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The Summer of Naked Swim Parties (P.S.)by Jessica Anya Blau
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments: Fourteen-year-old Jamie will never forget the summer of 1976. It's the summer when she has her first boyfriend, cute surfer Flip Jenkins; it's the summer when her two best friends get serious about sex, cigarettes, and tanning; it's the summer when her parents throw, yes, naked swim parties, leaving Jamie flushed with embarrassment. And it's the summer that forever changes the way Jamie sees the things that matter: family, friendship, love, and herself. Review:"In this debut novel, Blau addresses the coming-of-age of a young girl as she navigates her way through the confusion of adolescence. Fourteen-year-old Jamie lives in Santa Barbara with her 16-year-old sister, Renee, and their parents, Allen and Betty, two swinging, pot-smoking, part-time nudists. It's 1976 and Jamie isn't altogether comfortable with her parents' lifestyle, while Renee turns to straighter neighbors for a surrogate family. Overly anxious Jamie ends up with Flip, the cutest surfer in town. Before long they have progressed way beyond kissing, and Allen and Betty's casual ways result in a disaster that turn the family into pariahs in their middle-class neighborhood. Blau understands the mating rituals of 1970s teens, and she reproduces their mindless chatter with ease. Unfortunately, not all of the characters are fully realized; the adults, generally treated more obliquely, give off no more than hints of character. It's obvious that their excessive hedonism will eventually cause tragedy, so the book does have a growing dread that blossoms in the third quarter, but the reader may be left with the impression that all this ground has been covered before. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Review:"Jamie may be untethered as she floats through The Summer of Naked Swim Parties, but this reader found himself inexorably tied to her family, her story and the terrifying things that come bouncing her way. I promise you I won't be the only one." Oregonian Review:"Once you dive in to this sweet, sparkling coming of age story, dripping with heart and heartbreak, you won't want to come up — even for air." Hillary Carlip, author of Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan Review:"You may think you've heard this story before, but no one tells it as wittily, winningly, wisely and well as Jessica Anya Blau." Madison Smartt Bell Review:"This book will make you laugh and cry in public. Jessica Anya Blau has written a soaring teenage lament, perfectly pitched, containing the single saddest and funniest line of seduction ever uttered." Larry Doyle, author of I Love You, Beth Cooper Review:"Move over, summer of love. Here comes the summer of naked swim parties....[Blau] knows adolescence inside out...[S]he skewers what needs skewering and celebrates the rest with humor, style, and an appropriate degree of affection." Booklist Review:"Recovered Judy Blume addicts, brace yourselves for a relapse: Jessica Anya Blau's debut novel, set in Santa Barbara, California, during the summer of '76, is a poignant, gleeful ode to the turbulence of growing up....[A] dead-on portrayal of the simple yet shocking revelations of youth." Time Out New York Review:"Ms. Blau is a writer of wit, intelligence, deep feeling, humor and imagination, and she gets into the head of a young person like almost nobody since J.D. Salinger. All aboard!" Stephen Dixon Review:"Jessica Anya Blau creates a charming protagonist, her charismatic Santa Barbara family and a summer of love, lust and confusion. You won't want summer — and this wonderful book — to end." Ellen Sussman, author of Dirty Words: A Literary Encyclopedia of Sex; Bad Girls: 26 Writers Misbehave; and On a Night Like This Review:"It's hard to recall a debut as warm, charming and comically satisfying as The Summer of Naked Swim Parties....Blau conveys Jamie's world with compelling insight and wit...[Blau's] sharp observation and affectionate humor [give] surprising depth to this shimmering novel." San Francisco Chronicle
VideoAbout the AuthorJessica Anya Blau is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, and the Johns Hopkins University, where she received her master's degree. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland, where she teaches creative writing at Johns Hopkins. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
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