In her highly anticipated new novel, Judy Blume, the New York Times # 1 best-selling author of Summer Sisters and of young adult classics such as Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, creates a richly textured and moving story of three generations of families, friends and strangers, whose lives are profoundly changed by unexpected events. In 1987, Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of … Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life. Thirty-five years earlier, when Miri was fifteen, and in love for the first time, a succession of airplanes fell from the sky, leaving a community reeling. Against this backdrop of actual events that Blume experienced in the early 1950s, when airline travel was new and exciting and everyone dreamed of going somewhere, she paints a vivid portrait of a particular time and place—Nat King Cole singing “Unforgettable,” Elizabeth Taylor haircuts, young (and not-so-young) love, explosive friendships, A-bomb hysteria, rumors of Communist threat. And a young journalist who makes his name reporting tragedy. Through it all, one generation reminds another that life goes on.
In the Unlikely Event is vintage Judy Blume, with all the hallmarks of Judy Blume’s unparalleled storytelling, and full of memorable characters who cope with loss, remember the good times and, finally, wonder at the joy that keeps them going.
Early reviewers have already weighed in: “Like many family stories, this one is not without its life-changing secrets and surprises. There is no surprise that the book is smoothly written, and its story compelling. The setting—the early 1950s—is especially well realized through period references and incidents.” —Booklist (starred review) and “In Blume’s latest adult novel . . . young and old alike must learn to come to terms with technological disaster and social change. Her novel is characteristically accessible, frequently charming and always deeply human.” —Publishers Weekly
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Kept me engaged with the characters. Realistic, not fake. Characters are complex.
I lived during the time of this book. Was a “stew” and she nailed it. Everything was exactly as it was during the 50’s in the airline industry. From food to check rides it was just perfect. When I started it I thought I would not finish it but the more I read the more I knew I would keep going. An interesting book based on true and terrible times in that industry.
Great Book!
I am old enough to remember this year and these events. Part of why I recommended this book is because I did enjoy the nostalgia.
I Ike all Judy Blume books. Love her writing
The book was okay. I thought there were too many characters and it was hard to connect to and care about all of them. I also didn’t care for the neat and tidy all wrapped up ending.
Judy Blume is one of my favorite authors. Parts of of ths book are very slow-moving. The last third really picked up and kept me interested.
I recommend ALL Judy Blume books!
Dreary same-old Judy Ime. A big yawn.
Wonderful
It is based on fascinating little-known history. Judy Blume is so good at getting into the heads of teens and young adults, although this is a book as much for adults as for younger people.
I couldn’t get into the characters, their reactions didn’t seem believable to me.
When I think of Judy Blume, I think of long, lazy childhood afternoons filled with Fudge and her Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and a bit later, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret? I didn’t include Judy Blume on my somewhat recent list of books that matter, but I probably should have. She, Roald Dahl, and Ann M. Martin (Babysitter’s Club, anyone?) were probably the only authors I could really name when I was 10 years old. But I digress.
In the Unlikely Event is the adult version of Judy Blume at her finest. The novel is set in Elizabeth, New Jersey, in the winter of 1951-52 when three commercial airplanes crashed in town on their way in or out of Newark airport. The thought of this is so horrifying that I thought Blume created these circumstances to test her characters, but it turns out that this part is not fiction. (And Elizabeth, New Jersey, is Blume’s home town and Blume was 13-going-on-14 that winter, so it’s fair to wonder how much of an autobiographical element In the Unlikely Event contains.)
The story is about how individuals are affected by the crash, people whose lives might never have intersected, and some that would have intersected differently. It’s about how humans cope with crisis, but more than that, it’s about how messy life can be, and how so often, it takes only one quick pull of a thread for everything to unravel. In this way, it reminds me very much of When the World Was Young, Elizabeth Gaffney’s fine novel of innocence lost set, perhaps not coincidentally, in the same heady, post-war years that Blume mines here.
These are Blume’s people. In Miri Ammerman, I felt the presence of Margaret Simon, she of Are You There God fame. What Blume does so well is to create the story. Each chapter is told in the voice of a different character – I’d hazard to guess close to 20 in all – and for the first third of the book, it’s a guessing game for the reader how these lives fit together. Blume creates dramatic plot twists in places the reader least expects, and she does all of it with an authentic voice, or in this case, voices.
Ultimately, this is a book to make the reader think. About family. About love. About choices and happiness and random luck, both good and bad. About the influence of strangers and strange events on our lives. If you read nothing else this summer, read this.
(This review was originally published at http://www.thisyearinbooks.com/2015/07/in-unlikely-event.html)