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Every Other Weekend
A debut novel about an imaginative girl in the year following her parents' divorce, and what happens when her creeping premonition that something terrible will happen comes true in the most unexpected of ways.
A Barnes & Noble Discover Pick
The year is 1988, and America is full of broken homes. EVERY OTHER WEEKEND drops us into the sun-scorched suburbs of southern California, amid Bret Michaels mania and Cold War hysteria, with Nenny, a wildly precocious, nervous nelly of an eight-year-old, as our guide to the newly rearranged life she finds herself leading after her parents split.
Nenny and her mother and two brothers have just moved in with her new stepfather and his two kids. Her old life replaced by this new configuration, Nenny's natural anxieties intensify, and both real and imagined dangers entwine: earthquakes and home invasions, ghosts of her stepfather's days in Vietnam, Gorbachev knocking down the door of her third grade class and recruiting them all into the Red Army. Knock-kneed and a little stormy-eyed, she is far too small for the thoughts that haunt her, yet her fears are not entirely unfounded. Indeed, tragedy does come, but it comes at her sideways, in a way she never had imagined.
With an irresistible voice, Summerfield has managed to tap the very truth of what it is to have been a child of her generation, bottle it, and serve it up in devastating, hilarious, heartfelt doses. EVERY OTHER WEEKEND beautifully and unsettlingly captures the terrible wisdom that children often possess, as well as the surprising ways in which families fracture and reform.
A Barnes & Noble Discover Pick
The year is 1988, and America is full of broken homes. EVERY OTHER WEEKEND drops us into the sun-scorched suburbs of southern California, amid Bret Michaels mania and Cold War hysteria, with Nenny, a wildly precocious, nervous nelly of an eight-year-old, as our guide to the newly rearranged life she finds herself leading after her parents split.
Nenny and her mother and two brothers have just moved in with her new stepfather and his two kids. Her old life replaced by this new configuration, Nenny's natural anxieties intensify, and both real and imagined dangers entwine: earthquakes and home invasions, ghosts of her stepfather's days in Vietnam, Gorbachev knocking down the door of her third grade class and recruiting them all into the Red Army. Knock-kneed and a little stormy-eyed, she is far too small for the thoughts that haunt her, yet her fears are not entirely unfounded. Indeed, tragedy does come, but it comes at her sideways, in a way she never had imagined.
With an irresistible voice, Summerfield has managed to tap the very truth of what it is to have been a child of her generation, bottle it, and serve it up in devastating, hilarious, heartfelt doses. EVERY OTHER WEEKEND beautifully and unsettlingly captures the terrible wisdom that children often possess, as well as the surprising ways in which families fracture and reform.
282 pages, Hardcover
First published April 17, 2018
65 people are currently reading
2494 people want to read
About the author
Zulema Renee Summerfield
2 books32 followersZulema Renee Summerfield is a writer, educator, and creative coach. Her short fiction has been published in a number of literary journals, including Guernica and The Threepenny Review. A MacDowell colony fellow, Zulema lives in Portland, Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
April 29, 2018
I'm between 3 and 3.5 stars.
"It is 1988 and America is full of broken homes. America's time is measured in every-other-weekend-and-sometimes-once-a-week. Her drawers are filled with court papers and photos no one looks at anymore. Her children have bags that're always packed and waiting by the door."
Nenny is eight years old when her parents tell her and her brothers, Bubbles and Tiny, that they are getting divorced, their father is moving into a new apartment, and they'll see him every other weekend.
After living in a house with their mother and a friend of hers from the hospital where she works, their mother starts dating a new man, Rick, a Vietnam vet who also works at the hospital. Rick has two children of his own, Kat, an emotional, know-it-all 16-year-old, and Charles, who is Nenny's age.
Once Nenny and her siblings have gotten used to the upheaval in their lives, they are thrown another loop when their mother and Rick marry, and they move into Rick's house. Suddenly, Nenny has more siblings and has to deal with a mother who must spread her attention and love even thinner, plus she must navigate the newness of Rick, his off-putting silences, his thriftiness, and the emotional distance he seems to keep.
Nenny is a nervous child with an overactive imagination. She fears experiencing the types of disasters she hears about on the news—fires, earthquakes, home invasions—but she also fears unbelievable scenarios she's dreamed up, like Mikhail Gorbachev drafting her and all of her classmates into the Russian army, or her mother disappearing, never to be heard from again. But as she prepares for what she believes to be the worst to happen, she and her family are unprepared for the tragedy that does occur.
