The Summer Guest

For me, the hallmark of a "good book" is whether or not the writer has involved me in the lives of the people he or she has created. It includes taking me places where I have never been. Justin Cronin transported me to a spot in northwestern Maine where, although I have been to the state of Maine many times, I have never visited. In his THE SUMMER GUEST, he introduced people to me who instantly drew me into their situations, looking over their shoulders, listening to their thoughts. I CARED about them! (Isn't that what we readers do?) Cronin's evident command of the locale, the mores, the temperaments of his characters, his intricately woven complications, and his love and compassion for the people he invented all combine to spread before us a riveting story of just plain, ordinary men and women but also we are able to take a look at some who are wealthy and worldly. In Cronin's rare and compelling manipulation of time, we are transported from 1947, aboard a train speeding through a snowy Maine night to 1997, a tranquil late-summer evening lake, aboard an old wooden rowboat. We meet Joe, his wife, his infant son and Kate and Jordan and Lucy and Harry and we are encouraged to hang out with them at a "Great Northwoods" fishing camp, where some come to work and some come to play. Mr. Cronin's sense of the colors and the smells and the textures of rural, heavily-forested Maine help us to flesh out the lives of the characters and their interactions. There is no way his readers cannot become involved! I defy anyone to read the first five pages of this book, put it down and not continue reading! THE SUMMER GUEST by New Englander Justin Cronin... Readers, do you remember beginning or ending some of your "book reports" in school with "It made me feel like I was right there."? The defense rests...

Can you think of a more wonderful place to have had the pleasure of reading this book than in the northwestern mountains of Maine?! Yes I did! I spend a week every summer at just such a place as the fishing camp described in this gorgeous novel (I can't help but wonder if maybe it's one and the same!?). Justin Cronin has written the best book I've read all summer, perhaps all year. I am going to run out and buy Mary and O'Neil, and can't wait already for his next book!

Simply put, this is a terrific book. The primary setting is a fishing camp/resort in northwest Maine. The characters either have run, are running or will be running the place. Their lives have all been touched significantly by one man - the summer guest who has returned to the camp every summer for more than thirty years. The novel acounts for the six main characters' lives in the present and in reflections of the past. The lives of the camp people are all tightly interwoven, since four are related (father, son and wife and grandson) and the fifth looks like he will marry into the family. What shows through the telling of their stories is the major affect that the summer guest has had on their lives - and them on his. The novel is written so that chapter to chapter the first person narrative changes from character to character. A legitimate criticism is that Mr. Cronin does not give each a distinctive voice. If I put the book down in mid-chapter, I might have to go back to see who was speaking. The quality of this book well overrides this short-coming, however. The stories of these characters are interesting, poignant and real. They are accounts of lives, loves and deaths touchingly told. What could have been a soap opera is so artfully told by Mr. Cronin that the book never became maudlin. The characters are all likeable, yet very different in their own right with very human weaknesses and strengths. They are perhaps the most believable characters I have read of in a long long time. Except possibly for the gift given by the rich summer guest, Mr. Wainwright, the characters and their lives are all believable. There are no superhuman efforts. No pristine pure and perfect people. It is easy to imagine each person and every event. It is a tribute to fine writing and story-telling. By the end of the book, not only does the reader feel as if he knows each character well enough to recognize him on the street, but it is conceivable that such people really do walk the streets - and it would be good to meet them. This is definitely one of the best books of the year. Read it and weep and laugh.

Justin Cronin has a talent for totally involving the reader in the lives of characters who seem ordinary but who have intriguing stories. This compelling novel evokes a wide range of emotions as he takes us through the multi-generational tale of lives surrounding a fishing camp in Maine. As in "Mary and O'Neil," much of Cronin's tale is family-centered, complete with husband-wife, parent-sibling relationships that get plumbed to the depths. It's a love story, of course, and the scene where many summer guests are dancing on the dock to Ella Fitzgerald singing "How High the Moon" on the night Neil Armstrong takes his giant step for mankind is so beautifully told as to bring tears to your eyes.

This will probably be one of this reviewer's favorite books of 2004. Justin Cronin's THE SUMMER GUEST takes place, for the most part, at a rustic fishing camp in Maine and centers on the dying wishes of wealthy businessman Harry Wainwright. Harry has been spending the last thirty summers at the camp, having become a friend to the family that runs the place. Joe Crosby is the current owner, running the camp with his wife Lucy. Harry has come home to the camp to have his last dying wishes fulfilled, to fish one last time out on the lakes, and to reveal who will inherit his estate to those at the camp who have come to mean more to him than family.The novel opens with a prologue that takes us to the end of WWII. A war veteran, Joseph Crosby, has brought his wife Amy and infant son Joe to Maine, taking a risk by purchasing and re-opening a fishing camp that he learned to love as a boy. The prologue depicts a war hero who is about to risk all he has for the hopes of a better life, as the couple has spent their entire life savings to start anew in this remote part of the country.The prologue is misleading, as the reader will at first assume the story is about a WWII veteran, but it is not. THE SUMMER GUEST instead revolves around Joe, Joseph's son, Joe's wife Lucy, and the wealthy businessman who becomes their friend. It is their relationship that drives the plot to its conclusion, ending with the third generation member of the Crosby family, Kate. What makes this book a must-read is the skill that Cronin uses to create these characters, making each of them come alive, and the story that is behind each character. The relationships that are formed are what make this book worth reading, and the mystery behind what really happened between Joe, Lucy and Harry come together by the end of the book, culminating with a revelation that affects everyone, especially Kate.A different person narrates each chapter, telling the story of the past from varying viewpoints. Jordan Patterson opens the book with his introduction of Harry Wainwright and his current wife, their baby daughter January, and his grown son Hal from his first marriage. Jordan, who works for Joe and Lucy, spends his time doing odd jobs, helps take guests out on tours by the lake, and helps run the camp. It is a simple life, and he doesn't make a lot of money, but it's what he loves, and he lives at the camp all year round. Jordan's job that weekend is to see that Harry gets his last chance to fish before he dies.As the novel progresses, the past is told in bits and pieces. Joe and Lucy's story starts with Lucy taking a job at the camp during the summer months. She's a teenager, a few years younger than Joe, and their story takes the novel to the height of the Vietnam War. Joseph takes yet another risk in life when he helps his son dodge the draft by sending him off to Canada, a seemingly contradictory action to take on the part of a WWII vet. A very involved plot line, it also tells the tale of Harr