Customer Reviews

Windchill Summer: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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Windchill Summer should be read by everyone who likes to know characters in an intimate way. They are described to the reader in fine detail and whether you like them or not, you cannot help but realized that within each of them, there too lies a piece of yourself. The setting of the story - Sweet Valley, Arkansas and Vietnam - is detailed in intimate detail as well. Sweet Valley in 1969 is a place of southern serenity yet it too is capable of displaying the dark side of humanity. In 1969 Vietnam, Norris Church Mailer has written of the horrors of a war in which no one should forget. At times I felt she could have left a few details out. However, I needed to be reminded of the horrible atrocities that took place.

There has been so much revisionist history about the 1960s -- and especially the anti-war movement -- that it's refreshing to read a book that feels right. Mailer nails the tumult and joy and confusion and fear that marked the era.

She also has a wonderful sense of place and character. After reading this book, I know what it feels like to be tall, thin and Southern, even though I'm not.

Windchill Summer takes place in Arkansas during the Viet Nam era. As Mailer spins her tail she allows the characters to voice their perspective by presenting each chapter in the words of someone different, allowing the story to slowly unfold. One of the characters is found dead along the way and that adds a bit of mystery. The author very cleverly goes back in time allowing even the dead to present their story. Most important of all she does this with such skill that it is never confusing. Mailer's transition between times and characters is smooth and effortless. Her characters are steeped in their values and misconceptions about religion, the war and each other. Characters that are so real and complete that you feel like they are your personal friends. By the end we know the whole story while some of the main characters will never know everything that we have seen through other peoples eyes. Mailer has weaved an incredible tapestry about life in a small southern town that brings us back to Viet Nam for glimpses of the "My Lai Massacre" under the command of Lt. Cally, the Viet Cong, and the frailty of the killing machines that used to be the boys next door. The portrayal of Mailer's characters is so well done that I hated to leave them behind on the pages of her book.....Kelsana

Windchill Summer is a novel that is both engaging and descriptive. Norris Church Mailer is highly skilled at setting the scenes through her words that leave vivid images with her readers. As a reader that did not live during the 60's free love and peace protests, Windchill Summer took me there to experience the mood and events of the era.

Two best friends, Cherry and Baby will experience the summer they will never forget. Cherry, by most accounts is an innocent. She is active with her family church - First Apostolic Holiness Church of God, and has experienced little distress in her idyllic life. Baby, a Filipino, who often feels disconnected, is vastly different from Cherry. She has experienced numerous relationships and is a keeper of secrets.

The murder of a local girl, Carlene, and the arrival of a mysterious guy, Tripp, will turn Cherry's world in ways that she could not have imagined. Windchill Summer examines the summer's events through Cherry's first-person account. In addition, the reader gains the perspective of a variety of supporting voices from the Sweet Valley town.

Windchill Summer is a coming of age novel packed with growth and numerous life lessons for its cast. Truly, a captivating read, I anticipate further great work by Norris Church Mailer.

It's hard to believe that this book is not a best seller. I have read most of Oprah's Book Club books and this one is as good as or maybe even better than most of them. There's the suppressed women jobs of working in a pickle factory for a terrible boss. There is the lecturous older men praying on the young girls tricking them to allow him to take porno pictures. There's the teens and young adults that are struggling with life and their religious upbringing. There's the headshops, smoking pot, drag racing, psychedelic art, mini skirts, guys beginning to wear their hair long, long straight hair on the girls, Volkswagens, the Vietnam war and alot of other "happenings" that tags the time of this story to the turbulent '60s. This author mentions places in Vietnam as well as situations and she is right on the money. I can't praise this book enough. If you like Oprah's Picks or relationship sagas, you will most assuredly devour this book. I graduated from high school in '69 and my husband served in the Army during the Vietnam war and served 1 1/2 years in the jungles in Vietnam and this book helped me to understand some of the things he witnessed and lived through. Believe it or not, this book is fun at times and fast paced. It's such an easy book to stay interested in and involved in because there are so many different things going on and tied together by a mystery, of sorts. The ending is out-a-sight, to use a '60s term. Pick this book up and read it. It's SO good. I just can't believe it's not promoted more by someone, if not Oprah. It's EXCELLENT.

