Customer Reviews

The Summer They Came

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I read this over several days while commuting to work, so that may have done it a disservice since there are MANY one dimensional characters here. After a the first couple of days, it was hard to keep them straight. That being said, however, my commute reading was not inspiring me to keep reading it AFTER I got home either. This story just kind of sits there. The characters are either stereotypes or paper-thin; you really don't care about most of them. Also, the aggressiveness of taking over this town almost had me routing for the residents.
Not much to keep you interested here. And, one more thing, will book publishers please stop putting a naked torso on EVERY gay novel. It's kind of lame and embarressing at the same time!

This book has a predictable plot and one dimensional characters presented in lite cuisine prose. Fine for the beach or a rainy afternoon. A book that you will enjoy, but not mind leaving behind in the summer house for next year's renters.

A third of this book is amusing, fun, and about interesting characters. The rest is filled with boring stereotypes and cliches that finally made it unreadable. Every gay man is not sex-obsessed, cruising the dunes, and explaining to dumb straights the intricacies of glory holes and back rooms. I've nothing against a good dollop of sex but this book is over the top. Save your money and read Joe Keenan, Stephen McCauley and Jim Grimsley.

I recently read this book as part of a gay book club, & while it certainly isn't deep or provocative, it is entertaining. The characters are somewhat stereotypical, but are still interesting. The plot is somewhat predictable, but I will credit the author for resisting the temptation to wrap everything up in a neat package at the book's end. Pat resolutions are avoided. Also, I appreciated the author's, or proofreader's, attentiveness to spelling & correct grammar - something woefully lacking in too much of today's fiction. As I entitled this review, this book is appropriate for light, entertaining, summertime reading.

This is only summer reading, and it is fine when one takes it for only that. Any more serious reading, for the meaning searcher, will stumble unto the unlikely premise of a few gay developers that end up transforming within a year a restful and forgotten Rhode Island resort. Yeah, forgotten, sure..... The characters described tend to be a little bit stereotyped, and the plot turns way too much around real estate, including the aging queen buying a little palace with private harbor. The coming out/coming of age subplot starts well, but ends up predictable of course. More interesting is the old antique dealer closeted queen transformation, which by itself and with more development could be the seed of a nice book. But as I said before, if what you have in mind is a book to take to the beach, or to the country home of your friends upstate, for the week end, then you might get a few smiles out of it.

I am not one who tends towards hyperbole, but I can honestly say that Storandt wields the English language with the precision of a surgeon and the grace of a dancer. The story unfolds with an excellent blend of character development and plot elaboration. We examine, and ultimately challenge, American stereotypes towards homosexuals. This is done through the eyes of both the gay characters and the conservative, heterosexual residents of the beachside community. The account is entertaining, yet realistic, as the effect of money and other factors on the acceptance of the "alien" lifestyle is weaved into the fabric of the story. This book seems to be marketed towards gay readers. However, I think that straight readers can benefit from and enjoy this book as much as the target audience.

After reading both of the current spotlight reviews, I decided both were partially right. One complained that the book is chock full of one dimensional characters, and mentions that book publishers should stop putting muscle boys on book jackets. Well, first I've done a fair amount of research on what's selling in gay fiction, and it seems to be books with nearly naked men on the cover and plots that contain 18 year old boys. The Summer They Came has both. Anthony is arguably the main character of this book, and the transformation of the town into a gay beach resort affects him the most personally. For Anthony, the conflicts created by the "gay invasion" result, more or less, in his own trial by fire.

The book does have a lot of characters. Similar to soap opera-ish works like Larry Kramer's Faggots or Armistead Maupin's Tales of The City, William Storandt's work follows a lot of different story lines. Storandt has some charming characters, a lot of them are the town locals, but he would have done well to spend more time defining characters and making them more recognizable. I'd recommend making a character list so you don't have to keep flipping back to figure out who's who. Storandt has two characters named Jim. He also uses similar names like Wesley and Wendell.

As far as use of stereotypes, it's hard to disagree that Storandt falls into the trap of using them, but then I also feel that he's portrayed the culture of a gay beach resort pretty accurately. I suspect the old families of Fire Island were probably pretty shocked with the rather r-rated turn their community took when gay men started arriving in flocks. Storandt builds slowly but steadily to a final stand-off. He's demonstrated that some of the gay men have been troublemakers (specifically, Bart Connors, the media gadfly) and that some of the locals are rallying to support the newcomers. I feel it's a fair portrayal that neither side is completely in the right.

I feel the biggest flaw with the book is that there's no strong resolution. There are some unanswered questions. Storandt brings up the concept of anonymous sex in a variety of ways without ever telling us if the community is just going to "wink" at the practice while counting their cash or whether they're going to mount a backlash to the affront. There seem to be some growning tensions between the developers. There was a near fiasco at the climactic "circuit" party that might have ended the popularity of this new little resort. Perhaps we should all look forward to "The Summer They Came Back."

Yes, the characters are ridiculously stereotypical and one dimensional, but the plot line is silly and fun and I couldn't set it down. No need for thought provocation here--it's a great mindless read.

I bought this book a few weeks ago on a rainy dreary fall day in Provincetown, and sat and read it cover to cover! A great premise with delightful characters! I recommend you order it now!

Also recommended: LEAVES OF RED AND GOLD by Scott Chapman, for an exciting gay legal thriller!

I'm an avid reader of "gay" fiction and nonfiction. Twice I've resided in Provincetown and am acquainted with Fire Island and Palm Springs, etc. Imagine my delight in reading William Storandt's engrossing new book -- twice till 4:00 a.m. (He'd won me over as a fan with his beautifully-written first book "Outbound.)

As the book jacket warned, one can hardly put it down. Charismatic and appealingly-developed characters abound; and the unfolding story is heart-warming, dishy, timely and brilliant. Not since "The Front Runner" have I enjoyed creating in my mind a future film of a meaty gay novel of this caliber. Perhaps this book, like "Auntie Mame" and "The Berlin Stories" will have a number of iterations. Let's hope so! Anyway, I think it's here to stay in our burgeoning rack of quality literature, and "The Summer They Came" is way near the top of the heap -- right along with White, Holleran, Vidal, Picano ate all - - -