One Summer [Paperback]

Sunday, March 25, 2012

One Summer [Paperback]

Product Details

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; Reprint edition (December 27, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0446583154
ISBN-13: 978-0446583152
Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 1 x 8.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

By : David Baldacci
Price : $10.98
You Save : $3.01 (22%)

Customer Reviews

This was kind of a heartbreaking, lovely story. The plot short and simple: The husband is dying and saying goodbyes to everyone: his friends and his wife and kids. He is sure to die first, but he didn't. His family seems to have a really bad luck and one bad thing happens after another: his is terminally ill and then his wife dies in a car accident. Now he has to face the hard choice of what to do with the kids, who would take care of them, where would they go. He recovers, and gathers his kids back togehter and they all go to South Carolina.
This is one of those books were miracles actually happen. It was a sweet story. The author made it believable by the way he told the story of the family.
If you are looking for a good summer reading, then you probably want to pick up this one. It is not similar to the Camel Club novels, but it was still likable story. I liked the Camel Club more because the characters seemed to be more believable than in this novel. But then again, maybe this is a start of a new series with this family and what happens next...
This is a very well written novel. The pace is good. The dialogue and prose is good. It is worth reading even if it is not the normal Camel Club style -novel. If you are looking for a light summer reading then pick up this book. You will like it.

David Baldacci is one of my favorite writers and I have read almost everything that he has written. This novel differs markedly from his others, and showcases masterful writing that does not focus on his trademark political intrigue and nonstop action, as in the Camel Club series and other works such as his recent The Sixth Man. Instead this beautifully written novel explores in a sensitive and moving way, but without any maudlin sentimentality or cliches, how one family copes with the curve balls that life often throws.
The novel opens with a dying father of three children telling his loving wife that despite his unspecified incurable terminal illness, he hopes to survive for one more Christmas, which is coming soon. His wife hopes that somehow he will survive even longer to spend the summer with her and the children at the beach house in South Carolina that she lived in as a small child (which her grandmother still owns), where a tragedy occurred that until now has kept her from returning to visit.
Her husband miraculously fully recovers and does spend the summer at the beach house with the three children--but without his wife, who has died in a tragic accident. Baldacci deftly explores the family's grieving and healing process, and how a workaholic father develops new bonds with his children as he tries to find his way in both comforting and parenting them. In the process Baldacci skillfully weaves together so many interesting themes-- teenage love and teenage cruelty (the oldest child is a girl turning sixteen), the tensions between the "haves" and the "have nots" in a small town, the fallacy of thinking that everything in life can be prepared for and fixed (the father is a former Army Ranger and now a building contractor), and respecting the past but not living in it ( the father is torn between his intense love for his deceased wife and his feelings for a woman whom he meets in the beach town), just to name a few.
This is not a tear jerker, but a tribute to the power of love, friendship, family, courage, and determination. The characters and situations are very real and true to life, and not one dimensional stereotypes. While this is definitely not a typical Baldacci novel, I think it is certainly one of the better ones that he has written. I highly recommend it.