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240th out of 674 books
—
1,006 voters
The Summer of Naked Swim Parties
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...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
May 27th 2008
by Harper Perennial
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This book is pretty vapid. I was looking for a "beach read" and was attracted to the 70's stripey styling of the cover and chapter pages. Too bad I never really enjoy beach reads. This one was easy to get through but I felt like I would have learned more about myself and the world reading a PEOPLE magazine.
A coming of age story of a 14-year-old California girl, it is happy and sad alternately, much like teen life itself. With an older sister who is angry with the fact that young Jamie has developed early, leaving Renee far behind, and hippy parents who throw wild swim parties complete with booze, pot, and naked adults, Jamie is confused and embarrassed most of the time. She is also fearful. Earthquakes, fires, broken glass, poisonous snakes, death..., and worst of all, that the police will come wh...more
It was the title of this book that led me to pick it up while browsing at Borders, I have to admit. But this turned out to be a great book!
Jamie's parents are far from traditional, 70s hippies hosting naked swim parties, smoking pot,and letting their 14- and 16-year-old daughters do pretty much anything they want, without curfews or limits. Their daughters are more responsible than they are, and long for a "normal" family.
This is the story of Jamie's first boyfriend, her deteroriating relationsh...more
Jamie's parents are far from traditional, 70s hippies hosting naked swim parties, smoking pot,and letting their 14- and 16-year-old daughters do pretty much anything they want, without curfews or limits. Their daughters are more responsible than they are, and long for a "normal" family.
This is the story of Jamie's first boyfriend, her deteroriating relationsh...more
Published this year, Ms. Blau’s young-adult novel would not be recommended by me to any middle school nor early high school student. Part memoir, part fiction, the story enfolds through the sensitive eyes of 14-year old Jamie during the bicentennial summer of 1976 in Santa Barbara, California.
The story is very funny in part, to me, as the author seems to capture perfectly the embarrassment Jamie and her older sister, Renee, feel as their wealthy, free-spirited parents roam through the house and...more
The story is very funny in part, to me, as the author seems to capture perfectly the embarrassment Jamie and her older sister, Renee, feel as their wealthy, free-spirited parents roam through the house and...more
I have read two books this year that portray very complicated and engaging sister relationships, the first being Tell the Wolves I've Home and this being the second. The Summer of Naked Swim Parties takes place in California in the 1970s and the author does a fantastic job bringing this period to life. Fourteen year old Jamie misses the days when she and her older sister Renee were so close people used to think they were twins. But Renee is busy cultivating a good girl, straight-and-narrow, youn...more
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This book was painful because of its reality. Blau does an amazing job capturing the hopelessness and hopefulness of 14 year old girls. Jamie is a perfect follower - she knows all of the bad things that can happen in any situation, yet is willing to assume someone else in the group must know what's going on, so why not keep up? The cruelness of girls is brilliantly done and often contrasted with their kindness. It's amazing to me how girls can switch between the two within a few heartbeats and m...more
Written by the daughter of the wonderful Sheridan Blau, The Summer of Naked Swim Parties is the kind of book I would have loved when I was 13 or 14. At times I really enjoyed it, and at other times it really made me cringe. The stupidity of teenagehood always makes me feel vaguely ill (and sometimes acutely so), and the book's 14-year-old protagonist Jamie, her friends, and her boyfriend really made me want to put the book down several times for nausea. However, I did appreciate the sisterly sub...more
I read this in one day, I couldn't put it down. I thought she captured the age of 14 for a girl really well, no matter what time period it is. The relationship between Jamie and her straight-laced, developmentally-challenged older sister, the first "love", the growing apart of friends, the "odd" parents - I became attached to and involved with every character.
My copy had additional material at the end, where the author wrote a few pages on how she came to write this book. I found myself wanting...more
My copy had additional material at the end, where the author wrote a few pages on how she came to write this book. I found myself wanting...more
A bit of a random find of mine at the local Op Shop, but it was good in a quirky and weird way. This is the story of 14 year old Jamie, her odd parents and the lifestyle they lead. She has developed much faster than her sister who is two years older than her, and older guys are interested in her. She can't see why her friends like sex and guys, and her parents flamboyant lifestyle eventually catches us to them.
