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There are currently 26 member reviews
for The Gypsy Moth Summer
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Linda W. (Arlington, TX)
TOO MUCH PLOT
This novel has way too much going on plot-wise--troubled teens, mixed-race marriage, a big aviation factory, a maze, cancer, miscarriages, demented 80-year-old; and in the background, the first Clinton presidential campaign, and gypsy moths defoliating the countryside. I didn't finish it because I didn't believe in the characters or care how the plot points all worked out. The author would have done better to narrow her focus, and not roll all the topics she's interested in into one book.
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Diane S. (Batavia, IL)
Gypsy, moth summer
Let me start with what I liked. The setting, the gardens, plants, mazes, flowers all beautifully described. Liked the character Julian, his son Brooks and young daughter. The chapters narrated but Julian were my favorite. Killed the young teen, Mandy but the rest of those outrageous, catty girls were just maddening.
This book tries to cover too much, adds in almost everything someone could find unappealing, objectionable. Animal cruelty, profanity, drug use and alcohol abuse, sexual situations, racial prejudice, an abused wife, entitled, wealthy, obnoxious people and Probably more that I can't think of right now. To be honest, if I wasn't committed to reviewing this book I would have put it down much earlier, and in fact could have done without reading chapter nine at all. As it was, I skimmed the last third of the book and put it down with a great feeling of relief.
The writing is good, this book just wasn't for me but as I always say, the subject matter may not hold the same trigger for you. Possibly you may see something in this that I didn't.
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Jean G. (Rockford, IL)
Crazy Summer
I did not enjoy this book. The author was trying too hard to be contemporary, overdoing it with proper names of retail products. Many descriptions didn't seem to fit the picture, just trying too hard to be off-the-wall. It was interesting to learn about gypsy moths, their history and lifestyle, but it never went anywhere. There was no real plot or climax. Book clubs have their best discussions about books that some members didn't like, so it might work for clubs.
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Katherine P. (Post Mills, VT)
Makes My Skin Crawl
The story takes place on an island --Avalon, the first symbolic trope of the novel--located off the coast of New York's Long Island--maybe another. The white daughter of a prominent executive of the main industrial and economic entity on the island--Grudder Aviation, manufacturer of war planes and polluter of the island ( Grummond?)--returns to claim her inheritance. She brings her Harvard educated husband, with an advanced degree in landscape architecture, and her two children with her to live in The Castle--royalty! He is, in addition to being educated, also black! Doesn't take long for the author to introduce all kinds of viewpoints, real and supposed, on race relations. In addition to this woman, Leslie, her husband, Julius, her son, Brooks and little daughter, Eva, we are introduced to the coterie of men and women who were friends of Leslie's parents and grandparents--all very shallow and all very proper and all very rich. All a big façade of perfection.
There are also the younger generation, the teens of the island--the rich pampered teens of the East end where the Castle is located; the poorer, though not necessarily poor, children of the blue collar workers at Grudder, located on the West end, where these kids live. Naturally, never the twain shall meet--although a West end guy married one of the East end princesses and produced the two main teen characters Maddie and Dominic, Dom for short.
Once upon a time, when choosing colleges, Marymount was on my list--Leslie would have been entering college about the time I graduated in '63. The description of her time at Marymount is total fiction and, if it is not, then I am truly happy I opted for Mt St Vincent, where I was not forced to live like a nun with required Mass attendance and prayer times. But, at any rate, Leslie was repressed as a young woman--is it any wonder she broke out of the mold she was expected to inhabit.
Back to the teens--Leslie brings the two groups together, allows them the run of the ballroom at the Castle and their story devolves into sex, drugs and rock and roll--or metal, or grunge or whatever it was they were blasting all the time all night into the dawn. Are they the ones responsible for the recent vandalism --the graffiti sprayed throughout town that accuses Grudder of causing death and cancer in the community?
I've not read this author before but she seems to have a good reputation as a writer. In this instance, I just think she tried too hard to bring too many current issues into one story line. As a result she didn't do any of them justice. The shotgun approach diluted the points she was trying to make. As a result the reader is thoroughly confused and repelled. The whole story takes place within one summer --but what a summer--it is one with a huge infestation of Gypsy Moths. Their eating, defecating and crawling everywhere is the background music of the piece, adding to the heightened tension of the story. This, too, was terribly overdone--actually quite disgusting.
It was hard to get into this book--it was superficial and too symbolic at every turn. None of the characters was appealing and none of them mattered enough to care that the ending was supposed to be tragic. That it seemed the author wanted the reader to care was a bit sad--she just filled it with too many things to care about and so none of it mattered. Like the islanders at the end of summer, it was just good that summer was over and so was the book. Was so disappointed.
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Kathleen B. (Las Vegas, NV)
DISTASTEFUL
I thought there was way too much unnecessary sex and cursing in this book. I didn't enjoy reading this book at all. There were too many plots going on to do any one of them justice.
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