I've been having trouble settling into a book lately. Everything I pick up looks good on the shelf, but once I get home and try to get into it, I rapidly lose interest. Fortunately, Miss Havisham came to visit recently, bringing along some literary gifts, the best of which was Ferris Beach by Jill McCorkle. I expected it to be a lazy, casual afternoon read, but was pleasantly surprised to find it was so much more.
Although the cover reads like Judy Blume's Summer Sisters (in fact, a very enjoyable summer read, but definitely fluff) the characters are much more developed. And maybe I was just in a nostalgic mood, but the main character really did speak to a universal adolescent experience. She was real, she was funny, she reminded me of me 20 years ago or so. Some of the family situations border on melodramatic, but although elements of the plot are sometimes unrealistic, the writing never is. A big two thumbs up for anyone looking for a beach read, or a trip down memory lane...
Glad you liked it! I'm having a hard time remembering very much about the storyline. I can't believe it has been a year since I picked it up last summer! I do recall enjoying the main character, and her adolescent rebellion.
ReplyDeleteI also remember enjoying the small town Southern setting, which helped the book feel nostalgic to me. Even though I have never lived in the south, the simplicity of the small town setting, pre-cell phone, 300+ channels of cable, and strip malls added a sense of community I feel lacks in modern times. Not like I would really know, a child of the 80s...OK... 90s. In any event, I'm a sucker for a small-town southern setting!