Really well written, and the characters are detailed and well thought out. I read this...more
Really well written, and the characters are detailed and well thought out. I read this...more
4.5 stars. I liked how this completely dysfunctional family pulled together, in spite of secrecy, deception and other basically normal behaviors of adolescent offspring. The parents are free spirited and still in love with life and each other. My only complaint with this is the parent's seemingly constant use of recreational drugs and alcohol and the mother encouraging her 14 year old daughter to have sex with her boyfriend. Not something I would embrace as a favorite read but a nice distraction...more
I couldn't decide how many stars I think this deserves so I'm settling with three, as I'm naturally drawn to any YA story. I couldn't decide because I felt like the story, which was about a 14-year-old girl going through her "coming of age" in the 1970s by smoking pot, having sex, finding connections, enrolled in therapies, etc., was mostly predictable, which disappointed me, BUT written in an unpredictable style, which I commend, since I don't really gravitate towards third-person POV stories....more
Jamie has the perfect life!! Her parents trust and love her! And their super cool too but not the being-naked-while-next-door-neighbors-are-inside-the-house part, that is soooo gross!!!!
I can't believe her mom talks to her about birth control and masturbating!! My mom never talks to me about those things!! I mean, she's only 14 and she lost her virginity!! Her family is way too liberal, well except for her sister, Renee.
This book is amazing, funny, interesting and I learned some things here.
I can't believe her mom talks to her about birth control and masturbating!! My mom never talks to me about those things!! I mean, she's only 14 and she lost her virginity!! Her family is way too liberal, well except for her sister, Renee.
This book is amazing, funny, interesting and I learned some things here.
Omg, I loved loved LOVED this book. Totally, absolutely LOVED IT!!! I feel like I'm parting with a good friend now that I have read the final pages, and I'm actually a bit sad to leave her behind. :( It would be wonderful if the author some day wrote a sequel (hint hint to the author if she ever happens to read this!).
"The Summer of Naked Swim Parties" is the coming-of-age story of 14-year-old Jamie, taking place during a care-free California summer in the 70's. Jamie's parents are free spirits...more
"The Summer of Naked Swim Parties" is the coming-of-age story of 14-year-old Jamie, taking place during a care-free California summer in the 70's. Jamie's parents are free spirits...more
No literary pretensions here. Jamie is 14 and coming of age. It is the early 1970s and her parents are maybe not the most restrictive. They host naked swim parties at their home in Santa Barbara, smoke far too much weed and place almost no restrictions on their children. This is unnerving for Jamie, who has developed on schedule, unlike her older sister, who, of course, hates her for that. First kiss, first date, and more is in store for Jamie this summer. Also a more mature way of seeing people...more
FANNNNNNTASTIC!
Summer of Naked Swim Parties is set in the 70's and revolves around a 14 year old girl and her eccentric parents who do just what the title says: Have naked swim parties. I personally want to vomit when I think of my parents being naked however, it's common in the book (swinging 70's) although the kids can't stand their parents and their parents friends being naked. They see their friends who have "normal" parents who bake and take their children places and "nurture" and they can...more
Summer of Naked Swim Parties is set in the 70's and revolves around a 14 year old girl and her eccentric parents who do just what the title says: Have naked swim parties. I personally want to vomit when I think of my parents being naked however, it's common in the book (swinging 70's) although the kids can't stand their parents and their parents friends being naked. They see their friends who have "normal" parents who bake and take their children places and "nurture" and they can...more
I gave the book 4 stars mostly because I couldn't put it down, finished within 24 hours of starting it. It's entertaining and interesting, I love the dead-on descriptions of Jamie's thoughts. Other than being a typical "coming-of-age" book, there's not too much of a plot and I didn't appreciate the ending – too sappy for me, because I don't necessarily believe it to be a sufficient ending to the story for a typical cynical 14-year old. A fun, fairly light (but not fluffy) quick read.
This coming of age story, set sometime in the 70's, somewhere in Southern California, is an oddly touching story. Jamie is 14 that summer, and has her first a 17-year-old surfer named Flip, who loves the "doobage" that Jamie's potsmoking parent share. As her parents have their naked swim parties, and her older sister heads off to Outward Bound, Jamie falls in love, and suffers all the tragedies of growing up too soon.
I enjoyed this book and my heart broke for Jamie as she lost her innocence.
I enjoyed this book and my heart broke for Jamie as she lost her innocence.
