Summer Sisters

I’ve tried to regularly read like I used to but the books haven’t held my interest. I tried this one, as a childhood Blume fan, and I couldn’t put it down! The book follows the story of two best friends who come together to spend every summer together in Martha’s Vineyard as ‘Summer Sisters’.The girls couldn’t be more different. I related to Vix as she is a good person that tries to always do the right thing and stay level headed. I also relate to Caitlyn in some ways as a young women as all I wanted to do was travel and be carefree. But Caitlyn has darker sides to her, yet Vix still looks at her like an amazing exotic creature.I very much enjoyed the story and it was clear to see the mutual admiration between the girls. There were twists and turns that were not always expected and the story kept me on my toes. I wished Bru and Gus names weren’t so short and similar as I mixed the two characters up quite a bit at first.Blume is a talented storyteller and you feel like you are there with the girls, eyes wide open at what transpires.

The book moves around to different characters that can be a bit confusing but it’s a good book to read for the summer.

Every few years, I re read this book. It is one of my favorites. It reminds me of my youth and my Summer Sisters.

3.5 stars. Maybe I'm destined to have mixed feelings about Judy Blume's books. Granted, "Forever" and "Wifey" might have been as extreme as she got -- both of those books centered on sexcapades, one featuring a teenage girl, the other a frustrated housewife. "Summer Sisters" definitely covers broader ground. It follows the story of two friends from the age of 12 until they both reach 30. Their friendship begins when adventurous free spirit Caitlyn invites Vix to spend the summer with her divorced dad's side of the family at Martha's Vineyard. It becomes a yearly tradition, and the first half of the book jumps from summer to summer as the girls come of age. In the second half of the story, they're living separate lives as young women finding their way. Vix, the main character, pursues a career, while trust fund baby Caitlyn flits from one place to another. We catch brief points of view from most of the other supporting characters -- but never Caitlyn, whom Blume portrays as a fascinating, irresistible puzzle to Vix and just about everyone else who knows her. To me, she may have been a puzzle, but she was more shallow and self-centered than she was fascinating. Most of the book is spent in pursuit of unrewarding relationships by all the characters: the friendship between Vix and Caitlyn, Vix's on-again, off-again romance with her first summer love, Caitlyn's various encounters all over the globe. I can see where growing up with someone over the course of several summers at a beachside escape could be a bonding experience, and some of the peripheral relationships are pretty interesting. But reading through 16 years in brief stages, we don't get a lot of depth, and I wasn't sure how Blume could bring the story to any sort of point. To her credit, the ending worked far better for me than I thought it would (and earned that extra half star).

Being blessed with lifelong friends , this book is well written , the characters are perfectly flawed.It restores romance in my heart and thoughts, humor in most of my relationships and I always get so much out of reading it. Thank you for the gift of tha book, Judy bloom

I admit to being one of the few people on the planet who had never read a Judy Blume book and now wonder why she is called out in an adult book for writing explicit sex scenes. I knew she had similar issues with her young adult books from parents who deemed her books too obscene for the sensitivities of their children, but I can find even more explicit sex scenes in <gasp> the Old Testament of the Bible, having read every word as part of a challenge issued by my Episcopal Church. I laughed out loud when I read several reviews of Summer Sisters. Is there a Judy Blume Monitoring Club, whose sole purpose is to merely scour her books for a hint of sex and unsuitable language without reading a good story? If parents are so concerned about Summer Sisters, I wonder why their children are reading it. And wake up, folks, to the age of the Internet, where everything is fair game! Parental controls have been written to be broken. Ask any budding hacker.Stepping carefully from soapbox now... I enjoyed the story of Caitlin and Vix because it perfectly reflected that period of my life. I too came of age in the late fifties and early sixties - the end of the age of innocence - before free love, drugs, Woodstock and anti-war protests became the hidden norm for the Caitlins and Victorias of the country. Few parents who had put a child through the Ivy League or Seven Sisters would have embraced their personal participants!Caitlin, the daughter of a wealthy yet eccentric family invites Victoria (Vix) to her summer home on Martha's Vineyard. Vix, the daughter of a working class family in Santa Fe, New Mexico, can not believe her ears! Her popular classmate chooses HER? After some cajoling by Vix, her family allows her to go, despite legitimate concerns that she will be influenced by the trappings of the rich. Vix revels on the Vineyard, meeting island boys and the Chicago Boys. She finds herself growing close to Caitlin's father, Lamb, and her stepmother, Abby. Lamb seems to have a case of arrested development, but Abby, in Vix's eyes, is a better mother than her own. She does her best to keep the fourteen-year-old girls grounded. But she is unaware of the girl's favorite subject: sex.To her shock, Vix is invited back the next summer. She sets her sights on one of the island boys, and as it turns out, he has been interested in her. Thus begins a summer romance that, like all such relationships, is intense. All Vix can think about is losing her virginity. She and Caitlin analyze the pros and cons every night. Just as she has made the monumental decision, Caitlin rushes into their room and proudly boasts that has done "it". A pattern begins, which eventually spirals out of control for Caitlin.When the time comes to apply to college, Lamb insists that Vix go to Harvard because by now she has become part of the family. Vix and her real family have assumed that she would go to the University of New Mexico. Again her family acquiesces. Caitlin manages to escape from her parents and only pops up when she sends a cryptic postcard or pleads with Vix to join her in cities around the world. She is spending her Harvard tuition on lessons to become American Eurotrash and is sleeping with exotic men she meets during her travels.Vix finds that she likes life at Harvard. Her roommates, to her surprise, like her. I could envision lifelong friendships forming among the four girls. Judy Blume nails Vix's college years. I did not go to Harvard, but the Seven Sisters colleges were equally demanding. Aside from hard work though, I would go through those years again.The most pressing problem for Vix is the island boy she still loves. Can a Harvard-educated woman be satisfied on a small island year-round with a nice guy with no higher education who works in construction? I find Vix's questions far from demeaning. They show me that she is using her head and not solely her heart.This is a story for anyone who values friendship. Caitlin is a high-maintenance friend, and Vix often gives more than she receives, but the two girls have loved each other from fourteen-years-old into womanhood, despite the disparate paths they have taken. Judy Blume must have good friends on which to model her characters.

Best novel I have read all year. It takes me back to a simpler time, a time when I had a best friend whom I have not seen or spoken to in way too many years. And other friends of my youth and young adulthood who have moved on, passed on, or just faded away. None were like Caitlyn though. She's an original.I highly recommend.

Buy it

The book was very interesting with a lot of unexpected things over all the book came in great quality and was very enjoyable!

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My current read. Loving it so far. Schnell Lieferung

I just adored everything about this book, I can’t believe I’ve never read it before. Reminded me of all my teenage angst (and this from over 50 years ago). I don’t know what age range it is written for , but it is the best book I’ve read this year.

Can see a movie coming. Great read