By: Jenny Han
“Sometimes it’s like people are a million times more beautiful to you in your mind. It’s like you see them through a special lens — but maybe if it’s how you see them,that’s how they really are. It’s like the whole tree falling in the forest thing.”
The Summer I Turned Pretty
*This post contains spoilers for The Summer I Turned Pretty
Overview:
Some summers are just destined to be pretty.
The Summer I Turned Pretty
Belly measures her life in summers. Everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August. Winters are simply a time to count the weeks until the next summer, a place away from the beach house, away from Susannah, and most importantly, away from Jeremiah and Conrad. They are the boys that Belly has known since her very first summer — they have been her brother figures, her crushes, and everything in between. But one summer, one wonderful and terrible summer, the more everything changes, the more it all ends up just the way it should have been all along.
I never intended on reading this book. However, the whole series was at Goodwill for $6 so I figured I would give it a shot. After reading it, I do not understand the hype. Especially from women in their 30’s that gush about it. *Note: I am also a woman in my 30’s.
The story follows Belly (the worst main character name I have come across in a very long time) as she spends her summer with her mother, brother and mother’s friends family. Something that they do every summer. That is mostly it. It is just what happens that one summer.
There are some more dramatic things that happen such as Belly’s mom’s friend Susannah is sick and getting a divorce. This puts a cloud on the summer but doesn’t stop the teens from doing all the normal summer things.
Belly has had a crush on one of Susannah’s two boys from most of her life, Conrad but also seems to have a thing going on with the other brother, Jeremiah. She is also starting a romance with a new boy named Cam. As you can imagine, emotions between everyone get a little complicated.
The author does do a really good job of keeping these emotions and experiences realistic to teenagers. Emotional intelligence comes with age and experience. These characters process their emotions in a way that feels realistic to how teenagers would deal with relationships.
However, this book seriously lacks a plot. Nothing seemed to be driving the characters forward. It was just as if someone was writing down what they saw average teenagers doing over the summer. Perhaps that is something people enjoy reading but I would prefer something that seemed like a full story.
Overall,
This book is…fine. If I were a fourteen year old girl this book would probably hit with me so hard but I am not. It’s like going to get soft serve ice cream and getting vanilla. I’m still going to enjoy it but I would rather a twist or chocolate sprinkles.
I don’t know if I should read the next in the series or donate them back to Goodwill to restart the cycle. I could take it or leave it.
Rating: 2/5 stars
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