Three Junes by Julia Glass

This was my pick for July bookclub.  It was originally recommended to me by my Aunt.  She's a voracious reader and has turned me onto all kinds of books, from all time favorites like Bel Canto and The Kite Runner to fun reads like the Jane Whitefield series.

The title, Three Junes, refers to the three sections of the novel, each takes place during June of different years.  The sections overlap in interesting and unexpected ways.  We had quite a discussion about Fenno McLeod the main character in the second June.  His personality quirks were fascinating to some and annoying to others.  But, he was so well-developed and whole and real we spent a lot of time discussing why he might be the way he was.  Like he was an older brother or old friend we were psychoanalyzing.

Glass writes beautifully.  I re-read sentences and even entire paragraphs because the writing was so amazing.  A couple of bookclubbers mentioned doing the same thing.

I don't want to spoil the end, but I do want to say that there was something the reader knew that the characters didn't.  I kept expecting it to be revealed.  It wasn't.  I reconciled this in my mind because it seemed if there was a relationship blooming in the book that would continue after it was over and the information would eventually come out.  Now that's getting sucked into a literary world!

It turns out that Fenno shows up as a minor character in Glass' new novel, The Whole World Over.  It's on my stack of books to read.  I wonder how Fenno will be?