Memories of Drop City: The first hippie commune of the 1960's and the Summer of Love

Book Description

Memories of Drop City follows a group of people and their radical movement, in the Southwest and on both coasts, in a decade that shaped the rest of the century.

"John Curl's characters in Memories of Drop City aspire to be '100 years' ahead of the rest of us, but Curl shows, through his highly crafted and brilliant novelistic memoir, that they often succumb to the same social flaws as the rest of us. This might be the most balanced memoir or novel yet published about the Sixties."

Ishmael Reed, National Book Award nominee

"With this compelling evocation and portrayal of breathing people, John Curl unpacks the boxed lunch myth of America's alternative lifestyle Sixties, and restores the day to day flavor of a deeply fabled era still key to understanding the way we live (and don't live) now."

Al Young, poet laureate of California

"Memories of Drop City is an extraordinary book which brings the Sixties back to life in vivid detail and conveys the spirit of the Sixties better than almost anything else I've read."

Gerald Nicosia, author of Memory Babe

"Memories of Drop City brings vibrantly to light the flower children who returned to the land seeking peace and by that act were committing revolution. John Curl captures the idealism of a generation and their demonstrations against war in a revolution with a smile.."

Floyd Salas, author of Tattoo the Wicked Cross

The Beet Fields: Memories of a Sixteenth Summer

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The Beet Feilds...By Caroline W.
coming of age
the run away
Beware of offensive language and subject matter
Sure to please Paulsen's posse of ardent fans.

The Beet Fields: Memories of a Sixteenth Summer
Gary Paulsen
Manufacturer: Laurel Leaf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0440415578
Release Date: 2002-01-08

Amazon.com

The striking cover picture of a beautiful young man's bare, muscular back foreshadows the sensuality of this brilliant autobiographical novel for older boys by the author of Hatchet and Soldier's Heart. In this remarkable book, Gary Paulsen reworks material from his own life that has appeared earlier in his novels, to tell--with simple words and Hemingwayesque cadences--the story of a summer when a 16-year-old boy became a man.

Fleeing his mother's confusing drunken advances, a boy runs away and finds work in the beet fields of North Dakota. Wielding a hoe for long, hot days, he learns about cruelty from the farmer's wife and about kindness from his Mexican coworkers. Later an attraction to a girl glimpsed only once leads him into accepting a job driving a tractor, but a brush with the deputy sheriff sends him running again, only to be taken in by a sleazy carnival as a roustabout. He learns to shill for the geek, a fake wild man of Borneo who bites the heads off chickens, and yearns for Ruby, the voluptuous hootchy-kootchy dancer. During the summer the boy learns about life and people and his own ability to work and survive, and when Ruby invites him into her bed, his transition to manhood is complete.

While the sensual scenes and occasionally gritty language may make this novel problematic for adults, there is not a 15-year-old boy around who would not find that this poetic, powerful novel speaks to his soul. (Ages 14 and older) --Patty Campbell

Book Description

For a 16-year-old boy out in the world alone for the first time, every day’s an education in the hard work and boredom of migrant labor; every day teaches him something more about friendship, or hunger, or profanity, or lust—always lust. He learns how a poker game, or hitching a ride, can turn deadly. He discovers the secret sadness and generosity to be found on a lonely farm in the middle of nowhere. Then he joins up with a carnival and becomes a grunt, running a ride and shilling for the geek show. He’s living the hard carny life and beginning to see the world through carny eyes. He’s tough. Cynical. By the end of the summer he’s pretty sure he knows it all. Until he meets Ruby.