Every Other Weekend is a nostalgic look at growing up a child of divorce, when all of the things you've relied on for security are gone, and you have to become acclimated to an entirely new life. It's a book about desperately wanting to be noticed, wanting to be loved, and having that need be so palpable. It's also a book about how families can change shape and reform, and how it takes time to realize that comfort and love come from surprising places, when we least expect it.
This was a sweet book, and Zulema Renee Summerfield really created a memorable character with Nenny—silly, sweet, emotional, loving, confused, fearful, and curious. I thought the book would be pretty predictable, yet Summerfield definitely chose her own path from time to time. She's a very talented writer, and none of her characters are more precocious than their ages—they sound authentic rather than too clever for their own good.
The story shifts between real life and Nenny's fears, as well as some strange chapters which felt a little more like non sequiturs than plot devices, and that disrupted the flow of the story for me. But at its core, this is a poignant story with a lot of heart, featuring an endearing character you'll remember.
NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.
"It is 1988 and America is full of broken homes. America's time is measured in every-other-weekend-and-sometimes-once-a-week. Her drawers are filled with court papers and photos no one looks at anymore. Her children have bags that're always packed and waiting by the door."
Nenny is eight years old when her parents tell her and her brothers, Bubbles and Tiny, that they are getting divorced, their father is moving into a new apartment, and they'll see him every other weekend.
After living in a house with their mother and a friend of hers from the hospital where she works, their mother starts dating a new man, Rick, a Vietnam vet who also works at the hospital. Rick has two children of his own, Kat, an emotional, know-it-all 16-year-old, and Charles, who is Nenny's age.
Once Nenny and her siblings have gotten used to the upheaval in their lives, they are thrown another loop when their mother and Rick marry, and they move into Rick's house. Suddenly, Nenny has more siblings and has to deal with a mother who must spread her attention and love even thinner, plus she must navigate the newness of Rick, his off-putting silences, his thriftiness, and the emotional distance he seems to keep.
Nenny is a nervous child with an overactive imagination. She fears experiencing the types of disasters she hears about on the news—fires, earthquakes, home invasions—but she also fears unbelievable scenarios she's dreamed up, like Mikhail Gorbachev drafting her and all of her classmates into the Russian army, or her mother disappearing, never to be heard from again. But as she prepares for what she believes to be the worst to happen, she and her family are unprepared for the tragedy that does occur.
Every Other Weekend is a nostalgic look at growing up a child of divorce, when all of the things you've relied on for security are gone, and you have to become acclimated to an entirely new life. It's a book about desperately wanting to be noticed, wanting to be loved, and having that need be so palpable. It's also a book about how families can change shape and reform, and how it takes time to realize that comfort and love come from surprising places, when we least expect it.
This was a sweet book, and Zulema Renee Summerfield really created a memorable character with Nenny—silly, sweet, emotional, loving, confused, fearful, and curious. I thought the book would be pretty predictable, yet Summerfield definitely chose her own path from time to time. She's a very talented writer, and none of her characters are more precocious than their ages—they sound authentic rather than too clever for their own good.
The story shifts between real life and Nenny's fears, as well as some strange chapters which felt a little more like non sequiturs than plot devices, and that disrupted the flow of the story for me. But at its core, this is a poignant story with a lot of heart, featuring an endearing character you'll remember.
NetGalley and Little, Brown and Company provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com, or check out my list of the best books I read in 2017 at https://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com/2018/01/the-best-books-i-read-in-2017.html.
May 24, 2018
Strange kids names: Nenny,
Bubbles, and Tiny....are you kidding me?
I was bored often - yet the portrayal of just how much kids get the raw deal when parents divorce, is clear.
3 to 3.5 stars for the important ‘messages’
Bubbles, and Tiny....are you kidding me?
I was bored often - yet the portrayal of just how much kids get the raw deal when parents divorce, is clear.
3 to 3.5 stars for the important ‘messages’
March 19, 2018
vai my blog:https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
'It is 1988 and America is full of broken homes.'
