A well-written, almost wrapped in a tidy bow book about the hard-hitting ripple effects of a #MeToo event.

SPOILER ALERT

That Summer read close to home; I could see how it happened, the era of the good-old-boys, the "she wanted it" times we lived in (the 80's), and the shame and guilt felt by the victim thinking the assault was somehow her fault.

Jennifer Weiner did an exceptional job of intertwining the events of the past with the current fallout, how the victim finds her perpetrators, showing how damaged, or in one case, "un" damaged they became over their deeds.

A book about privilege, about loss (due to events that happened in youth), about holding people accountable, about finding the strength to move on even if it takes decades to make the first step toward that, about one man's possible inability to move beyond and another's seemingly unwillingness to accept responsibility, the, it was so long ago and I'm not that person anymore mentality.

That Summer is a sad, easy written (not an in-your-face slap) where the reader is sucked in by the lazy settings, the commonality of the lives until it culminates into one big sad mess of reality.

While That Summer is obviously written more for the female audience, a similar book written for the male perspective could serve future generations well.
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A little note for seasonal readers, the cover and title of this one imply that it’s a summer read, but very little of this takes place in the summer, so this isn’t the best choice if you prefer a story that feels sunsoaked when you’re reading outside in warm weather.

This is also not the best choice if you prefer straightforward storytelling. Rarely do I enjoy it when an author plays around with structure and rarely does there seem to be a legit reason for doing so, either, too often it feels like an attempt to superficially jazz things up instead of trusting that the characters and the plot were enough as is.

Playing with the structure here meant littering the book with flashback upon flashback that, especially in Daisy’s chapters, sucked a lot of the momentum out of the reading experience. The structure also meant that at times information became repetitive.

For me, this most found its groove in the section where Diana embarked on her new beginning, Michael was maybe a little too perfect and agreeable, and maybe things fell into place for her easier than they do for anyone starting over in real life, still it was the one portion of the novel where it really moved, where it really felt like new developments occured, where I was thoroughly engaged and eager to see where it would go. That segment had me all the more convinced that I could have enjoyed this more had Diana and Daisy’s journeys unfolded and dovetailed in chronological order instead of the constant disruptive flashbacks.

As for the ending, there was a lot of build up to a certain confrontation, and while that confrontation sort of materialized, only a tiny bit was said and in proportion to all that build up, it didn’t feel particularly satisfying.

The weird thing is, despite how far this review leans toward negative, I closed this book with a desire to read more Jennifer Weiner. There was something in her writing that I found really comfortable to settle in with, and there was something in Diana, as well as in Daisy’s crafty daughter Bea that I really did like, that made me think that even if this one didn’t turn out to be quite right for me, there’s a chance one of her other books might. ( )

Couldn’t put it down but the beginning was a little slow to get into. Liked it but the tough subject kept me from a five ( )

Not the most original story, but Weiner's writing really draws you in. ( )

I chose this book as a diversion. It was very readable but not believable. Everything that happened to Diana and Daisy seemed so unlikely that by the end I was left cold. ( )