An engaging summer read, full of wit, charm, and drama.
In Cullen’s novel, three women summering in the Hamptons find their idyllic vacations to be more complicated than they’d bargained for.
In chapters told from alternating perspectives, readers come to know Megan and Courtney, two recent college graduates fleeing the fallout from their respective romantic relationships, and Nora, a newly divorced, self-made millionaire who’s reeling from the recent sale of her company. The three start off as strangers and are slowly drawn into one another’s orbits, making an unlikely but amiable trio. For much of the novel, the details of the relationships that drove Megan to accept an invitation from her former stepmother to stay in her Westhampton Beach guesthouse, and Courtney to stay with college acquaintance Alyssa, are unclear, but this mystery creates a deliciously intriguing atmosphere against the posh backdrop. Courtney finds herself increasingly alienated from Alyssa and her posse; unlike the artsy, subdued young woman she knew at school, Alyssa now cares only for partying and drugs (“I’m increasingly aware that ‘Summer Alyssa’ isn’t quite who I bargained for”). Then, Alyssa’s true focus on Courtney’s ex-boyfriend become clear. Soon enough, both Megan’s and Courtney’s relationships catch up with them, resulting in a loosely strung love triangle, malicious lies, and miscommunications. Nora’s chapters, while less immediately gripping, slowly reveal a heartwarming story as she fumbles to repair the friendships she’s neglected, strike up a relationship via a matchmaking service, and connect with her summer housemate. Cullen, the author of The Last Summer Sister (2021) enlivens a classic beach-read plot with a quick wit, a knack for drawing complicated family relationships, and contemporary flair. Each of the three main characters is fully drawn and warm; despite their flaws, readers will root for them. Alyssa is a compelling antagonist, but one wishes for more scenes with her. Supporting players are less well defined, though; bartender Tucker disappears halfway through the novel, and boyfriends exist only peripherally. However, the book’s representation of neurodivergent characters and queer relationships is well crafted and refreshing.
An engaging summer read, full of wit, charm, and drama.Pub Date: March 26, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-578-28058-5
Page Count: 324
Publisher: Lime Street Press
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored.
Inspired by David Copperfield, Kingsolver crafts a 21st-century coming-of-age story set in America’s hard-pressed rural South.
It’s not necessary to have read Dickens’ famous novel to appreciate Kingsolver’s absorbing tale, but those who have will savor the tough-minded changes she rings on his Victorian sentimentality while affirming his stinging critique of a heartless society. Our soon-to-be orphaned narrator’s mother is a substance-abusing teenage single mom who checks out via OD on his 11th birthday, and Demon’s cynical, wised-up voice is light-years removed from David Copperfield’s earnest tone. Yet readers also see the yearning for love and wells of compassion hidden beneath his self-protective exterior. Like pretty much everyone else in Lee County, Virginia, hollowed out economically by the coal and tobacco industries, he sees himself as someone with no prospects and little worth. One of Kingsolver’s major themes, hit a little too insistently, is the contempt felt by participants in the modern capitalist economy for those rooted in older ways of life. More nuanced and emotionally engaging is Demon’s fierce attachment to his home ground, a place where he is known and supported, tested to the breaking point as the opiate epidemic engulfs it. Kingsolver’s ferocious indictment of the pharmaceutical industry, angrily stated by a local girl who has become a nurse, is in the best Dickensian tradition, and Demon gives a harrowing account of his descent into addiction with his beloved Dori (as naïve as Dickens’ Dora in her own screwed-up way). Does knowledge offer a way out of this sinkhole? A committed teacher tries to enlighten Demon’s seventh grade class about how the resource-rich countryside was pillaged and abandoned, but Kingsolver doesn’t air-brush his students’ dismissal of this history or the prejudice encountered by this African American outsider and his White wife. She is an art teacher who guides Demon toward self-expression, just as his friend Tommy provokes his dawning understanding of how their world has been shaped by outside forces and what he might be able to do about it.
An angry, powerful book seething with love and outrage for a community too often stereotyped or ignored.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-325-1922
Page Count: 560
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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