However, for many it is a nostalgic revisit to a Jenny Han trilogy-except, this time around, its beloved characters and the fictional town of Cousins Beach come to life on screen in a truly pinch-me moment.
#THE SUMMER I TURNED PRETTY BOOK SUMMARY SERIES#
Some will believe that the fable form, in which the illogical may serve the objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyne’s narrative others will believe it was the wrong choice.Ĭertain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point.Amazon’s The Summer I Turned Pretty is, in large part, a tender series that pays homage to experiences teenagers face as they come of age. The tragic story’s point of view is unique: the corrosive effect of brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf. Although Bruno’s family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp “Out-With” and the Fuhrer “Fury.” As a literary device, it could be said to be credibly rooted in Bruno’s consistent, guileless characterization, though it’s difficult to believe in reality. For months, the two meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never play together. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp’s fence. The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly little political and social awareness, never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in “striped pajamas”) or the malignant nature of the death camp. This is no didactic near-future warning of present evils, but a cinematic adventure featuring endearing, compelling heroesĪfter Hitler appoints Bruno’s father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is unhappy with his new surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin. All the flavor of a post-apocalyptic setting-plagues, class warfare, maniacal soldiers-escalates to greater complexity while leaving space for further worldbuilding in the sequel.
Their voices are distinct and richly drawn, from Day’s self-deprecating affection for others to June's Holmesian attention to detail.
In alternating first-person narratives, Day and June experience coming-of-age adventures in the midst of spying, theft and daredevil combat. When tragedies strike both their families, the two brilliant teens are thrown into direct opposition. He's also the Republic's most wanted criminal, prone to stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. Day, on the other hand, is an anonymous street rat, a slum child who failed his own Trial. She looks forward to the day when she can join up and fight the Republic’s treacherous enemies east of the Dakotas. June is rich and brilliant, the only candidate ever to get a perfect score in the Trials, and is destined for a glowing career in the military. 12-14)Ī gripping thriller in dystopic future Los Angeles.įifteen-year-olds June and Day live completely different lives in the glorious Republic. The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers-driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend-if not, unfortunately, for the children-in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer.
Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.īelly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons.