Book Review: Jennifer Weiner's Big Summer

Thank you to Atria Books for providing me with a copy of Jennifer Weiner’s latest novel, Big Summer, in exchange for an honest review.

Drue Cavanaugh appears to have it all. She’s rich, beautiful, and successful. However, looks can be deceiving, and happiness is something that has always eluded Drue. Drue is magnetic and charming, which draws people to her, but she also has a ruthless, mean streak, which destroys her friendships.

Drue’s childhood friend, Daphne Berg, was a target of Drue’s cruelty, and after a particularly painful incident, they haven’t spoken in six years. Daphne is surprised when Drue contacts her, begging Daphne to be her maid of honor for her upcoming lavish Cape Cod wedding. Drue seems sincere in her desire to fix their friendship, but there is another piece of the puzzle. Daphne is a rising social media star and Drue pitches that Daphne can use the wedding to promote herself. Many aspects of the wedding are being promoted on social media and companies have donated products for the bride and groom to showcase.

Daphne agrees, and she is swept back into Drue’s glamorous world. On the night of the rehearsal dinner, Daphne meets a handsome man and has a steamy one-night stand. The next morning, the man is gone, and Drue is found dead in a nearby hot tub. Daphne is a suspect, and she works to solve the mystery of both Drue’s murder and the identity of her mystery man.

I’ve read many of Weiner’s previous novels, and I’m a fan. I was excited to read Big Summer, but I must confess that this was a miss for me. The first third of the story is strong; setting up the history and dynamic between Drue and Daphne. Daphne is a charming character, especially as we meet her after she has made a big transformation in her life. She is happy and on the path to success when Drue’s reappearance threatens her. Drue’s sway over people is captivating. I found my interest crumbling after Drue died and the story shifts to a mystery.

I didn't anticipate the reveal of the murderer, yet it wasn’t a satisfying twist. Weiner sets Drue up as someone who has wronged many people and therefore, her murderer could be anyone. Daphne, and her roommate Darshi, set-off to solve the various mysteries. The mystery aspect of the novel has a lot of convenient situations and tenuous links. I didn’t find it plausible and my interest waned. Mysteries are a departure for Weiner, and I applaud her for trying something new, but it didn’t gel.

A lovely aspect of the story was the relationship between Daphne and her parents, especially her father. Daphne and her father have a Sunday tradition of trying different restaurants and cuisines. In a flashback scene, Drue joins them one Sunday. Drue’s parents have held her at a distance, and being included on this Sunday outing was an emotional experience for Drue. Daphne is made aware that the love from her parents and their support is something that money can’t buy.

Big Summer has beautiful themes of the ability to change and not being defined by your past. Daphne has insecurities due to her weight, but when she allows herself to let go of her worries, she finds acceptance, including a new boyfriend, Nick. Speaking of Nick, their romance is passionate and sexy. I may have been blushing!

Big Summer reminds us that not everything on social media is how it appears, both what is shared and what is kept private. People have the ability to change, even if we are not noticing their changes. I’m a fan of Weiner and will certainly read her future novels, but Big Summer was enough of a miss for me, that I can’t recommend it. The strengths in Big Summer are the characters and themes, but the overarching plot is messy.

Los Angeles Central Library Tour: October 2018

As part of my five-day “Hometown Tourist” agenda, I took the Downtown LA Walking Tour’s Architecture Tour. It was led by the founder of the tour company, Neel; who is a personable, knowledgable guide with an infectious love for Los Angeles.

The tour encompassed many parts of Los Angeles, but for this post, I’m going to focus on the library portion of the tour

It was a small group tour, only five other people and we met in the mid- morning in the libraries’ Maguire Gardens. The Central Library is located right across from the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, where we were staying, so this tour’s meeting place couldn’t have been more convenient.

I have to confess that I had never visited the library. The closest I came was back in 2000, when I dined at Cafe Pinot, an upscale restaurant located adjacent to the library. It’s a real shame that I didn’t discover the library earlier in my life, especially when it was so close to my childhood home. It’s a truly gorgeous library.

I was thirty-minutes early for the tour and the Maguire Garden was practically empty. I enjoyed the many unusual art installations and sat down on a park bench to read a book. It’s a peaceful place in the middle of the city. Shortly after returning home from this trip, I tutored an ESL student who called me on his phone from the Maguire Gardens. He had an English lesson while on his lunch break. It made me homesick for Los Angeles.

The original Los Angeles Central Library was built in 1926 in an Art Deco style that was popular for the era. In 1986, the library was devastated by a fire, but part of the original structure, named the Goodhue Building still stands. The Goodhue Building was restored and an addition named after mayor Tom Bradley, was added, making this the second largest public library in the United States.

Los Angeles history is shared through large ceiling murals in the rotunda. The “Zodiac Chandelier” is a stunning Art Deco showstopper.

This sculpture, called the “Torch of Knowledge” was on top of the original library building.

Librarian Everett Robbins was responsible for the original look of the library, including the placement of the circulation desks.

The Tom Bradley wing.

Old card catalogues ( remember those?) are used as markers for library patrons. I love this idea!

Although not part of my walking tour, I went back to the library a few days later to view the temporary exhibit: 21 Collections: Every Object has a Story.

This intriguing exhibit explored the idea of people and their quirky collections. It included Tom Hank’s collection of vintage type writers. One of the more memorable collections was a woman who collected photographs of murals that are in prison visitor’s rooms. Apparently, it is common for prisoners to paint colorful murals depicting things like beach holidays, so that they can have a nice backdrop for family pictures. There was an enormous, life-size elephant made of walnut shells, that was created for the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago.

