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Summers at Blue Lake
As a young girl, Barbara Jean Ellington spent summers at her grandmothers' home in a small Pennsylvania town. It was not the most conventional of households, formed as it was by two women who lived as partners in life as well as in business, but it had been a welcome retreat for a shy girl who had issues with her own mother and who needed room to grow.
Now both grandmothe...more
Now both grandmothe...more
Paperback, 323 pages
Published
August 3rd 2007
by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
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Summers at Blue Lake
bounces back and forth between the present (approximately now) and various points in the childhood and youth of Our Protagonist, Bobbi, or BJ as she was sometimes called. Most important are the summers she spent with her grandmothers, a loving lesbian couple. In the present Bobbi has just gone through a painful divorce with a cheating husband. She arrives to take possession of her late grandma Anja's house. During one summer she reconnects with old friends and learns things...more
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A Novel of family secrets...it states on the cover.The book was 315 pgs. long and the story could have been told in half that many pages. But it is this author's 1st book so she might get better. I read the whole thing because I wanted to find out how the story ended but I wouldn't recommend the book. It just doesn't have any sparks.
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The book was good. The storyline was different from otherbooks I have read and was not sure how fluid it would be. I liked the flashback chapters and present day. Jill Althouse Wood does a great job of describing the relationship between the grandaughter and her two grandmothers. At times I wished for more details but in the end it came together well.
Interesting subject, a long term relationship -50 years together- between two grandmothers, a perspective through the eyes of hers granddaughter, who is going through a painful divorce. It's not great literature, but with the back and fourth between the past and the present kept me interested until the end, even though I'm not 100% happy with the plot.
This was a bit different with the back and fourth between the past and the present. How a secert affects the lifes of those you love as well as the lives of those around you. It keep me interested until the end!!
This was an ok read. Not terrible, but not great literature. I really enjoyed the first part where she flipped back and forth between her teenage years and the present. I didn't really enjoy the second part at all. It didn't seem to fit the storyline.
Well, it's not great literature, but i really enjoyed the story and the writing style. Perhaps i liked it best because it took me back to my own summers as a teen. A good beachy summer read.
The storyline was original. It kept my interest and was a good summer read. I'm not sure what some reviewers hated about the ending. I thought it wrapped up nicely.
I really liked this story but I got a little lost keeping track of all the characters. I will be looking for more books by Jill Althouse-Wood.
This is a good escape book - a quick enjoyable read that doesn't expect effort from the reader.
It's just okay. There is a lot of fluff and the book could have been a lot shorter and not left anything out.
I kept reading until half way in the book then I gave up. Didn't like the back and forth format.
Jun 28, 2012
Teri
added it
Beautifully written book. Both happy & sad life story.
Didn't really care for this book...it's slow and drawn out.
Turned weird about 3/4 of the way through.
Enjoyed this book but a little unsettled by the ending.
A quick summer read about family secrets
Bit drawn out but interesting story.
Ok book. Interesting concept.
Started good. Ending was not what I hoped or expected
Well it didnt get great reviews here on GR but I liked it!!
A relatively interesting story, told in a not terribly coherent way. I liked the main character, and enjoyed reading about her craft. However, I just don't see the point of the way the book was structured, the conversation was not very conversational, the little boy acted both older and younger than his supposed age, and the many copyediting errors all detracted significantly from my enjoyment of this book. Ah, the hazards of picking something randomly off the new-book shelf in the library.
6/12/12. This book w just good, not great...
Sep 27, 2012
Trish
added it
Liked
odd ending....
Very slow to start. Had a lot of lessons to express
Excellent read, aspects of this book will linger with me for a good long time.
This book took entirely too long to get the point. The main character was supposed to find an unsent letter from her grandmother to her mother that would reveal family secrets. This letter wasn't even mentioned until almost 200 pages into the book. Once she started reading the letter I could tell where it was going...and I was right. I did not enjoy this book.
I really enjoyed it!
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