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A review by spersephone
A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry
3.0
Certainly an interesting book to read, but Molly's illness was not really all that relevant to the plot in my opinion. It was much more about Meg's own self-analysis, with the help of Will and her neighbours. Even though Molly's diagnosis isn't revealed until quite late in the book, her death is handled swiftly. While this is clearly meant to be a real turning point for the story, it feels as though it was put there so that there was something else in the book other than Meg's own tale.
I found the connection between Meg and her "hippy" neighbours quite interesting, but the concept of her coming to photograph their birth was handled quite differently to how I think it might be today. A lovely way to show their bond, but really, it seemed very inappropriate given Meg's age.
I would think that having some interwoven chapters from Molly's point of view may have made this even stronger, and perhaps having one or two from their parents too, would have really turned this into an even more rounded story.
I found the connection between Meg and her "hippy" neighbours quite interesting, but the concept of her coming to photograph their birth was handled quite differently to how I think it might be today. A lovely way to show their bond, but really, it seemed very inappropriate given Meg's age.
I would think that having some interwoven chapters from Molly's point of view may have made this even stronger, and perhaps having one or two from their parents too, would have really turned this into an even more rounded story.