The Last Summer of the World: A Novel (Hardcover)

by Emily Mitchell (Author)
Key Phrases: The Last Summer of the World, Emily Mitchell, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. First-time novelist Mitchell pulls off the dazzling trick of allowing readers to see through the eyes of art-photography pioneer Edward Steichen in her excellent reconsideration of his life and art. This would be merely impressive if the book confined itself to the stormy end of Steichen's first marriage, a subtheme that gets its due and packs a psychological punch. Instead, Mitchell follows Steichen through his airborne reconnaissance work during WWI, providing a devastating portrait of the insanity of war in general and the Great War in particular. Throughout, individual photographs are described in detail, along with surprisingly rich narratives—some reconstructed, some imagined—filling in the stories behind the pictures. Most powerful are the descriptions of what Steichen saw from the air, such as his view of Americans chasing a group of Germans and killing them all, including one who tried to escape. The book offers up glimpses of Paris and the French countryside, including memorable scenes of Steichen's visit to his good friend and mentor, sculptor August Rodin, but in the end, this commanding novel is about the images one can never quite burn from memory.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Photographer Edward Steichen, cosmopolitan and controversial, is an excellent subject for historical fiction. But debut novelist Mitchell chose not to reimagine Steichen's glamorous career as a portrait and fashion photographer. Rather, she zeroes in on Steichen's life-altering service during World War I. Responsible for aerial reconnaissance, Steichen and his men are in the line of fire as they fly over German troops, and Mitchell vividly imagines the terror of these historic dogfights. Her Steichen is also fighting a private ground war with his wife, Clara, as she seeks revenge for Steichen's alleged affair with her former best friend. Mitchell uses Steichen's moody art photographs as stepping-stones between scenes of military suspense and tragedy and the heartbreak of a disastrous marriage. Forced to sacrifice her musical career to fulfill her duties as mother and wife to an artist more ruthless in his devotion to his work than she, Clara is a profoundly poignant figure. And Steichen is no villain. Enriching her intensely psychological tale with cameos of Auguste Rodin and others. Mitchell evokes the spell of creativity and the pain of rupture when following one's vision severely complicates relationships. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton (June 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393064875
• ISBN-13: 978-0393064872
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #719,736 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Story, Beautifully Told, July 29, 2007

By	Avid Reader (Fairfax, Virginia) - See all my reviews

Thanks to Emily Mitchell for giving us one of those extraordinary novels that remain in the mind, evoking strong feelings and provoking new thoughts long after one turns the last page. Mitchell's subtle, unmannered, and decisive prose is a non-stop pleasure to read. Her story steadily gains momentum until, at the end, one feels the wind whistling past one's ears and hangs on for dear life. Most impressive, perhaps, is the refusal of this novel to play to type. TLSW is not a love story set against the "background" of war but a meditation on love and war that involves us in the interplay of spontaneous sentiments and a powerful (indeed, hyperactive) social environment. Similarly, despite the author's obvious sympathy for Clara Steichen's plight in a male-dominated culture, the book escapes categorization as either a feminist or implicitly gendered novel. Mitchell's empathetic imagination permits us to enter so deeply into the inner lives of both Edward and Clara that "taking sides" between them finally seeems reductionist and irrelevant. Glamorous, creative, confused, yearning for personal meaning and social peace, they were who they were, and Emily Mitchell has made them live again for us.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emily Mitchell Is a Young Writer to Watch, June 24, 2007

By	Steve Kettmann (Berlin, Germany) - See all my reviews

I wrote the Publishers Weekly review reprinted above, and want to add a follow-up: Few novels I've read in recent years have stayed with me as much as the Last Summer of the World. I find myself often wanting to recommend it to people, so I'll do that here as well. A beautifully written, deeply imagined book that is a pleasure to read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended, August 27, 2007

By	molly (san francisco, california) - See all my reviews

This is one of the best novels I've read in a long time. I really admired the writing itself---beautiful and restrained and elegant---and how the era seemed so deeply researched but came off as authentic and lived-in. I was completely absorbed by it and look forward to whatever Mitchell writes next.