Three Junes

I really enjoyed this novel of three interrelated stories. The character and relationships were well-drawn and the characters seemed believably complicated. Although many of the characters had failed relationships, there seemed some hope at the end that they could recover from the past and start again.

I thought the writing poetic. The characters complex and flawed, therefore believable. I read this book after reading her second novel, and am currently reading her third. I will, no doubt read them all again, perhaps in order, although it wouldn't matter. For me, rare is the book I reread. In this case, I feel I will get something different on the 2nd read. Still poetic, but will pick up other things. In a word? Addicting.

I purchased this book after reading a sample so I should have gotten something I would enjoy. Unfortunately, it wasn't til I got the full version that the shifting back and forth in time and then back and forth in generations started. I suffered through a third of this book and then gave up. Too hard to follow and not enough in the story to put up with the changing back and forth for me to want to continue. It is now in archive and incompletely read.

WHILE THE WRITING ITSELF WAS WELL DONE, THE STORY WAS VERY DISAPPOINTING. THERE WAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL FOR ENLARGING THE FIRST CHARACTERS. MOM AND DAD. MAYBE THERE IS A SEQUEL COMING, BUT THE AUTHOR REALLY LEFT YOU HANGING. THEN WHEN THE SPEAKER ALL OF A SUDDEN BECAME A WOMEN ( AND WHO SEEMED TO ME A SUPERFULOUS CHARACTER) IT READ LIKE A DIFFERENT AUTHOR. THE STORY JUST DID.N'T GO ANYWHERE. MAYBE THAT WAS THE AUTHOR'S MESSAGE. LIFE REALLY DOESN'T GO ANYWHERE, IT JUST IS.

I was disappointed with the novel, based on the fact it was a National Book Award winner. Perhaps it was too "literary" for me, but I found myself not really caring about the characters. Although I'm far from a prude, I felt the parts about the gay character was way more than I needed/wanted to know.

I have purchased Glass's new one and hope I'll enjoy it more.

Excellent first two sections....not so enamored with the third...author may have been rushing to get published.... but I do feel there is a sequel here in the lead characters new entry into the lives of unwed mothers

This book is basically 3 separate short stories, yet there are characters from each story that are related in the previous stories, but yet not always explained how they were related. I kept thinking it would all come together in the end; yet it never did. At times it was entertaining, but in the end, I didn't get the point of the stories. They just seemed to ramble on, with no clear storyline. If I had to summarize the book: it's about a gay man, who moves away from his family in Scotland to live in America. He has poor choices in friends, and many of them die of AIDS. Oh, and his deceased mother was good at breeding Collies.

I did finish this book because someone recommended it. I never did get what was the author's purpose for this story. I found it full of superfluous ramblings that had nothing to do with the story and caused my mind to stray so that when it came back to some relevant point, my mind was no longer engaged. I found it so frustrating to keep having to go back to figure out what mattered and what didn't matter. The author is a good writer but not a great writer. A great writer can do these sidebar ramblings adding richness to the story. This did not happen for me. I finished it and thought "what a waste of time". That said, I would give her another try because so many people seem to like her writing.

I finished this book yesterday. Surprisingly I got through it in 4 days considering how utterly boring and pointless the book was.

First of all, there are no interesting characters in the whole book. The father might have been interesting, but so little time was spent on him and so little information was given about his feelings toward his wife. The gay pathetic son was indeed pathetic and boring. How can you be gay and living in NY and have such a boring life? The music critic, the professor, the brothers and then all of a sudden this pregnant girl had nothing interesting to say. They were neither likable or unlikable. The only interesting thing I can say about the characters is that they all had great jobs (almost too perfect): music critic, chef, veterinarian, bookstore owner, horticulturist, etc.

Secondly, nothing happened in the whole book. No great family secrets were revealed. Well, there was a little bit about the mother's affairs, but the book never delved into it very deeply. The people who died were expected to die. The father went to Greece, but nothing happened there. We were never told why Greece was so special to him. There were no great romances in the story. The pathetic gay brother did nothing special.

Thirdly, little things would happen in the book that a good writer would expand on and reveal to us some meaning behind people's actions. For example, in the book the brothers find some medals in a vase that they never used. They wondered a bit who the medals were from, but then forget about it. They were probably from the neighbor who probably had an affair with the mother. The reader knows it, but it is not revealed to the brothers. So, what was the purpose of finding some stupid medals in the stupidest place of all - a vase that no one ever knew existed. Pointless.

How did this woman get this book published and why are people buying it? She must have really good relations with her publisher to get her so much publicity for such an awful book.

