In the Unlikely Event

I guess I am a little late to the party reading Judy Blume's book, In The Unlikely Event.  This is not a new book and Judy Blume is not a new author.  But I did not grow up with Blume and neither did my children, so I was not rushing out to get this book.  After it was recommended to me for the umpteenth time I finally ran out and picked it up.  After all it is written about a situation that happened in my home state of New Jersey.  That does add to the enjoyment for me of reading the book.  But Blume does have a great storytelling style that just pulls the reader in.

What a terrific plot line. Not sure how soon I want to get on an airplane again, but this was a great book based on the historic facts of the three plane crashes into and out of Newark airport, which all crashed in Elizabeth , NJ in the early 1950s. Judy Blume takes the news reports and creates characters whose lives were all affected by the accidents that happened in their town. They either lost a loved one in one of the fiery crashes or saw a plane go down. This novel is a fascinating study in how people react to disaster and also just a fast paced novel about human interactions and relationships.

Blume takes quite a number of characters and tells their stories in alternating sections as each day goes by during a few month period where incredibly three airplanes crash in Elizabeth, NJ either taking off or trying to land at Newark Airport.  All these events are tragic but Blume then shows how the characters she shows going through the motions of their everyday lives are affected by each crash.

At times it seems like none of the characters are connected at all and there were points were as I was reading I was wondering if I would be able to keep all the people described straight.  Blume does a fabulous job of pulling all the people together interweaving their lives together and through the accidents.  I really am glad I finally read this book.