An American Summer [Paperback]

Frank Deford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1, 2003

Set in the nostalgic year of 1955, this touching novel reveals a unique kind of love between kindred spirits. It is told through the voice of 14-year-old Christy Banister, a sweet, slightly naïve young boy in need of guidance as he makes his way through adolescence. He has moved to Baltimore with his father, and as the new kid on the block in an isolated new neighborhood, Christy has few opportunities to make new friends.

At the start of the summer, Christy meets 23-year-old Kathryn Slade. Once a beautiful young woman, Kathryn is now a quadriplegic after a battle with polio that nearly cost her life when she was 17. However, despite Kathryn’s physical limitations, she and Christy develop a strong and intimate friendship.

As Christy struggles to grow up, he must learn to deal with the problems that usually beset a much older boy as he also confronts issues of sex and familial betrayal. Yet the friendship, wisdom and vitality bestowed by Kathryn serves as a guiding light. At the same time, Christy helps to give Kathryn new joy and six weeks of hope. Their summer ends with the ultimate victory of lives lived and loved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Anyone who remembers the fearful summers before the Salk vaccine wiped out polio will relate to Deford's novel of the 1950s. Those who warm to stories in which appealing teenagers come of age will also find resonance here. The narrator, 14-year-old Christy Bannister, recently transplanted from Terre Haute, Ind., to Baltimore, rescues a lost dog from danger, then meets its owner, 23-year-old Kathryn Slade, a victim of polio, who is kept alive by an iron lung. Christy is having a tough time adjusting to his new surroundings, both in making new friends and in dealing with ethical problems involving his father, who is having an affair and also being blackmailed by his company's owner into firing a longtime employee. Kathryn provides the example he needs; she is cheerful and lives life as fully as her handicap allows. A serious swimmer before her illness, Kathryn offers to coach Christy in her pool, so he can compete in the annual Labor Day extravaganza. Christy has seen home movies of Kathryn when she was his age, and it's not difficult for him to imagine her as his girlfriend. They fulfill each other's needs as Kathryn requires a project to take her mind off her condition, while Christy desperately needs a friend and mentor. A subplot about Christy's 17-year-old sister, Sue, who is raped by a neighbor, serves more to demonstrate the mores of the 1950s than to enhance the plot. Still, Deford (The Other Adonis) manages to twang the heart strings without being maudlin or sentimental, while delivering two memorable characters.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

When 14-year-old Christy Bannister moves to Baltimore in the summer of 1954, he believes he is in for a lonesome summer. Then the Slade family befriends him. Their 23-year-old daughter, Kathryn, was stricken with polio six years earlier and is confined within an iron lung. Their home is a magnet for the neighborhood kids, and Kathryn's pleasure lies in observing and teasing from poolside. She and Christy form a special bond; she provides some insight into the mysteries of young adulthood, and he reciprocates with tales of life beyond the pool. There are other dramas in Christy's summer--problems at his father's new job and a band of toughs who terrorize him--but eventually all that matters is Kathryn and the courage she embodies. Deford, author of Everybody's All-American (1981), infuses this tale with laugh-out-loud humor and tremendous insight into the mysteries and wonder of being 14. And in Kathryn, he's molded an unforgettable character of immense courage and dignity. This is that rare literary effort that both entertains and inspires. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 229 pages
• Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark (May 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1402200595
• ISBN-13: 978-1402200595
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,307,555 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nostalgic, bittersweet...just wonderful. Read it!, December 17, 2002

By 

Cville Dad (Catonsville, MD United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An American Summer (Hardcover)

This is one of those books that will have you thinking about its characters long after you've finished reading it. Kathryn and Christy became so real to me, their friendship so alive and dynamic, that it's hard for me to believe they didn't really exisit.

The unlikely friendship forged between Christy, a 14 year old coming of age during a hot Baltimore summer and Kathryn, a beautiful 23 year old stricken with polio in her teens, is so poignantly rendered. The characters are so complete! Their exchanges are witty and wonderful. Okay, I'm gushing. But this book affected me pretty deeply. It's rare to read a book that makes you laugh, cry and ponder the nature and the mystery of human relationships. I wish there could be a sequel that follows Christy throughout his adult life (there is a very brief epilogue dealing with this, but it was too brief for me).

The relationship between Christy and his family (particularly his father) is also an important part of the story--how his father's actions shape Christy's perceptions of the world, how Christy grows to understand a bit better the complexities of adulthood. There is also some wonderful interaction between Christy and his sister Sue after she is raped by the neighborhood good guy.

Maybe some people will find this book too tame or lacking in action. But to me, it was a wonderful "slice of life" kind of novel about how what appears to be an ordinary summer can actually turn into extaoridinary, life-altering experience.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Americana novel, August 24, 2004

By 

C. E. Fink "sowhat?" (NYC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An American Summer (Hardcover)

Just finished this book and I couldn't put it down, the narraration thru the 14 year old was just so great. The setting of Baltimore during the fifties was also superb, I was really able to feel how the author was conveying life in the fifties with the fear of polio and the communist bashing and what-not. It really made me feel like a WASP living among the manors of Baltimore. A heart wrenching story with two awesome characters that I will no doubt read again very soon.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tears of joy and sadness, November 6, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: An American Summer (Hardcover)

Many years have passed since I read a book that brought tears to my eyes. This is the one that did it!