I usually don't write book reviews - take too long - but I happened to notice the number of mediocre reviews here and had to add my short two cents.
I'm basing this on the audio book - admittedly it has a fabulous reader - but I'm purchasing a print copy for a friend.

I found the writing to be extraordinary in its description and ability to create another world.
Unlike others here, I found the structure of the book easy to follow (the 3 Junes refers to 3 different years in the month of June) and clever without trying too hard.
And I found it humorous.

Everyone's taste of course is different, but I'm pretty fussy and I thought this a terrific read.

This is a strange book. Julia Grass writes well, but she had no story. This is a collection of people who live ordinary lives and interact as normal people interact. It is a family story. The McLoed's are a Scottish family. Most of the plot takes place after the mother has died and the children are grown and submerged into their adult lives. Ferro, the oldest is gay and lives in NewYork City. He has a book store, and is a sensitive,
angry and defensive man. His brothers Dennis and David are twins. Dennis is a chef in France and David is a veterinarian and lives in Scotland.
Much of the story takes place after Paul, the father dies and everybody is home for the funeral. The characters are well developed but when we get to know and understand them there is nothing but interaction. Only story has to do with David and his wife who desperately want a baby. After much soul searching Paul agrees to be a sperm donor. More of the story takes place in New York where Ferro takes care of a friend who is dying of AIDS. AND THEN Lo and-behold we have a whole new cast of characters. We jump right in the middle of Fern's life. So most of the last part of the book is about Fern and toward the end of her story she intersects in a casual way with Ferro.

I really enjoyed the story about the dad Paul and his trip to Greece and I do not mind flashbacks as I am a huge fan of Toni Morrison. So this book did not irritate me when it constantly jumped around in sequence. What bothered me was the POINTLESS long descriptions of cooking food and cleaning up the kitchen. Why why why do we need to know who did the dishes?? Skip those paragraphs.

Anyhow. The first part of the story is Paul and his memories of his dead wife. No one reading this book will like the late Maureen who raised collies and cheated on her hubby while never having to earn a day's wages once married to the self-sacrificing Paul. So good riddance. Paul meets people on his trip to Greece and one of them shows up later in the book, and this first section is good enough to stand on its own.

The second part is about Paul's gay son Fenno who broods and huffs and snarks his way through life. Somehow he runs a cute bookstore called Plume but we never see him actually working or reading books or managing his business. Mostly what Fenno does is complain and lust after Tony. His bitter, effete intellectual friend Mal (appropriately named) is the most interesting character in this whole book. When he dies of AIDS you feel bad that the best part of Three Junes has died. Mal had the wittiest lines and was always so arch and misanthropic and yet you just wanted to know more and more about his past. But the visits to Scotland to see Fenno's family were just tedious and AGAIN, who cares what they ate every at every meal? It's like Game of Thrones with all the long-winded foodie ogling. Fenno's brothers are just about the flattest characters you will meet and married to unlikeable women, but somehow have perfect children.

The third part of the book dwells on the horridly epicurian Tony and the who-cares Fern. You may not remember Fern from when she met Paul (now long dead) but here she is, pregnant and somehow still friends with Tony. Seriously, why is ANYONE friends with Tony? If this guy actually existed, people would yawn at his boring stock photos and he would NOT be house-sitting for the rich because who would trust him? Back to Fern: her boring frigid hubby died in the stupidest accident possible, and she does not miss him. So Fern hems and haws about the lover who knocked her up but she never gets around to "Hey Fenno, I met your dad and gave him some of my art when we were back in Greece. Funny world, huh?" Instead the book ends with Fenno and Fern stuck in New York traffic while she tries to call her lover on a primitive cell phone. We can only hope that one day she will visit Fenno's place and see her art on his wall.

The writing is good most of the time, too florid in places, and the characters we CARE about never get properly explored while minor nobodies get the limelight. An excellent first novel but nothing to win an award.

A surprising read, coming to Glass' debut novel after having read several later ones (the best by far--"I See You Everywhere"). Amazing, the skill and complexity that Glass demonstrates for her first publication!

But what is really amazing here is that the middle part--portraying the relationship among Fenno and Mal and the wonderful parrot Felicity--is a powerful, moving story, beautifully written, while the first and last parts from the points of view of boring Paul and Fern are dull. I slogged through to the end only because of a kind of loyalty to a writer capable of that middle section which could have been best published as a stand alone novella. Moreover, Glass' preoccupation throughout the novel with pregnancy and children becomes cloying and tiresome. Everyone in it, even the gay person, has to have babies or they are considered bereft. A narrow view of life and humanity. But read it for the rich, incredibly moving "Upright."

