Buy The Summer I Turned Pretty
Special: $10.24(Regular price: $12.95)
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Format: Paperback
Reviewer: Melissa on May 31, 2011
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
For Belly, life is divided between summers and the ten intervening months that make up winter. As far as she can tell, everything magical and good happens in July and August while her, her mother, and her mother’s friend – Savannah – and her two kids – Jeremiah and Conrad – spend their days at the beach house. Belly has known these boys ever since her first summer, and they’ve fulfilled everything from being girly crushes to additional brotherly figures. But this summer, a summer that is both terrible and wonderful at the same time, the more that everything changes, the more it becomes exactly the way it has always meant to be.
A simple search on the web for your favorite celebrity or through childhood photo albums will usually turn up a photo or two (at least) of the awkward stage that every teen girl goes through. At nearly 16, Belly is just getting out of the annoying “little sister” stage in The Summer I Turned Pretty, even to the older Fisher boys, who she tries to hang out with each summer. She’s never been included with Steven, her brother, Conrad, and Jeremiah when they did fun things like, hang out on the boardwalk or go to a beach party, but maybe this year will be different. Maybe it’s because this year, Belly takes her life into her own hands. Maybe it’s because this year, she’s become noticeable.
In this novel, Jenny Han does something unexpected, which works in her (and the book’s) favor. While many novels highlight only the characters’ experience of the present moment, she offers readers a glimpse of the summers that defined Belly’s place in the summertime social circle up till now as well. Belly in introspective, and while some readers have criticized the novel for being whinny or Belly for being full of herself, I tend to disagree with these disparaging statements. She’s just a girl, who wants to be noticed by others, who doesn’t always appreciate how great her mother is, and doesn’t understand why Conrad isn’t acting like himself this year. The latter issue is, in my opinion, related to how little she knows Conrad on a personal level: she knows his behavior is unusual, but what is signifies is beyond her. With all this in mind, I’d say that she acts the way many teens do — as if they are the heroine of their own life story — and in this case, Belly most certainly is.
Overall, I’d say that The Summer I Turned Pretty, and probably the remaining three books in the summer series, would be great for an average teen girl, who dreams of the day when her secret crush starts to notice she exists. Similarly, those who love finding references to great bands and music while they read will have some fun with this YA book.
Buy The Summer I Turned Pretty today and benefit from a 20% discount and free shipping!
Melissa has always been a voracious reader of fiction and has an M.A. in English Literature to prove it. Like many other adults, she got caught up in the young adult crossover fiction phenomenon. Now, one of her great joys comes from sharing her love of YA lit on this popular review site. Come with expectations of intellect, magic, and honest reviews, and you won’t be disappointed.
