May 14, 2021

Looking Back - Summer Gone

Looking Back... In an effort to transfer my book journal entries over to this blog, I'm going to attempt to post (in chronological order) an entry every Friday. I may or may not add extra commentary to what I jotted down in these journals.



Fiction
2000 Crown (first published in 1999)
Finished on May 5, 2000
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)

Publisher's Blurb:

Canadian best-selling author David Macfarlane has written a masterful first novel about love experienced and love remembered that flickers with fleeting passions and sudden tragedies, offering an elegy not only for the ephemeral beauty of northern summers but for an entire era.

Summer Gone is about that moment when everything stops. Like skilled canoeists, we briefly hold a perfect balance -- poised between innocence and experience, life and death, discovery and loss, the promise of spring and the melancholy of autumn.

Set among the islands and lakes of "cottage country," this beautifully crafted novel from one of Canada's premier writers explores the stories of three generations of lost summers: the girl in the blue bathing suit; the impenetrable and doomed camp counselor with the shifting features; the wife who comes alive to the rhythms of a cottage summer, wild blueberries, and lake gossip, though who remains blind to the secret that will change her life irrevocably. But the beating heart of this novel lies in the story of a divorced father and a young son separated by the silence of estrangement, and how during one extraordinary night on an ill-fated canoe trip the silence is broken. As the story unfolds and the mystery unravels, tragedy looms over father and son in ways they could never have imagined, and leads to the novel's gripping and startling conclusion. 

Graced by a spare beauty of language and a deeply humane intelligence and wit, Summer Gone is an exquisite novel.

My Original Thoughts (2000):

Not the easiest book to follow. Flashbacks overlap, leaving me confused as to which of the characters the author is referring to. I wasn't sure if I even liked what I was reading until I got a handle on the transitions (or lack there of) and then I began to see the beauty in MacFarlane's passages. His writing is very lyrical and it stirred a longing in me for a cottage on a lake with a canoe on the shore.

My Current Thoughts:

In spite of my high rating, I don't remember this book and doubt I'll read it again, given the struggle I had with the flashbacks and transitions. I don't have the patience to wade through something like this anymore.

10 comments:

  1. LOL - When I look back at some books I reviewed in years gone by, I think - did I really read this book as in some cases, even the title is no longer familiar to me!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Diane, even rereading the publisher's blurb didn't help to spark any memory of this novel! ;) If I remember correctly, we were in the middle of buying a new house the month I read the book, so I was more than likely just a little bit preoccupied.

      Delete
  2. The cover for this one is very atmospheric. The story sounds like one I would like too but I am not in love with flashbacks. At all.

    When I was a camp counselor for my youth group a few summers back, I threw my back out putting my bag on the bus! That was on the way there. 6 days of hell but they were young and could not go out on the lake without a counselor so I had to suck it up and get into a canoe and follow them around. I was petrified of the idea of just trying to launch the darn thing. But when I got in, it was so lovely and my back didn't hurt at all. Let's not mention how I rowed over to a family and begged for Advil. I wanted to own a canoe after that but never got one. We live about 10 minute from a man made lake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ti, it's quite a moody cover, isn't it? Wow. I threw my back out several years ago putting my duffle bag into our car and I could barely move for days. I can't imagine trying to get in a canoe! You should think about getting a kayak for that nearby lake. They're much lighter than canoes. :)

      Delete
  3. I love that you are going back over old "reviews" as I often look back and realize a book I've rated highly hasn't really stuck with me in the long run and books I thought were good, but not great, are ones that pop into my head occasionally

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, Helen! So glad to see you commenting here. :)

      Yes, I've been sharing these "Looking Back" posts for quite some time now. There's a link in my sidebar (if you're patient enough to scroll down past all the books I've read this year!), if you're curious to see what else I've been reading since the late 90s. :)

      Delete
  4. It is interesting to look back at a book that one really liked and have no genuine memories. Usually, if I read a bit of what I've written about a book, most comes back--but not always. This one actually sounds good to me. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jenclair, isn't it odd to have no recollection of some of the books we've read, even fairly recently (I'm thinking 3 or 4 years ago)? Glad I've inspired you to read this one, even though I don't remember anything about it! :)

      Delete
  5. This book sounds kind of good to me! I sometimes look through my old book journals and like you I find some books I rated highly but cannot remember anything about them! I guess too many more stories have followed :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Iliana, twenty years is a long to remember all the books I've read, even the good ones! Glad I've piqued your interest with this one.

      Delete

I may not answer your comments in a timely fashion, but I always answer. Check back soon!