Julia Glass' "Three Junes" is less a novel than a set of three loosely connected novellas telling the story of the McLeod family--newspaper publisher Paul; his wife, Maureen, breeder of champion border collies; and their sons--bookstore owner Fenno, veterinarian David, and chef Dennis. You could call it a family saga, except that Glass sternly resists all temptations to give in to the overworked conventions of that genre.

As the title indicates, the novellas tell the stories of various McLeod family members on three separate Junes: 1989, in Greece; 1995, in New York and at the family home in Scotland; and 1999; at the Long Island seashore. All three stories deal strongly with bereavement--dealing not only with the grief of loss, but also with the complicated situations the dead have left behind. Characters outside the family recur from story to story, but not in any Dickensian or O. Henry sort of way--indeed, the characters don't always even realize the connections. Glass is a master of descriptive prose, always finding the right detail to bring a scene to life. She's also a master at creating character, her brainchildren complicated and believably contradictory, never reducible to a few traits. I'm still not certain what I think of most of the characters--which, I believe, is why so many reviewers on this Web site have reacted so strongly against the book. "Three Junes" never tells us what to think of the characters, and never envelops us in the their cuddliness--indeed, they're more often prickly than cuddly. But they're never less than three-dimensional, and in the end they are sympathetic. They're not fantasy people, but more like your next-door neighbors and your colleagues at work. (Two of the most charming characters are Rodgie the border collie and Felicity the parrot--both fully as realized as any of the human characters.)

If you're looking for a story that ties everything up in neat little bows in the end, avoid "Three Junes." But if you want a book as messy, vivid and believable as real life, this is the book for you.

This was the 2002 National Book Award winner. It is told in three parts ranging from 1989 to 1999. Not surprisingly, the three parts each take place in June of different years hence the name of the novel. The second section makes up the core and largest section of the book and the first and third parts fittingly serve as an introduction and conclusion.

This is a novel about characters and about family and friends. It is very character based and I think Glass does a wonderful job at creating deep and interesting characters. Some of the one star reviews on the store noted that the characters were one dimensional cutouts. I couldn't disagree more. The characters are the strength.

The plot centers around a Scottish family headed by Paul and Maureen McLeod. Their three sons are Fenno,the most main character, who lives in New York. The twins David and Dennis are a vet and chef living in Scotland and France respectively. They run through family crises, death, disease and betrayal. Again, I think Glass does a wonderful job at character development.

The novel is structured very much by cutting back and forth through time. She goes from past to present and back quite often. These transitions are very smooth and coherent which is not an easy thing to do.

Fenno, the eldest son who is gay is the main character. The 2nd section is told completely from his perspective. He is a complex character who I neither liked nor disliked. He neither hides nor flaunts his sexuality with his family and he searches for his place in the world.

I've talked about the positives but there are some negatives.

The story has wonderful moments but does become tedious at times. The large middle section drifted in and out for me. Every scene with Fenno's friend Malachy Burns is interesting. Fenno's non-Malachy sections drag on a bit and my interest waned as the section progressed.

I saw some great things in this book but was disappointed by the tedious periods that went on for too long.

I recommend Three Junes but it has some issues.

Some books have transcendent plots that carry you away on a fictional journey. Others are like fine works of art; you read them to be swept away by the sheer beauty of the prose. Still others are clever or thrilling, always staying one step ahead, compelling the reader to try to figure out the what is going on and why. Then there are the detailed character studies--these books bring a single character to life so effectively that readers feel they know this person better than almost anyone else.

Every novel tries to deliver deeply wrought characters that spring to life off the page. But once a reader puts a book down, and goes on to another, generally these characters slowly disappear from memory. But not all fictional characters fade away; with some novels the entire focus of the work is on such fine and deep characterization that readers will remember that character for the rest of their lives.

"Three Junes" by Julia Glass is just such an incredible character study. The character we come to know so deeply is Fenno McCloud. It's a brilliant creation...no wonder it won the National Book Award in 2002!

And what type of character did Julia Glass bring to life in Fenno McCloud? Is he some larger-than-life role model? No, Fenno is just another decent human being struggling to live a good life in a difficult world. Perhaps he is unique because he possesses a strong moral compass and this is what attracts us to him. Fenno is gay, but his sexuality is not important in the overall scheme of this book; also, there is nothing in this book that is titillating.

Through its artistic three-part structure, Fenno McCloud comes alive. Much of the depth of the character study is derived from the book's unique structure. The author describes it as a triptych--a three-part work consisting of a large center novel flanked on either end by two small novellas. Each piece could stand alone, but together they perform symbiotically to create something far greater. It is a structure that allows the reader to learn about Fenno from different perspectives.

