Summer House
By Nancy Thayer (351 pages)
Contemporary Literature
Published by Ballantine Books
Bookish rating: 3.5
Following three generations of women--Charlotte (30), Helen (50s), and Nona (90)--at their summer house on Nantucket, this summery beach read gets the job done: it's an escapist coastal novel with enough heart to not suck or make you stupider for reading it.
Charlotte runs an organic gardening business on her Nona's land, and Helen has the predictable wifely plot of a woman scorned plus midlife crisis. Nona is all wise and knowing because she's old.
The plots are fine and the characters okay, but the family dynamics are probably the most interesting. The character of Charlotte was the most disappointing to me, despite Thayer's excellent choice of name. Thayer has no wit and little voice when writing, so everyone sounds like a post-menopausal mom. I mean, really. Show me a 30-year-old who uses the terms "rascal" to describe a jerk, or "jive" to describe dancing. And such hostessy phrases like "Oh, how wonderful." Charlotte had nil depth--not a thing was special about her as far as her personality went, and she simply did not come across as young.
Overall, the writing is a pretty bland, but I enjoyed getting sense of water, sand, evening cocktails, and humid summer air. I'm ready for my beach vacation! Can you tell?!
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