White Pine: The Silent Summer PART 2 -David Wu

The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley

David Wu

I am back with my second post! Here it is.

Part 2: Plot

Kyle McGinley is a teenage boy that has altogether given up on talked after having a lifetime of being moved from one foster home to another after being rejected multiple times.

This story is about his summer in his latest foster home, with Scott and Jill Wardman, and how through a series of unexpected events and welcoming warmth Kyle’s dedication to never speaking again slowly breaks away.

The plot was for me quite original, as I have not read a book with a similar storyline ever before. Current books often fit into the teen romance genera, and after reading a considerable amount of them, they have growth quite boring. It is great to have a change of theme and pace. Instead of the common theme of fighting and romance, “The Silent Summer of Kyle McGinley” instead focuses on psychological conflicts, acceptance, and family bonds. The plot is quite creative and heartwarming, giving this book one of the best plots I’ve read yet in this year’s selection of White Pine books.

However, the plot can be a bit slow when compared to some other books. Because this book is not about the action but about the heart and mind, the story progresses a lot slower and can be a bit boring at times if the progression gets really bogged down, but is never to point the point where it becomes stale. I believe the relatively slow plot progression was good for this particular story as a fast moving action-based progression of a storyline would not be appropriate for a book regarding internal conflicts. I also found that a fair amount of the events in the story were predictable given what the story was about and how the characters were. This reduced amount of surprise in the story, but it was still quite good of a book.

Another flaw in the story was the common use of repeating words. Very often in the story, the author would repeat a word or thought 3 to 4 times to emphasize upon it, which I have no problem with. However, if it’s happening almost every other page, then it gets annoying and very repetitive. Luckily, this repeating thing more or less disappears past half of the book. 

I congratulate the author on writing a storyline that was quite original and interesting to follow.

8 out of 10 stars