Summer Island

Rating:
Summary: Problematic Summer read
Review: "Summer Island," although it has its good points, is a deeply flawed effort from Kristin Hannah.

Let me explain. First, it's a very good story about a mother and daughter bonding after ten years of broken communication. I bought into that part.

But it's the externals that were a problem for me. Nora Bridge is a radio talk show host, something like Dr. Laura Schlessinger, and talks a lot about family values. Her radio listeners know she's divorced, and has two grown daughters.

Thing is, they're about to find out that, when she was younger (and still married), she had some semi-nude photos taken of her. This act of rebellion shows up to bite her years later, and she flees from reporters trying to make their names on the scandal.

Ruby Bridge is a disillusioned, highly immature woman of 27. She's been most recently a waitress, but thinks of herself as an out of work comedienne. She's a good writer, but not so good at delivering the goods as a comic. But then, she gets two big breaks; a shot on TV (a show like "Politically Incorrect") as a comic and sitting on a panel, then gets a chance to write a tell-all about her mother from a major magazine (something like "The New Yorker"). She takes it, as she just lost her job at the restaurant, and really, she hates her mother anyway.

Thing is, she goes to take care of her mother after her mother has a car accident (drinking and driving, no less), and breaks her leg. They go back to the ancestral home (not sure why they still have it; Ms. Hannah did account for it in her book, but I can't remember why just now) on one of the islands off the coast of Washington state; this is designed to keep Nora out of the public eye while she starts to heal.

Thing is, Ruby's exposé must be delivered soon, and yet she finds out more and more about her mother. Things she had never expected. Things she really should have known, but thrust away (her father was an alcoholic, and cheated on her mother).

Really, it's the more "minor" characters that carried this book in my opinion. First, the dying Eric was a great character; he knew what life was like, had lived it to the fullest, and wasn't afraid of dying (despite the fact that he was under 30). This was realistic; I've been around people with a terminal disease before, and it doesn't matter how old they are chronologically. All of them want to be released from their body, because it hurts.

Second, the other sister, Caroline, is a much better person than Ruby. She, too, has a deeply troubled life; her husband cheats on her, and she's extremely unhappy. She tries to hold it together by being overly obsessive about her appearance and how she raises her kids, but it's obvious from the first time she shows up in the novel that she's very, very hurt.

Ruby's romance with Eric's brother Dean is forgettable; a few decent sex scenes, then they decide to marry. Why? Because Ms. Hannah needed some romance, I guess; wish she would have found someone to throw at Nora Bridge, who deserved it far more than Ruby.

And Caroline's life stinks, too. Nora tells Caroline to go back to her husband in not so many words, despite him being a womanizer and a liar. This makes no sense; telling her to try to work it out _while separated_ would have made more sense, as Caroline's husband needed a whole lot of counseling and consciousness raising before he'd change. This part took half a star away from the rating, because it was not realistic at all in my opinion.

The second thing that took a star away was this. Look, I'm a writer; I know how long it takes to write opinions, current events articles, and longer factual pieces, as well as novels.

To be blunt, Ms. Hannah's characterization of getting a magazine piece, writing it _while researching is in process_, and delivering it in only ten days, was completely unbelievable. It does not fly; there is no way it could be done.

No way in the world.

Also, I have a hard time buying the fact that Ruby would get big bucks to do the exposé in the first place. I can believe _little_ bucks, but big bucks? From a first-time author? From someone who's known to hate her mother? Not particularly believable, in my opinion.

Finally, the last thing that took a star away was this. There was a very strange and offputting flash-forward section towards the end of the book. In this flash-forward, Ruby talks about "ten years of affluence" (when she's always been broke -- one reason she took the money for the tell-all exposé is because of the amount of problems she'd had paying her bills), and her dying friend Eric is _still living_, ten years down the road. However, without further ado, after about a page and a half of this confusing nonsense, we're back to present day, where Eric is still dying of end-stage cancer (and he _does_ die, even further confusing the issue), Ruby's still broke, and she's wondering if she'll ever marry Dean after all.

This made absolutely no sense, and although it may not be Ms. Hannah's fault (the editors or typesetters could have screwed this up somehow), it was something that totally distracted me from an otherwise engaging read. Plus, it got my hopes up that Eric, who I liked more than any other character in the book, was going to live after all through a miracle. Instead, he dies, and Ruby marries Dean -- something that is a total anticlimax from my standpoint, as Ruby and Dean aren't anywhere near as good of people as Eric was.

Because of these flaws, although I agree with the Amazon main review that says "Summer Island" is a great read for mothers and daughters, I believe it is too problematical to recommend.

If you want to read Ms. Hannah's work, go read "When Lightning Strikes," which is much better than this. I feel this is a worthy, but extremely flawed, book. Therefore, I'm giving it 2.5 stars on the head -- and I'll let you make up your own mind.

Rating:
Summary: Boring....
Review: Dull unimaginative novel that kept me bored the whole way throw, I was expecting a climatic ending... and I got a dumb dumb book all together!

Rating:
Summary: Boring and Same Old, Same Old
Review: I received this book for free, and I'm glad I didn't pay anything for it. It was boring and predictable. Very drawn out. This is the first book I've read by Kristin Hannah. I surely hope her others are better and deeper than this one. Very disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Boring and Same Old, Same Old
Review: I usually read thrillers, when this book was recommended, I was a bit apprehensive. Then, once I started, I couldn't stop. I loved every one of the characters, I loved thier lives, and I loved their personalities. I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. This book will stike a chord in the heart of all who read it. I can't stop thanking my friend for suggesting it to me. I think that Kristin Hannah did more than a marvelous job with this book and I can't wait to read her again. Reading this book was the best time I have spent in a long time. I laughed, I cried, I loved, all with the characters. I am telling you the truth when I tell you that you will love this book. Trust me.

