This One Time with Julia
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
A young man finds his life turned upside down when his twin brother mysteriously disappears.
“Dave Lampson’s writing is magic. Heartrending, strange and wise—I loved it.”—Anna Godbersen, New York Times bestselling author of The Luxe and Bright Young Things
“A thrilling, engrossing read. Lampson is an exciting new talent.”—Blake Nelson, author of They Came from Below
Joe’s twin brother, Alvin, disappeared. And with him went Joe’s tenuous grip on real life. The rest of it: the road trip, the maybe-murder, the burned-down house—all that came later.
At eighteen, Joe is stuck in limbo. Directionless and simple, he blows through his inheritance playing poker and eating only cheeseburgers, pizza, and guacamole. Then Alvin disappears—and Julia, Alvin’s tempestuous girlfriend, takes Joe on a whirlwind road trip from LA to Tennessee. There, he’s thrust into the dysfunctional dynamic of her wealthy family. For the first time, Joe has a job. He has a suit that he wears every day. And he’s in love with a crazy, beautiful girl who only talks honestly in her sleep. Joe’s so blinded by his seductive new life that he almost misses the truth about what happened to his twin. This is the story about one time when Joe went on a road trip that changed his life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lampson's debut is narrated by an 18-year-old with an Asperger's-like condition and a tenuous understanding of the world. Following the death of their parents, Joe and his brothers raised themselves. Since his fraternal twin, Alvin, abandoned him for a girl named Julia, Joe has frittered away his inheritance on poker games while cutting his GED prep class, eating nothing but McDonald's cheeseburgers, and avoiding his pompous older brother, Marcus. When Alvin returns, he arranges to take a sailing trip with Joe, but then vanishes. Beautiful, anxious Julia soon shows up, persuading Joe to join her on a trip to Tennessee, where Joe finds work as pool boy at Julia's family's hotel. As Joe acquires new life skills and falls for Julia, her family's nefarious nature comes to light as does the truth about Alvin's disappearance. Refreshingly, Lampson avoids making Joe's condition the story's focus, instead highlighting the emotional isolation of multiple individuals and creating a cinematic effect through well-conceived dialogue, mature characterizations, and a noir-tinged atmosphere. A raw and darkly poignant novel about lost souls. Ages 12 up.
