Reviews

Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton

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ccccamden's review

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challenging dark reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Content Warnings

postmodernblues's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

" The Get Happies, he said. - What is it you like about them?
They have this spiritual quality, I said, blinking as I looked at the table. -I guess they sound like America to me?" - Jeanne Thornton, Summer Fun, pg. 325

This book absolutely fucking floored me. It is so quietly devastating, speaking poetically about America, about class, about trans identity. Really, though, at its heart, this book is about what it means to love a band. I can't help but think it would make an excellent film.

mvdnightbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

ginahowesbaig's review

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4.0

This novel was so unique and captivating, and I adored the author’s writing style. I honestly could read more and more from this same timeline. Jeanne please write a follow up that does a deep dive into the Slinks women please please

foggy_rosamund's review against another edition

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5.0

This is an excellent novel: imaginative, immersive, and full of great characters. The story is told in letters written by Gala, to B---, a songwriter and musician from a 1960s band called The Get Happys. B--- vanished a long time ago, but Gala feels a spiritual connection with him, and writes to him about her own life, as displaced trans woman in the small town of Truth or Consequences in New Mexico, and about B---'s own life, his early youth and the formation of The Get Happys, and his relationship with his wife, Mona. The novel explores Gala's own identity and sense of self, and her feelings of aimlessness and loss, while also looking at B---'s life, and the ways he remains trapped and unable to be himself. I wasn't sure how much I'd enjoy this, because I find the history of pop music very tedious, but I needn't have worried: Jeanne Thornton makes the stories of the band and of making music come alive, and I felt the creativity of the musicians, and also the ways in which their lives were trapped and circumscribed. Gala's interest in them is also infectious. I was really moved by this book -- and also many parts of it were a lot of fun to read! Highly recommended.

d3nim_diva's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

zobotindisguise's review

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hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

elenushka8's review

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Tbh I’m having such a hard time with the letters/lack of quotations with dialogue. I really wanted to like this book and finish it. Maybe I’ll try it again another time.

ezzzzz's review

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emotional reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

love a good thought-provoking novel and really reeeeaallly loved this book. took me longer than i expected to get into and i struggled a bit with the second person POV. but as i kept reading every time i thought i had gotten a grasp of where the book was going it turned a corner and started in a new direction.

i can't stop thinking about gala and diane and rhonda and caroline. i feel like summer fun brings something really different from much of the other contemporary trans lit i’ve read lately but i haven’t had enough time yet to process and pinpoint what that is.

and now i want to get really into the beach boys.

trans_mediocrity's review

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challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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