Review: In The Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

Publisher: Knopf
Pages: 397
Received: Received a copy from Penguin Random House Canada in exchange for an honest review

Release Date: June 2, 2015
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Goodreads Synopsis:

In 1987, 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, Judy Blume imagines and weaves together a haunting story of three generations of families, friends, and strangers, whose lives are profoundly changed by these disasters. 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 a gripping novel with all the hallmarks of Judy Blume's unparalleled storytelling.

My Review:

Growing up with Judy Blume books as a kid still never prepared me for the writing she has in her adult novels. This book was absolutely intense and I loved every little thing that happened. The way Judy Blume connected each of her characters together and how deep into their secrets you get, this is a book that you walk away not truly wanting to leave everything you just experienced.

I was absolutely blown away with this story, and how Judy Blume brings together this amazing community during a time of such devastation. The story follows the lives of many different characters as a series of planes fall from the sky causing a lot of trouble in this small little town. Miri Ammerman remembers the events of the year as she travels home to commemorate the tragedy of that year but also to remember how these events turned her into the woman she is now.

Each event affects everyone in this town differently, and they all still must grow and live their lives during these tough times. This is a book about how no matter how tough times can get, that life still must go on, friends and lovers will be lost, but you will always have family there for you. Judy Blume breathes such life into her characters that you could easily see yourself running into them out on the street. This is a story about real life and how through tragedy, three generations of family help one another through.

Truly, Judy Blume shows readers time and again that she is a masterful storyteller, and really brings everything to life that she puts to paper. This book is absolutely unforgettable and I believe will leave an impact on anyone who reads it. I can definitely say that it left a very strong impression on me and truly leaves me thinking about it long after I closed the cover!