Whether you read the classic, Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret, or Summer Sisters, you won’t be disappointed by the writing of Judy Blume.

Firstly, I love the title, Summer Sisters. Nothing more needs to be said, you already know what the book is about - just as the title states. Caitlyn has it all, the money, the looks, the opportunities. What she lacks in family stability, she makes up for with her free, if sometimes exaggerated spirit. Victoria, “Vix,” is Caitlyn’s opposite, lacking in wealth, not quite the stunner, and her opportunities are limited (so she thinks) because of these things. But for whatever reason, at age 12, Caitlyn invites Vix to spend the summer on Martha’s Vineyard with her Dad and brother.

Summer Sisters is a decades long saga of the story of the girls growing up, growing together, growing apart, learning about their female “Power,” boys, friendship, life lessons, and the like. In wonderful Judy Blume style, the pages fly by, as to the years, ending with a bit of an unexpected heartbreak.

This book made me smile with nostalgia, reminisce about days and friends gone by, and wish for all young girls to have he experience of a Summer Sister. ( )

I wish I knew what magic makes a book so compelling that you just get sucked right into it and look up hours later, thinking, “I should go to bed, but just a few more pages, but ohhh I’m really going to be sorry when my alarm goes off at 5:30, but just a few more pages, ohhh what the heck okay another chapter.”

In another author’s hands, maybe, this would not have been that kind of book. There were a couple of twists but it was otherwise fairly predictable. The characters were not especially complex and yet I just wanted to know what happened, what they did, why did they do it, and yes I even needed a few Kleenex at the end. The brief little peeks into every (with one key exception) character’s innermost thoughts following key events should have been annoying, but I was instead delighted with them.

I can’t explain it, but this was one of those books. More than 400 pages and I am a slow, stodgy reader, but I gobbled this one up in 2 days. Go figure.

Paperback version, picked up secondhand on a whim 3 years ago.

Previous Updates:
7/16/18 – 297/416
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Wow. So much nostalgia--everything from the Vineyard to NYC to the quick mention of Choate. ( )

Love me some Judy Blume ( )

My third time reading this one, it’s a favorite, though it probably isn’t for everyone.

The frank sexual content is one of the areas where this might lose some readers. I’m fine with the adults and older teen scenes, it’s the sexual content in relation to kids under fifteen, particularly a bathtub scene where it does sometimes feel like a bit much yet at the same time you can’t help but think that it’s realistic, too, to portray kids’ thoughts, experiences, and curiosity about sex and their bodies.

Caitlin is another area that may lead some to DNF this one. While family and romance play a part, the central relationship is Vix and Caitlin’s friendship, it’s definitely on the toxic side of things which often doesn’t work for me, but there’s something so compelling and page-turning about the messiness of their bond/addiction to each other. I’d give anything to read Caitlin’s POV (we hear from everyone in the book except for her), to know for certain what was going on in her head and her heart, still, the more times I’ve read this book and the more widely discussed mental health has become, the more I empathize with her, on the surface Caitlin is pretty easy to hate but Judy Blume isn’t just a surface kind of writer, there are hints of Caitlin’s vulnerability and her fragility that doesn’t excuse her behavior but does allow you to occasionally feel for her.

I’m forever undecided on what impresses me most about this book, the emotional truth in it or the scope of it, from middle-school and care-free summers to college and careers. It’s amazing how much ground is covered without an overwhelming page count, without ever feeling like you’ve missed something crucial or been shortchanged in any way and how it gives a sense of each decade it’s in without extraneous research bogging down the momentum, there’s an instinct here for the right details rather than all the details that I thoroughly appreciate and admire. ( )