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changelingreader_adrian's review
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Dementia, Drug use, Infidelity, Sexual content, Alcohol, Medical content, Death, Toxic relationship, Suicide attempt, and Panic attacks/disorders
kdtoverbooked's review
3.0
This is some weird mix between The Corrections, This is Where I Leave You, and Middlesex. It’s like a midlife crisis rolled up in a book.
taralpittman's review
5.0
The fact that this narrative reminds of something I've read in the past, and really enjoyed, yet cannot remember is driving me crazy; nevertheless, this was a great read! I was already sold, based on the marketing description, and I’m so thankful that it did not disappoint. Here’s a passage that I just have to share; Claire, one of the main characters, is at the community swimming pool with her kids:
"Claire focuses on the many middle-aged women, mostly mothers, around her, also wearing bikinis, but none of them, as beautiful as some of them were, suggested that kind of pending eruption she sees in the half-naked young people around her. No, Claire and her almost-forty contemporaries stand about suggesting the virtues of endurance. They had made it to middle age with a remnant of hotness, and despite the attendant sagging and indignities of aging, they managed to transcend the reality that a tattoo above the ass or behind the shoulder had been a bad idea. Yes, many of the women, Claire included, have approached forty with a verve and vigor, had Pilated and power-walked themselves into a kind of level of fitness that they had not seen since sixteen, and when they went to the pool, the self-loathing they’d been taught to feel as teenagers had been replaced by a sexy confidence."
Isn't this great? I can't even do it justice. I feel like the author has imbued this entire novel with a sarcastic, yet awfully true, and humorous portrayal of life in the ‘burbs; these characters long for something different, but they seem trapped in the only reality with which they are familiar. I think the writing is fantastic, and I highly recommend this one.
"Claire focuses on the many middle-aged women, mostly mothers, around her, also wearing bikinis, but none of them, as beautiful as some of them were, suggested that kind of pending eruption she sees in the half-naked young people around her. No, Claire and her almost-forty contemporaries stand about suggesting the virtues of endurance. They had made it to middle age with a remnant of hotness, and despite the attendant sagging and indignities of aging, they managed to transcend the reality that a tattoo above the ass or behind the shoulder had been a bad idea. Yes, many of the women, Claire included, have approached forty with a verve and vigor, had Pilated and power-walked themselves into a kind of level of fitness that they had not seen since sixteen, and when they went to the pool, the self-loathing they’d been taught to feel as teenagers had been replaced by a sexy confidence."
Isn't this great? I can't even do it justice. I feel like the author has imbued this entire novel with a sarcastic, yet awfully true, and humorous portrayal of life in the ‘burbs; these characters long for something different, but they seem trapped in the only reality with which they are familiar. I think the writing is fantastic, and I highly recommend this one.
jaclynday's review
4.0
The tense relationship and/or crumbling family novel seems to be a dime a dozen the past couple years. This is one of the good ones. It’s not perfect–the closing chapters of the book are awkward and choppy and the character development is uneven. But most of the story is sexy, appropriately claustrophobic, offbeat, and very, very readable.
shelfimprovement's review
In general, I'm kind of bored by male authors' book of marital ennui.
joypouros's review
2.0
I enjoy Dean Bakopoulos's writing style, but that's the only good part of this book.
I can buy the small town coincidences in the beginning of the book. Dan meets ABC, Claire meets Charlie, ABC and Charlie meet, Charlie is supposed to call Dan, Claire and ABC know Charlie's dad... I can suspend my disbelief and really dive into the small town aspect of it all. But then at the end, it went from heavily coincidental to insultingly implausible.
I was very frustrated that the cover and blurb don't allude to how dark the book will be.
I can buy the small town coincidences in the beginning of the book. Dan meets ABC, Claire meets Charlie, ABC and Charlie meet, Charlie is supposed to call Dan, Claire and ABC know Charlie's dad... I can suspend my disbelief and really dive into the small town aspect of it all. But then at the end, it went from heavily coincidental to insultingly implausible.
I was very frustrated that the cover and blurb don't allude to how dark the book will be.
mcckev's review
2.0
This book is the love child of Richard Ford’s Independence Day and the movie Winter Passing. I hated the Ford novel (but have to give it another shot one of these days since Ford’s short stories are excellent), loved the movie and my feelings for Summerlong fall somewhere in the middle (but much closer to the Independence Day side of the scale).
The children were poorly written. They were only in the novel to advance the plot/make Claire and Don an average middle aged-couple. Same thing with the characters’ employment status. Nobody in the novel had a (real) job, but they still managed to smoke a lot of weed (maybe Ruth was everybody’s sugar daddy). Don’s a realtor, or was a realtor (one that was apparently terrible at selling houses and spent all his money on cheesy advertisements?), before he went bankrupt. Everybody else seemed to be independently wealthy.
So many coincidences. Ruth was there to spout off nuggets of wisdom and, I am guessing, add “depth” to the novel.
I don’t have to like all the characters in a novel, but I should at least care about what happens to the main ones. By the end of Summerlong I found myself wishing all the adult characters would just drown themselves in Lake Superior and be done with it. The tv-watching-children probably wouldn’t even notice until a couple days later when they ran out of pizza.
The children were poorly written. They were only in the novel to advance the plot/make Claire and Don an average middle aged-couple. Same thing with the characters’ employment status. Nobody in the novel had a (real) job, but they still managed to smoke a lot of weed (maybe Ruth was everybody’s sugar daddy). Don’s a realtor, or was a realtor (one that was apparently terrible at selling houses and spent all his money on cheesy advertisements?), before he went bankrupt. Everybody else seemed to be independently wealthy.
So many coincidences. Ruth was there to spout off nuggets of wisdom and, I am guessing, add “depth” to the novel.
I don’t have to like all the characters in a novel, but I should at least care about what happens to the main ones. By the end of Summerlong I found myself wishing all the adult characters would just drown themselves in Lake Superior and be done with it. The tv-watching-children probably wouldn’t even notice until a couple days later when they ran out of pizza.
amyl88's review
3.0
In small-town Iowa, a middle-aged couple and two younger people form a love quadrangle, sort of. The marriage is falling apart, the younger woman is having an existential crisis after losing her girlfriend, and the younger man is dealing with his father's dementia. That's the basic story.
I didn't really connect with the characters. I thought Claire (the wife) was annoying. Okay, you're tired of your role as wife and mother. Maybe discuss that with your husband instead of expecting him to read your mind and getting upset when he doesn't. A lot of this novel would never have happened if they'd just communicate.
I enjoyed the writing for the most part, with a few instances of wondering why the author made a particular choice.
I didn't really connect with the characters. I thought Claire (the wife) was annoying. Okay, you're tired of your role as wife and mother. Maybe discuss that with your husband instead of expecting him to read your mind and getting upset when he doesn't. A lot of this novel would never have happened if they'd just communicate.
I enjoyed the writing for the most part, with a few instances of wondering why the author made a particular choice.