In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume | Summary & Analysis

By IRB Media

Inside this Instaread Summary & Analysis of In the Unlikely Event

• Summary of book

• Introduction to the Important People in the book

• Analysis of the Themes and Author’s Style

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 22, 2015
• ISBN: 9781943427291

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SUMMARY

In the Unlikely Event is a fictional account of a real series of plane crashes that took place between December 1951 and August 1952 in Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Miri Ammerman is a young Jewish girl. Her mother, Rusty, made the unusual choice, for the time period, to raise her daughter alone. They live with Rusty’s mother, Irene, and brother, Henry, a reporter for the local paper. Miri’s best friend, Natalie, is the daughter of a local dentist, Dr. Osner. Miri often fantasizes about Natalie’s mother dying so that Rusty and Dr. Osner can get married. Then the girls could be sisters.

A young dancer named Ruby Granik boards a plane and, while helping a young mother with her two small children as the plane takes off, Ruby realizes that something is terribly wrong. At the same time, Miri and Rusty are on their way home from a movie when they see the plane coming down and the fireball of the crash. All on board are killed. Dr. Osner must examine the corpses in an attempt to match their dental impressions to their dental records. This task takes a considerable toll on him.

Henry writes a news story about the crash, an investigation is launched, and the town slowly begins to regroup. The only exception is Natalie, who confides in Miri that she