In the Unlikely Event book review
In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Forgive me, Judy, for I have sinned. I ended up skimming the second half of this book, and reading the last 3 chapters. I so looked forward to this book. Therefore, I was bitterly disappointed when I subconsciously started rooting for the third airplane crash to take out the entire Osner family.
I didn’t like the large number of characters. Judy Blume (#1 favorite author of my girlhood) lived in Elizabeth, NJ during the tine of the real-life airline crashes there so perhaps she wanted to pay tribute to many of her real-life acquaintances. But I think the story would have been much tighter with only 4 or 5 characters and points of view. Even going strictly with 33-year-old Rusty’s point of view would have made for a much more interesting book.
Actually, I’d have rather gone with Rusty’s point of view. I feel like the smallish 35-years-later parts were added just so Blume could call it a book written for Adults since an Adult starts and ends the book. When I was 15, I was interested in a 15 year old’s point of view. Now that I’m an adult, I would have found the adult points of view much more interesting.
This book is a love letter to Elizabeth, to the 1950s, and oddly enough, to dentistry.