All Summer Long [Mass Market Paperback]

Bob Greene (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1995

They got together for their 25th high-school reunion, and came up with a crazy, enticing idea--to hop into a Ford and hit the highway for one more mellow, footloose summer in the sun. So Ben, a divorced TV journalist and his two best friends, Ronnie, a high-powered CEO, and Michael, a high school English teacher, hit the road to remember who they were--and still are.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The first novel by newspaper columnist Greene ( Hang Time: Days and Dreams with Michael Jordan; Be True to Your School ) is a sunny, nostalgia-drenched ramble across much of the U.S. While attending his high school class's 25th reunion in the sleepy town of Bristol, Ohio, TV reporter Ben Kroeger is drawn to memories of his summers as a teenager, when the season "was everything--it was freedom, it was joy, it was the promise of adventure and maybe of romance." Ben comes up with an inspired scheme: he and his two best friends from boyhood will spend the summer traveling the country. With no particular destination in mind, they will simply try to recapture the season's lost mystique. Ben's network gives him a three-month leave of absence, and--conveniently enough--his 40-something pals can also vacation freely: steady, goodnatured Michael Wolff is a high school teacher, while cigar-chomping Ronnie Hepps just happens to be a multimillionaire. And so the three men take in such bits of Americana as the Fourth of July parade in an Iowa town and the butter cow at the Ohio State Fair; they discuss the meaning of life at motel swimming pools and stop in at Las Vegas casinos, Wrigley Field and the NBC studios. Despite brushes with tragedy, the mood here is one of gentle, upbeat reverence for times past. Open and direct, this novel will win over readers who, like Ben, believe that "You should never live in any town that doesn't have a Main Street." Author tour.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Library Journal

Three friends meet at a 25th high school reunion. In different ways, each is unhappy with his present life. "Summer," mourns Ben, a TV journalist of modest fame, "used to be the best part of our lives, and now it's not." A month later, all three have left families and jobs behind to set off on one final summer of cruising. They crisscross the country without connection or purpose, stopping wherever they land. Unexpected love interests for each of them and a personal crisis apiece add spice to their otherwise bland adventure. The penultimate stop is Las Vegas, where they contrive to sleep in Elvis's suite. Riddled with cliches, this marshmallow of a book trivializes such truly serious matters as the midlife adjustments that men make, the importance of friends and memories, and the value of male bonding. The reader with a taste for calculated sentimentality may derive pleasure from this first novel by Greene, a syndicated columnist for the Chicago Tribune and an author of nonfiction, but the discerning reader most emphatically will not.
- David Keymer, California State Univ., Stanislaus
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 437 pages
• Publisher: St Martin's Paperbacks (July 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312955081
• ISBN-13: 978-0312955083
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,689,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The perfect male summer reading escape, July 2, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: All Summer Long (Mass Market Paperback)

With so many authors aiming for your wife's interests, it's great to finally have a novel written for a male's summer reading enjoyment. The book is an excellent summer escape -- it will take you back to long ago times that still seem so near and will keep you hopeful about the future. If you're a fan of Greene's columns or you just want to feel better about life, then you have to read this book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best!, December 17, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Summer Long (Mass Market Paperback)

Do yourself a favor and read this book, and then go out and read everything else by Bob Greene that you can get you hands on. You'll thank me later...trust me.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Escape, April 12, 2002

By 

nusandman "nusandman" (Lincoln, Ne USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: All Summer Long: A Novel (Paperback)

I stumbled upon Bob Greene's All Summer Long a couple of years ago when I read his "Hang Time" book about Michael Jordan. The subject matter of several friends putting everything aside for a Summer and roadtriping around the country has always been appealing to me and this story didn't disappoint. Although this is a fictional account, you really feel as if the author is recanting a journey that he actually took. I found myself really wanting to do something like this someday as well. I highly recommend this book.