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3.78 AVERAGE
3.78 AVERAGE
A book read during the season it is set in ✔
4.5 stars
4.5 stars
Set in the small town of Heron Key, Florida in 1935 everyone is preparing for the 4th of July barbecue. Missy, maid to the Kincaid family, feels she has wasted her life pining for Henry, who went to fight on the battlefields of France. Now he has returned with a group of other desperate, destitute veterans.
After the barbeque, a white woman is found badly beaten and suspicion falls on Henry. Tensions rise, just a gigantic storm heads their way.
I loved this read – it was very evocative. The descriptions of the heat, food and living conditions took me right there. And the descriptions of the hurricane were truly terrifying!
I love an historical novel and this one, based on real events, covers racial issues and tells the story of the WW1 veterans and how they were treated when they returned to America. I also love disaster films so this was the perfect book for me!
After the barbeque, a white woman is found badly beaten and suspicion falls on Henry. Tensions rise, just a gigantic storm heads their way.
I loved this read – it was very evocative. The descriptions of the heat, food and living conditions took me right there. And the descriptions of the hurricane were truly terrifying!
I love an historical novel and this one, based on real events, covers racial issues and tells the story of the WW1 veterans and how they were treated when they returned to America. I also love disaster films so this was the perfect book for me!
It is summer 1935. America has come out of the other side of the first world war and is in the midst of the depression. The brave men who fought in the great War have been abandoned by the government who have failed to keep their promises of pensions and other financial support. A large number of them placed in a camp near the tiny Florida community of Heron Key. This was the time of segregation and the tension in the town with so many soldiers nearby is raised further again.
After the July the 4th celebrations a white residents wife is found badly beaten and left for dead by a road. One of the soldiers is arrested for her attempted murder and the uneasy truce between the residents and the troops is shattered. As the pressures build in the community and residents are looking to take matters into their own hands, the barometer is dropping, fast. It is hurricane season, and whilst Heron Keys has suffered these before, no one has a single idea just what is coming in.
Lafaye has used a bit of artistic licence to bring together several threads and events that happened at broadly similar times. There is the frustration and anger of troops who were promised so much by politicians and received so little, there is the culture of segregation that was frankly poisonous and there is the looming presence of the hurricane that will bring disaster to the Florida Keys. I felt that the first 100 pages of so of the book dragged as the characters were introduced and the scenes were set. After that the book managed to raise the pace and was much better, with the swirl of trial and tribulations of the people of that small community. The description of the residents in the hurricane is pretty scary too as the storm releases its full power. The most terrifying thing is this that tale was all drawn from a set of true stories too. The plight of the troops was real, forced to work and not given the monies they were promised, the horror of segregation and the hurricane that decimated this part of Florida was one of the strongest recorded. Worth reading and a fitting tribute to those that died in this natural disaster.
There are pictures of the area, before and after, here: http://www.keyshistory.org/shelf1935hurr.html
After the July the 4th celebrations a white residents wife is found badly beaten and left for dead by a road. One of the soldiers is arrested for her attempted murder and the uneasy truce between the residents and the troops is shattered. As the pressures build in the community and residents are looking to take matters into their own hands, the barometer is dropping, fast. It is hurricane season, and whilst Heron Keys has suffered these before, no one has a single idea just what is coming in.
Lafaye has used a bit of artistic licence to bring together several threads and events that happened at broadly similar times. There is the frustration and anger of troops who were promised so much by politicians and received so little, there is the culture of segregation that was frankly poisonous and there is the looming presence of the hurricane that will bring disaster to the Florida Keys. I felt that the first 100 pages of so of the book dragged as the characters were introduced and the scenes were set. After that the book managed to raise the pace and was much better, with the swirl of trial and tribulations of the people of that small community. The description of the residents in the hurricane is pretty scary too as the storm releases its full power. The most terrifying thing is this that tale was all drawn from a set of true stories too. The plight of the troops was real, forced to work and not given the monies they were promised, the horror of segregation and the hurricane that decimated this part of Florida was one of the strongest recorded. Worth reading and a fitting tribute to those that died in this natural disaster.
There are pictures of the area, before and after, here: http://www.keyshistory.org/shelf1935hurr.html
When I heard about Vanessa Lafaye's debut novel Summertime I thought it sounded brilliant, I read The Help a few years ago and it literally blew my mind. It was THAT good, and I've been wanting to read another novel set around that time period for a while, but it's tough to find books that you know will be good when you've barely dipped in to the genre. So I was very excited about the prospect of Summertime and really excited to read it and to see if it would live up to my expectations.
Summertime is a fictional account of an actual storm that hit Florida in the 1930s and judging by what occurs in the novel - which is fiction, I have to keep reminding myself when I think back to all the tragedies and lives lost, I don't really feel like Googling the actual event, because I'm sure it was just as devastating as the fictional one, if not more so because it actually happened whereas I am currently mourning fictional characters. In that sense, that's what makes the novel such a tough read, because you know everything you're reading about may well be fictional but it's scarily close to the truth of what actually happened back then, and it's not just the big storm that makes me sad, but also the divide, where black people weren't welcome where the white people went. Even though we've come so far since 1930 and anyone can walk down any street these days, it's still not as it should be with regards to colour, race or religion.
I really enjoyed reading Summertime. I loved all the intertwining stories and characters we got to meet, with Missy making the most impact; I loved her so much, and wished for nothing but good things for her. I hated the racial divide, obviously, but it was portrayed so well by Vanessa. And the storm... It was just devastating. It was everything I expected, but it also wasn't because it was like Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows with people dying everywhere, even characters you didn't expect and wanted to sit and weep for, but you couldn't because the story and the tragedy still wasn't over. It was sad and good all at the same time, and I don't think I'll read a more powerful or evocative novel all year, and this is a must for all historical fans, or those who loved The Help.{Leah Loves} http://leah-loves.com http://leah-loves.com/books-summertime-vanessa-lafaye/
Summertime is a fictional account of an actual storm that hit Florida in the 1930s and judging by what occurs in the novel - which is fiction, I have to keep reminding myself when I think back to all the tragedies and lives lost, I don't really feel like Googling the actual event, because I'm sure it was just as devastating as the fictional one, if not more so because it actually happened whereas I am currently mourning fictional characters. In that sense, that's what makes the novel such a tough read, because you know everything you're reading about may well be fictional but it's scarily close to the truth of what actually happened back then, and it's not just the big storm that makes me sad, but also the divide, where black people weren't welcome where the white people went. Even though we've come so far since 1930 and anyone can walk down any street these days, it's still not as it should be with regards to colour, race or religion.
I really enjoyed reading Summertime. I loved all the intertwining stories and characters we got to meet, with Missy making the most impact; I loved her so much, and wished for nothing but good things for her. I hated the racial divide, obviously, but it was portrayed so well by Vanessa. And the storm... It was just devastating. It was everything I expected, but it also wasn't because it was like Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows with people dying everywhere, even characters you didn't expect and wanted to sit and weep for, but you couldn't because the story and the tragedy still wasn't over. It was sad and good all at the same time, and I don't think I'll read a more powerful or evocative novel all year, and this is a must for all historical fans, or those who loved The Help.{Leah Loves} http://leah-loves.com http://leah-loves.com/books-summertime-vanessa-lafaye/