What an amazing first novel from Norris Church Mailer! I hope she has another book coming soon. This book was amazing in so many ways... It definitely had me on the edge of my seat. And I loved the way each chapter was spun by a different character. It really made the entire novel come together in the end. Normally, I would tire of all the details, but she told the story in such a refreshing manner that it had me hungry for more. I had a hard time putting it down! I'm almost sorry that I'm done with the book as I can't imagine my next read being that spell binding. The book has so many plot twists and interesting characters, I would recommend this book to men and women alike. Kudos to Church Mailer -- I hope to read more from you -- and soon!

In "Windchill Summer", Norris Church Mailer takes the seemingly opposite moralities of religion and war and places them in a small town in Arkansas in the awakening times of the 1960's.

The story's narrator, Cherry, the twenty-one year old daughter of a fudamentalist deacon, learns that her idyllically safe if somewhat staid existence is threatened by the same world in which she once felt secure. With many chapters presented through the perspective of other characters, the reader soon finds along with Cherry that little is truly as it seems. Friends have secrets, parents are flawed, personal history shapes everyone's world. Parallels are even drawn between the biblical story of Jericho and the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.

Mailer sympathetically and humanly documents her characters' developments in a way that manages to accomplish something that most stories about the 60's don't..."Windchill Summer" is funny and warm yet disturbing.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, I loved the characters, the small-town setting, the era, everything about it. Norris Church Mailer has written a remarkable debut novel. The reader can't help but get caught up in the trials and tribulations of Cherry & her best friend, "Baby", as they come of age in the late 60's while the boys from town go off to war, Cherry experiences first love, the body of their friend is discovered and the murderer's identity remains a mystery. . . no wonder Cherry longs for the good old days when she and Baby's lives and friendship were uncomplicated and unthreatened. This is a very enjoyable read, and though summer in my part of the world has just ended I think this book would be the perfect choice to throw into that beach bag!

Norris Church's conversational writing style makes this an entertaining read. Forgotten trends like white lipstick and ironed hair draw the reader back to a time that seemed simpler on the surface, but Church's excellent character development and intriguing plot reveal what growing up in the 60's was really like. Her chapters on Vietnam are extremely realistic, and make the reader realize there is more to Norris Church's talent than could be contained in this engaging debut novel.

Cheryl Ann Marshall (Cherry for short) has an idyllic life. She lives in the small town of Sweet Valley, Arkansas, where everybody knows everybody and no one locks their doors. While attending the local university as an art major, Cherry still lives at home and works summers in the pickle factory with her best friend, Baby. It's the summer of 1969, and although Viet Nam has put some dings in her rose-colored glasses, Cherry is still an innocent. However, when a schoolmate is found floating in the lake and Cherry meets a seductive and mysterious stranger, her life is turned on end and nothing will ever be the same. At about the same time Carlene Moore's body is pulled from Sweet Valley Lake, Viet Nam veteran Tripp Barlowe breezes into Sweet Valley with no ties, with not much of a past, but with a lot of secrets. Cherry is immediately drawn into Tripp's wild world, with consequences she could never imagine. This debut by Norman Mailer's wife is a solid entry into the world of summer fiction. The story is a bit puffed up, 395 pages when about 250 would have gotten the job done. However, she does a great job describing the kind of protected world we lived in during the late 60's and early 70's. Anyone who lived through the days of Mick Jagger, mini-skirts, Volkswagen beetles and the first man on the moon will be quickly drawn into Cherry's world during that fateful summer. The story would have been better off without the murder plot, as it seemed to distract rather than add to the issues, but it's still a good story, set in rural America and peopled with colorful characters that are likeable, flaws and all. Hey...here's a book I liked....it will appeal to you over 40 crowd.... Windchill Summer, warm memories of a time gone by -- Enjoy!

Terry Matthews, Reviewer