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lovereadingxo's review against another edition
3.0
Her time there will prove to be life-changing, and the novel gets real dark, real quick. It touches on many heavy topics – colourism, slut shaming, s*xual assault, death – but it isn’t done with enough finesse to make the reader feel like there’s a balance to the time Tilla spends in Jamaica.
So many things go wrong, and there’s the constant looming threat of the hurricane, so it’s hard to really see the beauty in the novel, the country.
“This place… this land… it’s been paradise. But it’s also been poison.”
I love how much Patois is used, and while the author provides a ‘word bank’, I didn’t need it – the context usually made it clear. Maybe that’s why it frustrated me so much that Tilla – whose father supposedly spoke Patois all the time – constantly kept asking “what does that mean?”
But that’s only one of many things that made her character hard to connect with.
Granted, Tilla has lived a mostly sheltered life, but you're telling me that nothing has toughened her up, even a little bit? She can’t bring herself to say ‘no’, even when she really should.
The only times Tilla truly stands up for herself is to her father and aunt, and those circumstances felt... over the top. Like the author was trying to make up for what a pushover she’d been.
Tilla also seems much younger than 18. If she was 15, I would have found ‘Hurricane Summer’ more believable and enjoyable.
Other issues: The big plot twist towards the end felt completely gratuitous, no one suffers consequences for their actions and the author tends to overwrite, especially towards the end.
What I liked: The setting and its vibrancy, Tilla and Andre’s friendship, and how authentic it all felt.
There were touching moments and I found the novel interesting, but I really wanted to love it and I just didn’t.
Graphic: Sexual assault
Moderate: Death, Abandonment, Child death, Death of parent, and Rape
bookcaptivated's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: Misogyny, Classism, Emotional abuse, Bullying, Sexism, Sexual assault, Racism, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Death, Gaslighting, and Sexual content
Minor: Grief, Abandonment, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, and Abortion
unfxckwhittable's review
- 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
Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, and Sexual violence
readingwithtrey's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: Sexual assault and Abandonment
Moderate: Bullying, Toxic relationship, Grief, Emotional abuse, Rape, and Infidelity
Minor: Cancer
hannahslit's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
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.
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.
Graphic: Abandonment, Religious bigotry, Violence, Domestic abuse, Rape, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Grief, Child abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, and Sexual assault
Minor: Death of parent, Cancer, Abortion, and Terminal illness
michellebuch's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Moderate: Rape and Child abuse
Minor: Abandonment and Abortion
onemorepagecrew's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Infidelity, Abandonment, Sexual violence, Domestic abuse, Classism, Sexism, and Racism
piperlee's review against another edition
- 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
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.
Graphic: Abandonment, Child death, Toxic relationship, Bullying, Gaslighting, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Child abuse, Infidelity, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Car accident
Minor: Drug use and Terminal illness
thelovelylibrarylady's review
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
(PUB DATE: AVAILABLE NOW)
(I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed above are my own.)
Graphic: Sexual assault, Racism, and Child death
Moderate: Abandonment and Infidelity
courtneyfalling's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
A few main frustrations:
- Tilla does not read as 18, she reads as like 15 :/. I couldn't get over how much younger her perspective felt than what we were supposed to believe throughout basically every chapter. And to a lesser extent, Mia doesn't read as 9, she reads as 11-12 with some of the comments she makes. She's not really believable, just a device for Tilla.
This book shows a pretty graphic sexual assault on page then refuses to openly name it as sexual assault in Tilla's thought process, let alone out loud to other characters, and given the victim-blaming and internalized slut-shaming that follows, I really think this book needed to address it as sexual assault. It feels incomplete and potentially really damaging, especially given this is YA with what is supposed to be a clear-cut moral and main character we relate to/like. I hated Andre's death being used as Tilla's final moment of self-understanding. It's shitty to use the darkest-skinned character's death as merely a plot device and moment of redemption for other characters after spending the whole rest of the book challenging the colorism that exact character faces. I didn't feel like Tilla should "forgive" her father. I just didn't. She hadn't processed enough yet, her father hadn't taken any accountability, so much will still happen when Tilla returns to Canada and talks to her mother, and honestly, her father doesn't deserve any forgiveness. Tilla can absolutely live her life and live it well without ever forgiving her father and I don't like how this book simplifies surviving an estranged parent-kid relationship into all this burden, still, onto Tilla. Like her father can rot for all I care and she can never speak to him again? And I didn’t understand her not forgiving Hessan in comparison OR telling him he should be with Diana because he can still go on to date neither girl and discover other relationships he's fully invested in instead? Maybe the bigger issue is that I didn’t like how uncritically pro-Christian this book ended up. It was way too trite and undeserved for the characters. And trauma isn't something that just "makes you stronger" and that constant messaging is wildly irresponsible.
Graphic: Abandonment, Bullying, Child death, Domestic abuse, Infidelity, Misogyny, Religious bigotry, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Blood, Cursing, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content
Minor: Ableism, Abortion, Alcohol, and Cancer
Colorism (graphic)