The library gift shop is a must-visit for bibliophiles. It is well-curated with bookish items and I could have blown my budget here. I left with a tee-shirt and a few postcards, but was tempted by much more.

The Central Library is a true treasure for locals, but it should not be missed by tourists.

I will end with this curious statement found on the exterior of the library.

Social Distancing in Littleton: Week Eight

I cannot believe that it has been two months. Oddly enough, this week things seemed to be a bit more normal. Yesterday, Dan had a dermatologist appointment that was made months ago, before the everything closed and the office didn’t cancel it. I went with him, although I stayed in the car during his appointment.

Afterwards, we went to American Furniture Warehouse to pick out new garden furniture. The store is massive, like a Costco for furniture and they were rigid with social distancing/safety protocols. We had our masks on, as did everyone else and I felt safe shopping. They gave us branded bottled water and we spotted the owner (tiger guy) walking around the store. It wasn’t very busy, more staff than customers.

In the evening, we went to a local bike shop (Pedal in Littleton) and Dan bought us two new bikes. Again, safety protocols were in place and we didn’t even enter the store. The employees brought everything out to the parking lot. It was a bit strange, since we couldn’t browse through the bikes, but also maybe it was better, since the employee gave us customized service based on our needs. I was able to test ride the bikes too. I’ve never been a fan of bicycling, so I was reluctant, but Dan’s enthusiasm has made me excited to give this new form of exercise a chance. My bike is beautiful and so easy to ride. We are waiting for Dan’s bike to be built, so when we have both of them, I will post pictures. We should have them both by this weekend.

Yesterday felt normal, because people were out doing things, getting back to life. The streets were busier and as we drove past businesses, parking lots were full. I estimate that 95% of the people we saw were following social distancing guidelines and wearing masks. This filled me with hope. That said, we also had local news reports of restaurants deciding to defy orders and serve indoors for Mother’s Day. The news reports were shocking, as these restaurants were completely full with no distancing and masks. I can empathize with business owners who need the business, but this is not okay. Ultimately, I think the actions of the few who decided to be defiant will slow down the overall progress of reopening, plus could even kill people. It’s horrible.

On a lighter note, this week continued to be personally productive and had several highlights.

Our garden is nearly done! It looks amazing and by next week, I should be able to share the completed project with our new furniture. Dan was really excited about the mini digger parked outside of our house. Here are pictures of the progress.

A little less with the kitchen experiments this week. Dan made crepes and I made a curry.

On Saturday morning, I took a three hour zoom grammar course through the Gotham Writer’s Workshop. My grammar skills are decent, but I definitely learned a lot during this intensive class. It was worth taking. The second half of the course is this coming Saturda and I was given homework.

I entered the NYC Midnight Microfiction Challenge. At midnight (eastern standard time) on Friday, I was given my information for the first heat. There are three heats over the next three months. I had twenty-four hours to write a 100 word story that must be in the comedy genre, must involve the action of “lighting a fire,” and must include the word “sleep.” At first, I was daunted by the parameters that I was randomly assigned. It took some playing around with ideas to land on the right one. I ended up very pleased with my entry. It’s a little niche, but hopefully the judges will like it. The concept made Dan laugh and that was priceless. If I advance to the next round, I will share my first entry.

Last night, I attended my first “Virtual Book Signing.” It was hosted by our local book chain, Tattered Cover and was to promote Mikel Jollett’s memoir, Hollywood Park. I’m a huge fan of Jollett, the frontman of The Airborne Toxic Event. Truth be told, he’s a celebrity crush of mine. I love his song writing and his voice. I’ve been to many Airborne concerts and his music is the epitome of Los Angeles. I had been very excited to attend this event live, but virtual was the next best thing. Jollett spoke and sang for about ninety minutes and then took questions. He was raw, emotional, and gracious. I loved hearing him read from his memoir. He made me cry and I felt homesick for Los Angeles. Just really beautiful stuff. I also get an autographed copy of Hollywood Park, which will be mailed in a few weeks.

Tonight is the season finale of Survivor: Winners at War. This has been an epic season and Dan has even been watching it with me from the beginning. This is his first season of Survivor. We discovered that our neighbors are also big fans and we watched the season premiere at their house. Unfortunately, we have not been able to watch the other episodes with them, but mid-season, we did decide to make a friendly wager. We each picked four players and the person with the last player standing gets to choose a cocktail, which the first person out will make. So far, we all have a player still in the game and the hope of one of our players returning from The Edge of Extinction. I have Tony left in the game and Pavarti/Yul/Sophie on the edge. She wasn’t my pick, but I think Natalie has the best shot at making it back from Extinction. She was the first vote out, but she has been phenomenal on the edge.

We will be watching live tonight for the three hour finale! Dan had these mugs made and we gave a pair to our neighbors.

Cows visited our neighborhood several times this week. I could hear them mooing from inside of our house. I love it! They were hang out in a giant field at the end of our street and I went to visit them at sunset.

And of course some cute cat pictures.

The one where Slinky is eating and Tom is looking at the camera was a funny moment. Slinky is old and skinny, so we have been giving him extra food. Tom gobbled up his small portion and was feeling sorry for himself, because Slinky was still eating. He even tried “petting” Slinky gently on the head, but Slinky was not about to share!