In Summer

At 44, it's not always easy to remember the feelings I had as an 18-year-old, spending summers on the farm in Oklahoma. But Jeremy Jackson's novel, In Summer, transported me back to the days of my youth. The book details the three-month period of time between high school graduation and college, a time of innocence, confusion and trepidation for most of us--the 'last summer of childhood'. Jackson's prose, though simplistic at times, flows like a meandering country road, evoking a sense of unhurriedness, of long summer days and endless nights. Through it all--the bad summer jobs, the girlfriends, the worry over his mother's failing health--the main character, Leo Peery, undergoes a metamorphosis, a 'coming-of-age', if you will. Don't expect an action-packed page turner here. Instead, sit back and enjoy the easy pace of a time gone by, when your whole life--no matter how scary the prospect--was in front of you. Salmon Run

I very much enjoyed this novel. The main character is extremely likable. As opposed to another reviewer who found him detached,I found him very sensitive. As a health care provider I find a denial/avoidance reaction to a new diagnosis of cancer to be very common. And since teenagers are notoriously absorbed in their own dramas, it seemed very realistic for him to avoid dwelling on his mother's illness. I thought the emotional confusion of adolescence was conveyed smoothly and very much enjoyed the characters. Sure, they spoke a bit too precociously ( I call this the "My So-Called Life Syndrome"), but they were fun to spend time with. It may not be a life-changing novel, but if you enjoy coming-of-age novels, I don't think you'll be disappointed with this one. It left me feeling warm and satisfied.

Leo Peery has just graduated from High School and we follow him through the last summer of his childhood (or is it the first summer of his adulthood?) Handsome, smart and amiable Leo helps his cousin on the family farm, works as a lifeguard, discovers startling information about his mother, gets together with an old girlfriend and with some other girls as well, is nice to small children, goes fishing, restores a car, enjoys life, worries, has a few nasty accidents, makes some mistakes, survives, learns and grows. That's really all there is to it, and what a lovely journey it is. If the story is not as compelling as Jackson's remarkable first novel, Life At These Speeds, it is still a lovely read, full of the joy and beauty of life's simple pleasures. And if the dialogue sometimes seems too clever to be entirely believable, it is so fun to read that all is forgiven. This is Jackson's 2nd novel (he has also written two cookbooks) and I can hardly wait to see what comes next.