Welcome to my weekly post where I look back at some of my four and five star reads before I started Nicole’s Nook.

Today’s book: In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

Publisher: Knopf

Publication Date: June 2, 2015

Date Read: August 21, 2015

Favorite Quote: “Anything could go wrong any day of the week. What’s the point of worrying in advance?”
― Judy Blume, In the Unlikely Event

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.

My Thoughts

Since it’s been almost eight years since I read this, I went back and looked at the review I’d posted on Goodreads. I will copy that below. But, wanted to add a couple of points. First, I love when an author writes about a historical event that has a big impact on individuals, but is not commonly remembered by the public. I had never heard of these plane crash incidents, and learned a lot. Second, Judy Blume was one of the first authors I fell in love with as a child. This is a another planet from the Fudge books that had me giggling as a young reader. I have such admiration for authors that can write with such a range.

My Goodreads Review:

In the early 1950’s the residents of Elizabeth were terrorized when not one, not two, but three planes crashed in their community. The legendary author, Judy Blume,used these events to inspire her story of multiple generations trying to come to terms with these events, while still going on with the struggles of their everyday lives.
The lives of these characters would be a good story on their own. Miri is a fifteen year old daughter of a single mother experiencing her first love and finally learning the mystery of her father. Meanwhile the people around her have secrets of their own from unhappy marriages to secret loves. When these events are added to the dramatic world events of the plane crashes, the Korean Conflict and McCarthyism, the story becomes great. Blume really shows how a community would be affected when the world thinks of them as “Plane Crash City”. The adults try to protect the youth, but it’s all they can think/talk about; speculating conspiracies ranging from aliens to communists. I highly recommend this book, just don’t read it right before a plane trip.

Welcome to my weekly post where I look back at some of my four and five star reads before I started Nicole’s Nook.

Today’s book: The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott

Publisher: Anchor

Publication Date: February 21, 2012

Date Read: September 10, 2016

Favorite Quote

“You know one of the best things? Women gathering, marching, doing anything together makes a lot of men go crazy. They yell and scream and taunt and shake their fists. You know why? They’re scared. They’re scared we’ll actually gain power and force them to change.”
― Kate Alcott, The Dressmaker

Goodreads Synopsis:

Just in time for the centennial anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic comes a vivid, romantic, and relentlessly compelling historical novel about a spirited young woman who survives the disaster only to find herself embroiled in the media frenzy left in the wake of the tragedy.

Tess, an aspiring seamstress, thinks she’s had an incredibly lucky break when she is hired by famous designer Lady Lucile Duff Gordon to be a personal maid on the Titanic’s doomed voyage. Once on board, Tess catches the eye of two men, one a roughly-hewn but kind sailor and the other an enigmatic Chicago millionaire. But on the fourth night, disaster strikes.

Amidst the chaos and desperate urging of two very different suitors, Tess is one of the last people allowed on a lifeboat. Tess’s sailor also manages to survive unharmed, witness to Lady Duff Gordon’s questionable actions during the tragedy. Others—including the gallant Midwestern tycoon—are not so lucky.

On dry land, rumors about the survivors begin to circulate, and Lady Duff Gordon quickly becomes the subject of media scorn and later, the hearings on the Titanic. Set against a historical tragedy but told from a completely fresh angle, The Dressmaker is an atmospheric delight filled with all the period’s glitz and glamour, all the raw feelings of a national tragedy and all the contradictory emotions of young love.

My Thoughts:

The irony of the unsinkable ship that sunk on it’s maiden voyage has fascinated people for over a century now. I’ve read several books about the doomed ship, but this was the first to focus on the aftermath and the trials that followed. Tess was a relatable character who evolved throughout the story from a naive girl to a confident woman. A must read for any titanic fanatic.