Customer Reviews:

The Beet Feilds...By Caroline W........2006-12-13

The Beet Fields: Memories of the Sixteenth Summer
The young boy never stopped working, went on until the day was done, and learned about the world and life in just one long summer. The book The Beet Fields is about this young boy's summer when he learns many life's lessons. He goes on many adventures over his long summer, starting out with parents who are serious alcoholics. However his whole life changes when he ran from his life in search of a new beginning. This book is great for teens, because it follows a young boy through the many adventures in life.
He left his home for something different a new life. On his adventures he learns about migrant labor, hunger, friendship, profanity and lust. In the book he is never given a name, we just know him as boy, the young innocent man curious for adventure. He discovers how life can be dangerous and exhilarating. He learns the secret of sadness to be found on an isolated farm in the middle of nowhere. He finds his other adventures by joining a carnival and running the geek show. Near the end of the summer he thinks he knows it all, all the lessons to be learned in life. When he meets Ruby, his life changes. She urges him to not leave the world without a fight. It's one long interesting summer for the boy.
The Beet Fields is a great guidance for young teens. His life brings journeys across different people and jobs. The boy sticks with what he needs to do to make a living and fights through his down times and enjoys the good ones. He doesn't follow in his parents path and instead hoes his own down the beet fields. This book is a great example of sticking and working with what you have. This quote shows how the boy keeps going even though he would much rather be somewhere else with someone else "Rows of beets a mile long. Left and right for a mile and then turn and start back, halfway up to meet the Mexicans coming back. Eleven dollars an acre. Four rows to the acre, a half acre a day, all day the hoes cutting, left and right, the rows never ending, and even trying to catch up with the Mexicans was not enough to stop the boredom, nothing to stop the awful boredom of the beets." On the next page it continues, "He worked hard, his head down, the hoe snaking left and right. An hour could have passed, a minute, a day, a year. He did not look up, kept working ..."The book goes on in great detail about his other adventures. He finds other jobs working on different farms. He makes it almost halfway across the United States on his own catching up with other people, and ends up with a carnival job traveling across the U.S. How the author describes how he manages his life. This is a great read for teens looking for an interesting and adventures book.

coming of age .......2006-03-11

Although I loved this book, I was hestitant to include it on my classroom shelves for 8th graders. Now that I am now teaching high school, I decided to include this book on the shelves in my classroom for SSR time. Since August, eight of my male students have read the book. I was very pleasantly surprised when there was no giggling about the book. Then I noticed that it was only the most mature of my students that were choosing to read it. At the beginning of the school year, I included the book in book talks, and that peaked the interest of some of my students. However, the less mature students never get past the first chapter. Even if you're not a teenager, I recommend this book highly. My husband enjoyed it too.

the run away.......2006-02-11

The kid left his home and went to work on a beet field. He made friends with the Mexicans. He followed then around and worked with them. Then on one of the farms the farmer offered him a job. Then he drove a tractor for the farmer. Then one day when he came up from the fielded there was a cop waiting for him. He took him to jail for running away.
The things I liked about this book are that it was easy to read and it was exiting and interesting. People that I would recommend this book to is people that like the out doors

Beware of offensive language and subject matter.......2005-05-03

This is a glimpse into Paulsen's 16th summer, when he left his drunken parents to pursue life on his own. He takes work as a laborer in the beet fields where he befriends Mexican workers and learns to hunt pigeons with his bare hands, and later does farm work, joins the crew of a traveling carnival, and learns about lust from an older, much more experienced woman.
This book should be limited to mature readers because of the detailed sexual encounter and the language typical of the people Paulsen associated with during that summer. By "mature readers", I mean ones that will not circle offensive language or mark up the book in any other way because of it.

Sure to please Paulsen's posse of ardent fans. .......2004-07-30

Welcome to the school of hard knocks, Gary Paulsen style. Driven from home by the sexual advances of a drunken mother, a teenage boy closes the door on life as he knows it when he runs off in the dark of night. The 16-year-old boy, who goes the length of the novel unnamed, soon finds a job thinning beets in the fields of North Dakota with a group of migrant workers from Mexico. The boy is given little shelter, little food, and the labor is backbreaking; and the fees charged by the farmer for food (dry peanut butter sandwiches doled out by the farmer's crab of a wife) and the use of a hoe eat up what little he earns.

Before long, one of the Mexican men takes the boy under his wing and invites him to partake of their tortillas and beans. The boy marvels at the Mexicans' easy camaraderie and ability to transcend their intensive labor. Through them, he learns that good food, friendship, and a little music go a long way in easing the rigors of life.

When he's offered a permanent summer job on a nearby farm, the boy accepts after seeing the farmer's lovely daughter. Although he never gets a chance to speak to her, he dutifully plows the fields and does what is required of him without comment. The boy avoids town while accumulating quite a bit of money for his work, aware that the law may be looking for him because he is a runaway. A corrupt sheriff's deputy eventually rounds him up and steals his hard-earned cash, but leaves him unattended in an unlocked cell. Spurred on by his fellow inmate, a drunken old man, the boy walks out of jail without looking back.

Before his 16th summer is over, the boy has witnessed a fluke death, worked as a farmhand and substitute son for a widowed woman, learned the "carny" (carnival) trade and been initiated into the wonders of sex. What more could a teenage boy ask for?

Modeled on Paulsen's own life, THE BEET FIELDS is as simple and straightforward as you can get. Although certain readers might be sensitive to the novel's sexual content, this optimistic and honest coming-of-age story is sure to please Paulsen's posse of ardent fans.

--- Reviewed by Tammy L. Currier

Memories of Summer: When Baseball Was an Art and Writing About it a Game

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Readable and Heartfelt
A Glimpse of a Past Era in Baseball
A poignant volume that reads like a novel.
an enjoyable look to yesteryear
Great man, great book

Memories of Summer: When Baseball Was an Art and Writing About it a Game
Roger Kahn
Manufacturer: Hyperion
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0786883162

Amazon.com

Esteemed baseball writer Roger Kahn's Memories of Summer makes a fine companion to his earlier classic,The Boys of Summer. Both books plow similar soil--Kahn's roots in Brooklyn and his years covering the Dodgers with fertile prose--but the similarities end there. The new volume, subtitled "When Baseball Was an Art, and Writing About It a Game," foregoes its predecessor's route of wistful melancholy and broken dreams for the exhilaration of the sport itself. Kahn focuses his considerable powers on the ways baseball permeated America's post-World War II ethos, and why, in an era less blemished by cynicism, baseball blossomed into a writer's playing field.

Customer Reviews:

Readable and Heartfelt.......2005-12-21

The flowing pen of author Roger Kahn provides readers with books of nostalgia and heart. Here he covers baseball in New York City in the bygone 1950's, his love affair with the Brooklyn Dodgers (whom he covered as reporter from 1952-1953), plus the Yankees and Giants. Readers learn a few things about Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Leo Durocher, etc. There's the author's take on baseball racism, on the slow retreat in the 1950's. Kahn also traces his upbringing and close relationship with his baseball-addicted father. The book has a definite sense of loss, due to his father's passing, the Dodgers and Giants fleeing to California, and the urban decline that has since afflicted New York and many other once-tranquil cities. This moving book is something of a follow-up to THE BOYS OF SUMMER, the author's superb look at the Brooklyn Dodgers that was published in the early 1970's (this book came out in the late 1990's).

This book doesn't quite match BOYS OF SUMMER, but it's another gem by a writer whose heart clearly belongs to baseball.

A Glimpse of a Past Era in Baseball.......2004-06-30

In "Memories of Summer," Roger Kahn takes the reader back to a time when the Dodgers were an integral part of the life of a Brooklynite, through his career as a writer for several different newspapers and magazines, up to modern times where he interviews former baseball stars, including Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, and Willie Mays.

Though he grew up a Dodger fan, forced to wait 'til next year seemingly forever, his love not just for the Dodgers, but for the game, is made manifest through his memoir and his reprinted articles. His painting of baseball in his earlier years as a game engulfed in wonder and mystique is shared by many who cherish old-time baseball.

Kahn is not remiss in placing baseball in the context of the social realm in which it was played--a time where writers were reluctant to write about the off-the-field lives of players and where racism, which barred blacks from playing in the majors for almost 50 years, slowly gave way to integration, very slowly. He saw the Jackie Robinsons and the Willie Mays and the Monte Irvins in Major League Baseball as baseball players, not black baseball players.

This book is funny at times, sad at others, but always piques interest. Kahn does an outstanding job of painting vivid images of a time when baseball truly was an art, and writing about it truly a game.

