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severina2001's review
4.0
Jamie is your typical teenager whose life is turned upside down when her wild and irresponsible cousin Fawn comes to visit in the summer of 1973.
What a beautiful novel. This was sitting in my To Be Read pile for over a year, and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. Jamie is an introverted, innocent girl of 15 when her cousin Fawn comes to stay with her for the summer (banished from her home, she says, because of an affair with her drama teacher.) Fawn is beautiful and self-assured, and Jamie wants only to be as cool as her cousin. She lets herself become Fawn's summer project, cutting her hair and following her lead in beauty tutorials; she sneaks out of the house with Fawn every night, smokes, drinks, takes up with the 'bad kids' that hang out at the local park. One bad decision leads to another, and the end result is a tragedy.
The characters are rooted in such a strong sense of reality, and I think that's because the timeframe is so perfectly written. I did not grow up in the 70s but I could SEE that 70s landscape in my mind, which is particularly impressive considering there is not a cliché or trope in sight. Jamie, Fawn and their friends just feel like real people – maybe someone you've known, or seen in the high school hallway, or aspired to be – and that's because they're both such perfect products of their time while being equally accessible as high-school-timeless.
What a beautiful novel. This was sitting in my To Be Read pile for over a year, and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. Jamie is an introverted, innocent girl of 15 when her cousin Fawn comes to stay with her for the summer (banished from her home, she says, because of an affair with her drama teacher.) Fawn is beautiful and self-assured, and Jamie wants only to be as cool as her cousin. She lets herself become Fawn's summer project, cutting her hair and following her lead in beauty tutorials; she sneaks out of the house with Fawn every night, smokes, drinks, takes up with the 'bad kids' that hang out at the local park. One bad decision leads to another, and the end result is a tragedy.
The characters are rooted in such a strong sense of reality, and I think that's because the timeframe is so perfectly written. I did not grow up in the 70s but I could SEE that 70s landscape in my mind, which is particularly impressive considering there is not a cliché or trope in sight. Jamie, Fawn and their friends just feel like real people – maybe someone you've known, or seen in the high school hallway, or aspired to be – and that's because they're both such perfect products of their time while being equally accessible as high-school-timeless.
emkatsteen's review
2.0
I felt like this book wasn't really for me. I don't like the kind of "wayward woman" character that Fawn and Suzette were and I was always frustrated by Jamie for being so influenceable. I wished the book focused more on the relationship between Jamie and Raymond. I really liked him!
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