Rating: 
Summary: More Than A Beach Book
Review: I'd give Mr. Ford somewhere between a 4 and 5 for his first novel. For starters, the jacket artwork by Steve Walker sets the tone for this tale. If you prefer Armistead Maupin to Edmund White or if you find a steady diet of books by Jim Grimsley and Andrew Holleran (good writers through they are) makes you suicidal, then this novel is for you. No character tests positive for HIV, let alone gets sick, only old people die-- after all, old people always die-- and boy gets boy. There is enough money for sex-change surgery and lesbians get pregnant because they want to. We meet a whole host of characters, most of whom are easy to like, some of whom are quite lovable.This is yet another story set in Boston and Provincetown-- does this mean New York is no longer where everything gay is happening? That might not be so bad after all. Mr. Ford writes with a good deal of wit. I laughed out loud, for instance, when a particularly nasty fictional novelist/teacher gets most of his novels replaced in the local bookstore by those of E. Lynn Harris. Then we learn that poor white trash folks are into three bean salad. You could read this mnovel at the beach or in the depths of winter although it is certainly much more than a beach novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Michael Thomas Ford, You Can Do Better Than This!
Review: I'm reading a gay novel. Here is the line-up of characters: 1) Guy just broke up with boyfriend who had a one-night stand with a guy from the gym, 2) Boy from the farm, despised by his Baptist parents, escapes to gay mecca, only to discover that the guy who tricked with him really didn't love him (but really liked his ...), 3) Straight guy who is having doubts about being straight (especially while having sex with his fiancee), 4) Big-hearted drag queen, 5) Lesbian bar owner who wants #1 to father the child her lover could never give her.... You get the picture.
What's troublesome about this saga is that it wants gay men to be in monogamous, long-term relationships a.k.a. straight and married. This novel is full of gay men loathing being gay. Everything the novel depicts about fast, anonymous, hot encounters turns out to be dirty, sleazy, and bad. Unfortunately, I'm now hooked on the novel, and I have to see how it ends. Here are my predictions:
#1 will come to his senses, realize that a monogamous relationship isn't what he really wanted, and will hook up with #2 only to discover #2 has a very bad case of scabies that he picked up from #3. Meanwhile, #2 (who lives with #4, but go figure) will get laid by #3 who will father #5's baby. #4 will go on being big-hearted, of course, and will end up with a Cover Girl cosmetic promotion contract. #2 will go back to the farm eventually, and discover that sheep really make better partners than men.
Maybe I should write the next, big, I mean absolutely HUGE gay novel. I've got the equipment.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Summer Read
Review: I've enjoyed MTF's essays and found this book to be pretty good overall. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if there were fewer characters and more in depth characterizations. The book has no real slow spots and moves along nicely. Ford should be credited for creating gay characters who are believeable and at times conflicted about their sexuality. Buy and enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: YES, MR. FORD IS THE BEST OF THE BEST!!!
Review: In pains me to say it... There are a couple bumps you'll need to endure to thoroughly LOVE this book. You will find a handful of grammatical errors. But fear not, kids, fear not. These little "oop's" will not take one damn thing away from this captivating story, which is actually several stories all wrapped up into one neat package.The second bump is the seemingly unnecessary secondary characters. But don't you let your undies get all knotted up. If you stay strong, keep turning those pages, their presence, their purpose, will be explained. And you'll love MTF for adding each and every one of them.Last Summer is the story, er, um, stories of Josh, Reilly, Emmeline, Jackie, Toby, Ty, Reid, and a host of equally lovable and infuriating characters, spanning the course of one beyond memorable summer in Provincetown.Last Summer seems light and a bit too airy for the likes of the brilliantly funny Mr. Ford, but if you read close enough, pick up on the subtext, this story of love, self-realization and family will not disappoint. Oh... And the sometimes explicit sex will ensure that all your cylinders are, um, yeah, active. 8o)The ending is surprisingly unrealistic. But that's what makes Last Summer so believable. Each character experiences a great loss in the pursuit of obtaining that golden ring. And although MTF has thrown so many characters in the mix, you quickly began to feel that you know each and every one of them intimately. And you'll desire to know them intimately, and you'll find yourself wondering what happened to them once September hit. There was no skimping on character development. I swear on the life of my Robbie Williams CD's. Don't borrow this book from a friend. Don't check it out of your local library. Don't get yourself one of those nasty bootlegs from the internet. Put down the dough for this amazing novel. You won't regret a second of your investment.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! Fab!
