Summer Sisters

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. I have always loved Judy Blume's Novels. This one I read in two weeks! It is nice to see that Judy Blume is writing adult books as well as children's/young adults books. I plan on giving this book to my sister for one of her engagement presents. Caitlin & Victoria are very interesting people. I can't say enough about this book. I think that every woman should have this book on their bookshelf.

Rating:
Summary: This is the worst book I've read in a long, long time.
Review: Wow! No one in my book group enjoyed this book, despite being fans of Judy's work twenty years ago. What gives? We'd like to know. There are so many better novels out there. This one reads like a very bad sex chat between two dense chicks. And I do mean dense. We didn't like the characters at all, and why else do you read? Worst novel of the year, we say.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: I thought that this book was excellent. I am 17 and the relationship between Caitlin and Vix is not like any that I have, but it was very thought-provoking. The book goes through about two decades, and it is interesting to see what the characters will go through. I wonder what will happen with my friends and I in that time.

Rating:
Summary: Too bad you can't give 0 stars
Review: I was so excited that the woman who shaped my pre-teen and teenage years had come out with a book that I thought would shape my mid-twenties...so I bought the hardcover 2 days after it came out. I have never been so disappointed in an author! I read the book with half interest--Blume fails to develop her characters and any sort of plot, which is sad because there was so much potential. I got the feeling that she wrote the book with the hopes of being recommended by Oprah...I hope Oprah saves her money--or she can get mine at our garage sale next week.

Rating:
Summary: Shallow plot, flat & unrealistic characters, gratuitous sex
Review: I found it very interesting - and very revealing - that most readers who have sent in reviews of this book finished it in 2 days or less. I too, read it in about 2 days, impatient to finish it and get on to something less banal and written with more skill. I felt like I was reading a young adult book with a lot of added sex. In fact, the 2 main characters, whose conversations and dialogue are best described as "hackneyed," seem to care about little else. Beyond the gratuitous sex, beyond the ridiculous assumption that there is something kind of normal (i.e. most of us could identify with it) about the lives of these two characters who summer on the Vineyard and winter in Santa Fe (one, nevertheless, is described as "working class"), a real sticking point for me with this book is the central theme of the deep and lasting friendship between the 2 summer sisters. Frankly, I didn't see it. The women seemed so shallow and self-centered: Caitlin has no inner life to speak of and Vix, despite 4 years at Harvard and a career in NYC, is still a bit too concerned with having men notice her revealing necklines.

Rating:
Summary: Great book, needs more character development
Review: Summer Sisters is a book with heart and feeling. It evokes a gammut of emotions for the reader. However, I feel the characters weren't developed enough - we knew Caitlin and Vix on the surface - but not deeper than that- I finished the book wanting to know more. The first person "entries" from the characters helps address this point, but not thoroughly enough. Overall, this book is interesting, a fast read - and makes you think about your own friendships and relationships through the years. Definitly give this book a try.

Rating:
Summary: horrific
Review: I was so disappointed in this. As several other reviewers have mentioned, this is no adult novel. Perhaps if I had read this at 15 I may have enjoyed it... but I did not. I thoroughly enjoyed her books as a kid, but will stick with Josephine Humphrys and Jane Smiley and the like for tales of relationships with substance between characters that elicit some sympathy. Can't even rate it as a good summer read for this year, but would appreciate some recommendations!

Rating:
Summary: a great book to read on the beach this summer
Review: everyone can relate to this story of coming of age and of that first love and that special best friend... it was a great read.

Rating:
Summary: Judy's Back
Review: Ah, the pleasures of cuddling up with a Judy Blume, just like when I was a teenager! Judy always knew how to hook a reader and this adult novel doesn't disappoint. The story of two very different friends and their journey into adulthood flows right along. It nails the difficult and conflicting feelings of youth, and is one of the few novels I've ever read that touches on the innocent yet experimental sexuality that can occur between girls approaching womanhood.

Judy - more please!

Rating:
Summary: Where has the old Judy gone?
Review: I adored Judy Blume when I was growing up, and I wanted to be a writer just like her. I read every one of her books during my preteen and teen years. "Forever" was the book that was passed around (hidden from parents) and read at slumber parties. This book was very disappointing. Does Judy have sex on the brain, or what? Not everyone enjoys reading about sex page after page. I didn't like either one of the characters. I read this book in 24 hours because I wanted to hurry up and finish it. To think I paid hardcover price for this makes me angry! If you want to enjoy the relationship of two "Summer Sisters" rent the movie "Beaches" - that'll tug at your heartstrings!