Tuesday, May 21, 2013

That Summer

That Summer, by Sarah Dessen, is a book about a girl that realizes her life isn’t as great as she thought it was. She has to adjust because nothing is the same as it was in the past. The main character, Haven, is a very insecure girl because she is almost six feet tall and she feels like she doesn’t fit in. She is very stressed with everything going on because her father is about to marry a woman she can’t stand, and her sister is about to get married as well to Lewis Warsher, who doesn’t fit her at all. During her stressful life she runs into her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Sumner Lee, who reminds her of the happy days when her parents were married and her sister, Ashley, was carefree and everything was perfect. These stressful events in her life lead her to realize that that’s life; the past is the past and you can’t always get what you want.

In my opinion this book was very interesting because it relates to real life stories of people going through the same things. This book draws you in with all the drama and stress in her life. I felt like I was going through the same emotions as her, it was so real. This book was also very vivid, I understood it clearly and imagined every word in my head throughout the whole book.

Reviewed by Amy


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fifteen-year-old Haven has a lot of changes that go on in her summer. There's her fathers wedding to the television "Weather Pet," as known as Lorna Queen. Also the wedding of Ashley (Haven's sister) in which Haven thinks Lewis (Ashley's Fiancee) isn't the right person to suit Ashley. She has to stand the fact that she's practically six feet tall and growing day by day and they cause her to not be able to figure herself out anymore and cant figure anything out. Sumner Lee, Ashley's old boyfriend, then shows up and Haven begins to remember all the fun times they all had with him. And she described it as a perfect time of their lives. Until all the complications began between everyone.. The divorce, her fathers wedding, the jobs she's had.. She survived all those but one day she just snaps! Would she get back to normal? How she was before?

This book in my opinion was a great one! I had ordered it online from a form and I didn't know a thing about it! And when i began reading I absolutely loved it! At times it got a bit confusing but I was able to understand everything that was going on. But this book honestly had so much going on in it that it was really hard to put down and walk away! I recommend this book to all teenage girls that enjoy stories about adversities!

Reviewed by Alina O., grade 9
Montrose Library

Anonymous said...

Haven is a fifteen year old, tall, skinny, 6-foot girl. During summer she's caught up with her sister Ashley's wedding and her Dad's re-marriage. Her sister is getting married to a boy who's dull and one that Haven hates;(Lewis Warsher). However, her dad is getting married to the weather woman; (Lorna Queen). Haven keeps getting memories of Ashley's old boyfriend Sumner Lee. When they were together, not only was Ashley always happy but Sumner made Haven feel special as well. Suddenly Sumner reappears in all this commotion and once again Haven asks herself why Ashley would have done such a thing to break up with Sumner in the first place.

In my opinion, this is one of my favorite books. Not only does it talk about what most teenagers face today, but it has tension and drama. The book personally stood out to me, because all along I thought that Ashley really did dump Sumner, but this wasn't the truth. This also teaches me not to always think that what I assume may be right. I would recommend this to people who like books which are dramatic and people, mostly girls, who like love stories. One of many reasons I liked this book was because it showed that sometimes, instead of always being negative about the future you should be optimistic, like how Haven was during the falling action of the story.

Reviewed by Michelle G., grade 9
Montrose Crescenta Branch