The first part, named "Collies," tells the story of Fenno McCloud's father, Paul, during June of 1989--a time in his life when he is vacationing in Greece recovering from the death of his wife, Maureen. There are many flashbacks where we are introduced to many of the major characters in the novel including Paul's eldest son, Fenno. There is a young American woman on the trip named Fern. Paul finds her disarming, and soon he is telling her his innermost secrets.

The long central novel, named "Upright," is set in June of 1995. Fenno is living in New York at the height of the AIDs epidemic. And the mantra that runs through his head is "stay upright and you will stay alive." In this section we are introduced to Fenno's friends and move with him through his everyday home and work life. There are numerous flashbacks where we learn about Fenno's Scottish family.

In the third part, named "Boys, " and set in June of 1999, Fern again plays a pivotal role. Fenno and Fern meet each other in New York, never knowing that Fern knew Fenno's father in Greece ten years earlier. Just like his father before him, Fenno finds Fern disarming, and soon he is opening up to her and telling her his innermost secrets. That father and son, would find Fern and both see her as the perfect confidant...well, that makes the serendipity of their coming together even more magical.

The three sections permit us to view Fenno not only from his own point of view, but also from the points of view of those people who are most important to him. The action of the book is centered around Fenno's relationships--those with his father, his mother, his two brothers, the brothers' wives and children, his friends and lovers in New York, and even his beloved parrot, Felicity.

This novel is not for everyone. If you need a strong plot or a compelling storyline, look elsewhere: this novel is decidedly a realistic portrayal of everyday life, nothing more. If you love a novel with deep character development, look no further: this book is about as good as they get.

If after finishing the book, Fenno becomes so much a part of your life and you want some more time with him, you will be happy to know that Fenno reappears as one of a group of major characters in Julia Glass' latest novel "The Whole World Over." Both novels are excellent and highly recommended, but "Three Junes," is truly exceptional.

This book is in three parts, each narrated with a different point of view. Part I is narrated in third person, limited to Paul Macleod, a retired newspaperman and the father of a Scottish family that is the focus of the story. Part II, is narrated by Paul's son Fenno, and comprises two-thirds of the book. Part III is narrated in third person limited to the point of view of a young woman who befriended Paul on his trip to Greece.

The main action of these three narrations occurs in June, 1989, June of 1995, and June of 1999. The first June, in 1989, recounts Paul's vacation in Greece; the second June occurs when Fenno and his farflung brothers and their wives convene at the Macleod family home in Scotland for their father's funeral in 1995; the third June occurs in 1999 when Fenno, his brother Dennis, and Fern (the young woman who befriended Paul in Greece) enjoy a weekend at a beach house in Long Island, New York. Interspersed throughout the action of these "three Junes" are numerous flashbacks, enough to give an indepth look at the complications in the relationships among the Macleod family. The book is Faulknerian in the way it weaves a complete story using flashbacks and time shifts.

As I was reading this book, I described it to those who asked about it as a very "suspenseful" book. When I described the plot, however, it was obvious that the plot isn't suspenseful. The suspense derives from the tension between characters' relationships. The family exhibits passive aggression, attacks disguised as humor, spite, jealousy, envy, guilt-tripping each other, perhaps even hatred. The relationships among the family members are very psychological and plausibly described by author Glass.

A story about such a family would seem to be depressing and trying on a reader, but the narration about the Macleod family is interpersed with scenes from son Fenno's life in New York, and the smart dialogue and repartee of his friends Mal and Tony prevent the gloomy accounting of the Macleod's saga from becoming too overbearingly depressing for the reader. Fenno's friends Mal and Tony are cynical characters yet likable for their wit and admirable in many qualities. Fenno, the narrator of most of the book, is a bit gloomy in spirit, but his narration and his perception of events in the story are intelligent, nuanced, and sophisticated.

Fenno is gay and lives in New York during the eighties, and there are many flashbacks to his experience there. Therefore, the book includes accounts of the AIDS epidemic of that period, and Fenno's best friend is afflicted with the disease. However, the book is not an "AIDS book" that focuses narrowly on the effects of the disease on gay lifestyle. AIDS is an element of the book, and Fenno must deal with it, but it's not the focus.

This is a book about the complications of family relationships; competition among brothers, homosexuality, disappointing one's parents, disappointing one's children, choosing a lifestyle contrary to one's parents, infidelity, pathological emotional isolation of family members from one another, and so on. Yet at its heart the book is mostly about the high cost of love. The Macleod family's way of loving one another does cost them. But the book offers hope for a better, more open, sense of love. Fenno is cautious with love, and his cautiousness makes him turn away from the opportunity for love, not just a life partner but all kinds of loving relationships. He remains mostly celibate in his gay lifestyle not just because of the threat of AIDS but because he's reluctant to invest his emotions in others by loving them and allowing himself to be loved by others.

