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Summer Light
By Luanne Rice
Published by Bantam
"Summer Light" is Light Summer Reading
By Carolyn Howard-Johnson
(Note: The reviewer picked up a copy of this book to review at
Book Expo America in Chicago the first weekend in June.
The book may not be in your local bookstores yet.)
Summer Light,by Luanne Rice, is a book that will keep you smiling,
The protagonist is a strong single parent who comes from a long line
of independent entrepreneurs. In spite of this, her independence
occasionally slips like it does for most women who are perfecting new
roles. That she allowed her new husband to do all the driving was endearing
because we never want our heroines too perfect. Well, OK, maybe it was
annoying, too, because a woman with the wherewithal to run her own business
and raise her daughter by herself should have grown up a bit more. After
all, we aren't living in the 70s any more.
In fact, this is generally the way I felt about this book. I was
torn. It is a story about relationships and about how they are destroyed
by closing down feelings, nourished by faith, and kindness, and familial
ties. Nothing wrong with that, right?
But then it gets sappy in spots and the ending was a bit of a copout.
Still, the characters in Summer Light were well-rounded and it had
enough story threads to keep the pages turning. It was well-grounded, too.
There were pictures enough of Canada and New England in the fall to please
the most visual of directors looking for a new production. Maybe that was
the problem. There were sports, celebrity, angels, faith, clairvoyance,
weddings, love, and independent women of all ages. In other words there
was something for everyone and a part for everyone from Nick Nolte to Meryl
Streep to Madonna. Maybe that was the problem. It was just all, too, too,
made-for-the-movies.
On the other hand, those pages didn't turn by magic. Someone had to
do it and that someone was up until one in the morning waiting to see how
these relationships would become resolved. So, for light summer reading,
Summer Light, is entertaining but really light.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson is the author ofThis Is The Place,