Amanda

Rating:
Summary: Love and Forgiveness
Review: Kristin Hannah is one of my favorite authors, and she once again delivers the kind of book I expect from her. Summer Island is the story of Nora Bridge, and her decision to leave her husband and children. The repercussions of that action are the basis for this book. Nora has become a radio personality, famous for her advice on love and family relationships. But her world come crumbling down when her past is revealed.
Kristin Hannah obviously loves the Pacific North West and her descriptions of the San Juan Islands is beautiful. She has a way of making you empathize with her characters even when you don't agree with what they are doing. Her depiction of the two Bridge daughters, Ruby and Caroline, and their very different reaction to their mother's betrayal rings true. I enjoyed the way she portrays sibling love in the two sister's, and the two Sloan brother's, whose lives are central to the Bridge family.
This book made me laugh, made me cry and made me think about my own family and their place in my life. I recommend it to all Kristin Hannah fans.

Rating:
Summary: Get those tissues ready - you'll need them!
Review: Nora Bridge has struggled to become the successful advice columnist and radio talk show host that she is. She particularly enjoys the legions of fans who hang on to her every word, and call in to ask deeply personal questions, relying on her moralistic and often harshly accurate advice. But the world she's built soon comes crashing down, when a man Nora had an affair with years ago surfaces, baring nude pictures of her in his arms. And when her fans find out that she was still married to her ex-husband at the time the pictures were taken, they're ready to turn against her. After all, how could they continue to take marital advice from a woman who is so clearly a hypocrite?

As Nora sees her career coming to an end she hits rock bottom, believing that the past has finally caught up to her, and she's now lost everything. Eleven years ago, when her marriage ended, she left behind two young daughters who were distraught and betrayed by her actions. Even after all these years, Nora still has an estranged relationship with them both. Ruby, the younger daughter, has proven to be especially difficult, refusing to speak to Nora for over a decade and struggling to make a career as a stand-up comedian out of her resentment for her mother.

When an accident brings Nora and her daughters back to the place that holds so many memories for all of them, the barriers they've built around them come crashing down. But can a few days in a home filled with old memories be enough to erase so many years of deep resentment?

Kristin Hannah's strength as a writer shines through her characterization. Nora is extremely believable as a guilt-ridden mother yearning to make up for the mistakes she made in her past. Ruby is equally endearing as the betrayed daughter who harbors a lot of resentment for Nora. They come together in scenes charged with emotional energy in order to work through their feelings and start the healing process.

SUMMER ISLAND is a novel about forgiveness and redemption and the choices we make. It's also a book that raises some interesting questions: How well do we really know our parents? And when we lose one of them, do we lose a part of ourselves as well? Among the exploration of the mother-daughter relationship lies another story of familial heartbreak along with a deeply moving portrayal of a young man on his deathbed. All these themes necessitate a full box of tissues nearby - SUMMER ISLAND is a definite tearjerker, and a must read for fans of passionate and dramatic family sagas.

Rating:
Summary: Home is where the heart is most complete.
Review: Nora Bridge is a radio talk show host that espouses the morals of a nation. People trust and love her. When pornographic pictures of her are released to the press, her carefully constructed world comes tumbling down around her and she is faced with the skeletons in her closet that have left her estranged from the two daughters she has loved from a distance for the past 11 years.

The Journey back is a tumultuous one when Nora finds herself injured in a car accident and her daughter Ruby, who has nurtured her hatred since the day her mother left them, comes to care for her at the family home on Summer Island. The memories flood back and secrets are revealed that paint an entirely different picture of a time that Ruby was so sure of. Suffice it to say, things are not what she expected.

This was a very good book with much more to the story than I have let on here. It is a tear-jerker and I spent the last few chapters with a box of tissues, so readers beware. I would give this book 4.5 stars if that option was available to me. Another book by this author that you will thoroughly enjoy is On Mystic Lake. Kelsana 5/10/01

Rating:
Summary: Forgiveness and Tears Flow from this Wonderful Story
Review: The novel is set in Seattle and on a beautiful, isolated island in the San Juans. Nora Bridge is a Seattle talk show host who gives out advice and morality to her legions of adoring fans, however her fans don't know that Nora walked out on her husband and daughters years ago. Then some nude photos from her past are made public and her career takes a nosedive.

Youngest daughter Ruby is a struggling comedienne who uses her estrangement from her famous mother as material for her bitter humor. She is offered a lot of money for a tell all story about mom and volunteers to help take care of Nora after an auto accident, but she's really only interested in getting more material for her article.

This book is a heartbreaking tearjerker and I loved it five stars worth.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

Rating:
Summary: Nice heartwarming story
Review: This is not the 1st book I've read by Hannah. I loved On Mystic Lake and Between Sisters but this was just so-so. It was boring at times and predictable. It's a good story though about mothers and daughters and when relationships go astray. Try it..you might like it.

Rating:
Summary: Nice Story
Review: This story was quite heartwarming. A family torn apart and the journey to find each other again. The story was sometimes predictable and boring but was well written. The author did a great job developing the characters. Enjoyable light reading.