The Summer Guest

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Synopsis
Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for his radiant novel in stories, Mary and O'Neil, Justin Cronin has already been hailed as a writer of astonishing gifts. Now Cronin's new novel, The Summer Guest, fulfills that promise--and more. With a rare combination of emotional insight, narrative power, and lyrical grace, Cronin transforms the simple story of a dying man's last wish into a rich tapestry of family love. On an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him. From the battlefields of Italy to the turbulence of the Vietnam era, to the private battles of love and family, The Summer Guest reveals the full history of this final pilgrimage and its meaning for four people: Jordan Patterson, the haunted young man who will guide Harry on his last voyage out; the camp's owner Joe Crosby, a Vietnam draft evader who has spent a lifetime "trying to learn what it means to be brave"; Joe's wife, Lucy, the woman Harry has loved for three decades; and Joe and Lucy's daughter Kate--the spirited young woman who holds the key to the last unopened door to the past. As their stories unfold, secrets are revealed, courage is tested, and the bonds of love are strengthened. And always center stage is the place itself--a magical, forgotten corner of New England where the longings of the human heart are mirrored in the wild beauty of the landscape. Intimate, powerful, and profound, The Summer Guest reveals Justin Cronin as a storyteller of unique and marvelous talent. It is a book to treasure. From the Hardcover edition.
Copyright:
2004

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9780440335009
Publisher:
The Dial Press
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Justin Cronin
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Literature and Fiction
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

5 out of 5

By on

Reading this book, ten years after its date of publication, has made me contemplate how much the novels of our lives have changed over the last decade. "The Summer Guest" is a multi-generational chronicle, and certainly those kinds of family and geographical - all about a magical, meaningful place -- sagas are still written. But, this novel seemed like a much more intimate relic from the past - a relic I'm so glad I discovered and immersed myself into. This one is set in northern Maine, very near the Canadian border. The time ranges across the past 40 or 45 years, and, since that time period encompasses significant decades of my own life, every event resonated in my consciousness and memories (although the events from my own story are very different from the events that dominated the lives of the family whose members populate the narrative of this novel. I have known Justin Cronin as the author of" The Passage" and "The Twelve," two science fiction/zombie novels that couldn't be more different from this family saga about the love between people who are defined by a place and a way of life that determines the kinds of lives they lead and the kinds of relationships they form and nurture. There are anti-war heroes who remind me of my own opposition to the war in Vietnam, and a diverse array of characters whose values and life decisions are based on equally valid values and commitments to one another. This is the kind of novel that leaves a reader in tears - but grateful tears for the emotions a writer has stirred and gratitude for the experience of knowing such consequential heroes and heroines.. I found "The Summer Guest" at BookShare and recommend it highly to any reader who wants to visit the emotionally charged and character driven novels which don't seem to be written so much any more. You won't regret reading "The Summer Guest" by Justin Cronin (even as you wait with baited breath for the third and final installment of "The Passage" trilogy. What a talented writer is Justin Cronin. I am so happy to have discovered his multi-faceted talents and look forward to reading his other novels, those I have yet to discover, and those he has yet to write.