Reviews with content warning for Emotional abuse - Hurricane Summer

“Everyone has that one summer. The summer that changes your life. It passes through you like a hurricane, leaving as quickly as it came. But once it has torn through you, nothing can ever be the same. You are changed.”

It is so hard to find the words to adequately express how I feel about this book. And it’s so hard to talk about any of it without giving anything away. I will say that it was completely heartbreaking. I also have never felt so much rage toward fictional characters in my life 😅.

I just have no words. This left me completely wrecked and devastated. While I highly recommend it, you’ll want to be in a good emotional/mental space and check the content warnings beforehand.

Content Warnings

hannahslit's review

Go to review page

challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Hurricane Summer by Asha Bromfield is a brilliant, blistering debut.
Seventeen year old Canadian teen Tilla and her nine year old sister Mia have been sent to stay with their father in the countryside of Jamaica for the summer. Tilla expects she may have to confront how she feels about the father that is largely absent from herself, her mother and her sister’s lives, but she isn’t prepared for what awaits her in country: people that view her as a privileged foreigner and a multitude of secrets that her presence threatens to expose.
First love, friendship and exploring the land (Bromfield gives readers gorgeous descriptions of Manchester, Jamaica) are amongst the more tender parts of this novel, however it is a story that reckons with a lot of trauma.
Described as a coming of age story that examines the transition from girlhood to a young woman and the complicated relationship between a young woman and her absent father, Hurricane Summer also tackles colourism, sexism, misogyny, infidelity, domestic abuse, incest, abortion, sexual assault, immigration, abandonment, grief, poverty, class, privilege and more.
Not all of the issues are adequately covered, however I admire the authors attempt to raise awareness to these serious issues to a young adult audience.
The patois is accurate and Bromfield captures the easy humour of Jamaicans very well. Tilla’s story is quite an extreme depiction of reactions to people ‘from foreign’, though I do feel Bromfield shows what it feels like to be the butt of a joke everyone appears to be in on.

Andres death was unfortunate as he was the only consistently kind character and didn’t get to experience a different kind of life away from the hostility he was exposed to. There could have been a different way to show readers Tilla’s growth without killing him.

An unexpected standout for me was a moment between Tilla and her father where she confronts him about him abandoning their family in Canada. It was a sad yet necessary conversation that was more melancholy for its lack of resolution.
I wanted Tilla to stand up for herself earlier than she did, but I can appreciate that she’s a teenager in a new surrounding without much allies. Toward the end, the book becomes more dramatic and poetic in terms of language which is quite a departure from the tone of the rest of the book, which I don’t think totally works.
Much like a hurricane, this story is powerful and sweeps readers along for an emotional ride.
Hurricane Summer is a coming of age story that I will be thinking about for a long time. I am glad to have read it.

Content Warnings

piperlee's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This was a really beautifully written story of self-discovery, courage, and learning to derive purpose from oneself & not others. The growth of the mc was powerful & her narration full of raw emotion.

And it was extremely heavy. I think too heavy for me. It felt like 90% struggle and despair with only 10% of joy and redemption. So much trauma was fit into one storyline, & mixed with the mc’s own internal dialogue of self-doubt and depression…it was hard for me to get through.

**do not read this if sexual assault is a triggering topic for you** there was graphic on-page description & emotional abuse and gaslighting afterward from basically everyone about the incident. It never was resolved & the truth about what happened was never shared which created a snowball effect of shaming and lies. I felt it was handled poorly & was very disturbing to read.

Trauma felt like a device for growth & I take issue with that. And when there is so much trauma fit into one story, it felt like a lot was glossed over & not properly dealt with. The ending especially felt over the top & incredibly distressing simply for the point of the mc’s development.

Further, I didn’t like any of the characters. There were obvious antagonists that we’re not supposed to like, but even the mc…she wasn’t likable. The only character I felt drawn to was Andre.

So I’m giving this a low rating because I had a hard time enjoying it. But it was very well written & the theme of redemption and freedom in the end is important. I listened to the audiobook read by the author & that was also very well done & added to the intensity and emotion of it all.

Content Warnings

bookswithmybulldog's review

Go to review page

emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

betweentheshelves's review

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, this is a story that needs to be told. It's authentic, the voice feels real, and the incorporation of the Patois language makes it really unique. However, Tilla's story isn't the easiest to read. She goes through abuse, bullying, name calling. Your heart aches for her. There isn't much to balance out all of the negative stuff Tilla goes through, and I wish there was more showing a balanced side of Jamaica.

