Summer Darlings

I struggled to finish this book but did so because it was my book club pick. As a graduate of a Seven Sisters college, I had a really hard time with Heddy, the main character. A Wellesley student who has oddly lost her scholarship due to either getting a C in a class, turning up one hour late to a final exam, or getting to second base with a random boy (it’s entirely unclear which), she works as a nanny to a couple on Martha’s Vineyard in 1962. The book is riddled with inaccuracies (mini skirts were not a thing in the early 60’s, and 9-1-1 is mentioned but hadn’t been invented yet), and poor character development and stilted dialogue. I could not muster up any interest in any of the characters, including Heddy, who swings wildly between wanting to be a wife and a mother and (impossibly) a screenwriter in Hollywood. There are all kinds of scandals that are alluded to, but when they’re finally revealed at the end of the book, it just seems flat and so implausible that the reader just doesn’t care.

I read this book in the fall. Summer went by with us in quarantine and it didn’t feel like summer at all. I read only a few pages every night because I wanted to savor it. It took me right back to summer and it felt like a vacation. There is a bit of everything for everyone. The characters are so different from one another yet they create a harmony that carries the story very nicely from scene to scene. Loved it, loved it…

I bought this book as a beach read and started reading on a perfect afternoon at the beach. I could not stop reading after leaving the beach, and continued until I finished the story the next day. The main character is spunky and smart and makes you root for her the entire story. I’m surprised this is the author’s first novel, but look forward to reading more from her. The story is well written, with special attention to the importance of friendship and genuinely caring for others and yourself by being true to yourself and what you believe in by recognizing how you have come to learn life lessons and make choices. If you are making a choice about your next summer book, put this at the top of your list!

I was there the summer of 1962, and many summers before. I was a rising senior at a Seven Sisters School, just like Heddy. The portrayal of Marthas Vineyard and the so-called moneyed classes is completely inaccurate. East Hampton, maybe, but not East Chop. People may have been wealthy and Waspy, but they did not wear designer clothes or eat off Limoges! Simplicity was the watchword. And they may have been snobs, but not in such overt ways. Wellesley College is portrayed as nothing but a finishing school for spoiled brats looking for rich husbands. Everything is seen through the distorted lens of an envious young woman with false values. This is a deeply classist book. I awarded two stars because some of the descriptive writing is good. The book is entertaining as the heroine ponders which of two men who both seem like good catches she will choose. When she finally wises up, she chooses independence, but at a moral cost. The fast-paced denouement would make a good movie: but please do not set it on my beloved Vineyard, which was far different in the Forties, Fifties, and early Sixties, before it was overrun by celebrities (those few who summered there kept low profiles). A medium-good read, but do not call it historical fiction. The world it creates is pure fantasy.

This book was interesting and frustrating. The main character got on my nerves. Way too wimpy at points and really, her job was for 3 months. You can tolerate any job for that long. She makes repeatedly stupid choices and not sure how anyone rates this as 5 stars. Some of references are more contemporary. One or two is ok but when we got to a 911 call in 1962, I was yelling to pay attention to details. Just ok for me.

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