Judy Chicurel’s work has appeared in national, regional, and international publications, including The New York Times, Newsday, and Granta. Her plays have been produced and performed in Manhattan. Chicurel currently lives by the water in Brooklyn.
If I Knew You Were Going To Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go
eBook
-
ISBN-13:
9780698138643
- Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
- Publication date: 10/30/2014
- Sold by: Penguin Group
- Format: eBook
- Pages: 288
- File size: 1 MB
- Age Range: 18 Years
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“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.
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“An emotionally resonant collection of coming-of-age stories…moving.”—The Wall Street Journal
"Chicurel has the ability to sketch characters so real we can feel their breath on the back of our necks, their voices in our ears, and we come to care deeply about all of them. Her sense of place, and of the 1970s, is indelible.... The writing is clear and lovely.... a novel that brilliantly shines." —The Boston Globe
“[A] beautiful and honest coming-of-age story.… a stunningly evocative portrait of a down-on-its-luck town and its people.” —Booklist, starred review
"Chicurel's perfect pitch for the characters' patter ... is blunt, cynical, often profane and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.... The author's masterful writing makes this short stay in Elephant Beach worthwhile." —Kirkus Reviews
“Told in interconnected short stories, this deeply moving and beautifully written book shines a bright light on the intensity of teenage friendships. It evokes the era in vivid details…. The relationships are so relatable that the book is as compelling as it is profound, making it a perfect choice for book clubs.” —Long Island Woman
“If I Knew You Were Going to Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go is a startling book of linked stories. This is not just another ‘coming of age’ tale, but a wise, clear look at what it was to be a young woman at singular time in our country. Chicurel’s portrait of a small town in the ’70s speaks volumes about who we are as a culture. ‘Debut collection’ is misleading here. This is a beautiful, accomplished book.” —Katie Crouch, New York Times–bestselling author of Girls in Trucks and Abroad
"A provocative story of unlikely friendships, unmatched compassion and learning to accept downtrodden people for who they are. With prose as clear as glass and words that carry even the most complicated of images, Chicurel reveals her characters’ best moments, their worst moments and moments of which they may only dream. The book reminds us that sometimes, something as simple as a beachfront view is enough to make something beautiful. And other times, the best things are in front of us without our knowing it." —Bookpage
“If I Knew You Were Going to Be This Beautiful, I Never Would Have Let You Go is a dazzling debut collection that brings to mind the books of Richard Price and the films of Martin Scorsese. The characters in the stories burrow deeply under your skin and stay there. Wonderful, vivid, funny, heart-wrenching and authentic. I did not want this book to end.” —Julie Klam, New York Times–bestselling author of Friendkeeping
"A wonderful coming-of-age novel set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War." —Hannah Beckerman, author of The Dead Wife's Handbook
The summer after her high school graduation, Katie hangs out in “The Trunk,” the shabby neighborhood in her seaside town of Elephant Beach, which, in 1972, is well past its heyday as a resort spot. Katie, adopted, imagines that her birth mother was from a neighborhood like this; it's a connection to a life that could have been. Her friends are having sex, getting married, moving to New York City, dying even, while she pines for Jake, who has just returned from Vietnam, but can't figure out how to get close to him. Maybe because Katie lives in the better part of town and has caring, stable parents, she sees the Trunk's residents as romantically exotic, when many have serious drug problems or suffer from alcoholism or PTSD. Some of them are able to get out, move away; others meet their demise. In every situation, Katie is an acute observer who mourns change and feels everything deeply. There are too many colorful characters in Katie's world to get to know them more than superficially, but that is often the quality of relationships in one's youth.
Verdict Narrated in the first person, this debut novel of connected short stories is similar to Dylan Landis's Rainey Royal and is recommended for those who like poignant coming-of-age stories.Sonia Reppe, StickneyForest View P.L., IL
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A vivid portrayal of the disappointed young adults in Elephant Beach, a fading East Coast seaside town, in 1972. Beware the seductive lure of sex, drugs, and rock and roll.The world-weary proprietor of a local hangout tells Katie, the 18-year-old narrator of this affecting debut short story collection, "You're different than the other kids around here. You want my advice? Get out of Dodge. Now." But in the summer after her high school graduation, there is some life lesson that Katie needs to learn from this on-the-skids town and her colorful, chain-smoking friends. Everyone around her is trying to escape the challenging circumstances that surround them in this working-class community. The women's dreams are quickly crushed in evanescent sexual affairs, which end in abandonment, arguments, abortions or just male indifference; the men they get involved with are too troubled or immature or stoned to be dependable partners. The rest of the country, roiling from the Vietnam War, seems distant, as does nearby Manhattan. Katie's friends are both contemptuous and jealous of the occasional hippie or privileged student who drifts by. Mitch, who lost a leg in Vietnam and is drinking himself to death, is the poster boy for those unable to withstand the vicissitudes of life. Katie, who comes from a more affluent family but works at an A&P, is obsessed with Luke, an elusive, recently returned vet; she is also grappling with her own adoption. What makes the desperation that abounds compelling is Chicurel's perfect pitch for the characters' patter, which is blunt, cynical, often profane and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny.Will Katie get her man? Will she make a break from this hard-luck population? The author's masterful writing makes this short stay in Elephant Beach worthwhile.