Jimmy's Girl

by Stephanie Gertler

Book Overview

During the Summer of 1967, sixteen-year-old Emily Hudson falls in love for the first time with Jimmy Moran just before he enlists in the Marine Corps and heads off to war. When he returns, both Emily... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525945652
• ISBN13: 9780525945659
• Release Date: February 2001
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 274 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

Can you ever go back again? A heartwarming tale.

Emily Hudson has a settled life. He husband is successful, her children happy, and she is able to pursue her love of painting. She is haunted by the memories of her first love, Jimmy Moran. They spent one wonderful year together, until Jimmy was shipped out to book camp, and then left for Vietnam. The memories of a brief meeting, between bootcamp and Vietnam haunt Emily, and she wonders what if? Jimmy has his own life, married and father of one. His quiet life is inturrupted when Emily contacts him. They decide to meet, Emily expalaining she needs help with a series of paintings she is beginning. The story alternates between the two of them, telling of the memories, the indecision, the fallout with family. There is so much truth in the emotions described, the thoughts you have at certain points in life, "is this how it was meant to be, what if I had followed my first love"? This is a masterful first novel, giving voice to an emotion that many of us have when we reach midlife. Stephanie Gertler has crafted a wonderful story of trying to return to your first love. That time when you were so alive with love and belief that you could face anyrhing together. What rings most true is the characters themselves, the emotions, the choices they eventually make. The characters remain true to the selves we come to know. I was so sad to finish this book, I hope there are more books to follow.

****Amazing****

I loved this book! It was so romantic! I couldn't put it down, yet I didn't want it to end! It is written beautifully. The characters become your friends. You can feel their pain and their joy. It is both funny and sad without trying to be either. When the book was over I felt like I had lost a good friend. I have recommended it to all my friends, and any of them that have read it have also loved it; mothers AND daughters. It is a timeless , beautiful story. I can't wait to see what this promising new authors next book is about.

compelling

I started to read this on my commuter train and was really annoyed when we got to my station (that's the true sign of a good book). I just found myself getting more and more deeply involved in the story, the people, the relationship, the outcome. I think the author has done a wonderful job at writing something that is so hard to put down.

A Great "what if" Book

Emily feels neglected (she is), James feels he made some wrong choices (he did). But Emily carries "what if" one step further. She looks James up on the internet and phones him. He was her first love and they thought they had a future together until he went into the Marines and then to Vietnam. They arrange to meet each other for a weekend in Washington,DC. It's a little (a lot) unrealistic that their spouses don't put up more of a fuss but I guess if they did, the book would have been much shorter. In any case, they DO meet again and then it REALLY gets interesting.If you like a book about relationships and second chances, you won't go wrong with this one.

Great back story details

This surprisingly well written first novel jumps between the two perspectives of former sweethearts. Gertler does a great job mixing important back-story details from when the characters were teens thirty years earlier into each of the two narratives as she pushes the present-day stories forward. Too often back-story is written (and edited) without much thought, simply as a device to provide details to tie things together. But in Jimmy's Girl, the back-story is more important than the present and is written with power. This book took me by surprise. I was fortunate enough to receive an advance copy and expected to read only a couple of chapters, but ended up finishing it in two very enjoyable evenings.