The book is an account of how Fenno, the eldest son and the gay son, overcomes his skepticism of love and his isolation from others by embracing the possibility of love and by developing his attachments to family, friends, potential lovers, and society even. There is a lot of trouble in the Macleod family that threatens human attachment among the parents, their sons and their wives, and others too. But the book has a positive ending in that Fenno, whose voice is primary in the novel, finally begins to reach out to others by the end of his story.

I loved this from the first sentence to the last. I actually tried to take my time reading it because I knew when it ended, I'd be sad. I enjoyed the author's writing style and lush descriptions of the three locations of the separate sections. I liked how she took her time unfolding the characters and how pieces from each fell into place with information gleaned from a different person's section. I enjoyed the first and last sections, but it was the second (and longest) that focuses on Fenno that captured me. I deeply love Fenno, and was thrilled he popped up as a minor character in her next otherwise-unrelated novel. I was so emotionally invested in this book that I actually cried real, hardcore tears when it ended, which is a bit more melodramatic a reaction than I normally have at the end of a good book. I didn't find myself obsessing over getting questions answered or having bits fall perfectly into place. I was content to be swept along wherever it went. The author writes beautifully, and her characters are vivid. If that sounds like your cup of tea, please give this one a try as I think it's one of the best. If you're more into heavy plot or fast moving action and a tidy wrap up at the end, skip it because it doesn't match that criteria.

I liked "Three Junes" so much that after two years I actually re-read it with great pleasure. I got if for my birthday from my husband, who skimmed it and decided it will be a good gift. And he was right. It is a strong, emotionally gripping debut book.

The story revolves around one Scottish family - the McLeods. Paul, the family head and owner of the newspaper, is the main character in the first of the three parts (which won the award for the best novella, and it is, in a way, separate), when he goes to Greece after the death of his wife in 1989. We are introduced to the family from his perspective, learning about his wife, Maureen, and his sons Fenno, David and Dennis, with numerous retrospectives interchanging with the pictures from the Greek trip. The oldest of the three sons, Fenno, the owner of a bookstore in New York, narrates the second, the longest and - in my opinion - best part, which takes place after the death of Paul in 1995, in the family home in Scotland, but is full of Fenno's memories and reminiscences of various times in his life. The third part centers on Fern, a girl who made an impression on Paul on his trip to Greece, and this is maybe the weakest point of the novel, but it brings a catharsis in a form of Fern's conversation with Fenno, giving the reader some necessary answers.

All the characters, even the background ones, are very rich, each of them really comes to life and is absolutely original. My favorite is Fenno McLeod- I do not agree with one of the reviewers who said that Fenno's self-consciousness is unnatural in a man in his forties - I know many people, who because of their sensitivity and culture behave and feel in a similar way; amateur psychology aside, Fenno is definitely a complex, interesting person who has many dilemmas and although tries to order his life in a simplest possible way, is faced with choices which lead to his full maturity but leave him still uncertain and doubting... Great character.

My second favorite is Maureen, the wife of Paul, dog breeder and lover of the outdoors, seemingly not well matched to Paul and all the time promising some (unsolved) mystery; the funny thing is, that although dead from the beginning, she is all the time present, her strong personality made her mark on the home and each member of the family. Of the secondary characters, although all are special in a way, I would like to mention Mal, Fenno's sophisticated friend, dying of AIDS, and Veronique, Dennis' French wife.

The only downfall of this otherwise great read is that the author inexplicably seems to want to show off with her knowledge of the world, putting loads of information about places where the story is set (Scotland, Manhattan, Paris, Greek islands, Long Island) and petty, albeit interesting, details about whatever comes to her mind really, from almost any field. This is the only thing that comes out as unnatural... I would imagine that it would have a good effect on the novel's clarity if this clutter were reduced. I am very curious about Julia Glass' second book and would like to read it soon despite worse reviews - my own will probably appear soon.

Enjoy "Three Junes", especially that it is best read in summer!

Julia Glass has become my favorite author. She writes complex characters, has interesting story lines and writes on a level that most authors can only dream of! To me, the story pointed out how families, no matter how close, never really never know or understand how each other lives or thinks---or what they think of each other. Julia Glass, in all of her books, seems to hit on this topic in a very intriguing way.

