Amber (The Literary Phoenix)'s Review of In the Unlikely Event

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.

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.

In the Unlikely Event

by Judy Blume

Reviewed by Amber (The Literary Phoenix) on Jul 13, 2018

Reading updates