I posted this on Goodreads today.
Christopher Faiers's Reviews > Wild Summers
Wild Summers
by
by
I have a personal interest in Cassie's latest novel, as she
based a lot of it on my memoir Eel Pie Island Dharma. It's impressive
how vividly her imagination recreates that heady time in the summer of
1969 when the world was undergoing the cultural upheaval of Beatlemania
and hippiedom.
Her main character, seventeen year old Joan Summers, is experiencing a boring summer break as a disaffected upper middle class teen in Twickenham. Then the heady ferment of the sixties moves next door in the person of a rising young rock star. Her older sister is the cool one who attracts his attention, while nerdy Joan remains in her sister's shadow. A visit across the footbridge to mythical Eel Pie Island and the inhabitants of its abandoned hotel's hippie squatters causes a change in Joan's perspective. The unexpected friendliness of the bohemian gaggle of young people living in the ruined hotel cause Joan's life to change in directions she has never imagined.
This is the second novel acknowledging the influence of my memoir. The first was by the very established writer Hari Kunzru. His second novel, My Revolutions, also used the atmospheric and cultural turmoil described in EPID. Hari has gone on to establish himself on the A list of British authors, and it is my belief that Cassie Steward's book is at least the equal of his novel. I find her characterizations more believable and fully rounded out than Kunzru's, and her plotting more interesting and credible. Not to knock Hari whose literary credentials are secure, but to show how accomplished Cassie Steward's writing is.
In Canada where I worked as a librarian, Wild Summers would be classified as a Young Adult (YA) book. I believe it is one of the more important books in the YA canon, perhaps the equivalent of teen classics like The Outsiders or The Catcher in the Rye. I believe Wild Summers will help Cassie achieve the sales to also establish her as a financially successful writer. But I also believe Wild Summers has the potential to become a teen classic. Reviewers, librarians and book shop owners
pay attention to this brilliant and absorbing novel. Written with young people in mind, adults who remember their teen angst will enjoy this as much or more than their kids and grand kids. Harry Potter and Stephen King teen territory is being invaded!
Her main character, seventeen year old Joan Summers, is experiencing a boring summer break as a disaffected upper middle class teen in Twickenham. Then the heady ferment of the sixties moves next door in the person of a rising young rock star. Her older sister is the cool one who attracts his attention, while nerdy Joan remains in her sister's shadow. A visit across the footbridge to mythical Eel Pie Island and the inhabitants of its abandoned hotel's hippie squatters causes a change in Joan's perspective. The unexpected friendliness of the bohemian gaggle of young people living in the ruined hotel cause Joan's life to change in directions she has never imagined.
This is the second novel acknowledging the influence of my memoir. The first was by the very established writer Hari Kunzru. His second novel, My Revolutions, also used the atmospheric and cultural turmoil described in EPID. Hari has gone on to establish himself on the A list of British authors, and it is my belief that Cassie Steward's book is at least the equal of his novel. I find her characterizations more believable and fully rounded out than Kunzru's, and her plotting more interesting and credible. Not to knock Hari whose literary credentials are secure, but to show how accomplished Cassie Steward's writing is.
In Canada where I worked as a librarian, Wild Summers would be classified as a Young Adult (YA) book. I believe it is one of the more important books in the YA canon, perhaps the equivalent of teen classics like The Outsiders or The Catcher in the Rye. I believe Wild Summers will help Cassie achieve the sales to also establish her as a financially successful writer. But I also believe Wild Summers has the potential to become a teen classic. Reviewers, librarians and book shop owners
pay attention to this brilliant and absorbing novel. Written with young people in mind, adults who remember their teen angst will enjoy this as much or more than their kids and grand kids. Harry Potter and Stephen King teen territory is being invaded!
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