Last Summer [Hardcover]

Michael Thomas Ford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 2003

From the critically acclaimed writer comes a highly anticipated first novel that follows the intertwining lives of three men, set against the backdrop of summer-time in the breezy coastal community of Provincetown. The author of over forty books, Michael Thomas Ford has been called "brilliant" by Publishers Weekly and has written award-winning and bestselling books such as Alec Baldwin Doesn't Love Me, That's Mr. Faggot to You, It's Not Mean if it's True, and The Little Book of Neuroses. Now, Michael Thomas Ford turns his pen to fiction in this powerful and moving novel that depicts the lives of three men in Provincetown as they struggle to find love and meaning in their lives. Provincetown--located at the tip of Cape Cod--has long been a haven for gays and lesbians who make the pilgrimage there each summer. With its warm ocean breezes and star filled summer nights, Provincetown always makes the possibility of a future love seem within reach. Annually, Provincetown attracts more gay visitors than Key West and Fire Island combined--but whatever their reasons may be to visit "P-Town, " the gay men and lesbians who flock there each summer always find, and enjoy, a community where their lives take center stage. At the heart of Last Summer are three men--Joshua Felling, Toby Evans, and Reilly Brennan--who each represent the different perspectives and reasons for being in Provincetown, but whose lives intermingle regardless of their different personalities, ages, and backgrounds. At thirty-three, Josh has become tired of his life, leaving his old self behind with the hope of making a fresh start. Toby, who is only nineteen, finds himself moving to Provincetown to seek solace after his familyhas kicked him out of his Midwestern home. Reilly, who has been a lifelong resident, is still unclear about his own sexuality and has long wondered what his fantasies about other men might mean. Everything is about to change when Reilly meets Joshua and the two strike up an odd friendship--that's when Reilly knows, for sure, that he isn't just fantasizing anymore. A stunning debut novel, Michael Thomas Ford's Last Summer is a wondrous story about love and possibility that readers won't soon forget.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After a string of humorous essay collections, Ford (The Little Book of Neuroses) expands his repertoire with this brimful first novel about life, love and self-discovery over the course of a steamy Provincetown summer. Among the bevy of characters Ford introduces is Josh Felling, who flees to a friend's guesthouse to mull over his boyfriend's recent infidelity, though a day later he's already lusting over Reilly Brennan, the soon-to-be-married guesthouse repairman who might not be so straight after all. Midwestern runaway teen Toby Evans arrives soon after, and meets sweet local transgender performer Emmeline, who takes him in; next comes influential Hollywood producer Reid Truman and his boyfriend, hot closeted actor Ty Rusk. A quick weekend away turns into an indefinite stay for Josh, who has decided to write a novel and agrees to donate sperm so that Jackie, a local lesbian restaurant owner, can bear a child. Complicating matters for the Hollywood duo is Devin, an opportunistic local girl who insinuates herself into their lives by agreeing to pose as Ty's New York "love interest," but has big plans to expose their relationship to the tabloids instead. This is a slight cut above more mainstream gay fiction offerings, thanks to Ford's crisp prose and snappy, contemporary dialogue. Though the characters wade across some all-too-familiar waters, it's the sandy, barefoot-friendly setting that morphs all the melodrama into a satisfying beach book-and a pleasant fiction debut for Ford.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The books in Ford's series Trials from My Queer Life have been essay collections, and parts of his first novel might stand alone as quasi-portraits, not far removed from the essay tradition, of various aspects of gay life. In Provincetown, that summertime gay Mecca, thirtysomething Josh, shocked and hurt by news of his longtime partner's infidelity at the gym, is taking refuge, and blond, blue-eyed, cornfed, innocent young Toby is seeking a new life far from his midwestern roots. Also, Hollywood hunk Ty's secret summer love nest is verging on explosive publicity, and straight, year-round P-Town contractor Reilly can't quite quench those hot memories of yesteryear, despite his upcoming wedding. These and others, notably southerner Emmaline, who helps Toby in the midst of her own family crisis, make a made-for-the-beach page-turner, complete with characters twining in and out of one another's arms and destinies, as well as those quasi essays, that may leave readers wishing for a wintertime sequel. Whitney Scott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 409 pages
• Publisher: Kensington (August 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0758204051
• ISBN-13: 978-0758204059
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,363,239 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael Thomas Ford is the author of more than fifty books in genres ranging from humor to horror, literary fiction to nonfiction. His work for adult readers includes the best-selling novels What We Remember, Changing Tides, Full Circle, Looking for It and Last Summer, and his five essay collections in the "Trials of My Queer Life" series. As a writer for young adults he is the author of Suicide Notes and Z (forthcoming in 2010), and under the name Isobel Bird he wrote the popular "Circle of Three" series. In 2009 he signed a 3-book deal with Random House for a series featuring Jane Austen as a modern-day vampire. The first book in the series, Jane Bites Back, will be published in January, 2010. His work has been nominated for 11 Lambda Literary Awards, twice winning for Best Humor Book and twice for Best Romance Novel. He was also nominated for a Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Award (for his novel The Dollhouse That Time Forgot) and a Gaylactic Spectrum Award (for his short story "Night of the Werepuss").

