Author: Julie Williams
What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Jessie lives right across the street from and has grown up in the Jumble theater and school, along with several biological and surrogate family members. Jessie's parents opened the theater with another couple and have been running it for over twenty years. Jessie has just graduated from high school and is figuring out what to do next when she catches her father kissing the theater's male costumer. What other Jumble secrets will Jessie uncover?
What I think (in more than 250 words--too many characters to limit words): First of all, my summary and all of the other summaries I've read online can't begin to describe what this book is about. Jessie herself describes her family as a "proverbial French farce" and I can't help but agree.
We have Mark and Una, Jessie's parents, both actors. Mark is gay but has been closeted and married to Una, who is so very in character when she's in a play that I could only picture her as Norma Desmond. There's Lydia the Phd candidate, and Edward the director (and womanizer) who co-founded the theater.
Also, Jessie's two cousins: Bits (who was thrown out of the house by her religiously fanatic mother Loretta, who comes by frequently to remind everyone the world is going to end) and Bartle (who was thrown out of his house for being too "swishily gay") also live with Jessie, and Lee (Bits's father) and Ellie (Una's best friend) are in a band that tours but occasionally stops by. And Mark's Grandmama.
Oh and there's David, Lydia and Edward's son, who cooks for the theater, and Emily the photographer, Brad the costumer, Tim Chang the Asian drag queen, Sister M&M the nun at the playwriting workshop run by Professor Bumble, and Arthur and Bruce . . .
I almost had to take notes to keep track.
Somehow, even with all of the drama (literal and theatrical), everyone works together in the Jumble theater and so many theater references and rehearsals are in this book, it made me sad reminding me how long it's been since I've done anything theater-related.
I even looked up some plays I haven't read since high school or college that were referenced in the book, such as Barefoot in the Park, Tartuffe, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Private Lives. I found myself reliving my high school theater "glory days," really wishing that the Jumble theater was real so I could attend classes and do plays there.
Jessie has grown up with all of this, and is, in some way, the maternal one in the family. She finds solutions when people need housing (even remodels the attic of their Victorian house into a small apartment), she takes people in when they need a place to stay overnight, she helps cook and clean and pretty much does anything she can to help the theater and her family.
However, she is struggling to figure out her place in all of this. Jessie is not a gifted actor, singer, or dancer like her parents. She doesn't enjoy set design and costuming like Bartle. She's not a gifted actress like Bits or an aspiring chef like David.
One thing that I am confused about when it comes to Jessie: she's only fifteen and has graduated from high school as valedictorian, becoming the youngest valedictorian in the high school she attended. This is never really explained. How is she able to graduate at such a young age? She obviously has some academic skills, but they don't really show in her character all that much. Maybe she is just supposed to be immature? I don't know.
But apart from some vague references about how much she reads or how good she is at math, nothing is said about her academic abilities. We're told Jessie is super smart but we're not shown it. Jessie turns down several scholarships because she wants to "find" her place in the Jumble theater. That's fine, and I'm surprised and well, not surprised that all the adults she lived with just let her do that. The adults are loving, well-meaning, and love to throw great parties complete with games and dress-up, but aren't exactly selfless parents (like a lot of hardcore theater people I know, honestly).
Jessie never has someone sit down with her and help her plan for the future, they just sign her up for classes at the theater school that she has literally taken for five years in a row. Besides, what would the adults do if Jessie left to pursue her own life? Their house would not run nearly as smoothly!
With the help of a playwriting workshop and an advanced directing class that Jessie kind of falls into by accident, she discovers her skills in writing (which, hello, she was valedictorian--shouldn't she have already been good at writing?) and directing (again, not a surprise, considering how organized, motivating, and good at people wrangling Jessie is). Jessie also discovers that even though she has always considered herself to be clumsy, she is actually good at African dancing and movements, even though some of the very gifted performers can't seem to get it.