I devoured this novel, I absolutely loved Nenny and her entire wacky, lost family. I’m nostalgic for the 80’s, and I kept thinking about tv shows and toys as this novel took me back to my childhood, though my elementary school years were the early 80’s. It seems families started cracking, splitting more around that time than any other. This is a story about a family as it dismantled told through the eyes of the charming Nenny. Nenny isn’t perfect, in fact early on its obvious she herself isn’t found of happy, nice kids who have mommy’s that bring them hot lunch everyday and live in a home filled with the adoration of both parents, still married. She’s sarcastic, funny, and very sad. She fills the reader in on, ‘A Brief History of Why Everything Sucks’, in her life. Her brothers, Bubbles and Tiny are funny little characters too, especially the youngest Tiny. Mom and Dad destroy their world and divorce, then along comes Rick, mom’s new man and his children Charles and Kat. Bingo, Bango- she now has more siblings, an instant family.
We follow Nenny as she navigates the construction of their new world, in stops and starts. Through the loyalties, rejections, and mysteries she stews in fear of something awful happening. She was born with ‘a natural predilection for alarm.’ She couldn’t have conjured the tragedy that occurs even in her worst nightmare. Her weekends with her dad are gloomy, he seems to have fallen in a constant dishevelled state without her mother. He tries, he really does try to be fun, to make the most of their weekends together, but somehow his happiness dissipates and lies on the ground like a limp balloon. One house is full of chaos and noise, new sibling who are and the other is take out food, a pool you can’t swim in and a new friend, Boots.
An older sister isn’t the fantasy she once longed for, as the only girl in her brood, anymore than the dog who decides to be their pet is the fluffy stuff of dreams. In fact, one is just fleas and mange and the other infected with a case of the ‘teens’. Then there are horror stories on the news at night and there is the looming threat of masked men. They could come after her! As if being a kid of divorce wasn’t bad enough already!
Though the tragedy that happens is a shockingly horrible event, this novel is a quiet, humourous tale about the torment Nenny goes through when her parents split up. It’s a child’s perception, and the bigger meaning is always running around some corner her mind isn’t grown up enough to capture. It’s tender and moving. “Mysteries abound when you are young. Some unravel and reveal themselves over the course of your lifetime, but most remained unsolved.”
She doesn’t always get it, but she’s trying. The grown ups all have their own messes to slip in, some more bloody than others. The kids are in constant struggle trying to merge in this family they didn’t pick and all the new faces that make up their new life (exes, step- grandmother) just leave Nenny with more mysteries to poke and prod. Sometimes she finds clarity but more often than not, her world is just turned upside down and how in the heck is a little girl like her supposed to understand her life if the adults can’t get it right?
Funny, tender, sad, and horrible moments swirl through the novel. I tore through this book in 2 days. I love Nenny, and I have a soft spot for Tiny, the runt.
Publication Date: April 17, 2018
Little, Brown and Company
'It is 1988 and America is full of broken homes.'
I devoured this novel, I absolutely loved Nenny and her entire wacky, lost family. I’m nostalgic for the 80’s, and I kept thinking about tv shows and toys as this novel took me back to my childhood, though my elementary school years were the early 80’s. It seems families started cracking, splitting more around that time than any other. This is a story about a family as it dismantled told through the eyes of the charming Nenny. Nenny isn’t perfect, in fact early on its obvious she herself isn’t found of happy, nice kids who have mommy’s that bring them hot lunch everyday and live in a home filled with the adoration of both parents, still married. She’s sarcastic, funny, and very sad. She fills the reader in on, ‘A Brief History of Why Everything Sucks’, in her life. Her brothers, Bubbles and Tiny are funny little characters too, especially the youngest Tiny. Mom and Dad destroy their world and divorce, then along comes Rick, mom’s new man and his children Charles and Kat. Bingo, Bango- she now has more siblings, an instant family.
We follow Nenny as she navigates the construction of their new world, in stops and starts. Through the loyalties, rejections, and mysteries she stews in fear of something awful happening. She was born with ‘a natural predilection for alarm.’ She couldn’t have conjured the tragedy that occurs even in her worst nightmare. Her weekends with her dad are gloomy, he seems to have fallen in a constant dishevelled state without her mother. He tries, he really does try to be fun, to make the most of their weekends together, but somehow his happiness dissipates and lies on the ground like a limp balloon. One house is full of chaos and noise, new sibling who are and the other is take out food, a pool you can’t swim in and a new friend, Boots.
