Judy Blume: A life by Mark Oppenheimer
If one can judge the quality of a biography on the research behind it, then Mark Oppenheimer's Judy Blume: A life has to be good. Footnotes throughout each chapter reveal the extent of Oppenheimer's examination of Blume's life. They refer to the innumerable sources of Oppenheimer's information from Judy's unpublished memoir, from emails to and from Oppenheimer, from Judy's numerous other letters, from yearbooks, interviews, her novels, her speeches, from interviews, from her communications with editors, from documentaries, from reports, from note cards for speeches, from the material and writers that inspired her, from newspaper articles, biographical notes from other authors, magazines, appraisals... the list is extensive.
Judy was a prolific writer and communicator. Judging by the number of emails between Oppenheimer and Blume it seems that Blume had a fair idea about what Oppenheimer was to write and some input into this biography. 404 footnotes span 31 chapters and Epilogue. Oppenheimer also includes a note on sources where he discusses two of the documents cited. The first is the notes that Judy took for her unpublished memoir which she gave to Oppenheimer. They became an "invaluable resource" for him but covered only her early childhood. The second resource Oppenheimer used is most important - that of Judy's comments, memos, disagreements and thoughts on his draft biography. This reveals the extent of Oppenheimer's collaboration with Judy (though he does say that he "rejected many of her suggestions...") "... but I took many and I fixed the errors she caught." The index is extensive and helpful and a double spread photograph of Judy from Getty Images graces the front pages. Photo credits are given for the pages of black and white photographs in the middle of the book.
Oppenheimer is well qualified to write a biography. He holds a PhD in religious studies from Yale and has taught at Stanford, Yale, NYU and other prestigious institutions. In addition he was a columnist for The New York Times for six years, has written for The New Yorker, The Nation, GQ, Slate and many more publications and is the author of five books including the poignant and powerful Squirrel Hill: the tree of life synagogue shooting and the soul of a neighbourhood.
Oppenheimer traces Blume's writing path from her early and unpublished work through to the well-known novels that children have been so familiar with eg. Tales of a fourth grade nothing and Sheila the great for primary years and Are you there God? It's me Margaret for Middle years readers. Oppenheimer offers possible links and parallels between Blume's own feisty personality and complicated childhood, marriages and life which evolved into her becoming a great advocate for free speech and contemporary literature. With his sensitive, clear-eyed and respectful approach, readers of Judy Blume: A life will find some interesting information, some surprises and some Aha moments. It is hard to forget the picture of the teenage Judy Blume that Oppenheimer manages to extract. What a smart and spirited girl she was! She had a crystal clear way of seeing people and situations for what they were and for taking on people. This aspect of her personality plus her drive for achievement and her single-minded focus, drove her life in gutsy ways that most middle- class 1940s/50s women would not have dared. This bold characteristic empowered and influenced her life- her sexual experiences, her relationships and marriages and seeped into her books. She became an author who wrote books for adolescents that did not shy away from the messier side of growing up that other writers avoided. Thus Blume had to fight with her books becoming banned from time to time. In this way, she reshaped young people's literature.
Blume has had an extraordinary impact on literature for children and (in this writer's opinion) especially for Middle Years readers. Her influence is international and Oppenheimer has written a biography that lifts the veil and sheds a light on the life that shaped the writings of the remarkable Judy Blume.
Themes: Judy Blume's life and work.
Wendy Jeffrey