Reviews with content warning for Hate crime - The Summer That Melted Everything

Absolutely maudlin. Without going too far into it, it tries to do too much. The writing is interesting in some places and yet liberally peppered with laughably bad metaphors and tired stereotypes. Just see the list of content warnings to get a feel for the book.

Content Warnings

happyreadings's review

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challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This was a such an unsettling novel about a town in the middle of a heat wave and the devil. When Sal shows up unexpectedly after Autopsy Bliss sent out an invitation for the Devil to come, he claims he's the devil. A thirteen year old black boy in the middle of Breathed, Ohio. The Bliss family takes him in with no questions. When accidents happen when Sal is around, people in the town are too quick to blame it on him, the devil.

Fielding, Autopsy's son, becomes close with Sal and learns where Sal came from and the trauma he went through with his abusive family. However, word spreads of Sal being the devil and a cult forms. Things escalate at the end of the summer when the cult takes it too far and the heat becomes too much.

This book was a lot but if you've read Betty, by Tiffany McDaniels, then you'll understand this is her kind of story telling. This story had a lot of lessons mostly being not to judge something just because we're told that it is bad.

Content Warnings

epiphylium's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

This is my favourite non-fiction novel that I have ever read. Tiffany's writing style is absolutely stunning, a mixture of prose, poetry, and metaphors that I just adore. There was no unnecessary words, everything felt like it was there for a reason and I've revisited this story a few times now, and I feel the same if not stronger about her talent every time.

The premise of the novel, to put briefly, is it is one of the hottest summers to ever be recorded in this town and Fielding's father, invites the devil to come. When his invitation is accepted, the devil comes to town not with horns and a tail, but in the body of a 13 year old black boy.

Some of my favourite things about the book includes the way it was set up. It is narrated by an older Fielding who is reflecting on parts of his life post 1984, which helps propel the story of that summer forward, leading up to everything that happens. You can tell that something has happened, as Fielding is so broken and guilt ridden that you can tell he has experienced a lot of traumatic events, but we don't know what they are until we progress through the novel.

This isn't a long novel, only a little over 300 pages, but the author covers so many important issues: racism, homophobia (during the AIDS outbreak in the 1980s), child abuse (incl rape, but mentioned briefly), religion, mob mentality, agoraphobia. Although set 4 decades ago now, these issues are still so prevalent today and it's something we should all care about and actively try and use our privilege to advocate for.

I can understand that because of the heavy themes in this novel that it is not for everyone, and like a previous reviewer, oczerniecka has said "It is hard for me to express how I could love a book that is depicting the most heinous aspects of human nature. This story moved me and showed me all the different sides of the issues that are brought up in the story. The characters affected by the events of the summer are complicated, and you cannot say if they are good or bad. Because when you choose to brand someone as bad, you are throwing off all the good about the person. And the same go with marking someone as good, you may not see the evil that is within the person. Read this deeply moving and sad story; this may shatter you and make you weep, and sometimes books should do just that."

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sarahasyouwish's review against another edition

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emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes

5.0

This is the story of a man in an Appalachian town in Ohio printing an open invitation for the devil to come visit him and what happened when the devil accepted. You may (or may not) be surprised to find out that rather than the devil bringing evil with him, he simply exposed the evil that was already deeply rooted in that town. This is a literary novel with absolutely beautiful writing and characters who refuse to stay on the page. They absolutely come to life along with the sweltering heat in this novel, and they will most certainly burrow a place into your heart. I know they did for me. McDaniels is an amazing writer with a gift for telling eternal stories about small town people and the big world truths they live. She has quickly become an all-time favorite author of mine.

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lorylor's review against another edition

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dark reflective sad slow-paced

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whatellisreadnext's review against another edition

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sad slow-paced

Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

This book was torture to read. This is what happens when an author tries to write about too many things at once. Every single message gets lost. There were pockets of good writing, but for the most part, the emotional exhaustion from reading this overshadowed everything.

My two main issues were:
1) the setting of 1984 to utilise HIV/Aids as a shocking plot point
2) the fact we are told to give empathy to the white supremacists that brutally murder a black child. Again this was utilised as a plot point to shock the reader.

This book is written by a white woman. It came out 5 years ago, but if it was released now, it would be getting major backlash. It didn't sit right with me, and I recommend you don't read it.

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