An older sister isn’t the fantasy she once longed for, as the only girl in her brood, anymore than the dog who decides to be their pet is the fluffy stuff of dreams. In fact, one is just fleas and mange and the other infected with a case of the ‘teens’. Then there are horror stories on the news at night and there is the looming threat of masked men. They could come after her! As if being a kid of divorce wasn’t bad enough already!
Though the tragedy that happens is a shockingly horrible event, this novel is a quiet, humourous tale about the torment Nenny goes through when her parents split up. It’s a child’s perception, and the bigger meaning is always running around some corner her mind isn’t grown up enough to capture. It’s tender and moving. “Mysteries abound when you are young. Some unravel and reveal themselves over the course of your lifetime, but most remained unsolved.”
She doesn’t always get it, but she’s trying. The grown ups all have their own messes to slip in, some more bloody than others. The kids are in constant struggle trying to merge in this family they didn’t pick and all the new faces that make up their new life (exes, step- grandmother) just leave Nenny with more mysteries to poke and prod. Sometimes she finds clarity but more often than not, her world is just turned upside down and how in the heck is a little girl like her supposed to understand her life if the adults can’t get it right?
Funny, tender, sad, and horrible moments swirl through the novel. I tore through this book in 2 days. I love Nenny, and I have a soft spot for Tiny, the runt.
Publication Date: April 17, 2018
Little, Brown and Company
April 14, 2018
‘Then suddenly, there’s a place near the fridge that Kat is staring into, and Nenny knows she’s not in the room anymore. Nenny, the kitchen, the house, all of it have been sucked into some swirling black hole. Everyone knows memory is like that. Memory is a flood that overwhelms you. It crashes through windows and toppled over walls, sweeps you away in a tide of furniture, photos, clothes you kind of hate, animals struggling to breathe.’
.
‘Rick folds his napkin, sips his wine, folds his napkin again, but he won’t look at her. Nenny realizes something, and it’s a strange flash that shifts the very walls of the room. He’s embarrassed, she thinks. He’s overcome by this simple exchange. It’s as if he’s not sure how to hold this thing he’s got, this fragile fledgling thing— call it affection, call it love.’
.
I could honestly go through and write the several other quotes I took a picture of, because this book is riddled with little gems that just grasp on to my seven-year-old-self’s heart and give it a nice squeeze. This book does something that no other book depicting the experience of divorce does. It validates the confusion of children going through this world shift, illuminates their resilience and attention to detail, and allows them to continue being kids without focusing in on every icky detail that divorce often exudes.
.
This book is for those who want to understand that experience, and don’t want to be left feeling sad. There is a strong element of hopefulness for Nenny, and throughout the book, you can’t help but want to meet or know this lovely and perceptive girl. It’s a gem, and I will forever recommend it. Wishing this was around throughout my teen-angst years (which, let’s face it, still love to surface every now and then) to serve as that little bit of validation you may need to feel even the littlest bit better.
.
5/5 ⭐️, hands down.
.
‘Rick folds his napkin, sips his wine, folds his napkin again, but he won’t look at her. Nenny realizes something, and it’s a strange flash that shifts the very walls of the room. He’s embarrassed, she thinks. He’s overcome by this simple exchange. It’s as if he’s not sure how to hold this thing he’s got, this fragile fledgling thing— call it affection, call it love.’
.
I could honestly go through and write the several other quotes I took a picture of, because this book is riddled with little gems that just grasp on to my seven-year-old-self’s heart and give it a nice squeeze. This book does something that no other book depicting the experience of divorce does. It validates the confusion of children going through this world shift, illuminates their resilience and attention to detail, and allows them to continue being kids without focusing in on every icky detail that divorce often exudes.
.
This book is for those who want to understand that experience, and don’t want to be left feeling sad. There is a strong element of hopefulness for Nenny, and throughout the book, you can’t help but want to meet or know this lovely and perceptive girl. It’s a gem, and I will forever recommend it. Wishing this was around throughout my teen-angst years (which, let’s face it, still love to surface every now and then) to serve as that little bit of validation you may need to feel even the littlest bit better.
.
5/5 ⭐️, hands down.
April 19, 2018
Loved this book so much--sad, haunting, funny, beautiful and such a sparkling voice. There were so many stunningly beautiful observations and an almost Technicolor feel to the whole book. A stunning new talent--highly recommend.
