Stevie plays a large role throughout the novel, yet she’s one of its fictional characters. Why do you suppose the author created her?
I suspect she was created as an amalgamation of the designers in the Barbie world. She would have had a birdseye view of what was happening at Mattel at the time. Also we see Stevie’s growth from her association with Charlotte Johnson and Ruth Handler and I’m sure that also happened to the young designers. Finally she reflects the change of status for women in the 60s and 70s.
Victoria and I are on the same path. Stevie is a change agent, to keep the plot moving and show how things are moving along. It might also be that there was not a lot of information on the designers, but the author needed to include the designer perspective,
The answers to your question changed my mind about Stevie. Thank you!
Initially, even knowing this book is fiction, I thought there was TOO MUCH Stevie. Now I realize that this fictional character was necessary to describe Mattel’s corporate culture.
As I was reading the book, I realized that Stevie was the bright spot. She is probably a lot of history shaped into one fictional character. I’m glad because I can’t keep a lot of characters straight in my head!
This character bothered me the most, not because I didn’t like her but because the others were based on real people so why not the costume designer??? It felt a bit like a wrong note for me.
I think she was created to add a little ‘spice’ to the book.
I wish Stevie’s character would have been more fully fleshed out. I found her to be an interesting support character. Also, can you even imagine how stressful that office environment must have been?