SUMMER OF '82
by T. Madding
A Southern-accented novel about a youthful love triangle and its lasting consequences.
After a near-fatal car crash in its first chapter, Madding’s novel flashes back to the week leading up to a high school graduation in the small town of Haggard, Georgia. Seniors Ricky Mann, Jimmy Lowe, and Buck Blue have been friends since grade school. Their lives are a small-town idyll with something of the flavor of American Graffiti, involving hanging out every night, drinking beer, talking girls and cars—Buck is joined at the hip to his 1970 Chevelle, the hottest car around—and imagining their futures. The high point after the graduation ceremony includes extended drunken revelry in Panama City Beach on the Gulf Coast. But there is a fly in the ointment: Both Buck and Jimmy are sweet on their classmate Jenny Smith, who eventually chooses Jimmy as her steady boyfriend. The combination of a broken heart, booze, and a hot car pushes Buck over the edge, and, unfortunately, he takes Jimmy with him. Madding tells this story from the point of view of Ricky, the solid and thoughtful member of the group, who’s concerned about the love triangle from the start. Even so, some of the author’s Southern tropes, such as putting peanuts in Coca-Cola, are facile or overfamiliar, and his wording can be stilted. It’s hard to envision a farm boy like Ricky saying “It’s readily obvious…” or any teenager of the day observing that another is stuffing chaw in “the cheek of his mouth.” And the ending is unsurprising—everything points from the start to a climax involving immaturity, booze, and a powerful car. But the boys are engaging, especially Ricky and Jimmy, and Madding evokes real sympathy for Jimmy when he has to suffer for Buck’s hormonal craziness. The novel also has a clear theme, foreshadowed in the opening pages: Every action has consequences that may not surface for a long time. As they move through life, Ricky and Jimmy and Buck all learn that important lesson.
An earnest though predicable novel that involves a hot car and a hot mess.