A poignant volume that reads like a novel........1999-09-27

Mr. Kahn turns back the clock to the days when baseball was the true American pastime. His anecdotes and interviews about Mantle, Mays, and Early Wynn bring these individuals to life more than any statistics possibly could. His love of his father is written about in such a profound manner that is timeless. In all a classic piece of Americana that hopefully will be read fifty years from now.

an enjoyable look to yesteryear.......1999-07-09

Kahn's most recent work, _Memories of Summer_, is a very thoughtfull look to the golden years of baseball, set in the context of Kahn's childhood and career as a journalist. Simply put, it is a must-have for any serious baseball fan, cultural anthropologist, or anyone else wondering how the game used to be and the importance that it played in the lives of fans. Throughout, Kahn manages to capture, quite superbly, the romanticism of the era, focusing specifically on perhaps the very epitome of that romanticism, the bumbling bums of Brooklyn. He very adequately portrays the love affair that so many in Brooklyn had with the team, as well as give an indication of why they are remembered so reverently today. Kahn also laces his story with his interactions with baseball celebrities, including Leo Durocher, Willie Mays, and Jackie Robinson. My one drawback is that Kahn occasionally gets somewhat preachy when addressing race and racial discrimination during the time. Obviously, a certain amount of preaching is in order, but in my humble opinion it goes a step too far. Otherwise, however, the narrative that Kahn weaves, beginning in his childhood (the relationship with his father and how that relates to baseball is especially noteworthy) and tracing his career in journalism through newspapers and magazines is wonderful, easy to follow, and extremely well-written. I completely agree with the earlier reviewer who commented on the issue of "turning corners" in the book, and I would add one more - expansion to the West Coast and baseball turning the corner to become a two-coast sport. The reader can't help but feel the sorrow and bitterness that is left following the move of the Dodgers to California. This is a fantastic composition, a true gem by one of America's premier sports writers. Happy reading!

Great man, great book.......1998-09-11

I was fortunate enough to receive a preview copy of this book a few weeks before its release because I was interviewing Mr. Kahn on a radio interview program.

As soon as I started reading, I was hooked. Although I was not alive during the 1950's, I have always been fascinated with baseball during that era, particularly the lovable Brooklyn Dodgers. Kahn's latest book does such a wonderful job of describing what it was like to be around baseball every day in that bygone era.

The easiest interview I have ever done was that one I did with Roger. His love for baseball was evident from the first question I asked him. His insight gained from covering the Dodgers in the 1950's is something every baseball fan could use. In this season of home runs, the average fan is once again starting to appreciate baseball. Roger Kahn will make you appreciate it even more.

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The New Irish Cuisine

West of Ireland Summers, a Cook Book: Recipes and Memories from an Irish Childhood
Tamasin Day-Lewis
Manufacturer: Roberts Rinehart Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Tamasin's Kitchen Bible

Tamasin's Weekend Food

GOOD TEMPERED FOOD

Simply the Best

Tarts With Tops On or How to Make the Perfect Pie

ASIN: 1570982805

Book Description

In a vivid account of summers spent in the remote beauty of west Ireland, Tamasin Day-Lewis conjures up the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of family holidays. Her passion for cooking is evident in the dishes -- some traditional, others created by Day-Lewis to utilize the fresh local ingredients.

Customer Reviews:

The New Irish Cuisine.......2000-08-09

When I was first in Ireland more than a decade ago, the country was by and large a culinary wasteland. That has changed dramatically in recent years, as young chefs across the country have started first-rate restaurants. Along with that welcome development have come a group of Irish cookbooks that are also world class. The two-volume set called Gourmet Ireland by the couple that run the Belfast restaurant called Roskoff were, until now, the best of those books. Tamasin Day-Lewis'West of Ireland Summers is, I think, even better than the "Gourmet" pair. I had the good fortune to have been given the book just before I left for three weeks in the West of Ireland (Co. Clare) and prepared meal after meal according to Day-Lewis' instruction. I was impressed, to say the least. I'm thinking especially of the mussel chowder that I made twice during our stay, and the braised lamb shanks. Fabulous! I had the advantage of testing her book while sitting in the very part of the country about which she writes, and had the added advantage of being able to buy the wonderfully fresh mussels, and scallops (with their roe), and oysters and crab and prawns and, of course, the lamb every day. But don't wait to get to the West of Ireland to buy and use this book. I left my copy in the house in Clare, but am just now ordering a copy to keep here in the U.S. Tamasin Day-Lewis is, I believe, a sister to the actor? That's not important at all. What is important is, for example, the seafood risotto recipe in her book. The best I've ever had.

