This book showcases real life, told in poignant and relatable fictional prose about love, loss, tragedy, adolescence, middle age, divorce, reconnection, parenting, and more. Phenomenal. And not just because it was Judy Blume, though that certainly helped. The story of what happens to a town wrought with tragedy of not one but 3 plane crashes in 58 days, the story of how life goes on despite that, the story of how the inhabitants of Elizabeth, NJ are forever changed because of what they saw. Life. Love. Disaster. Reconnection. This book has it all. Judy Blume has said that this was the book she was meant to write, that all of her previous work was practice or rehearsal and, having finished it, I'm inclined to agree. I love all of her work, but this is something special.