July, July - Hardcover

Obrien, William

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0618039694 ISBN 13: 9780618039692

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade), 2002

Synopsis

Tim O'Brien is widely acclaimed as our finest chronicler of the Vietnam War and its afermath. In his ambitious, compassionate, and terrifically compelling new novel, this American master returns to his signature themes -- passion, memory, and yearning -- in a brilliant ensemble piece. July, July tells the heart-rending and often hilarious story of a group of men and women who came into adulthood at a moment when American ideals and innocence began to fade. Their lives will ring familiar to anyone who has dreamed big dreams, suffered disappointment, and still struggled toward a happy ending.
At the thirtieth reunion of Minnesota's Darton Hall College class of 1969, ten old friends join their classmates for a July weekend of dancing, drinking, flirting, reminiscing, regretting. The three decades since their graduation have seen marriage and divorce, children and careers, hopes deferred and abandoned. Two best friends toast their ex-husbands with vodka and set out for a good time. A damaged war veteran opens his soul to a Republican trophy wife recovering from a radical mastectomy. An overweight mop manufacturer with a large yet failing heart reignites his passion for a hyperkinetic housewife. And whispering in the background is the elusive Johnny Ever, part cynical angel, part conscience, the cosmic soul of ages past and of ages future.
Winner of the National Book Award for his classic novel Going After Cacciato, Tim O'Brien once again strikes at the emotional nerve center of our lives. With humor and a sense of wistful hope, July, July speaks directly to our unique American character, and to our unique resilience.

About this title

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

From the Back Cover:

At a dance in their old college gymnasium, the Class of ’69 have been reunited. As part of the ‘Golden Generation’, they had graduated in those anything’s-possible days, still believing in good and evil, ideals and hope.

One would become an anti-war campaigner, one the perfect all-American girl; one would serve in Vietnam, one would dodge the draft in Canada instead. Now, after thirty years of fading dreams, each character has a story to tell – and each has a part to play in a reunion they will never forget.

Here are compelling tales of passion, hope, self-delusion and yearning. Together they provide a portrait of a generation launched into adulthood at the moment when America, too, lost its innocence.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin (Trade)
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0618039694
• ISBN 13: 9780618039692
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336