April 29, 2018
Thank you to Little Brown & Co for my free copy of EVERY OTHER WEEKEND for review. All opinions are my own.
What a heartfelt, warm and beautiful book – how are more people not raving about it?! This book reads sort of like Judy Blume for adults. Summerfield’s mastery of the young narrator’s voice is absolutely captivating. The way that little eight year old (going on nine!) Nenny speaks and perceives the world around her, the way her fears and anxieties manifest out of seemingly (to adults) innocuous events, are all so pristinely accurate, it transported me back to the way that my young and underdeveloped brain worked.
At one point she is forced process some quite large life events, and it brings to mind the way that adults will often try to shield children from pain only to cause more confusion and fear. Because the thing is, they see, children always see. The fact that some of the things that would later send us to therapy as adults (i.e. death, divorce) are covered with such childlike naivety and gentleness is part of the charm in Summerfield’s writing.
The innocence in her writing is simultaneously enticing and exceptionally painful when viewed through our adult reader’s lens. Her structure even resembles a childlike way of telling stories, hopping from one event or “story” to another with the distracted kind of rambling of a child in bite-sized little chapters, helping to paint one large picture of childhood that is not perfect, but not all ugly.
*3 words: inquisitive, perplex, memories
*what I loved: I cannot get over the perfect voicing of this narrator. This book pulled me in and right out of a book slump that I was experiencing.
*what I questioned: There is a two-part structure of “Two Houses” though I felt it could without this separation as it didn’t help to illuminate the story much differently for me
*overall rating: a whopping 5 stars from me!
**Find my bookish posts and reviews on IG @mlleboaz.bibliophile !!
What a heartfelt, warm and beautiful book – how are more people not raving about it?! This book reads sort of like Judy Blume for adults. Summerfield’s mastery of the young narrator’s voice is absolutely captivating. The way that little eight year old (going on nine!) Nenny speaks and perceives the world around her, the way her fears and anxieties manifest out of seemingly (to adults) innocuous events, are all so pristinely accurate, it transported me back to the way that my young and underdeveloped brain worked.
At one point she is forced process some quite large life events, and it brings to mind the way that adults will often try to shield children from pain only to cause more confusion and fear. Because the thing is, they see, children always see. The fact that some of the things that would later send us to therapy as adults (i.e. death, divorce) are covered with such childlike naivety and gentleness is part of the charm in Summerfield’s writing.
The innocence in her writing is simultaneously enticing and exceptionally painful when viewed through our adult reader’s lens. Her structure even resembles a childlike way of telling stories, hopping from one event or “story” to another with the distracted kind of rambling of a child in bite-sized little chapters, helping to paint one large picture of childhood that is not perfect, but not all ugly.
*3 words: inquisitive, perplex, memories
*what I loved: I cannot get over the perfect voicing of this narrator. This book pulled me in and right out of a book slump that I was experiencing.
*what I questioned: There is a two-part structure of “Two Houses” though I felt it could without this separation as it didn’t help to illuminate the story much differently for me
*overall rating: a whopping 5 stars from me!
**Find my bookish posts and reviews on IG @mlleboaz.bibliophile !!
April 26, 2018
Much has been made about this book's 80s nostalgia, and this was the primary reason I wanted to read it. However, aside from a couple of passing mentions of Nintendo and Aqua Net hairspray, this book could have been set in any time period. It could have easily been set in 2018 and you wouldn't see any differences.
None of the characters in the book were particularly likeable or fleshed out. Most of them were neurotic children. The adults were kind of arbitrary. None of the characters seemed to have any motivation, and none of them seemed to grow or change much through the course of the book.
There's no plot here, just neurotic childhood stream of consciousness. It isn't interesting. After a point the only thing that kept me reading was the promise of impending tragedy. When this tragedy occurs it seems random and disconnected to anything else that has been happening. Overall a very disappointing book.
None of the characters in the book were particularly likeable or fleshed out. Most of them were neurotic children. The adults were kind of arbitrary. None of the characters seemed to have any motivation, and none of them seemed to grow or change much through the course of the book.
There's no plot here, just neurotic childhood stream of consciousness. It isn't interesting. After a point the only thing that kept me reading was the promise of impending tragedy. When this tragedy occurs it seems random and disconnected to anything else that has been happening. Overall a very disappointing book.
