Molecular mechanisms of biological recognition Book

This story has so many elements that should make it an easy success. The senitmentality of childhood summers, first love, finding and defining family, a rags-to-riches tale, your first best friend, lost love, betrayal... But it just failed so hard!

None of the characters were believable; all were flat caricatures. The Saintly Martyred Poor Girl who worships Spoiled Socialite Girl, then lives with New York Jew and Southern Belle. The fathers are Emasculated Pushover and Hippy Mellow. Younger guys are Hunky Morons or Good Guy Who You Don't Know Exists or Sex-crazed Asshole. Yuck. I hated everyone, and while that can sometimes be a brilliant ploy by a writer to make a social or political statement (Fitzgerald comes to mind), I think Blume wants readers to connect with AT LEAST Victoria, who narrates the majority of the book.

The framework is another beef of mine. Throughout the book, Victoria's narrative is interrupted by brief third-person narrations of her friends and family. Nothing profound is revealed; it's actually insulting to be "told" by the characters things that were fairly obvious from context. It's also a cheat. If you can't develop your characters through the central narrative, then you failed; either give them some weight to earn their special voice, or just let them go.

I really wanted to like this book, and it has a couple of moments. The first couple of summers really do have some honesty; they nail the sometimes awkward and sexually charged friendships of early adolescence.

Summer Sisters has all the notes to make a beautiful symphony of a novel. But in the hands of an unskilled musician, it just ends up being a discordant echo of greatness.