Customer Reviews

Summer People: A Novel (P.S.)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I think this book found its way into my hands because of the title and the cover art, so I would have to give the publisher credit for this "Ralph Laurenesque" marketing. Not what I expected.

As another reviewer here said, "all the elements were there," but nothing materialized. The author is not without talent, but something needed to be harnessed or developed. The characters felt so incomplete. I was perhaps mistaken to think that this book would have a big reveal about Ellen, but she turned out to be somewhat like a piece of furniture in her summer home. So, it turns out she liked men and had not much use for friendships with women. That's it? She seemed like nothing more than a prop, and I expected so much more.

After enduring many a rum & coke, boring tennis matches, television game shows, adolescent angst, a fist (and gravel) fight, a couple of fires, I certainly could have done without one of the characters (Ralph) saying that when his girlfriend is drunk, she lets him give it to her "in the pooper." Lovely.

I would not give this book to anyone I know. I put it in the recycling bin.

Too bad those elements didn't come together and really pack a wallop. This book had the Maine coastal summer, the recent college drop-out, the Ivy League boys, the femme fatale, and the aging widow. The author could have really created a powerhouse, page to screen story. Unfortunately what he created was a whole lot of nothing. The book drones on for pages with nothing really happening. Ultimately, nothing major ever does happen. I kept waiting for the "money shot", but my wait was in vain. The story flows okay and the characters are interesting enough, but the plot is bland. I can always tell how great a book is by how anxious I am to get in bed and read each night. With "Summer People" I found myself staying for just "one more rumba" with my friends from "Dancing With the Stars." I gave this book 3 stars because it did have all the elements of a great book; too bad the author didn't utilize them more efficiently.

This was an easy read. The main character, Nathan, was too sensitive, too in love, too much of a mamby pamby. I couldn't get on his side.

Brian Groh's Summer People is a thoroughly engaging story of a young man's coming of age. As we meet Nathan, he is haunted by his mother's death, chafing under a strained relationship with his father, and reeling from his girlfriend Sophie's sudden defection. He begins his duties as Ellen's caretaker wounded and distraught, and we feel for him. As Ellen, an aging doyenne of the affluent country club set, sinks into the self-absorbed miasma of dementia, her erratic actions threaten Nathan's already tenuous status in this elite summer community. Fortunately Nathan connects with Eldwin, an upbeat but alcoholic minister beset with family problems, and with Leah, nanny for Eldwin's children, the enchanting albeit often thoughtlessly cruel object of his affection. As the novel progresses, we are drawn to Nathan as he struggles with his insecurities over his talent as a graphic novelist, the vagaries of his love life, and uncertainties about his future, not to mention the daily challenges of caring for an elderly lady whose current needs and past exploits are more complex than he anticipated. Packed with action (a fire, fight, near death by drowning) but balanced with thought provoking, insightful discussions of friendship and happiness, Summer People is a great read. I look forward to a sequel.

Nathan, although not perfect (who is?), is beautifully illustrated by Brian Groh. With every page, I felt as though the author knew me when I was that age! I found the book nearly impossible to put down and was quite a welcome variation from the mainstream publications available on bookshelves today. The book has subtle twists and turns that make it very realistic, and Mr. Groh has an amazing mastery of the english language in his rich descriptions of human eccentricity and mannerisms.

A smart, strangely powerful novel. I agree that the central character, Nathan Empson, can sometimes seem self-absorbed, but isn't that true of most human beings? ....And now that I think of it, isn't it true of many of the great comic characters in American literature? Holden Caulfield. Alexander Portnoy. Ignatius Reilly. The trick, it seems to me, is how that character is presented - whether he seems fully human - and whether his life and the lives of the other characters in the novel make you want to keep reading about them. I pick up a lot of hyped books that I put down before I finish them, but I wanted to keep reading this novel.

With the main character being so tragically human, this book was next to impossible to put down. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone that is less than perfect.

i'm a busy mom and don't read much fiction these days, but this one caught my eye as a good summer read right before our family vacation. let's just say there's more than meets the eye here. i ended up thoroughly immersed in the characters. the intrigue keeps you going, you're up late reading and then exhausted the next morning but you barely care. i bought a couple of copies for gifts for friends. it's one of those books you just want to turn people on to. enjoy!

There are few novels that suprise me, really suprise me, in a good way, but this was one of those novels. When I saw the cover and read the quote on the back, I was expecting a sort of beach book that's fun but that you forget about a few days after you read it.

And this isn't that kind of book. The main character of Nathan is a young man, a comic book artist, who seems very real to me. He can act youthfully selfish and naive, but he can also be sensitive to people's suffering, and he seems very interested in discovering the best, most worthwhile life for him to lead.

Maybe all of this would be a little heavy if it weren't for the novel's humor. It's not slap-your-thigh, haw haw haw, oh my stars kind of funny, except for maybe one scene, but it's written with the kind of dry, low-key sense of humor that makes me smile.

It's possible, I suppose, that you could be disappointed that this isn't a totally light beach read, but I loved this novel, and at the end of it I felt like it was probably worth even a little bit more of my time.

If one of the reviews on this page is any indication,
this is probably not a novel for one's grandparents.
But if you want to remember what it's like to be
young, eager for love, and desperate for a clear
trajectory, then this may just be the book of your
summer. It's smart, wickedly funny, and compelling
enough that I read the book in three days.