I found this book clichéd – a slice of life of California in the seventies. Jamie is the 14 years sexually active teenage daughter of free living and loving Betty and Allen. I think one of the messages of the book is that even though Betty and Allen seemed to have no real rules for themselves or their daughter – they were still loving and caring parents. I had a hard time getting past the fact that a 14 year old girl was having sex with 17 and 18 year boys.
This book was not as light and fluffy as I expected, but I still liked it. Jaime is 14 years old in Santa Barbara, CA in the 70s. Her parents are free-love, so they have their own naked swim parties, and don't mind that she is dating and sleeping with a 17 year old boy. Then, something horrible happens and turns her summer upside down. She drifts away from her friends, but is ultimately brought closer to her family and to an understanding of what friendship is.
Being 14 sucked! Totally sucked! This book brought me back to all those feelings of alienation, anger, the awkward sexuality, the seeming pointlessness of it all. Being so desperate for the attention of boys that I would have been better off spitting on. What a cruel and shallow bunch we all were. Reading this book made me cringe. It was painful and uncomfortable and was as close to going back to 14 as I ever want to be.
*shudder
*shudder
It's about 14-year-old Jamie and is set in 1976 in California. She's got her first boyfriend and two (really kind of obnoxious) best friends. She has an older sister who pretty much hates her and parents who are enjoying the 70s (lots of pot and parties where people swim naked--hence the title).
This book is really funny and there are parts where I cringed because I could remember being 14 and feeling the same way.
This book is really funny and there are parts where I cringed because I could remember being 14 and feeling the same way.
I was disappointed by this one. The reviews said "You'll laugh and cry out loud in public." I did neither! I don't remember being sad at all or laughing much at all! This was a story of a 14 year old girl's summer, kind of coming of age tale, set in the 70s. Most of the things they did, I found utterly amazing, being that they were 14, but then again, I was a baby in the 70s, so maybe I just grew up in a whole different era!
I happened upon this book at a random thrift store in a pile of discarded old books. I could not get enough of this story...the young teenage narrator really describes the angst of growing up with parents that gave her too MUCH freedom and not enough parenting, a stark contrast to what is expected from teenage prose. I loved the individual stories...and yes, the title does reflect the theme of the book :-)
I could certainly identify with the "coming of age" story. A lot changes in middle school. However, I was a little taken aback with the 14 year olds, sex, smoking, etc. I realize I probably was a bit naive and sheltered as a 14 year old and that's probably why I didn't really like that aspect of the book.
As for the lifestyle of the parents and how the girls dealt with it. Some of it was good that the parents were confident in who they were and that reflected in both girls in different ways.
Ove...more
As for the lifestyle of the parents and how the girls dealt with it. Some of it was good that the parents were confident in who they were and that reflected in both girls in different ways.
Ove...more
I got this book because I love coming of age stuff and the cover said you would laugh out loud in public. Ummm--I laughed exactly one time. It lasted almost 10 minutes, but it was still only one time. Its a bit graphic, and I just couldn't relate to teen years with this much explicitness. I don't really recommend it and I think my book will soon be stocking the shelves of half-priced books.
The writing was decent, but lacked any substance or emotion. I found myself reading it, because I wanted to finish the book (I hate leaving books partially read). I wasn't reading the book to see how the characters changed and grew. Honestly, I didn't care about Jamie or Renee or Allen or Betty. Not on bit.
I bought it for 99 cents, so I can't complain, but in all honesty, don't waste your time.
I bought it for 99 cents, so I can't complain, but in all honesty, don't waste your time.
I was really enjoying this book for about 2/3s of it. I was going to recommend it to my 17-year old daughter and my book club. The narrator is 14 in 1976 and I would have been 11 that summer, so I loved her references to drinking TaB and watching Match Game and The Gong Show. Up to a certain event in the book the life of this 14-year old was interesting and entertaining. Then something terrible happens. And I couldn't get over it for the remaining 1/3 of the book. The narrator couldn't get over...more
this book takes place in the 70's, so it was very easy for me to relate to (graduated hs in 75)...the main character's parents are part time nudists and throw naked swim parties in their backyard...the story follows the girl as she tries to find her way through various relationships with family members, friends, and boyfriends...easy to read, i finished in two days...
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
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| Babies can't swim good... | 1 | 19 | Mar 10, 2009 03:18pm |
Jessica Anya Blau's passionate and poignant debut novel is a story of one girl's coming of age in 1970's Southern California."
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Jun 23, 2008 08:45am
Jul 30, 2008 03:11pm