered to go live with her new family, Janie's old parents just kind of give up. They don't say anything like, "You'll always be our daughter in our hearts. We know it's going to be difficult, and we are sorry you are in this situation. We want the best for you. We love you. We'll always be here for you." Nope; they just quit on poor old Janie cold turkey. They didn't even drive her to New Jersey. They had someone else that she didn't know take her, on the most traumatic day of her life. WTF?
Janie's new family is also unsympathetic. Hey, here's all your new family, all at once, all in one day. Here's your bedroom with your new sisters. Here's your new jerky older brother, and two new younger brothers who don't really have any purpose in the story. Here's your new school! Why couldn't she have a week or two off, just to acclimate to the new family? To hang out with her new parents by herself for a while?
Couldn't they have:
1. Had a meeting with just Janie and the new parents at first, or just Janie and her new mom?
2. Then had a meeting with Jodie one-on-one?
3. Then had a meeting with Stephen?
4. Couldn't she have finished the school year at her old school, then spent a few weekends with the Springs until they got used to each other?
5. Are there no therapists for the families to sit down with and talk about the process, and boundaries, and for Janie talk through things?
The new family expects an awful lot from a 15-year-old whose life just did a 180. She's supposed to come in, change her name, change her school, change her friends, and change her family, and she has to do it all while smiling, being respectful, acting like she's always been one of them and never had any other experiences, while also pretending her previous life doesn't exist. She's told she can't even call her old family. How is this not cruel? Why does it have to be all or nothing?
None of the adults in the book actually try to help Janie adjust, cope, or work through the situation. She's just thrown into her new family to do what they want, while her old family completely shuts down and she feels like she has to rescue them. She's 15. She's been through extraordinary trauma twice, and no one is helping her out.
The book also fluctuated so much it was hard to keep track. Sometimes Janie would get along with her new siblings, then they'd hate each other and say extremely mean things, then she'd hug her new dad (when he yells at her?). Then she wanted to move back to her old family.
And the boyfriend! Yikes! What a creep he turned into.
And what was with Jodie and Stephen running off to New York? The book didn't even end with the main character. The last chapters were all about two fairly unlikeable teenagers going off on a goose chase.