It says a lot about the amazingly durable and prolific American author Judy Blume that in her late 80s, she still hasn’t found time to produce the autobiography (begun and abandoned several times) that her millions of fans have craved for at least two-and-a-half generations. Happily, Mark Oppenheimer has come to their rescue with JUDY BLUME: A Life.  

A national and then global icon, Blume’s nearly three-dozen books, beginning with titles like ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET (1970) and TALES OF A FOURTH GRADE NOTHING (1972) broke acres of new and controversial ground in children’s and young adult literature.

By writing frankly for age groups that had been mostly infantilized and condescended to for as long as anyone can remember, Blume --- who believably claims to remember her childhood and teen years with near-absolute clarity --- simultaneously gained a vast following, as well as a permanent niche on various banned books lists going back at least 50 years.

"While Oppenheimer portrays Blume as a loyal, caring and humble mother, friend, literary colleague and life partner, he skillfully balances that with the public side of her character in which she stands firm in the face of political censure and ultra-conservative condemnation."

Blume’s natural use of plain language about emotions, urges, sexuality, puberty, menstruation, erections, wet dreams, relationships (anything parents and teachers avoided, and still do) proved irresistibly fascinating for super-fan Mark Oppenheimer, a Yale-educated author of nonfiction books on Judaism, religion and culture, to whom she entrusted the details of her complicated evolution as an unlikely literary icon.

JUDY BLUME is Oppenheimer’s first biography, but it reads as if he’d already made a career of it --- thanks in no small measure to hours of interviews, reams of emails, and copious written feedback from his celebrated and unfailingly generous subject.

At first glance, Oppenheimer seems to take a very methodical approach. His 31 chapters contain no descriptions, just a series of chronological periods marked by single or grouped years. Within that seemingly formulaic structure, the book builds an authentic and honest expression of someone who has experienced the emotions, stresses, achievements, joys, sorrows and disappointments that we all travel through, but writ correspondingly large in those areas that truly distinguish Blume as an author who doubly earned every distinction of being one.

Brought up in a conventional suburban Jewish household where her eclectic childhood interests were encouraged, she became aware by young adulthood that 1940s and ’50s society had certain expectations for women. No matter how well educated or accomplished they became, careers should be brief and give way to marriage and child-rearing. And for the most part she complied, settling at first into a respectably long marriage with a lawyer who fathered her two children, had no interest in her budding writing career, and avoided family time by playing golf whenever possible.

After her divorce, Blume’s life seemed to unfold much more rapidly and often chaotically, through multiple relationships and persistent attempts to establish herself. JUDY BLUME vividly documents her frequents publishers’ rejections, her drive to keep working toward recognition, her ravenous appetite for more education on improving her craft, her incessant search for an authentic literary voice, her professional and intimate relationships, her concerns for her daughter and son (who both became skilled and balanced professionals in their own right), and an unusually deep dedication to the care of her fans --- especially the youngest ones, who would write to her when no one else would listen.

While Oppenheimer portrays Blume as a loyal, caring and humble mother, friend, literary colleague and life partner, he skillfully balances that with the public side of her character in which she stands firm in the face of political censure and ultra-conservative condemnation. For her, being on multiple banned book lists is a badge of honor for writing about taboo subjects that very few other writers in her genre have dared.

Blume’s most recent published novel, IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT, dates back to 2015, but there is no certainty that at 88 she has officially “retired” from writing.

Despite the plethora of factual detail and verified anecdotal information, all supported by meticulous endnotes, acknowledgements and a substantial index, Oppenheimer himself has both the candor and clarity to recognize that there are deep nooks and crannies of Blume’s psyche that are off-limits. And it seems he shares one fundamental question with his subject: Why her? Why Judy Blume? Perhaps that’s the only question about her that no longer matters.

Even if your particular generation missed the “Blume effect,” as mine did, JUDY BLUME is a remarkable, mind-changing read.