There is Ruby, the dancer on her way to Las Vegas, whose death jeopardizes the family her income supported Ben, the elderly man widowed by the first crash and Kathy, whose death uproots the life of the boy who shared a kiss with her and was eagerly awaiting her arrival home from college.
She uses the disasters to depict the way the repeated tragedies devastate the intertwined lives of families in Elizabeth, as well as those who lost people or died themselves in the crashes. Through a narrative interspersed with striking newspaper articles (some “written” by her fictional character, journalist Henry Ammerman), script-like dialogue amongst teenagers, and quotes and lyrics from the time, Blume vividly portrays a series of characters and their daily lives.
She uses the backdrop of the real events to explore, in her novel, the confusion, paranoia and fear that she and her real-life classmates shared: was this a Cold War plot? An alien invasion? The end of the world? The crashes killed 116 people, narrowly missed schools and an orphanage, and took out portions of an apartment block. These were the early days of commercial aviation, and in one horrific 60-day period, three passenger planes crashed into the town near Newark. In the Unlikely Event is set in Elizabeth, N.J.
More than 40 years later, Blume can still channel her inner adolescent, writing a compelling coming-of-age novel with a skill that draws her readers into Miri’s world with authenticity and deftness. But her central character, Miri Ammerman, is a 15-year-old Jewish girl growing up in the 1950s who has the same questions and longings as Blume’s earlier protagonists. Generations of voracious readers have gobbled up Blume’s books for younger readers, a true testament to their staying power.īlume’s most recent novel, In the Unlikely Event, is for adults. Freedman as Herself, Blume’s books remain funny, refreshingly honest and poignant. From Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret to Blubber and Starring Sally J. As a teenage girl in the 1970s, reading Judy Blume’s young adult novels was a rite of passage.
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