Whatever Happened to Janie?

An alien life form reading this book might come to the conclusion that all American teenagers in the nineties thought entirely in similes and metaphors. Poor Janie/Jennie. The trauma of learning that she had been kidnapped as a child and being forced to return to live with her biological family has turned her brains into a literary slop bin; she can't even think straight, and so likens herself and her situation to nearly everything she experiences or encounters.

Even so, Cooney captures all involved parties' emotional turmoil well.

This was such a sad story. I am not someone who cries usually but this one got me. What a heartbreaking story. It is so hard to wrap my head around and think of what I would have done in that situation. There was sadness all around too, the couple who raised Janie believing she was their granddaughter, the real parents, the boyfriend, the siblings of Jenny. It is hard enough being a teenager without situations like that.