What do readers think of The Summer Without Men by Siri Hustvedt? Write your own review.

Ever since reading "The Blindfold," I’ve been fascinated by Siri Hustvedt and the fictional worlds she creates—always cerebral, haunting, and engaging. Her new novel is no exception. Hustvedt’s intelligence and extensive learning are on display as she tells the story of Mia, a 55 year-old-woman forced into her summer without men by her husband’s request for a “pause” in their marriage.

Narrated by Mia in a direct address to the reader, the novel hearkens back to the world of Jane Austen as it explores contemporary—even postmodernist—concerns about what it means to be female at any age.

At times I found Mia's reaction to her marital woes over the top. Ultimately, however, I was moved by her (and Hustvedt's) empathy for the struggles that women go through—whether they are awkward adolescents, young wives caught in bad marriages, or elderly women coming to terms with the "bitterness" of old age.

"The Summer Without Men" is not only a compelling novel about the lives of women and girls (maiden, mother and crone are all represented in the book), but also a meditation on the art of story-telling and the beauty of language. It's a thought-provoking read and will no doubt appeal to a diverse audience, from book club members to poetry lovers. I thought the plot would be rather formulaic at first (middle aged woman has nervous breakdown after husband leaves her for another woman), but it is so much more than this. It's beautifully written and a great read.

The Summer Without Men may sound like a summer beach read but it clearly isn't. Mia, the narrator, has much going on in her life with her marital problems, her aging mother, her young students. She is in a complicated place and the author talks Mia and her readers through these events quite systematically. There are flaws with most of the characters and they are dealt with sympathetically. The author's storytelling takes us to some equally flawed but satisfying conclusions in the lives of her characters. This wasn't a book that I ordinarily would have read but I am glad that I did.

Hustvedt's fifth novel details a poet’s mid-life reassessment of her marriage during one transformative summer. While the ending wraps up matters a bit too neatly, the narrator's strong voice proves both comforting and thought-provoking throughout. Smart summer reading for those seeking alternatives to typical “beach reads”.

Mia's 30 year old marriage is on Pause, so she spends a summer with her mother and her aging and ailing friends, and teaches poetry to seventh grade girls. The book is a pleasant intellectual meditation about women, love, marriage, aging, adolescent girls. The best parts of the book are when she writes about the dynamics of the 7 young girls, however when Hustvedt writes about the differences of the sexes, it reads more like an essay or a semi-scientific article, than a novel. Overall The Summer Without Men is a less satisfying novel, than her What I Loved.

I thought that this book was going to be powerful when I had to put the book down after reading 3 pages. I was reliving my past and it didn't feel good! However, I was disappointed in the book. I thought it was disjointed. Hustvedt introduced characters and then by the time she got back to them, I found myself having to go back and try to remember who they were. I think that including Mia's poetry to tie thoughts together was novel, but ineffective. My biggest complaint was the author's vocabulary. I have a pretty fair grasp of words and their meanings but found that I had to stop repeatedly and look up words. I quickly began to wonder if she purposely used words that I'm sure most readers would not know. That added to the disjointed feeling although, with a Kindle, the reader would have instant access to the dictionary so the flow of the story might be more successful. And, finally, I thought the ending was disappointing, but fairly realistic.

This slight book is told rather in the fashion of diary entries, and this sense is reinforced because the reader is often addressed as "Dear Reader." (There are also a lot of Jane Austen allusions.) These "entries" veer between straightforward narrative, bits of poetry, letters, verbatim conversations, and long introspective musings. It's actually an interesting and fun way to read a story if you have the patience for it. The narrator is caustic and witty and sublimely sarcastic. But, I never felt particularly drawn to her or to the other characters' lives and issues. None of the women, or girls, is fleshed out enough to offer any real insights. And the title seems a bit misleading; rather than a summer without men, men seem to be a major preoccupation of all the women in the book, one way or another. A book club might enjoy reading and discussing this book, if they wanted to explore the differences between men and women, and whether those differences mean anything.

The Summer Without Men, by Siri Hustvedt, was not what I expected. The title made me think it would be "chick-lit" or beach reading. It was decidedly not that (not that I complaining). Nor, however, was it a story that was a compelling read. About Mia, whose husband has left her (perhaps temporarily), I never felt fully engaged in Mia's life. Her musings and writings, while interesting, did not necessarily make me feel close to her. Additionally, a number of other characters and stories are introduced in the book that often felt distracting to me. Some, like the next door neighbor, I wanted to learn more about. Others, like an elderly women who made subversive art, seemed rather random and unnecessary additions to the story. Overall, it was not a book that made me want to stay up late reading.