Of the trilogy, the first two sections are the most interesting and it took me awhile to understand how the last section fit. I had almost given up hope of it having any real tie-in before that piece came together. Still, I felt resentful that Fern was taking such a large part in the story that seemed to belong to the McLeod family. Feeling a connection to a character and caring about what happens to them are pretty necessary in a work of fiction; my resentment of Fern kept me from those attachments. I would have much preferred if the third part of the trilogy had perhaps switched to David and Lily.

With summer here you may be tempted to bring this book along as a vacation read. Perhaps you saw the gold embossed award on the cover and assumed it must be a superior story or maybe you read a couple of pages in the used book store and were drawn in by the prose. While the author writes beautifully and I felt compelled to keep reading, this book left me feeling depressed for an entire day after I finished. It's a real downer because you spend time with some ultimately unlikable characters (Fenno, Fern, Mal, and Tony), thinking that the story told in beautiful prose will lead you somewhere good. The family saga that starts in the first of three parts, set in Greece and Scotland, is intriguing, but in the second part it morphs into the story of the gay son Fenno struggling with his sexuality, his depressing pretentious friends, and the AIDs epidemic in New York City. Fenno goes back and forth to visit his family in Scotland but is cast as an outsider now so the family story really looses steam. Other family members characters aren't well fleshed out and there are some loose ends in the plot that don't seem to be coming together in part two, The third part of the book doesn't fulfill the promises of the first section. Family secrets are not fully explained and a minor character from the first section is brought back but her life is pretty depressing and we really want to hear about Fenno's brothers and the family saga. This section is supposed to be three or four years latter and Fenno is now acting like an old man even though he's still middle aged. The nice tie in to the beginning of the book with the reintroduced bit player doesn't happen in the end and the story just fizzles and ends. What a waste of time! How did this ever win a book award?

Three Junes is a novel written in three sections, covering the three summers in the life of a Scottish family, where significant events are displayed over a ten year period.
In the First part entitled COLLIES, we are transported to Greece where the elder Paul McLeod a newpaper publisher is mentally recuperating after his wife's death and where, in his lonliness he meets Fern an American artist whom he is somewhat attracted to.
In the second section entitled UPRIGHT, which is my favourite section, we are given an in-depth look at he McLeod family and this is narrated by Fenno one of the sons who is gay and runs a bookstore in Manhattan. The other sons Dennis who David who are happily married, one living in the family home of Tealing where he does his veterinary work and the other lives in France with his wife Veronique.
Glass showcases the lives of this family as they come for their father's family in Tealing Scotland. This section was very arresting to my mind which I consider the nucleus and focal point of the entire book. Joy and tears reign looking back at the old times and reminiscing about the past lives of their lost parents, friends they used to know. There is a lot of compassion here too causing you to start rallying around this family who sometimes does not know if they are going or coming, but they are lovable nevertheless. Featured in the book too are quite a lot of Fenno friends all artist in their own right.......photographers, music reviewers, writers, book lovers and the beat goes on.
In the third section entitled BOYS, this is the shortest section yet and this is when Fenno meets Fern, his father's former lover in long island.
This is a wonderful contemporary novel to be savoured and not rushed through. If you have a partiality for the arts and travel, please read this book or make it a wonderful gift for a friend. It was much more than I expected and I am a lot richer for having read it.
It deserved a wonderful five stars for this first novelist. Thank you Julia Glass.

Julia Glass has managed an impressive debut in "Three Junes." In three almost-self-contained novellas she dissects the many forms of love, each unique in its own mysterious way. In the first chapter, a widower wanders Greece on a tour, remembering his marriage, an outwardly happy one. We get tantalizing hints about Maureen, first through her husband's puzzled eyes, then much more clearly as we come to know her children. Can two people be married for so long and not know each other? In the second "June" the family re-unites for the funeral of their father, and we see two very different marriages, both puzzling to older brother Fenno, who is struggling with his own unique ways of loving. In the third chapter, the story comes full circle, as a character from Greece re-surfaces in a surprising way.

This isn't a plot driven book, which explains many of the poor reviews. It is beautifully written, with unique fully-developed characters and a fresh perspective on human love. But don't expect it to end wrapped up in a neat package. In fact, this is my one big criticism--perhaps an editor felt the book needed a little trick to keep the reader guessing, and so one races through the last chapter waiting for the "Six Degrees of Separation" to be revealed. But Glass leaves us hanging, in a false note that mars an otherwise genuine story.