April 30, 2018
What was this book even about? If it was a story about how divorces impact kids, then I don’t feel it did a very good job. I didn’t connect with Nenny (and what kind of name is that anyway?) at all. Yes, she was a worrier like me, but other than that she didn’t really have a personality.
May 18, 2018
Review to come...
April 10, 2018
EVERY OTHER WEEKEND is an exquisite rendering of childhood heartache, filtered through pre-adolescent Nenny. Nenny's a middle-child daughter sandwiched between elder brother Bubbles and little brother Tiny. This is not so much a coming-of-age story, but a coming-to-grips with childhood narrative. Already anxious, growing up in 1980s suburban Los Angeles where alienation is an unavoidable lifestyle, Nenny navigates Catholic grammar school and her parents' divorce. This fragmented world is crafted with vivid chapter-vignettes, some of which are named for Nenny's anxieties: "Fear #22: The Russians"; "Fear # 37: Earthquake"; "Fear # 7: Home Invasion"; “Fear #1: Disappeared”. Spoiler alert: one of these fears will directly impact the plot.
Nenny moves reluctantly into a step-family when her mother marries Robert, someone she knows from her work at the hospital. Robert is a solid provider with a difficult past. "Vietnam sits at every meal, jungle-breathed and bleary-eyed, sprawled across their plates. Vietnam is a hungry dog shivering at the foot of the bed. Vietnam is the constant thing between them. Vietnam, ugly and childish and hiding and damned. It slithers the hallways and skulks the stairs. Vietnam lurks in every room, laughing in the dark..."
Robert's children are teenaged Kat who is a reluctant big sister, and Charles, who is Nenny's age but withdrawn into his own world. Kat and Charles' mom, Windsor, complicates the plot in unexpected ways. In Nenny's world, even the dog has problems (kudos to the author for not killing the family dog!) One strength is Summerfield's tone, luscious snippets of humor mixed with existential crisis, all filtered through Nenny's preoccupations. An after-class conversation with Sister Mary tilts Nenny's perceptions of God, which might prove enough of a lifesaver for Nenny to ride out the storms of a complex, blended family and hostile suburban milieu. In rare mother-daughter moments, bonding happens where least expected. "Mom lets Nenny pick out their machine, then dumps the clothes in and sprinkles in some Tide. Doing laundry at a laundromat lends the chore a kind of magic. The sound of quarters plunking in! There's plastic chairs for while you wait! The machines sound like a hive of bees! You want to know what spoiled is? Spoiled is when your mom takes you, and only you, to a special place like a laundromat and presses two quarters for candy into your hand without being asked."
Nenny and her siblings glimpse snippets of the broader world while watching television news about Tianamen Square protests and the fall of the Berlin Wall. If there were a sequel showcasing Nenny's teen years, I'd love to read it. Recommended for fans of Janet Fitch and Edan Lepucki, or the 2017 Greta Gerwig film LADY BIRD.
This review is based on an ARC from NetGalley.
Nenny moves reluctantly into a step-family when her mother marries Robert, someone she knows from her work at the hospital. Robert is a solid provider with a difficult past. "Vietnam sits at every meal, jungle-breathed and bleary-eyed, sprawled across their plates. Vietnam is a hungry dog shivering at the foot of the bed. Vietnam is the constant thing between them. Vietnam, ugly and childish and hiding and damned. It slithers the hallways and skulks the stairs. Vietnam lurks in every room, laughing in the dark..."
Robert's children are teenaged Kat who is a reluctant big sister, and Charles, who is Nenny's age but withdrawn into his own world. Kat and Charles' mom, Windsor, complicates the plot in unexpected ways. In Nenny's world, even the dog has problems (kudos to the author for not killing the family dog!) One strength is Summerfield's tone, luscious snippets of humor mixed with existential crisis, all filtered through Nenny's preoccupations. An after-class conversation with Sister Mary tilts Nenny's perceptions of God, which might prove enough of a lifesaver for Nenny to ride out the storms of a complex, blended family and hostile suburban milieu. In rare mother-daughter moments, bonding happens where least expected. "Mom lets Nenny pick out their machine, then dumps the clothes in and sprinkles in some Tide. Doing laundry at a laundromat lends the chore a kind of magic. The sound of quarters plunking in! There's plastic chairs for while you wait! The machines sound like a hive of bees! You want to know what spoiled is? Spoiled is when your mom takes you, and only you, to a special place like a laundromat and presses two quarters for candy into your hand without being asked."
