The summer place from which Sloan Wilson's novel takes its title is an island off the coast of Maine. On this island one summer, Ken Jorgenson and Sylvia Raymond meet. The story of what happens to them, to the people they marry and to their children, who years later meet on the island, is the central thread of a novel about how marriages are made on earth: some out of fear, some out of pride, some out of desperation, and some, when there is strength and self-knowledge, out of love.
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13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
THERE'S A PLACE FOR US,
By It's a complicated and dramatic love affair concerning two generations revolving around a historic summer inn on a Maine island. Two teenage camp counselors fall in love and eventually marry, while their male friend, a clumsy and disliked camp counselor, and the butt of all jokes and pranks, has to relinquish his lust for the spoken for girl, but not until he rapes her in a semi-consensual night on the beach. Years pass and the clumsy teen councelor is now a successful rich businessman, married with two young girls, and still harboring a desire for his old friend. He books a vacation at the inn one summer, knowing his childhood friends have bought and manage the old inn. When the son of couple number one meets the daughter of couple number two, the summer gets that much hotter. Author Sloan Wilson creates convincing and sympathetic chacarcterizations, as the middle aged couples' mistakes and regrets, longings and desires, are brought full circle as the young affair blooms before them. In the teenagers in love, he clearly draws the insecurities and private worlds of young minds. Lovingly realized characters, a decent Romeo and Juliet plot, and a mature delving into the psyche of sexuality and commitment, make A SUMMER PLACE, a book well worth reading. Not to mention a summer breeze rolling in off the ocean in the dead of winter in Buffalo.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is about real life: a very powerful drama about love,
By
This review is from: A Summer Place (Paperback)
The writing is impressive and makes this book a perfect triumph of love.
Johnny is strong and unshakably devoted. And Molly, perfectly embodies the pixyish woman/child struggling to come to terms with adult emotions. Set to one of the most unforgettable themes ever, 'A Summer Place' was a huge success in 1958, and it has lost none of its appeal today ...
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Wuthering Heights Redux,
By Herbert Gintis (Northampton, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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Ken is the hunk lifeguard to the rich and beautiful. Bart, Sylvia and their pampered friends call him The Beast. Sylvia is a beautiful Elizabeth Taylor look-alike who secretly loves the hunk. They have a brief affair, then Sylvia spurns him in favor of the rich dissolute Bart. They marry and have a girl, Molly, who falls in love with Ken's son, who had also married a person whom he neither loved nor respected. Sylvia's daughter and Ken's son fall in love, and marry.
That is the plot, except I've left out the interesting parts. It's a very engaging Gothic-type novel that is not as memorable as Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, but was quite a hit, made into a high-profile Hollywood movie, etc. Sloan Wilson is at his best talking about anything that floats: ships, boats, tugs, ice-breakers, schooners, yachts, ferries, what have you. He is also at his best talking about booze. Drinking to excess is the most common form of recreation, besides smoking endless numbers of cigarettes. I found it hard to put this book down, and lost a couple nights sleep reading avidly. I recommend it heartily to those who like Gothic romance. The parallel to Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights is not likely to be coincidental. Ken is Heathcliffe, poor and rebuffed, but making his fortune and dominating the weakling rich alcoholic men who lorded over his younger years. Sylvia as Catherine, who made the mistake of spurning her poor lover and regretting it sorely. Her son is Catherine's daughter Catherine, and Ken's daughter Molly is Heathcliffe's son Hareton. Bart is the sickly, alcoholic Edgar, who marries Catherine and dies. The difference between the two novels is also significant. Wuthering Heights is a study in the malignancy of vindictiveness. Heathcliffe's life revolves around getting revenge, in the course of which he ruins everyone around him, including his wife and child. His is a portrait in hate without respite. Ken, by contrast, it the fountain of good will and mental balance. The grief of Catherine and Heathcliffe are transformed into the warmth and love of Ken and Sylvia. Wuthering Heights is perhaps the greatest novel in the English language. A Summer Place is a pleasant diversion. Happy endings are fun, mental health is reassuring, but the novels of greatness revel in the darker human emotions---hate, indifference, spite, vindictiveness, pettiness, and dusty death. I wonder why.
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