The Last Summer (of You & Me) by Ann Brashares

Brashares, Ann. "The Last Summer (of You & Me)". 2007.

Ease with which to read/enjoyable author style 4.5

Suitable ending 3.5 (The ending could have gone either way; this was a mite contrived, though satisfying)

Personal favoritism 4.25

Poetic language 4

Memorable 3.5

Original, creative plot 2.5

Original, well-developed characters 2.5

Probability of recommendation 3.75

Ability to "move" emotionally 4.75

Literary value and/or educational value 2

Total: 35.25

Final Rating: 3 1/2 stars

4-sentence summary:

Alice and Riley are two sisters who live in a beach house on Fire Island, NY during their summers. They've grown up next to Paul, who is Riley's best friend and Alice's protector. As they pass through their 20's, they contemplate what it means to grow up, moving on to the future, and holding on to the past. Set amidst a sea (har har) of family drama, angsty unrequited love, insane guilt complexes, and the loyalty between sisters is also a beautiful and poetic coming-of-age tale.

Critique:

The book is poignant and fiercely romantic, but has some obvious flaws. As the author of the "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" books, the author has some obvious desire to tell the tale of what happens after you're a teenager; a "coming of age" tale. Unfortunately, the author forces the coming of age tale by inserting lack of communication, illness, and separation in order to do so. And although Ann Brashares got her fame in the young adult genre, this book has some sensual scenes that are not appropriate for younger audiences. All in all, however, the book's cliches and well-worn characters are still lovable, even if contrived. The book was impossible to put down, and, as it is set on the beach, would be a perfect beach read. Remember to bring tissues, though; it's a real tear-jerker. I could easily see this as a movie. It was very Nicholas Sparks-esque.

Post- Script:

I just checked the Wikipedia page and found that in fact the movie is in the works. The rights to the movie was bought for 1 million dollars and it will be directed by the same woman who directed "The Last Song", a Nicholas Sparks movie. No surprise there.

Corrections/Addendums

As I fell asleep at 3 AM last night, I decided that I am still unhappy with my criteria.

Here are some proposed changes.

So here is my final evaluation criteria:
--

Ease with which to read/enjoyable author style (5)

Suitable ending (5)

Personal favoritism (5)

Poetic language (5)

Memorable (5)

Original, creative plot (5)

Original, well-developed characters (5)

Probability of recommendation (5)

Ability to "move" emotionally (5)

Literary value and/or educational value (5)

____

(50)

+ 4 sentence summary

I think I'll leave it at that for now.

Of course, the assumption is that there is no "0", the scale is simply 1-5. A book may receive a rating of 5 with the confidence that it is utmost perfect in that category, and a rating of 1 if it is abominably wretched. The lowest score a book can get is a "1" all around.

I'd like to take this time to point out that sometimes I don't always like the classic books, and I tend to favor light-hearted, girlish tales. I'm not saying the classics don't have literary value or aren't worth reading. But as far as Lori-enjoyability, this is my scale.

Scoring Criteria

I have decided on a new criteria list with which to review books that I've read. Mostly because I read a lot of books and aside from putting a "*" next to them on my "Book List", I can't remember what I liked or disliked.

Brr, it's really cold in here. Stephen can only sleep when there are icicles forming on the ceiling. Blerg.

So here is my final evaluation criteria:
--

Ease with which to read/author style (5)

Suitable ending (5)

Personal favoritism (5)

Poetic language (5)

Memorable (5)

Original, creative plot (5)

Flowing, non-predictable plot movement (5)

Probability of recommendation (5)

Ability to "move" emotionally (5)

Literary value (5)

____

(50)

+ 4 sentence summary

And I will cut the scoring down to a "1 to 5" scale. So a final book review may come out to a "4.1" (41) etc.

I don't anticipate many books making it past a 4, but I've read some good ones lately. So we'll see. I may have to tweak the criteria to be more harsh.