Customer Reviews

Seventeenth Summer

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am 71 and about 56 years ago, at age 15, I fell in love with Jack. Actually, I remember it as though it were yesterday. Every girl I knew read SEVENTEENTH SUMMER that year and we were all weak with 'true' love as we lived this sweet romance. We were giddy in PE class!

I never had a daughter but I have now given this wonderful book to my Granddaughters and they also loved it. Young people live so much faster these days that they might often miss this kind of love.

Don't miss out on sharing this book with a young girl. Any young girl! Give it to them before they are 17. Let them capture the freshness of young love - and they never have to get in the sack! Let them want their first kiss to be gentle, lovely and one worth remembering. Ahhhhh I spoiled it. Yes, he does finally kiss her! You will love this book.

When I read THE NOTEBOOK and A WALK TO REMEMBER by Nicolas Sparks, I thought of this book. Some people just know how to write about true love! All we have to do is read! Let me hear how you like it.

PS - 6 Years later - I just discovered Maureen Daly died in 2006. Sad never to have met her. She is worth reading about on Google - she left a son and he should be proud that her book is still being given to teenagers by grandmothers and mothers who felt the true love in Seventeenth Summer.

Maureen Daly did help shape my life. I am now 77. Terry Fenwick

I discovered this book after reading an excerpt in one of those teenager-in-love anthologies that Scholastic books used to market in their catalogs. Like many others here, I re-read this one every summer, and have for close to three decades (yikes!) Angie and Jack were easy to relate to--she's a college-bound girl from a middle-class background, he was the star basketball player whose family owns the town bakery. Angie been something of an outsider in town, having attended a private girls-only prep school. Jack discovers her almost by accident one day when he blows the paper from his straw out of his booth at the drugstore, and looks over to see where it landed. From there, it's just a matter of time until they're a couple. There is nothing cliched about this book, even though it has many of the common elements we associate with teenagers in love. It's rounded out by scenes of Angie's family life and her plans for college even though she's falling deeper in love with Jack and he with her.

One caution: this book gets reprinted and re-released periodically with newer contemporary covers. You need to be aware that it is definitely not set in contemporary times, though. There are many references to society and mores of its setting--Wisconsin in the 30s--but the feel and experience of first love transcends everything. I think this one's a classic and a keeper. This is the only fiction book besides Gone with the Wind that I've kept from my own adolesence. Someday it will be my daughter's. On June 21, 2012, when she turns 17, this will be my gift to her.

I've had this book since I was a teenager--though I read it as much to savor Maureen Daly's wonderful writing as to get swept away in Angie and Jack's story. It was my custom to re-read this every late June or early July, through good times and bad times, including a horrible first marriage. Maureen once said Angie and Jack were fictional characters--but she created them with such depth and detail that they helped give me hope that real love exists in real life. I haven't read this book in several years--mainly because I'm too busy with my wonderful husband (my REAL Mr. Right) and our beautiful daughter (who will be 4 on June 21--the first day of summer!). But I think it's time to re-introduce the tradition, and I will pass this on to my daughter when she's seventeen. Thank you, Angie. Thank you, Jack. But most of all, thank you, Maureen. . .wherever you are:)

This book is a great book for teenagers and adults alike to read. It grabs your attention with stories of the romance filled relationship that Angie and Jack share. At first Angie never thought she would have a chance with the fabulous, gorgeous football player from her high school. Well, after they graduate, Angie is in for a big surprise. She soon gets a visit from Jack and finds out that he is single and "hint hint" he wants her to go boating with him! She is so excited that she gladly agrees to go. She has the best time of her life and falls head over heels for him. As you read all of the hardships they go through together as a couple, you will be drawn into the story. As I read this book it felt as though I was there with them on the boat and in Pete's and McKnight's. When Jane Rady shows up I feel as though I am Angie sitting there drinking my Coke as Jack dances with Jane. As the summer ends, Jack and Angie have to face the fact that Angie is going to college and they will have to seperate. Just as you start to think it is over between Jack and Angie, Mrs. Daly adds a little twist to the story's plot.( You'll have to read the book to find out what I am talking about.) Maureen Daly has wrote a wonderful tale of true love and friendship. I recommend you to read this book. If you love to read love stories and love books that draw you into the plot, then you will love this book. You won't regret it. I promise.

Seventeenth Summer is a beautiful book. Angie has a distinct voice and reflects many (but not all) girls as they experience first love. The story is innocent, which is a major part of the appeal. Some reviewers said they wanted a juicier tale and were waiting and waiting for more in the story. I think a good story leaves some room open to the reader for interpretation. Angie wasn't able to express her love for Jack in words, but she felt it so powerfully. One reader mentioned that the family was sterile as exemplified by Lorraine's not telling her family how she felt when her boyfriend stopped calling suddenly. I disagree. Today, how many girls have had an experience where a guy just stopped calling for no apparent reason? This is as true today as it was in 1942. Sometimes, families can't express their feelings to one another because the hurt is too deep...This is true even in the most loving families. If you want a read with a memorable protagonist that keeps you thinking about the first stirrings of love, pick up this book.

I first read this book in the 7th grade in the 70's. I am now 35 and I still enjoy reading this beautiful love story. Jack and Angie's story is timeless and refreshing a true classic. A must read for any young person. I often wondered why Maureen Daly never wrote a sequel, I would liked to have known what beacame of their romance.

This is one of the most touching stories about young love that I've read. I first read it when I was seventeen; seventeen years later, I still find it a delightful read.

I was assiged to read this book as an assignment and I thought I would hate it. As it turns out, I love this book! It is the best book I have read in a long time. I am 17 yrs. old and this book just appeals to me with the relationship of Jack and Angie. Every time I read something they do,it feels like I am there with them. Maureen Daly is a very good author and she really knows how to write attention grabbing books to thrill your mind. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did. It's a great read!

I read this book when I was 16 and I am now 68. It has never left my memory as one of the sweetest books a girl could ever read. I hope to buy one for each of my grandchildren in a few years and am glad it is still published.

I too re-read this book upon learning of the death of its author. I loved it as much now as I did when I read it 50 years ago. It described perfectly my own youth, the days of peaceful languid summers, Sunday dinners with the family, the wonder of having a boy like me, having to get mom and dad's permission for each date, living with two older sisters and a younger one. Angie's life was my life. Was she naive? Yes. Was I? YES! That to me was the utter charm of the book. It pictured so beautifully a time when young people could be naive, when they could be charmed by the ROMANCE of first love. I feel badly that today's youth will never know that charm, burdened are they are with modern sexual demands. Kids today move right on to sex, and cheat themselves of love. Very sad; a true loss of life's more affirming experiences. I'm glad Ms Daly wrote it down. Wonderful for those lucky enough to have lived it; great for those who can at least read about it.