Nenny and her siblings glimpse snippets of the broader world while watching television news about Tianamen Square protests and the fall of the Berlin Wall. If there were a sequel showcasing Nenny's teen years, I'd love to read it. Recommended for fans of Janet Fitch and Edan Lepucki, or the 2017 Greta Gerwig film LADY BIRD.
This review is based on an ARC from NetGalley.
June 10, 2018
I picked this book because it is newly released but set in 1988, as I'm writing a book set in the same timeframe. This is very different, but yet awesome. It's an in-depth character study of Nenny, an 8 year old girl navigating her parents' divorce and living with both parents, but primarily (at first at least) with her mom, her two brothers, and her new step-dad and step sister and brother. Oh Nenny, what a well-drawn and fascinating character.
Things that I loved:
1. the descriptions of everything. Beautiful, and very appropriate details for an observant and frequently nervous 8 year old.
2. the relationships between all of the kids in her new blended household. Full disclosure - my parent are both still alive and married to each other. Hi Mom. I don't know that this is completely realistic, but it sure seemed and felt real to me.
3. the nuns in her Catholic school. OMG, there are some heavy topics in this book, and having those different nuns with their different views on everything was a great diversion to some of the stuff these kids were going through. I loved the passage on page 255 where she describes Sister Mary as "an beautiful and unparalleled model for how and why to love."
4. the very best part - Nenny's views on when it is appropriate to lie. This was beautiful. See page 167, where Nenny rightfully justifies lying to ease someone's pain. See page 276, "some lies are acts of deceit and others are acts of preservation and love."
One part that took me out of the scene - Just because I'm so focused on the 1980s now, on page 78 there is a reference to a bottle of hand sanitizer. That was nothing I'd heard of in the 1980s, and I didn't picture Nenny's mom as an early adopter.
Sign me up immediately for this author's next book.
Things that I loved:
1. the descriptions of everything. Beautiful, and very appropriate details for an observant and frequently nervous 8 year old.
2. the relationships between all of the kids in her new blended household. Full disclosure - my parent are both still alive and married to each other. Hi Mom. I don't know that this is completely realistic, but it sure seemed and felt real to me.
3. the nuns in her Catholic school. OMG, there are some heavy topics in this book, and having those different nuns with their different views on everything was a great diversion to some of the stuff these kids were going through. I loved the passage on page 255 where she describes Sister Mary as "an beautiful and unparalleled model for how and why to love."
4. the very best part - Nenny's views on when it is appropriate to lie. This was beautiful. See page 167, where Nenny rightfully justifies lying to ease someone's pain. See page 276, "some lies are acts of deceit and others are acts of preservation and love."
One part that took me out of the scene - Just because I'm so focused on the 1980s now, on page 78 there is a reference to a bottle of hand sanitizer. That was nothing I'd heard of in the 1980s, and I didn't picture Nenny's mom as an early adopter.
Sign me up immediately for this author's next book.
October 30, 2017
This one is a slow-burning charmer - often funniest when things are sad, if that's possible. Most of the action is seen through the eyes of Nenny, 8 years old and a world-class worrier, and the recipient of a family upheaval when her parents divorce and she finds herself with a new stepfather and 2 step-siblings. She's a first-rate observer of people's quirks, from the angry nun who rules her homeroom class like a petty dictator, to her fellow middle-school denizens whom she describes with hilarious accuracy. And seeing her parents' well-meaning but often awkward attempts to establish a new kind of family unit through her eyes is a revelation - her mother mostly very good at it, and her father moderately hopeless - but what really strikes me is how often things that make sense to grown-ups are revealed through her eyes to be nonsensical to a child. And that's often very funny. Without giving too much away - there is some tragedy in here - this is ultimately a hopeful book, and an enjoyable one.
May 14, 2018
Summerfield brilliantly captures the insecurities, angst, and bewilderment of a child going through the divorce of their parents. Here, Nenny is 8 years old when her parents split in 1988, and I was 10 in 1990 when my parents announced their separation, so there was a lot I could relate to. When Nenny’s mom remarries, she and her two brothers must adapt to living with their Vietnam vet step-father and two step-siblings. Between the late 80’s nostalgia, the atmosphere of a third grade classroom, and the unease of a blended family home, Summerfield’s narrative is spot-on and deftly conveys Nenny’s fears and confusion. With a nice blend of humor, grief, rivalry, and camaraderie, this novel was clever, charming, and engaging.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the Amazon Vine program.
