Tuesday, March 15, 2022

A Strong Summer Camp Friendship

 


Summer camp is a place where strong friendships can develop. This is true of the Deck Five girls at Marshall Naval School. Margret, Flor, Rose, and Nisreen have been together during the summers and have formed a deep attachment. The final summer Margaret is different. Everything has changed and a boy is dead.


This is not an easy book to read. The writing is a cross between prose and poetry. It almost feels like stream of consciousness. The writing style is good for showing emotion, but it’s confusing when you are trying to follow the plot. The confusion isn’t helped by moving the plot back and forth between summers. Sometimes it’s not clear which summer you’re in.


From the blurb, I thought I would enjoy the book, but for several reasons, I didn’t. Although the book was filled with emotion, I couldn’t relate to the characters, particularly the main character. The pace was slow. I sensed that there was a deep story underlying the narrative, and I guessed what it was within a few pages. That didn’t help the suspense. I think the idea for the plot was great, but the writing just didn’t come off for me.


I received this book from St. Martin’s Press for this review.

No comments:

Post a Comment