This One Time with Julia

A darkly funny story about a sweet guy who gets caught up in the dysfunction of a wealthy family, the complications of first love, and the repercussions of his brother’s recklessness. Joe is an appealing narrator with a unique voice. Raised solely by his two brothers, Joe is kind-hearted but easily led, and lacks motivation. (Also he likely has an untreated attention disorder.) In a statement that perfectly captures his sense of wonderment and abiding sadness, Joe often says: “Life is so full of impossible things that I can’t understand.” Features a memorable cast of characters: Joe’s brothers, cocky but charming Alvin and resentful, neurotic Marcus; Julia (Alvin’s girlfriend, who becomes Joe’s girlfriend) a cute but tempestuous girl who reveals her repressed emotions in her sleep; and Houston, her smooth-talking, laid-back older brother, who harbors a dark secret. To David Lampson’s great credit, while they each play a comic role in the novel, they are also fully, movingly human. In Tennessee, where Julia takes Joe, they fall in love and Joe seems at peace for the first time. But the odd circumstances of Alvin’s disappearance gnaw at him and soon comedy gives way to Southern Gothic tragedy. Lampson achieves the transition skillfully and with poignancy. Compelling, strange, and heartbreaking, This One Time with Julia is a memorable reading experience.