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good... But Not Great, November 18, 2004

By 

G. Paula (Clifton, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Last Summer (Hardcover)

Overall I enjoyed "Last Summer." It's fitting that "summer" is in the title because it's perfect summer reading: light and fun. It seems like the author is going for a Northeast version of "Tales of the City," and Provincetown couldn't be a better backdrop. The book isn't without flaws, though. My main gripe is that I think Ford tried to accomplish too much. The book contains quite a few storylines. All of them are pretty good. However, he spreads his net so wide as far as the number of storylines that unfortunately we never get to go very deep. All the storylines were interesting, but there wasn't enough time spent on each character for me to care a great deal about them. This could have been solved by cutting one or two of the storylines or just having a longer book. But don't let that stop you from reading this. You'll enjoy yourself - though I doubt you'll be moved.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars YES, MR. FORD IS THE BEST OF THE BEST!!!, September 16, 2003

By 

Kristopher C. Harris (Bay City, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Summer (Hardcover)

In pains me to say it... There are a couple bumps you'll need to endure to thoroughly LOVE this book. You will find a handful of grammatical errors. But fear not, kids, fear not. These little "oop's" will not take one damn thing away from this captivating story, which is actually several stories all wrapped up into one neat package.The second bump is the seemingly unnecessary secondary characters. But don't you let your undies get all knotted up. If you stay strong, keep turning those pages, their presence, their purpose, will be explained. And you'll love MTF for adding each and every one of them.Last Summer is the story, er, um, stories of Josh, Reilly, Emmeline, Jackie, Toby, Ty, Reid, and a host of equally lovable and infuriating characters, spanning the course of one beyond memorable summer in Provincetown.Last Summer seems light and a bit too airy for the likes of the brilliantly funny Mr. Ford, but if you read close enough, pick up on the subtext, this story of love, self-realization and family will not disappoint. Oh... And the sometimes explicit sex will ensure that all your cylinders are, um, yeah, active. 8o)The ending is surprisingly unrealistic. But that's what makes Last Summer so believable. Each character experiences a great loss in the pursuit of obtaining that golden ring. And although MTF has thrown so many characters in the mix, you quickly began to feel that you know each and every one of them intimately. And you'll desire to know them intimately, and you'll find yourself wondering what happened to them once September hit. There was no skimping on character development. I swear on the life of my Robbie Williams CD's. Don't borrow this book from a friend. Don't check it out of your local library. Don't get yourself one of those nasty bootlegs from the internet. Put down the dough for this amazing novel. You won't regret a second of your investment.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars *Would* make a great TV... miniseries, August 3, 2005

By 

Aeirould "aeirould" (San Diego, California United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Last Summer (Mass Market Paperback)

A previous reviewer indicated that this book was a "Made for TV Movie". Balderdash. If this book were to be given the TV treatment (as well it should, IMHO), it would require at the very least the Tales of the City three-part miniseries approach.

When one is reading a page-turner like this, one might believe that, because it's comparatively fast to read, it'd be easy to convert to a movie. In reality, this would be very, very difficult to do as a movie due to the vast number of interrelated subplots. Sure, you could drop the Summer Classes manager's storyline - but why would you want to? Heck, to make it a movie, you'd have to drop her, the whole Toby/Aaron/Houseboy aspect, and quite a few more subplots.

As another prior reviewer intimated, this book is perhaps the closest thing to Tales of the City that we've seen in years. There is a large cast of characters, most of whom you can care about, and it evokes very well the various dramas, be they petty or serious, that we queers construct around ourselves.

I do believe this would make a great Showtime project - but regardless, the book is a great read. If you're willing to "step down" to "popular" fiction (read: not be an arrogant "Literature or nothing" reader), pick this up. It's worth the money and time spent, and sadly there aren't too many novels you can say that about these days - queer or otherwise.