Content Warnings

nytephoenyx's review

Go to review page

dark emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Hurricane Summer is a book filled deeply with pain.

It is the opposite of a Disney movie. It is cruel and Tilla is naïve and kind and out or her element, which everyone in the story uses against her. It is a heartbreaking book with a very specific story and I appreciate so much that it exists. Hurricane Summer is the type of book we need when we talk about representation in books because this is a Caribbean story, a Black story, and one I’ve never seen before… which means those with lived experiences like Tilla’s haven’t seen either. And it is so important they are represented and know they are no alone.

Bromfield’s writing is gut-wrenching, doubly so considering it’s a debut. It’s evident that she’s spilled her heart on to the page, written this story in her own blood. Tilla’s story is fictional, but at the same time, it feels incredibly personal. Hurricane Summer doesn’t hold back – it will cut your heart out and make you angry and leave you feeling helpless.

I loved it, in that I appreciated it so much but I hurt every time I sat down to read.

The language is beautiful. The integrated Patois may be an obstacle for some readers. I personally didn’t find it challenging and you get more used to it as you read. Bromfield includes a glossary at the beginning of the book so readers are ready for the language. Author often clean up regional dialects and foreign languages in books, but the inclusion of Patois added depth and realism to the story. I liked that Bromfield didn’t anglicize it. I know some readers will struggle, but this book isn’t really for those readers. It isn’t for me.

The story moved forward quickly, piling one heartbreak after another until the hurricane arrived, literally and metaphorically. This is one of those books with characters that come to life, even though many of them will upset readers as much as they upset Tilla. Other than how broken I feel now that I’ve finished it… I loved it. Hurricane Summer reminded me of my privilege as it highlighted Tilla’s. It made me uncomfortable. It was really good.

I wholeheartedly recommend Hurricane Summer, but I know some readers won’t like the style, will struggle with the Patois, or will find Tilla frustrating. That’s okay – this book may not be for you. But I really encourage readers to give it a try because it is powerful and devastating.

Content Warnings

anovelbeauty's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Book TW: rape, sexual assault, infidelity, victim blaming, sexism, IPV, physical abuse, colorism, prejudice, hypocrisy

Note: I read an eARC of this book from Netgalley in order to provide an honest review

Alright, I had a bit of a rough time with this book. It was just pretty triggering for me and I had to skip over quite a few sections having to do with infidelity, which this book has a lot of. Even though the main character struggles with the morals of what’s going on and that’s a big portion of the plot, it’s just not something I can really handle reading very well. Pretty much all of the things mentioned in the trigger warnings are pretty explicit and tough to read. It is absolutely not a light book.

Now, I did think the book was well written. The way the author describes things and puts you straight into Tilla’s emotional states was really well done. The way she describes Jamaica is lovely and poetic, but doesn’t feel overly romanticized either. I loved the friendship between Tilla and Andre. Tilla is an interesting protagonist and even when she makes horrendous decisions or finally has had enough with all the terrible stuff she goes through in the story and bursts, it makes sense. Most of the characters in the book are unlikeable, so if that’s not your thing, this probably isn’t going to work for you (except Andre and Mia, they are the only sweet characters in the book). Also, if hypocrisy and unjustness just sets your blood absolutely boiling… yep, that’s present too!

I though the aftermath portion of the book seemed a little rushed in comparison with the rest of the book and somehow, I expected a bigger disaster turn with how much the the physical hurricane had been built up throughout the story. The book did such a good job of buildup that the actual event and aftermath just felt a bit, well not a let down exactly, but just not what I felt it was building up to. The big actual plot twist also came very late in the story, so I felt like there wasn’t quite enough time to sit with the enormity of it, it felt like it needed just another 50 pages or so to really help it settle. It wasn’t a bad ending, it just didn’t quite feel like it matched the same pacing and quality of the rest of the book.

I did have trouble at first picking up on the dialect writing (Patois), there was a glossary at the beginning of the book, but since I was reading an ebook, I couldn’t really flip back and forth very easily if I didn’t understand a phrase. So if you’re unfamiliar with Patois like me, I would highly suggest a physical copy of the book so you can more easily check the glossary until you’re comfortable with the language. I definitely settled into understanding the dialect in the latter half of the book, it was just a bit of a learning curve towards the beginning.

Overall, I think its a good book and I’m sure it’s the perfect book for someone, but not really for me and that’s totally okay. Not every book is going to work perfectl

Content Warnings

More...