In the Unlikely Event: A Novel

by Judy Blume

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • The author of Are you There God? It’s Me, Margaret returns with an adult novel that takes us back to the 1950s and introduces us to the town where she herself grew up, where a community is left reeling after a real-life tragedy when a series of airplanes fell out of the sky.

“Makes us feel the pure shock and wonder of living.... Judy Blume isn’t just revered, she’s revolutionary.” —The New York Times Book Review

“No one captures coming-of-age milestones…like Blume.” —The Boston Globe

Here she imagines and weaves together a vivid portrait of three generations of families, friends, and strangers, whose lives are profoundly changed during one winter. At the center of an extraordinary cast of characters are fifteen-year-old Miri Ammerman and her spirited single mother, Rusty. Their warm and resonant stories are set against the backdrop of an extraordinary real-world tragedy.

Gripping, authentic, and unforgettable, In the Unlikely Event has all the hallmarks of this renowned author’s deft narrative magic.

• ISBN10: 1101873981
• ISBN13: 9781101873984
• Publish Date: 3 May 2016 (first published 1 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Vintage Books
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 512
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9781101873984

Reviews

[clementine]

Very interesting fictionalized version of a true story, with a very classic Judy Blume treatment. Fifteen-year-old Miri was a believable character, and though Blume's frank discussion of sex may not be as groundbreaking now, it's refreshing to see a practical, realistic approach to difficult and controversial subject matter. The Ammerman family dynamics were touching and funny. The early 50s setting was rendered well. I just felt like this book definitely did not need to be 400 pages long, and some of the character perspectives felt extraneous, introduced just before they were narratively important. Definitely an enjoyable read, but flawed nonetheless.

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Every character in this book is selfish or unreliable. So many of them feel like carbon copies of one another in slightly different situations. I was bored. I am bored. I pushed my way through this book wanting to love it... and just didn't.

When I read the summary on this book, I thought it was going to be more about the airplane crashes and how they affected the lives of a handful of townsfolk. The crashes set a backdrop, but for the most part, this is about a variety of messy love stories. I didn't care for it in particular because it's not my genre, but I listened dutifully to the whole thing.

The one thing I felt went well in this book was the setting. Judy Blume does and excellent job of catching the chill of the descent and the hard edges of the restaurants. Where the characters feel flat and annoying (to me), the world around them at the least felt alive.

I do think that in the right hands, this book would be very much enjoyed. I'm not the best candidate for a book like this, but I do think that people who like the slow wind up of fiction and messy romances will enjoy it.

[Whitney @ First Impressions Reviews]

I always enjoyed Judy Blume's young adult novels growing up, therefore, I was looking forward to her foray into adult fiction.


Unfortunately, In The Unlikely Event read like a young adult novel. Blume's book had a grown-up topic, but the simplicity and continual reminders of what happened previously made it repetitive and a little annoying screaming Y.A.


The novel also had a lot of characters and was told from numerous points of view, and while this was a good idea in theory, it became a bit confusing and had to go back several times to place who the character was. If a person were to read In The Unlikely Event straight through I do not think this would be a problem, but for those like myself who could not read the book in one sitting it could become tedious.


There were four character plots that irked me as well. One was Miri's best friend Natalie who inhibits the souls of one of the crash victims. She becomes obsessed with dance (as was the deceased) and is all a bit schizophrenic. It seemed unnecessary to the story.


The second was the identity and reconnection with Miri's birth father (she was raised in a single parent household). The friction between Father and Daughter added drama to the story and helped with the development of the character and exploration of her family unit but, the author dropped the subplot halfway and was only a deterrent.


Lastly, I really dislike affairs in stories, I believe this is mainly due to the fact that I am personally disgusted by the idea of this magnitude of betrayal. That being said there are not one but two such incidents. One by Miri's boyfriend (with a much older woman I may add) and the second was by Miri's mother Rusty with Natalie's father. If Judy Blume was aiming for a soapbox, she succeeded but it just didn't work for me.


I think In The Unlikely Event had great potential but didn't quite make the mark. If it had focused more on the aftermath instead of small town drama this could have been an okay book but instead it was typecasted into young adult literature and was just all over the place. In other words, it crashed and burned.