Borscht Belt Bungalows: Memories of Catskill Summers

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A terrific first-hand account.

Borscht Belt Bungalows: Memories of Catskill Summers
Irwin Richman
Manufacturer: Temple University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1592131905

Book Description

Every year between 1920 and 1970, almost one million of New York City's Jewish population summered in the Catskills. Hundreds of thousands still do. While much has been written about grand hotels like Grossinger's and the Concord, little has appeared about the more modest bungalow colonies and kuchaleins ("cook for yourself" places) where more than 80 percent of Catskill visitors stayed.

These were not glamorous places, and middle-class Jews today remember the colonies with either aversion or fondness. Irwin Richman's narrative, anecdotes, and photos recapture everything from the traffic jams leaving the city to the strategies for sneaking into the casinos of the big hotels. He brings to life the attitudes of the renters and the owners, the differences between the social activities and swimming pools advertised and what people actually received. He reminisces about the changing fashion of the guests and owners—everything that made summers memorable.

The author remembers his boyhood: what it was like to spend summers outside the city, swimming in the Neversink, "noodling around," and helping with the bungalow operation, while Grandpa charged the tenants and acted as president of Congregation B'nai.

Customer Reviews:

A terrific first-hand account........1999-03-23

Mr. Richman tells a story that only he could tell.His humorous, nostalgic account of the Catskill's golden era and its decline is one worth reading.

Freud's Requiem: Mourning, Memory, and the Invisible History of a Summer Walk

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Freud's Requiem: Mourning,Memory...
The discussion of mourning
Entertaing and informative introduction for many
Fluent and Sophomoric
Fascinating Freud

Freud's Requiem: Mourning, Memory, and the Invisible History of a Summer Walk
Matthew Von Unwerth
Manufacturer: Riverhead Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1594481997

Book Description

Freud's 1915 essay On Transience recorded a summertime conversation with two unnamed companions-who were thought to be poet Rainer Maria Rilke and psychoanalyst Lou Andreas- Salomé. In Freud's Requiem, their philosophical musing becomes a prism through which to consider Freud's ideas about creativity, his crises of spirit, and his experiences of loss.

Customer Reviews:

Freud's Requiem: Mourning,Memory..........2007-07-27

The book arrived ahead of promised delivery time in excellent condition. Amazon always lives up to its reputation as an excellen organisation.
Many thanks

The discussion of mourning.......2007-01-23

I think I expected this book to discuss the concept of mourning and memory more but it also discussed friendship with the inclusion of letters and poems. I cannot say that I disliked this book but its cover lead me to believe it was going to be a different focus.

Entertaing and informative introduction for many.......2005-11-16

As a reader familiar with the basic concepts of psychoanalysis, but
who despaired in finding a text that explains the history and underpinings of Freud's theories, I found this book a godsend. Quite frankly, I need to have strong prose to bolster my interest and the author doesn't disappoint, beginning with a very literary conceit, the possibilities suggested by the meeting btw Freud and Rilke; his style consistently engages the reader and makes Freudian theory relevant by introducing it through the universal experiences of mourning and loss. He more than answers the question of Freud's continued importantance in the age of Wellbutrin and Prozac.

