Last Summer at Barebones

To anyone who likes to laugh and cry all in one sitting I reccommend this book to you. A great novel; Diane Baker Mason really knows how to pull you into her characters and become attached to their unique personalities. A fantastic read from beginning to end......GO DEE

This book takes you right back to the 60's and 70's as quick as a time machine. But it's hard to read at times, because it's so gruellingly honest. Fortunately it's also extremely funny. The ending is a double whammy. Just when you think it's over she hits you again, in a different way. It's a really important book to read, especially for anyone who still feels bad because they were or are picked on for being fat. I couldn't put it down!

Barebones (to me anyway) was about family -- how family members fit and relate, their perceptions of each other, their misperceptions about themselves. It's also a great growing up story. Characters were individuals with foibles and eccentricities. Mason made them lively and interesting (and sometimes silly) but even while she was poking fun at them, you could feel that she cared about them and respected them -- that's a neat trick.And I had no problem with the ending -- it was plausible and it fit the characters.

Books that are hard to put down are sadly few and far between, but this one is definitely in the select few that make it to that list. I was most impressed with the author's capturing of the 60's and 70's era which was both wonderful and from what I remember, very accurate. Not only did it bring back memories, but the realization that although we at the time thought things were moving along so quickly in terms of changes to societies values and morals, we had only just begun. The friend who recommended this book compared it to Wally Lamb's "She's Come Undone" and I do agree, though with less of a "surreal" quality that seemed to develop as Mr. Lamb's storyline seemed to progress. A great story of families, friendships, growing up different andjust plain "growing".

This was a quick read in spite of the book's thickness. I loved and hated the protagonist in the story. I loved her for her bright mind and tender heart and I hated her for her resistance to change and her unwillingness to accept change in others. The era (early - mid 70's) was the era I grew up in and all the old songs and styles really took me back. There were times when I wanted to weep and times when I laughed aloud. The ending ties up with the beginning nicely but at the same time is a little unexpected.