Customer Reviews

Last Summer

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I haven't been able to get into Michael Thomas Ford's books of essays (I'll re-try them after reading this novel), but this was a fun and enjoyable book! Not deep reading, it reminded me at times of the Armistead Maupin Tales books, and also the books of Joe Keenan (Putting on the Ritz and Blue Heaven, which were two of the funniest books I've read...Joe Keenan became a writer for the TV show Frasier, and later executive producer or something like that).

This book made me fondly recall my trips to P'town and long to visit there again soon. I'll get Ford's Looking for It soon!

Coincidentally, I'm on vacation in Provincetown and picked this novel up the minute I saw it in the bookstore window. I spent all day reading it because I couldn't put it down. Never have I encountered such an enjoyable and unforgettable cast of characters, and never have I read a novel that could be laugh-out-loud funny one minute, reach-for-the-tissues poignant the next, and steam-up-the-windows sexy right after that. This book is so much fun I want to read it all over again immediately. Ford is an amazingly talented writer, and this book is THE summer read.

With a cast that Almost requires endsheet flowcharts to keep them untangled (think War & Peace) this novel ultimately unfolds like a useful highway map.
I had to work at it a little in the first 100 pages but the charcters are indeed believable and the story line(s) fun.
A good read with some interwoven serious thoughts ranging form why perfection breeds boredom to why gay relationship, lacking role models, are difficult. It was good to be fed some brain food as well as entertainment. I have given it to friends, all return it with a smile and thanks. Is there a better measure?

Michael Thomas Ford's debut novel is an enjoyable read, easily knocked off in two cross-country flights. There are, however, a couple of troublesome issues that either more experience or better editing could correct. A gossip publication that answers its switchboard in Los Angeles on a Sunday morning? A gossip columnist who is actually at his desk in Los Angeles on a Sunday morning? I don't think so. The most egregious example is Toby's HIV test taken mere days after engaging in unsafe (about as unsafe as you can get) sex and the negative results that make it as if he is free and clear. This is a cruel disservice to readers, especially younger ones. Like other reviewers, I found some of the characters (Marly. e.g.) superfluous. Finally, the happily-ever-after ending makes it way too easy for the Reilly character who, in real life, would be overwhelmed with all kinds of issues to deal with in his life. This is ironic because the author goes to great lengths early in the story to map out Reilly's strong family ties, then ignores them in the end. All of this aside, curl up and enjoy Last Summer.

I really enjoyed this book, but thought it could be better. While some of the characters and plot directions are just excellent(Josh & Doug, Emmeline & Toby, Jackie) others seemed so completely superfluous (Marly, Ryan)that they barely intersected with the main narrative and seemed designed merely to pad out the book. Still, pleasant enough and worth reading.

I'd give Mr. Ford somewhere between a 4 and 5 for his first novel. For starters, the jacket artwork by Steve Walker sets the tone for this tale. If you prefer Armistead Maupin to Edmund White or if you find a steady diet of books by Jim Grimsley and Andrew Holleran (good writers through they are) makes you suicidal, then this novel is for you. No character tests positive for HIV, let alone gets sick, only old people die-- after all, old people always die-- and boy gets boy. There is enough money for sex-change surgery and lesbians get pregnant because they want to. We meet a whole host of characters, most of whom are easy to like, some of whom are quite lovable.

This is yet another story set in Boston and Provincetown-- does this mean New York is no longer where everything gay is happening? That might not be so bad after all.

Mr. Ford writes with a good deal of wit. I laughed out loud, for instance, when a particularly nasty fictional novelist/teacher gets most of his novels replaced in the local bookstore by those of E. Lynn Harris. Then we learn that poor white trash folks are into three bean salad.

You could read this mnovel at the beach or in the depths of winter although it is certainly much more than a beach novel.

Finally, finally, finally someone has written a gay novel that's big, fun, sexy AND intelligent. I was curious to see what Ford's fiction would be like, and I'm pleased to say that it's a lot like his nonfiction. He combines spot-on humor with an insight into what it means to be gay that is unmatched in contemporary fiction. Best of all, these are characters that almost all of us can relate to. They aren't gym queens and circuit boys--they're real people dealing with real situations. This is the book I've been waiting for since finishing Armistead Maupin's TALES OF THEY CITY series.