Fluent and Sophomoric.......2005-11-06

Matthew von Unwerth's precocious book rehashes (and often repeats two and three times) facts already well known about Freud, Rilke, and Lou Andreas-Salome. It relies on an admittedly charming ramble through various episodes in the lives of these major characters, and there isn't a single clumsy sentence in the whole. But FREUD'S REQUIEM lacks something one would think an editor would demand, namely a thesis. To claim that a probably fictional walk -- Rilke and Freud strolling along together -- has an "invisible history" is not a thesis, and in fact Von Unwerth quickly shows us that Freud incorporated several experiences into the story of the walk in his essay "On Transience." Von Unwerth rubs two sticks together -- Freud's notions of mourning (confrontation and acceptance of loss, as spelled out in his essay) in tension with Rilke's desire for a truth beyond mere existence. Von Unwerth seems uncertain about the very antitheses between Freud and Rilke he otherwise insists upon -- which, of course, might have yielded an original insight into the material if the author had the ability to find one. It is as if he is prodding the reader to synthesize material and provide critical thought in absence of his talent to do so. One of the overheated blurbs says the book is a "well-informed meditation." This is a euphemism for "factual drift" -- lots of facts, no insight. For insights into the contentious and complementary relationship between literature and psychoanalysis, read the stimulating, unsentimenalized essays of Adam Phillips. Von Unwerth loves an anecdote; why does he describe the last days of Freud in London, and how do these facts illuminate the thesis he fails to provide? His understanding of Rilke's poetry is so pedestrian as to serve only his simplistic (and boringly repeated) image of Rilke and Freud as polar opposites. The only glimmer of creativity comes toward the end of the book, as he suggests (tantalizingly, but alas, sputteringly) that Lou had seen the potential for a synthesis of the two men's positions on art and poetry. His final sentence: "In learning to give himself over to the symphony of life and death, he [Freud] rediscovers himself, and so realizes the potential inherent in all beings to love and work." Is that so? In all beings? I think not, and Von Unwerth gives at least one striking example where Freud thought otherwise, too. But Von Unwerth can't help himself, symphony and all. A fluent but sophomoric attempt.

Fascinating Freud.......2005-08-22

A very favorable review in the New York Times led me to "Freud's Requiem." The book gave me a fascinating entry into the world of Freudian thought and concise explanations of many of Freud's key concepts, including his view of love, memory, repression sublimation, mourning,and death. It also told intriguing stories of Freud's relationships with figures, including Nietzsche, Rilke and the little-known, remarkable, serial lover, Lou Andreas-Salome. And, the book provided delightful tidbits, like Freud's teenage enjoyment at reciting the Gettysburg Address - in English - and his first scientific discovery that eels are bisexuals. I came away with a new understanding of how Freud connected literature and art with his theories and a greater appreciation of his personal struggles to arrive at his insights in how we think, feel and react. "Freud's Requiem" does require some mental exertion, but I felt better after the workout.

That Summer in Paris: Memories of Tangled Friendships with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Some Others

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That Summer in Paris: Memories of Tangled Friendships with Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Some Others
Morley Callaghan
Manufacturer: Dell
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000MPNOZ6

Want a Frog? Memories, Sports and Other South Carolina Tales

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Want a Frog? Memories, Sports and Other South Carolina Tales
Thomas A. Summers
Manufacturer: Edisto Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0966471318

Product Description

Colored by reminiscence and humor, "Want a Frog?" paints a lively picture of southern culture as experienced directly by storyteller Tom Summers. Traveling through self-contained chapters, the reader takes a trip through history into some memorable narratives and photographs. They represent eras from the author's more than seven decades of living in South Carolina. Examples of the twenty-four chapters include: bygone days when youngsters had to make many of their own toys, a day at the beach when World War II ended, and army life in the late-1950s. Summers's more contemporary years bring vibrancy to some personal stories that are flavored by family nurture, resources for inner growth, and vocational interest in social justice. In this zestful book of recollections, he sets a table that intends for the meal to both tickle the funny bone as well as touch depths in the human spirit. These personally experienced accounts are rooted in his firm belief that, above all else, we humans indeed are "story creatures."

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Okoboji: Puppet Show of Memory
C. E. Holmes
Manufacturer: Iowa Master Book Breeders
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1575792788

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Mental Illness Affects Sisters
Memories of Summer
Memories of Summer
Memories of Summer
MEMORIS OF SUMMER

Memories of Summer (Readers Circle)
Ruth White
Manufacturer: Laurel Leaf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Historical Fiction | History & Historical Fiction | Teens | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0440229219
Release Date: 2002-05-14

Book Description

Newbery Honor Winner Ruth White gives readers an unforgettable story of one girl’s experience growing up with a sister that develops schizophrenia.

