#REVIEW - If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go by Judy Chicurel

Description:

“Brings to mind the books of Richard Price and the films of Martin Scorsese... I did not want this book to end.” —Julie Klam, New York Times–bestselling author of Friendkeeping

It is the summer of 1972, and Katie has just turned eighteen. Katie and her town, Elephant Beach, are both on the verge: Katie of adulthood, and Elephant Beach of gentrification. But not yet: Elephant Beach is still gritty, working-class, close-knit. And Katie spends her time smoking and drinking with her friends, dreaming about a boy just back from Vietnam who’s still fighting a battle Katie can’t understand. In this poignant, evocative debut collection, Judy Chicurel creates a haunting, vivid world, where conflicts between mothers and daughters, men and women, soldiers and civilians and haves and have-nots reverberate to our own time. She captures not only a time and place, but the universal experience of being poised between the past and the future. At once heartbreaking, mesmerizing, and nostalgic, Chicurel shows us that no matter how beautiful some dreams are, there comes a time when we must let them go.

My Take:

3 Stars

First off, when I tell you I kind of enjoyed this book, you’re going to think I’m crazy! This is a brazen story, the words are rough and tough, and it’s not the typical book you would think I would read AT ALL. I normally wouldn’t had I not had this for a blog tour.

Katie, who this book is about, lives in Elephant Beach, Long Island, and it is set during the Vietnam War, 1972. It has pregnancy, abortion, drugs, any and everything bad you can think of, and life is in a haze of all of this while the war is going on.

In some of the other reviews I read before I dove into this book had mentioned that the writing and the times were hard to put together, but that is the beauty of this book in that it is written ‘for’ the times, for 1972, and for Elephant Beach that everyone wants to leave. There are a LOT of characters, had I realized this in the beginning, I probably would have counted!
The last chapter of this book makes reading this book the best! 

I would like to thank the Publisher, Penguin Group and NetGalley for giving me the chance to read and review this book for them.