Review
'JULY, JULY is beautifully written, very moving and very, very funny. It is also packed with some of the best characters I've read in a long time. A great book from one of America's greatest writers.' RODDY DOYLE 'JULY, JULY is a book for all seasons. Funny and poignant, it looks into the nature of our dreams and how fulfilment eludes us.' EDNA O'BRIEN 'O'Brien expands on the themes he explored in some of his best-known earlier novels: memory, hope, love, war ... This is a poignant and powerful page-turner, and a testament to a generation.' Publishers Weekly
Acclaimed American writer Tim O'Brien takes two significant dates as the starting point of this accomplished novel. July 1969 is the summer of peace and love - the USA fights in Vietnam and the first man lands on the moon. Students march on the streets and sing anti-war songs. Meanwhile, the graduating class of Darton Hall College gets ready to face the real world. In July 2000 the class of '69 gathers for a reunion. Every one of them is some way haunted: Ellie by a drowning man; David by a paranormal disc jockey; Dorothy and Billy by betrayal; Spook by the twin she lost and Marv by Spook. Over the reunion weekend old loves are rekindled or abandoned, friendships consolidated or lost, and one character moves closer to a drastic conclusion. The story moves backwards and forwards between 1969 and 2000, gradually building up a picture of a group of individuals asking themselves - and each other - 'How did we get here from there?'. O'Brien explores the way that, inevitably, hopes and ideals give way to disillusionment, but also shows how hope will always triumph in the end over experience. The writing is pacy and often upbeat and comic, and the dialogue has that slightly surreal quality of conversations held very late at night between the very, very drunk. Altogether, this is a stylish and thoughtful analysis of 20-something angst and middle-aged panic and the processes of changing and ageing. (Kirkus UK)
EDNA O’BRIEN
‘JULY, JULY is a book for all seasons. Funny and poignant, it looks into the nature of our dreams and how fulfilment eludes us.’
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