Judy Blume dominated my tween reading – her books are still memorable nearly thirty years after I first read them.
When I picked up Summer Sisters (Judy Blume for adults) it was like meeting up with an old friend. The writing style was familiar and the characters comfortingly familiar – ordinary girls with ordinary problems.
Summer Sisters is about Victoria Leonard, who is befriended by the dazzling and charismatic Caitlin Somers. Caitlin invites Victoria to holiday with her family at Martha’s Vineyard and from there Victoria’s life changes forever. Filled with the all the complexities of intense, complicated female friendships, Summer Sisters has moments of laughter, tears, betrayals and love.
I picked it up as a beach read and it was perfect. It’s not a complicated story but it is compelling! In the same way that I’ve never thought of the name ‘Ralph’ without a little giggle after reading Blume’s Forever decades ago, Summer Sisters will have you smiling about ‘The National Treasure’, ‘the Package’ and ‘the Power’.
Enjoy Summer Sisters with a cold lemonade.
4/5 – because it delivered exactly what it promised – a good summer read.
Pingback: Top Ten Tuesday – Beach Reads | booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Pingback: Life’s a beach – top beach reads | booksaremyfavouriteandbest
If forced to choose an all time fav author, Judy Blume would be it I think
She is brilliant. My kids are reading some of her books now and they are just as relevant today as they were when I read them in the seventies/ eighties.
Pingback: Six Degrees of Separation – from My Brilliant Friend to Swimming Home | booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Pingback: January Rewind | booksaremyfavouriteandbest
Thanks for reminding me that this should be on my to be read list. I read Forever when I was waaaaaay too young, having churned through every other book of hers. It left quite an impression on my ten year old brain.
Yikes. Forever when you were ten?! I’m sure it did leave an impression 😀
To my mind, Judy Blume’s books hold up for kids today although I don’t know why I think that, given that I haven’t re-read any for decades. Obviously there are things that would seem odd (like the technology used) but I guess the core problems and relationship challenges are the same. I’m almost tempted to do a complete Judy re-read…
Yeh, neither my mum nor me had any clue it wasn’t like her other ones. My mum still doesn’t! You could farm out the re-read and make it a group thang – you’d have loads of volunteers.
Hmmm… I might need to hatch a June-Blumeathon or something similar in the middle of the year….
I like it!
Pingback: My Salinger Year by Joanna Rakoff | booksaremyfavouriteandbest