Review: Michael Thomas Ford is probably best known for his collection of often humorous
essays, TRIALS FROM MY QUEER LIFE. Unfortunately, his sense of humor is markedly
absent in his debut novel. "Emmeline was still startled by the sound of her mother's voice, a faint rasp that chilled
the air like a winter's breeze. It was the voice of someone closer to death than to birth,
someone whose body was fighting a losing war against time and disease. It was
accompanied by a muted cough, as if speaking came only at the risk of suffocation." "'I was diagnosed with MS last November,' Garth said gently. 'I was on a shoot and had
some trouble making my hands work. I thought it might be arthritis or whatever it is
everyone complains about now. Carpel-something.'" What LAST SUMMER does provide is a well-worn plot and subplots, as well as a cast of
stock characters and stereotypes. All revolving around one hot summer in
Provincetown, Massachusetts, U.S.A., a very "in" resort mainly frequented by east-coast
homosexuals. "Finding the Two Queens Guest House was easy. Even without Ryan's directions, Josh
would have been hard-pressed to get lost in Provincetown. Its two main streets,
Commercial and Bradford, formed the sides of what was essentially a ladder of smaller
streets running between them. It was simply a matter of driving until he saw the sign
for Oyster Lane and then making a left. "Number 37 was halfway up the block, a brightly painted Victorian that stood out next
to the more traditional white Cape Cod-style houses that flanked it. Josh turned into
the driveway and pulled the car into the small parking area beside the house. As he got
out, the front door opened and a man came out. He stood on the steps leading up to
the house and gave a wave. Tall and heavily built, he had short-cropped silver hair and
was dressed in faded khaki pants and a pale green shirt with the sleeves rolled up. "'I take it that you're Josh,' the man said as Josh got out of the car. "'And I take it you're either Ted or Ben,' Josh replied, walking over and shaking the
man's extended hand." Several gay relationships are on the ebb because of boredom with monogamy. A
"straight" relationship is endangered by its closet gay. Two movie types worry about
discovery and how it might affect their standing in Filmland. Dysfunctional families and
individuals abound. Everyone is articulate, beautiful, and soon suntanned. The prerequisite country bumpkin is thrown into the mix if just because someone has to
lose his innocence among this otherwise world-weary group whose opinion of
middle-America is summed up in: "The last Reid had heard of him, he was working as a
bartender in some state he couldn't imagine people lived in -- Wyoming, or perhaps one
of the Dakotas." Fortunately, Ford has enough writing skills to whip even these humorless and
hackneyed ingredients into something fit for reader consumption. If just because, and I
speak from personal experience, he has somehow managed to capture the essence of
P-Town during one of its sexually charged where-the-gays-are summers. It will be interesting, though, to see if the obviously talented Ford can come up with
something more original, and hopefully more amusing, his next time around.
Rating:
Summary: Summertime and the Readin' is Easy
Review: Michael Thomas Ford's debut novel is an enjoyable read, easily knocked off in two cross-country flights. There are, however, a couple of troublesome issues that either more experience or better editing could correct. A gossip publication that answers its switchboard in Los Angeles on a Sunday morning? A gossip columnist who is actually at his desk in Los Angeles on a Sunday morning? I don't think so. The most egregious example is Toby's HIV test taken mere days after engaging in unsafe (about as unsafe as you can get) sex and the negative results that make it as if he is free and clear. This is a cruel disservice to readers, especially younger ones. Like other reviewers, I found some of the characters (Marly. e.g.) superfluous. Finally, the happily-ever-after ending makes it way too easy for the Reilly character who, in real life, would be overwhelmed with all kinds of issues to deal with in his life. This is ironic because the author goes to great lengths early in the story to map out Reilly's strong family ties, then ignores them in the end. All of this aside, curl up and enjoy Last Summer.
Rating:
Summary: Summertime and the Readin' is Easy
Review: Michael Thomas Ford's debut novel is an enjoyable read, easily knocked off in two cross-country flights. There are, however, a couple of troublesome issues that either more experience or better editing could correct. A gossip publication that answers its switchboard in Los Angeles on a Sunday morning? A gossip columnist who is actually at his desk in Los Angeles on a Sunday morning? I don't think so. The most egregious example is Toby's HIV test taken mere days after engaging in unsafe (about as unsafe as you can get) sex and the negative results that make it as if he is free and clear. This is a cruel disservice to readers, especially younger ones. Like other reviewers, I found some of the characters (Marly. e.g.) superfluous. Finally, the happily-ever-after ending makes it way too easy for the Reilly character who, in real life, would be overwhelmed with all kinds of issues to deal with in his life. This is ironic because the author goes to great lengths early in the story to map out Reilly's strong family ties, then ignores them in the end. All of this aside, curl up and enjoy Last Summer.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Effort, Not quite there yet
Review: Michael Thomas Ford's first novel tries very hard to be optimistic at best and vague at worst. I wish that Ford would have cut half of the characters or at least not given them to us in a barage. So many great characters are undeveloped and it's as if the reader sort of knows them. The only truly developed character is Josh and the reader must trust the narrator to explain why the other satellites are orbiting around P-Town. Ford does a fantastic job with the setting and the sense of place. His description of character actions harkens back to his essays and work quite well for him here. As with Masters of Midnight, Ford expresses his English Major roots by citing who his sources-- which in this case are Shirley Jackson(Midnight) and Armistead Maupin (Summer). A wonderful summer read, I just want to go back and get to know the gang a bit more . . .
Rating:
Summary: Extremely entertaining
Review: MTF is wonderful with everything he does.
Rating:
Summary: Good... But Not Great
Review: Overall I enjoyed "Last Summer." It's fitting that "summer" is in the title because it's perfect summer reading: light and fun. It seems like the author is going for a Northeast version of "Tales of the City," and Provincetown couldn't be a better backdrop. The book isn't without flaws, though. My main gripe is that I think Ford tried to accomplish too much. The book contains quite a few storylines. All of them are pretty good. However, he spreads his net so wide as far as the number of storylines that unfortunately we never get to go very deep. All the storylines were interesting, but there wasn't enough time spent on each character for me to care a great deal about them. This could have been solved by cutting one or two of the storylines or just having a longer book. But don't let that stop you from reading this. You'll enjoy yourself - though I doubt you'll be moved.
|