It’s 1955 when 13-year-old Lyric moves with her father and older sister, Summer, from a small Virginia town to the big industrial city of Flint, Michigan. Summer has always been a little odd, but shortly after the move, things take a turn for the worse when she starts talking to imaginary people and having frightening episodes of paranoia. When she slips out of reality and into the depths of schizophrenia, the devoted Lyric can no longer reach her.

Lyric loves her sister but is torn between taking constant care of Summer and enjoying her own youth. Soon a decision will have to be made that will affect their lives forever.

Customer Reviews:

Mental Illness Affects Sisters.......2007-06-11

From the time they were very young, Lyric was always aware that her sister Summer was strange, with her fear of electricity and her need to whisper to the mountains that surrounded their coal mining town. But Lyric and her father have always just overlooked these strange behaviors and haven't thought much of them.

Then, when Lyric is thirteen and Summer is sixteen, they move to a Minnesota city where their father is going to try to find work in an automobile factory. Once there, things start to go downhill for Summer, who becomes more adamant about her conversations with people who aren't there. She spends much of her time in a fog, then begins to neglect her own hygiene. Summer becomes more and more difficult to live with, especially when Lyric and her father try to control her.

Eventually Summer is diagnosed with schizophrenia and after she develops a fondness for fire and for sharp objects such as razor blades, Lyric and her father realize that Summer's disease is more than they can handle, and they need help from doctors. The decision to seek help is difficult for Lyric, who still remembers the wonderful big sister she had as a child. She feels guilty for being embarrassed by Summer but finds it hard to feel any other way.

I liked that Lyric's feelings were portrayed realistically, especially her guilt about being ashamed of her sister. I liked that the characters weren't poor throughout the book. They had enoug problems without the author adding financial troubles to their story.

I didn't like that there was so little resolution in this book. I kept expecting some sort of big blowout that never happened.

Memories of Summer.......2006-06-12

The book Memories of Summer is a great book about a young teen girl that has schizophrenia. Lyric and her father have to learn how to control and take care of their delusional family member, which becomes harder and harder for them to do. This book is really good, and it goes deep into the topic of schizophrenia. This book has very strong parts and is powerful at times. Ruth White writes with great passion which makes the book more enjoyable to read. I thought that this book was really informative, but at the same time compelling. Definitely worth 4 stars!

Memories of Summer.......2006-03-31

In the beginning of this book it introduces you to the narrator, Lyric, and her family. Her sister, Summer, is older and her dad raised them both. She doesn't remember her mom, though, because she died of consumption when Lyric was three and Summer was six. They had lived in southwest Virginia since they were born, but they were always promised to go move to the city. As the girls got older, they begin to encounter more and more problems in their daily life.
I enjoyed this book because a few of the problems I could relate to my life and my friends. It has many common issues in it that people can relate to and can understand in depth. This book is not very long, but I feel it is a terrific book if you are looking for something you want to be able to relate to.

Memories of Summer.......2005-11-17

From the point of view of the younger sister, this story takes you into the heart of a family who discovers a member is suffering from skizofrenia. Memories of Summer will make you cry and laugh, sigh and shout. One of the most touching stories I have ever read, you really relate to the characters.

MEMORIS OF SUMMER.......2005-10-28

LURIC AND SISTER SUMMER MOVED WITH FATER TO RIGINIA .WHEN THEY HAN A FEWMONTHS THERE SUMMER STARTEDTALKING TO HEREIF THEN SHE HAN THE SAME, I LIKED THAT SUMMER AND LUYRIC ALWAYS UNDER STOD EACH OTHER AND HERER ARGUED. I DIDNT UKE THAT WHEN THEY MORED TO RIRGUIA THIS STARTED TO MY FAVORITE CHARACTER IS LUYRIC , BECAUSE SHE WAS ALWAYS TAKING CARE OF HER SISTER, MY FAVORITE PASSAGE WAS WHEN LURIC ANDSUMMER WERE MOVING TO VIRGINIA . I CAME TO TEXAS. READ 'MEMORIES OF SUMMER' IT IS A FABULOS BOOK THAT WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO CRY OUT OF ALL THE CHARACTERS HAVE TO SUFFER THE MOST .TRUE STORY.

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