Some serious issues in the book are not explored as much as I would like for them to be. The way the story treats sexual orientation, however, is not one of the those issues. Jessie says she was surprised "for two or three hours" when she found out her dad was gay, but accepts it quickly--she is more concerned about her mother and father continuing to live in the same house and act in plays together.
Jessie shares a few kisses with David, but is not all that into it. Her dad indirectly asks her if she's gay, and her reply is "I don't know." And it is hinted (if you squint) that Jessie's new friend Emily might be interested in her romantically (or maybe I just read it that way), but nothing is ever said about it again, because in the Jumble theater world, it is not an issue.
However, I would have liked a more serious exploration of race in this book. Mark, Bartle, and Grandmama are African-American, and this comes up as an issue more than one. Una and her sister Loretta (and Loretta's daughter Bits) are white, and as the child of Jessie and Mark, Jessie is biracial. Bartle was kicked out of his house because his mother (and the black community as a whole) do not approve of him being gay. Grandmama does not care, even though she is strongly religious and mentions her black Baptist church frequently.
Towards the end of the book, Jessie remembers that an old dance teacher had told her that she could never be a good ballet dancer because she was half-black. Jessie has always felt bad about her dancing and movement skills, but this comment was given about two pages in the book, and then all the characters just moved on. I feel that something this racially-motivated that had shaped Jessie's character should have been given more emphasis in the story.
Also, Loretta, who shows up occasionally to warn all of the Jumbles that the end of the world is nigh, is clearly mentally ill. Admittedly, her religious fanaticism is played for laughs, but after a while, it's just not funny. After Bits is put into a situation that could have turned extremely dangerous, Loretta's mental health should have been taken more seriously by the family. However, when teenagers Jessie and David are the ones who save Bits, everyone is grateful--but all I could think is there is a whole house of ADULTS, including Bits's FATHER. Someone in that house should have been ADULTING. It should NOT have been Jessie and David's jobs to save another child.
Yes, this book is flawed--but I think the flaw is naturally in the characters, not in the story. The characters in the book acted, well, completely in character. Is it unrealistic that the grownup theater nerds/former hippie/artistic types are self-centered, yet loving? Nope--I think it's quite realistic. Do I think Jessie needs to get away from the theater and start her own life? Yep, but she's only sixteen by the end of the book. She's got a few more years to develop some teenage angst and rebellion. She'll be okay.
Maybe I wouldn't want to live with the Jumbles all the time, but a good fantasy theater family full of free-loving, artistic, talented but slightly crazy people sounds appealing right now. Sign me up. Please adopt me, Jumbles. I'd fit right in with your brand of crazy. I promise. I'd even help you cook, if Jessie or some other grown-up does the dishes. 😏
My grade: A! By the end of the book, not only did high-school-me want to live with them, but 40-year-old-single-mother-me wanted to live with them too. I really would like to read more of their story. Julie Williams--please write a sequel. Maybe dealing with some of the racial issues? I want to know what Jessie's been up to.
My favorite quotes:
- "Why? I mean, yeah, that was a long time ago, but it's not like it was the 1960s or 1970s. I thought everyone came out of the closet in the 1970s" (hardback edition, pg. 36).
- "'When you are biracial you embody an innate understanding of compromise . . . ' This is the now infamous quote of my--for the most part--sane mother. This notion is nearly as peculiar (and offensive) as my lunatic aunt warning Mom when she was pregnant with me that I would come out striped like a zebra" (pg. 86).
- "I have to admit I've gained a certain amount of appreciation for Tennessee Williams in this one. Any man who could write the character of Blanche Dubois had to have something going for him. But I still think he was sick. And definitely a Southerner" (pg. 218).
- "I gave her the most amazing dictionary for Christmas once but she used it as a doorstop. To give her some credit, all the doors in the apartment where she used to live with her mother swung shut on their own. Still" (pg. 247).
Other reviews: Publisher's Weekly and Kirkus.
This book is available in the Greensboro Public Library.
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