Synopses & Reviews
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.
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Beautifully written, very moving, and very, very funny... A great book from one of America's greatest writers. --Roddy Doyle
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An elegy, a reckoning, a chronicle of dashed hopes, July, July does what only Tim O'Brien could do. --James Carroll
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Involving and beautifully written...Once again O'Brien proves he's capable of being one of our brightest and best novelists. [starred]
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Dispute the following claim at your own peril: No one writes better about the Vietnam War than Tim O'Brien. But let's move on to a new, even bigger claim: No one writes better about the Vietnam generation than Tim O'Brien. Need proof? Read July, July. -- Men's Journal
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Funny and poignant, July, July looks into the nature of our dreams and how fulfillment eludes us. --Edna O'Brien
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This master chronicler of our times has won the battle for hearts and minds once again. --Jayne Ann Phillips
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A great novel about the '60s by one of Esquire's favorites. -- Esquire
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Beset with a surprising array of characters, O'Brien's latest is every bit as haunting as his most celebrated works
Review
Dispute the following claim at your own peril: No one writes better about the Vietnam War than Tim O'Brien. But let's move on to a new, even bigger claim: No one writes better about the Vietnam generation than Tim O'Brien. Need proof? Read July, July. -- Men's Journal
O'Brien is intelligent and daring, but he is also eminently accessible; he writes in clear, fluid sentences about people we recognize leading lives that are both emblematic and intimate. -- O, The Oprah Magazine
Beset with a surprising array of characters, O'Brien's latest is every bit as haunting as his most celebrated works Library Journal Starred
A poignant and powerful page-turner, and a testament to a generation.
Publishers Weekly
Involving and beautifully written...Once again O'Brien proves he's capable of being one of our brightest and best novelists. [starred] Kirkus Reviews
Beautifully written, very moving, and very, very funny... A great book from one of America's greatest writers. --Roddy Doyle
An elegy, a reckoning, a chronicle of dashed hopes, July, July does what only Tim O'Brien could do. --James Carroll
Funny and poignant, July, July looks into the nature of our dreams and how fulfillment eludes us. --Edna O'Brien
This master chronicler of our times has won the battle for hearts and minds once again. --Jayne Ann Phillips
A great novel about the '60s by one of Esquire's favorites. -- Esquire
...this story of a Baby Boomer college reunion is both fun and affecting. O'Brien brings alive [a cast of characters] with with, insight and compassion for the ways lives go awry. The Chicago Tribune
About the Author
Tim OBrien received the 1979 National Book Award for Going After Cacciato. Among his other books are Tomcat in Love, If I Die in a Combat Zone, July, July, and In the Lake of the Woods, which received the James Fenimore Cooper Prize from the Society of American Historians and was named the best novel of 1994 by Time. OBrien lives in Austin, Texas.