Summer Days and Starry Nights is told from the perspective of a twelve year old girl named Maureen, or Reenie Starr. The story takes place in the summer of 1962. She wants nothing more than to be a part of her family's resort, Sandy Shores, but when Gwendolyn Cates is hired as Sandy Shores' dance teacher, Reenie's life is turned upside down and she realizes that there is more to life than fishing and campfires. Throughout the story, her will is tested as her plan for Sandy Shores falls into ruin. Although the book is well written, with an unpredictable plot, I did not like it, simply because I prefer other types of books. From my personal point of view, I would give the book 6/10
stars, but from a different point of view I would give the book 9/10 stars
Plot:
The plot of the book was entirely new to me, as I have never read any book with a storyline like that of Summer Days and Starry Nights. The book was creatively written and well thought out, and so the plot was twisted in ways I never would have guessed. I like the fact that the book is written in first person form, because it brings in the factor of emotion that a story written in the form of second person or narration can't capture nearly as well. The plot seems rather simple at the beginning of the book, and that brings the illusion that there will be no great revelations, and that makes them even more so. Reenie changes drastically throughout the book, as a result of the mix of city girl and country girl that resides in her and Gwendolyn's friendship, and so I find that it is Gwendolyn who brings the change to the lives of the Starr family.
Characters:
The characters are well planned, and they all bring a certain element to the book. There are conflicts between the characters, but also the emerging relationships between a city girl used to the high life
and a family that owns a humble beach resort in southern Ontario. The characters develop and
change so much that they seem to be completely different people by the end. The characters react to certain things based on their personality, and their personality changes with them throughout the book, so the reader is able to imagine what a character is thinking at a certain point in time. And although they change, characters also have certain qualities that stay with them throughout the novel, and I like that, because it reminds a reader of what the characters were like at the beginning of the book. To focus on the main character, in the beginning of the book, she is a simple girl who has no interest in meeting new people, and who loves her family's resort, and wants only to grow up and run it. However, near the end of the book, she has fallen for somebody, and discovered qualities that she never knew she had.
Setting:
The book takes place at a small resort owned by the family of the main character. The author did a very good job of describing that place, and making it seem like such a peaceful place where nothing
ever goes wrong. The main character knows the property like the back of her hand, and she has certain places that act as her getaway from the turmoils of the world, and the way the author describes the property, and the love the main character has for it, is phenomonal. The amount of imagination that must have been put into the setting is huge. I personally believe that that is the best described aspect of the book, and again, it is very thoroughly planned.
Themes:
There are several themes in the book that add an extra flare to the book, as the themes intertwine and cause conflict. The first theme was that of love. For reasons I will leave unexplained, Reenie meets a boy named Ray, and she falls for him, and that is one of the factors that comes into play while her character is developing. Another theme is that of false imagination, for lack of a better term. Reenie plans a large event for Sandy Shores, and although it happens perfectly, in her imagination while she plans it, although that is not the case when it actually happens. What I am trying to portray is that
things don't always go as planned, and the failure of the plan is yet another of the factors that allows the characters to develop.
Finally, the book is well written, and shows the meaning within it well. The book is original, and I believe that it could also portray other meanings, less obvious, and that may or may not be intentional, although it helps give the story an added sense of realism. Less and less things are original nowadays, and it surprised me how different a story this is from others. I congratulate the author, Vikki VanSickle for thinking of this idea, and I hope to read more books that surprise me as
this one did.
The end of a book critique by: Matt
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