_Three Junes_ is a story about a prominent Scottish family, their relationships with each other and the various people they connect with in their lives. The theory of the "three junes" signifies 3 separate and poignant summers in the character's lives.
In the beginning of the novel, the shortest chapter introduces Paul, a recent widower attempting to reconcile the loss of his beloved wife and the lingering insecurities he has felt as a father to his children and the fidelity of his late wife. Some of these impressions are deeply subtle, and for some readers, this can be frustrating and unfulfilling. I feel, however, it is an adequate and realistic representation of how most family members relate to each other. Afraid to shake up supposed harmony, family members will go to great lengths to suppress disturbing impressions and the past.
The next and more satisfying part of the novel is about Paul's oldest son, Fenno. Paul is still trying to come to terms with the young man's homosexuality, where his late wife knew early on in the boy's life where his true nature was. Fenno's story is the meat of the novel, rich and substantial. His life is a careful ballet to avoid "the plague" (AIDS) and his sacrifices are a heavy weight. The relationships he developes with his brothers, their wives, their children, his friends and lovers are bright, humorous and heartbreakingly real. A favor requested of Fenno by one of his brothers and sister-in law adds an aching dimension to Fenno's life as he struggles to fit in amongst the family reunion at his father's funeral. Here is where subtle family events are teasingly implicated, discussed but not entirely resolved. Again, my sentiments are that this is so appropriate, so reflective of how families actually behave.
The last third of the novel was my least favorite, and I see this reflected in other's reviews. It would be tidy to validate the connection of Fern, a young, pregnant, widowed woman that Fenno meets through his friends and buisness associates. But, as the reader, we know the connection. The book's ending is reflective and suggestive. There is no great bang. Could there be? I understand the need for many to need that, and I craved it as well. But, here, again is another reflection of real life...it goes on, and neatly tied up loose ends are uncommon.
After reading this novel, and the reviews, I feel it may be helpful to say if you don't want to read a cryptic, thought provoking, open-ended novel, this may not be for you.
_Three Junes_ is subtle and unfortunately for those craving resolution and finality, this may be troublesome.

It has been said that Three Junes "rescues and refurbishes" the plot-driven novel, and it is easy to argue that the relatively mild-mannered main characters are pulled about by events that are not of their own making. Julia Glass makes particularly striking contrasts between many of the prominent male characters and the much more fiery and strong-willed women in their lives --generally their mothers and wives. Those who study the craft of writing will be impressed with the way the author weaves past and present action and first and third person narrative. While I recommend this book fairly strongly, particularly for its craft and introspection, I suspect some readers won't feel completely satisfied at the end as the book doesn't seem to build to a climax or tie up every loose end completely. For those who feel that literary fiction is always depressing, this book touches on tough subjects such as AIDS, childlessness and failed relationships while keeping an ultimately hopeful outlook. Those who liked the strong characters of Michael Cunningham's The Hours or the episodic narration of Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, will probably find this to be a fine novel.

After finishing this book I was left with mixed emotions and thoughts. I was expecting a marvel of a book based on some of the reviews here; but found I related a bit more to those who were confused about why this book was so special. And let me say as an avid reader I have read many books I'd consider masterpieces- and I know they do not come in all one form. However, I felt whatever Julia Glass was trying to do when creating her "work of art", escaped me.

The book is divided into 3 parts- 3 Junes. The first is a summer vacation that Fenno's dad- Paul- decides to take where he is with a group of travelers all trying to connect. He is reliving his past life- his marriage to his deceased wife, while also intrigued with his present situation and companions. These first 60 pages let me down the most, I had a hard time getting into the story and enjoying it.

The second part of the book featured Paul's family- including the 3 sons- dealing with their parents deaths and the things going on in their own lives. Fenno, the eldest son is the centerpiece- as we see his life lived out through memories of his past and through the present. I found his relationships very interesting, but also lacking in really getting to know some of the characters- and understanding them. Towards the middle of this part the book picked up.

The final part features Fern, a woman that Paul met on his travels and became fascenated with. We see her now as more of an individual and the things she has gone through in the years since she met Paul. In her present- she's become acquainted with Fenno. I found this part of the book the most interesting. I think it was because I finally felt like I was beginning to know some of the characters.

Over-all, if I could go back, I don't think I'd bother to have read this book. While it had redeeming qualities, I don't think it fully outweighed the rest of the negatives- I felt some of the writing very sloppy. Also, I agree with the other reviewer that the ending leaves you short-changed. I will say though that there were some very poetic paragraphs included, several things that did make me think. I guess I'm half and half with this book!

