In September, I won I’ll Remember You by Deborah Packer in a Goodreads Giveaway. While fictionalized, this book is based on the true story of the author’s parents’ quick marriage.
Basic Plot
Bobbie and Murray meet while she’s vacationing in Florida. He was stationed there before heading to Europe during World War II. Bobbie and Murray feel an instant connection, perhaps in part because of their shared Jewish heritage. They spend three weeks together before deciding to get married. Most of the book takes place in Florida, where they met, or in Michigan, where Bobbie lives and where the marriage takes place.
Once Bobbie’s accepted the marriage proposal, she begins to question if it was the right decision. Even after they’re married, she continues to question her choice.
Slow Pace
This book has an interesting story. Unfortunately for me, the pace feels really slow. Considering how fast their courtship was, I was surprised how long it took for them to actually get married. I don’t mean timewise. They got married three weeks after meeting. I think, though, that it was about 60% of the way through the book before they got married.
The story is told in third-person, but it follows both Murray’s and Bobbie’s stories. We could have perhaps understood the characters a little better if it had been told in first-person from each of their points of view. I never really felt like I got to know either of the main characters.
Getting to Know the Characters?
The big thing I know about Bobbie is that she felt pressured to get married, although I didn’t get a sense of this pressure while they were dating. Early on, she seemed to feel that her parents wouldn’t want her to rush into marriage. Then suddenly she talks about how she felt pressured because her younger sister was engaged. The big thing we know about Murray is that he’s got a bit of a temper, and he’s reluctant to plan too far in the future.
Anti-Semitism Story?
This was presented as a story about anti-Semitism, and while we get a bit of that, I don’t really feel like Murray and Bobbie face that as a couple. It’s more like she faces it, and he faces it, but they don’t really face it as a couple. I wanted to better understand how they faced it together.
Reader Warnings
This book does have some swearing. The violence involves several fistfights where we know a fistfight is about to happen, and then we skip ahead to the fistfight results. When it comes to sexual content, we know what’s happening and what has happened, but we don’t have any graphic sexual scenes.
There is some anti-semitism and racism in the book. The anti-semitism is mostly signs saying that Jews aren’t welcome in specific hotels. There’s also one scene where someone uses a derogatory term towards Murray. There are also a few scenes where African American characters are mistreated.
Would I Recommend?
Honestly, I probably wouldn’t recommend this book. Based on a true story books are sometimes hard to rate. I feel like in the quest to stay as true to the real story as possible, the author made the story read more like a nonfiction book than a novel. While there’s nothing wrong with nonfiction books, a novel that reads like nonfiction can feel like it’s missing something.
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