Scan barcode
A review by jess_mango
The Last Summer (of You & Me) by Ann Brashares
3.0
As some of you may know, I get a lot of Audio Books from my mom once she is done listening to them. Earlier summer one of these hand--me-down audio books was the unabridged audio CD version of "The Last Summer (of You and Me). I had read Brashare's popular Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants book and was looking forward to seeing what she did in "Last Summer" which is her first adult novel. So, I popped "The Last Summer" into the car CD player and started listening to it on my drive to and from the train.
The book is about 2 sisters (Alice and Riley) and their summertime Fire Island neighbor, Paul. The primary theme in the story is about how the dynamic of their relationships change as they enter adulthood... Alice and Paul fall in love---Riley still seems stuck in her past glory days and refuses to grow up--Alice still feels like she is in the shadow of her older sister---Paul is rich, troubled, and haunted by his family's drama and is afraid to truly open up to Alice--Alice is afraid of hurting Riley so hides her relationship with Paul...And so on and so on.
I had a tough time getting into it. I hate to say it but it was a bit too cliche and sentimental. I almost felt like I was reading a Nicholas Sparks tale (not my fave author). The plot is somewhat contrived with misunderstandings piling up upon misundertandings. While this may be an "adult" novel, I think it would appeal mostly to older teenagers. It had a similar romantic melodrama vibe to some books I read back in those days.
The book is about 2 sisters (Alice and Riley) and their summertime Fire Island neighbor, Paul. The primary theme in the story is about how the dynamic of their relationships change as they enter adulthood... Alice and Paul fall in love---Riley still seems stuck in her past glory days and refuses to grow up--Alice still feels like she is in the shadow of her older sister---Paul is rich, troubled, and haunted by his family's drama and is afraid to truly open up to Alice--Alice is afraid of hurting Riley so hides her relationship with Paul...And so on and so on.
I had a tough time getting into it. I hate to say it but it was a bit too cliche and sentimental. I almost felt like I was reading a Nicholas Sparks tale (not my fave author). The plot is somewhat contrived with misunderstandings piling up upon misundertandings. While this may be an "adult" novel, I think it would appeal mostly to older teenagers. It had a similar romantic melodrama vibe to some books I read back in those days.