Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: The Summer We Fell Apart
Author: Robin Antalek
Publisher: Harper
ISBN-13: 978-0-06-178216-9
Release Date: January 2010
Genre/Sub-genre: Women's Fiction
Year/Setting: Present day, mostly New York (but siblings venture to LA and other locations)
Overall Rating: 2.5
Sexual Content Rating: Sensual
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: Mild
Violent Content Rating: Moderate/Extreme
Robin's Website/Blog: www.robinantalek.com
Dear Readers:
I have to begin by saying that I'm not sure what to base my rating on with this one. If I base it on story, my 2.5 stands. If I base it on how much I wanted to throw it across the room while reading because it made me angry, than it deserves a 5 (if the writer were going for my anger). To be fair, this is one of those books that makes you think. However, I am a person who, in this day and age, really wishes people would lighten up and offer to the next generation coming up behind us stories that will give them hope...not heartache.
Our story begins in an old way. Mom and Dad are not model parents. In fact, Dad shouldn't have been a parent at all. Dad is a writer who had one play become a "hit" on Broadway, and parlayed his arrogance into sleeping with every starlet he could possibly find. Unfortunately, after that first play, Dad's career went south. Mom is an actress. Although she had a slow start, she was in a "cult" hit teen movie where she played a psycho innkeeper and her star-power hit the roof.
When we begin, the author gives us all this background and introduces us to the two youngest children from this completely vain couple. Amy is the youngest child of four and she's used to staying calm and keeping the peace. She, herself, is an artist/painter, and she frankly keeps her emotions under wrap. Her best friend is her slightly older brother George. George is the over-emotional child. He's the one that is hurt by what is father did to the family, except he doesn't really want to stick up for his mom either, because she ain't all that great. When the story opens, Amy is readying a room in their large house for an exchange student that her father sent to them. Her name is Miriam. She's in America for a year, being shipped from France. Miriam's fine; she loves to swim out back in the pond behind the large Victorian house. She also loves to watch George fly through the air as he dives - clumsy in life but not in the water. Finn arrives home one day. Finn is the oldest brother who has just left his father's side. Finn bought into the whole "Dad's okay," thing, and he's a coward; even though he can't stand their father, he can't seem to speak up. What can he do? Drink like a fish. Kate is the oldest sibling and the one who is probably the most angry of the group. She no longer lives at home. She was, however, Daddy's girl, and she can't find it in her heart to dislike him. She raised her siblings because their mom was too self-possessed to do the job correctly, and Kate is now a lawyer who works her behind off to become a partner with her firm.
We are taken through each of the siblings lives as they love, learn, and attempt to forgive their parents and each other. George and Amy turn out fairly normal; except for some relationship phobias, neither of them is a heavy drinker or suicidal. George finds his perfect husband in the world, and Amy becomes a little rebel with an artistic gift that makes her money, and falls for Owen who is a musician. Finn is always the basket-case until the end. He drowns in alcohol and even when he goes to his sister Kate's new home to help fix it up, he ends up drunk because the woman he loves marries another because she can no longer wait for him to wake up and smell the coffee. Kate is mean, cold, and, frankly, will always be. She hates love, she hates life, and blames everyone. She does make partner, however, so work is really all she has.
Again, the writing in this book is fine, and the author certainly gave me "emotions" as I was reading her novel, which IS the first sign of a truly gifted artist. But the story has been done. Unfortunately, it's been done quite a bit. We see these families in life everyday - watching them suffer because of their parents mistake. Am I the right reviewer to read this? Probably not. My parents were fantastic. But I did have a front row seat, watching children grow up and not be able to shed their parents sins, and ruin their own lives in various ways. I will never understand this, thank goodness. But I really wish we could all somehow get together and be good role models for the generation coming up behind.
Until next time, Amy
Question or comment regarding the review or the book? Click here and let Amy know.
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