Summer Book Club: Week 4

Plus, two other fun things.

Last week I was on vacation in Montauk, the eastern most tip of Long Island, when I got the best email from my amazing editor: She had the first round of book covers for my agent and I to peruse. Heart beating. Fast. I opened the attachment, and holy hot summer’s day, did I freak out?! The cover for my next novel All The Summers In Between isn’t just beautiful. It’s compelling. It’s mysterious. It’s vintage.

You’re going to go crazy when you see it. I’m just not allowed to show you yet! More on this soon! Now on to the book club discussion.

With a couple of days of rain after we returned from perfect days at the ocean, I had ample time to finish Steven Rowley’s latest novel The Celebrants. The book follows a group of college friends over the course of their decades-long friendship, but the plot tracks around a pact they make in college after their friend Alec dies of a drug overdose. The promise: At some point in their lives, they will meet and hold a funeral for each of them, long before their time is up. The idea being that when you’re at your lowest when you’re alive, you deserve to have your best friends celebrate you rather than mourn you years later at a funeral. The result: Each section of the book is about one of the friends struggling and the “funeral” that ensues.

Rowley is funny. His characters are well drawn. The plot felt spot-on, the writing quick and enjoyable, so it’s not a mystery why “Read With Jenna” picked this for her book club on “The Today Show.” A scene where they attempt to connect with their friend through an Ouija board made me laugh out loud. There is also tons of heart in this novel. I cried at the ending, even if it was set in the churning seas outside Alcatraz. Plus, there are a few passages that really hit hard. Excerpt below.

“To think about life is to contemplate death—it’s what makes living so valuable. Our time here is limited, gone in the blink of an eye. Jordan thought of the water park he used to visit summers as a child after his family moved to the United States. The waterslides were a perfect ride. He would be sloshed side to side on a little blue mat that kept his young body from sticking to the smooth surface as he barreled down toward a pool. It was scary, but not too, exhilarating but not exhausting, draining—but also surprisingly invigorating. He would squeal with delight as he hit the shallow pool, then run back up the concrete path for another turn until his feet were raw and his mother had to drag him away in the last of the afternoon light. And now here he stood again, under the setting sun, and the urge crept in to run back up the hill for just one more ride from the start…You only live once. That was the truth of it.”

Still, while I enjoyed the book, I’ve been trying to figure out why I didn’t connect with the story deeply. Two of the friends/lovers in the novel — the “two Jordans” — were some of my favorite characters I’ve read in a long time. The setting, everywhere from Big Sur to Manhattan to Mexico — satisfied the armchair traveller in me. My mom and I read the novel at the same time, and we both had the same reaction. We really enjoyed it, but we wouldn’t tell everyone in the world to read it.

When you’re a writer you hear readers say similar things over time, like: “I liked the writing in Summer Darlings, but I didn’t love the main character.” Somehow those reviews don’t bother writers as much because the reader appreciates the book, even if they didn’t love it. That’s exactly how I’m feeling about this novel. I can recognize that it’s a good book that will resonate with tons of readers. I enjoyed the humor, the premise, the setting, even the characters — but something about the novel just didn’t click with me. In other words, it hit me but it didn’t hit me hard.

When I put it down, I immediately picked up next week’s Summer Book Club pick: The Guest Book by Sarah Blake. I’m already on page 115 and I literally can’t put this one down. It’s set on an island off Camden, Maine, and I happen to be traveling to this area in coming weeks! I’ll report on the novel next Tuesday.

In the meantime, what are you reading? Anything you want to share?

Has anyone read Yellowface? It’s on my list as are a zillion other books though — while critics loved it, I’m still trying to decide if that one is worth picking up. I feel like the book competition this summer is fierce. There is just so much I want to get my hands on.