Julia Glass has written a luminous novel about family ties those we are born with and those we acquire through life. The novel is divided into three sections that each include the McLeod family memebers. In the first and most interesting section we meet Paul McLeod who is recovering from his wife Maureen's death on a trip to Greece in June . Paul's reminiscence of Maureen is poignant as he describes their meeting and early years of marriage together. The reader is treated to beautifully written passages about their rural Scottish home and the interactions between these two people. Paul is left wondering if he ever really knew his wife, certian that he loved her, yet regretting not having the courage to really know her. Part two of the story centers on Fenno, Paul's oldest son, who arrives home from NYC to attend his father's funeral. It is in this chapter we meet the rich, interesting characters in Fenno's life; Malachy Burns a music critic dying of AIDS, Fenno's lover, his neighbor and twin brothers Dennis and David and their families. Fenno keeps his emotions to himself and like his father, questions why he sometimes doesn't have the courage to connect in a real way with the people in his life. This is the longest section of the book and at times drags as Fenno philosophies about his life and relationships. The last section of the book is by far the weakest, with Fern Olitsky being the central character who ties into the McLeod's life in an intesting way. This scene is set in the Hamptons, at a beach house where a dinner draws Fenno, his brother Dennis, his ex-lover, Fern and a new man. The interactions are interesting, but this was disappointing as the rest of the book was superb and the ending just seems to drop off. This is a story that is meant to be read slowly, with wonderful imagery and details to characters and relationships, but ends somewhat weakly.

In "Three Junes", Glass explores the intricacies of relationships among family, friends and lovers. Paul is the patriarch of the McLeod family, a Scottish clan consisting of three sons; Fenno, the eldest, and twins Dennis and David. The story begins in Greece where Paul is vacationing after the death of his wife. Through shifting scenes and flashbacks, Glass reveals the lives of her characters and their relationship to each other with meticulous detail and artistry. Fenno leaves Scotland after college and settles in New York where he tries to negotiate life and relationships during the AIDS crisis of the eighties. While in New York, Fenno befriends a host of people who teach him about love and loss in ways quite unlike the detached manner he's experienced in his family. After Paul dies, the brothers gather in Scotland for his funeral. During their time in Scotland, the brothers learn how each of their lives was shaped by their parent's relationship. In this section of the novel, Glass does a superb job of depicting how siblings raised in the same household by the same parents can have vastly different experiences.

In addition to the storyline that explores the McLeod family relationships, are the storylines that examine relationships of the non-familial sort; the love with which Fenno cares for a dying friend and his pets. The love of life as expressed by Tony who finds it easier to love life and freedom than commit to the day-to-day challenges of loving people.

"Three Junes" was an enjoyable read overall although at time it moved a bit slowly for my liking. Glass's writing and imaginative abilities are on point. Each character, no matter how minimal, is flushed out in sufficient detail to make him/her real and endearing. The story is a complex and layered study in love - its hardships and rewards. My favorite line from the novel: "Mind what you love. For that matter, mind how you are loved." The novel was well worth the time spent reading it.

Julia Glass's Three Junes is a somewhat successful, somewhat disjointed narrative following a Scottish family through two generations, from their own perspective and from those of another whose life intertwines with theirs. The first part of the novel, 'Collies' is by far the strongest and describes how Paul both fell in love with and married Maureen and the aftermath of her death. The chronology, as others have noted, is slightly convoluted, but in this section it is much clearer than later in the novel. It is in these first few pages that I think Glass dazzled the National Book Award committee as her ability to subtley capture Paul's mourning as well as reveal a terrible secret really shows of her skills as an author; these skills, however, desert her in the other two parts of the novel. The second part of the novel is told in the first person through the eyes of Fenno, one of the three boys Paul and Maureen have. His story is by far the most interesting, but somewhat crudely done - the beautiful range of emotion that we experiences in the opening pages is replaced by something I still can't fully describe, other than say everything seems more clumsily done causing me to wonder why Glass even chose to continue her story, as the first part was published originally on its own. Fenno's role as caretaker to Mal, an opera and music critic often seems unbalanced. The final section finds us learning about some characters who we originally only see on the periphery of Fenno's narrative, who presumably are supposed to enhance our understanding of this family. Unfortunately, Glass seems to preoccupied with filling the pages with cliches about love and trying to leave the reader with some deeper understanding of live and relationships that she forgets to really finish her tale. I really do think she should have stopped the story after the first part.

So why the 3 stars instead of 1 or none? The writing is beautiful. Glass has an eye for description and some of the details are so exquisite that even while becoming increasingly annoyed with the text, I couldn't help but still smile at some of the wonderful things she does. The description of the parrot is great and the dogs and their relationship to the family is wonderfully rendered. They are both object for rememberance and object of ownership.

Overall, the book once again does not live up to its National Book Award as many others recently have not (seems like the Pulitzer and the Booker have a monopoly on awarding the quality books being written these days), but it's still a wonderful start for an author who I expect great things in the future.