“Runaway Max” Might Be Better than “Stranger Things”

“Runaway Max” is the first book I’ve read in a long time that surprised me. I read “Darkness on the Edge of Town” before “Stranger Things 3” premiered, and I was a little underwhelmed with the book overall — and maybe that set my expectations low for “Runaway Max”. “Darkness” veered far off the course of the show, and I expected “Runaway” to do the same. However, “Runaway Max” parallels the events of season two while frequently flashing back to the Hargrove/Mayfield family’s lives in California, filling in the blanks about why they left and how Max and Billy related to each other pre-Hawkins.

Author Brenna Yovanoff dives deep into some parts of “Stranger Things 2”, like Max’s feelings on her on-again-off-again acceptance into the party and her heart-to-heart with Lucas on top of the bus. But other scenes, such as the party’s exploration in the underground Upside Down, are left out entirely. This is really a book about Max’s backstory. Unlike Billy’s “backstory” in “Stranger Things 3”, Yovanoff uses history to build a foundation. The book answers “what happened”, but also “why does it matter”.

Exactly Like Some Girls

“They were the kind of girl my mom probably wished I’d turn into, in corduroy jumpers and plaid skirts down to their shins[…]

For a second, I thought about going over to them, but what…