The Summer Demands; Deborah Shapiro

TITLE: The Summer Demands

AUTHOR:  Deborah Shapiro

PUBLISHER: Catapult

PUB. YEAR: 2019

SETTING: MA
FORMAT:  library/print - 224 pages

RATING - 4/5

About to turn 40 and having recently suffered a miscarriage, Emily and husband David move from Chicago to a newly acquired property in MA where Emily spent many a summer growing up.  The property was once an old summer camp that belonged to Emily's late aunt.  The property is in a state of disrepair but the couple is hoping to turn it into a possible resort.

While David is away and working long hours Emily is unemployed, looking for work and trying to come up with ideas for the property. As she roams the property she discovers a young woman named Stella that has been staying in one of the cabins. Emily befriends Stella and even keeps her presence a secret for a while. When she does tell David, he doesn't seem troubled by her being on the property temporarily.  As the two women who are almost a generation apart in age, get to know one another, it seems each is just who the other needs in their life at the moment. Who is the mysterious Stella and what brings her to the area? As the women get to know one another, watching French films, swimming in the lake and spending lazy summer days together opening up in other ways, I couldn't help but wonder how this story would all end.

The novel has a quiet style and was slow paced but, the beautiful summer setting and a writing style that enables you to easily visualize what is going on made it work pretty well. It was a book I read in one sitting and in some ways it reminded my of younger days, those summers gone by and the early female friendships of our past that are a part of who we are today. A nice summer choice overall. 

First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros - The Summer Demands; Deborah Shapiro

On Tuesdays, Vicki, ( I’d Rather Be At The Beach)  hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros where readers post the opening paragraph (or 2) of a book they are reading or that plan to read.

The Summer Demands; Deborah Shapiro

Catapult - 2019

SPLINTER

"Summer, green and still and slightly grainy. The way it is in foreign films from the 1970s and '80s. A lulling, enveloping heat.  I had things to do, I swear, written on lists, but those things seemed to only get done if they coincided with the slow, inevitable rhythm of the days.  From the couch in the room with the bay window, I would watch those movies, watch young French women who never wore bras move around in philosophically provocative situations, and then I would get up and go outside, go down to the lake, or watch another movie.  The days passed into each other without much distinction, dulling all anxiety but heightening a sensitivity. Like walking out of a dark theatre into a bright afternoon, one world exchanged for another.  Being stunned and not minding it, wanting to hold to an in-between."

What do you think? Read more or pass? It's a pretty short novel - just 211 pages.