I received a complimentary copy of this book via the Amazon Vine program.
May 2, 2018
Who knew I'd love a book about a little girl named Nenny, which takes place in California in the late 80s? I did!
June 24, 2018
The writing was excellent but the story was much darker then I was expecting. There are a lot of moments of incredible insightful ness- i Just wasn’t expecting this novel to be so dark.
December 15, 2019
This book was good till about half-way through when I realized nothing was going to happen of any interest and the characters became more boring so I was less invested in them. There were some funny bits in the beginning in this story of a young girl whose life is upended when her mom and dad get divorced and she becomes part of a blended family. It was sad and funny at the same time but I got irritated with the characters and their eccentric names: Nenny, Tiny, and Bubbles. I never did figure out if Bubbles was a boy or girl. But the funny part involved the stepdad at one point trying to convince the children to lock the doors because there could be break-ins in the neighborhood. He ends up scaring them to death instead of convincing them to be cautious. "All the stupid spilling out of his mouth overcomes him, and now he's just sputtering words."
November 14, 2018
Oh my goodness what a sweet book! Nenny's parents get divorced and the book follows the split family through their healing process. Along the way Nenny's mom remarries so there are stepsiblings, etc, to deal with. Most of the situations presented are relatable for any reader, whether they come from a broken home or not. Interspersed throughout the book are chapters discussing random fears, like earthquakes, The Russians, and having a parent disappear. These were humorous because we all had the same odd ball thoughts when we were younger. I think perhaps the only misstep in this book is that it is aimed for a younger audience but the 1980s references (and there are a LOT of them) won't be understood unless you are older. I hope I am wrong on that score because the book was really a great read!
A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Little, Brown, and Company in exchange for an honest review.
A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and Little, Brown, and Company in exchange for an honest review.
April 18, 2018
Told from the perspective of a very funny eight-year-old girl during her third grade year in 1988-89. It's funny, sad, poignant and full of 80's references. Very quick read. I enjoyed it.
April 17, 2018
A magical view into the mystery and nuances of divorce in the 80's.
August 22, 2018
Full review at: http://www.everydayiwritethebookblog....
Zulema Renee Summerfield’s new novel Every Other Weekend is one of those books that starts out a little weird but grows on you while you’re reading it, so that by the end you realize that, damnit, you really do care about these characters.
Nenny, an 8-year old girl in Southern California in the 80s, lives with her mother and two brothers. Her parents get divorced, and she spends time with her father on weekends. Then her mother moves in with a man with two kids, and Nenny joins the “every other weekend” club of broken homes and blended families. She’s an anxious girl with a lot of fears, but she keeps them to herself and doesn’t confide in her mother, despite desperately wanting to. She does her best to navigate the tricky waters of humorless stepfathers, moody older stepsisters, a befuddled father, and a mix of classmates dealing with their own issues.
Every Other Weekend is a quiet book. Nenny is introspective, an observer, and so it’s through her eyes that we watch the fragile bonds of this family get tested and strained. Things often go wrong, and while there is a lot of sadness, there is also a fair amount of gentle humor here. I think the most poignant parts for me were the references Nenny made to years later, when she asked her siblings and stepsiblings about what they were thinking during the time period in the book. Each of them was dealing with his or her own issues and problems, and yet they were barely connecting with each other, when they could have been a source of solace.
I like Sumerfield’s writing. It’s atmospheric and almost poetic at times without being pretentious. There’s also some 80s period detail in here, which I enjoyed. As to why Summerfield set the book in the 80s, I think there are two reasons: 1) divorce was becoming more common but it was before there was so much emphasis on the helping the kids handle it; and 2) the lack of social media and technology only heightened these kids’ feelings of isolation.
Every Other Weekend is a quirky, mostly sad book, and I am glad I picked it up. I am excited to see what this author does next.
Zulema Renee Summerfield’s new novel Every Other Weekend is one of those books that starts out a little weird but grows on you while you’re reading it, so that by the end you realize that, damnit, you really do care about these characters.
Nenny, an 8-year old girl in Southern California in the 80s, lives with her mother and two brothers. Her parents get divorced, and she spends time with her father on weekends. Then her mother moves in with a man with two kids, and Nenny joins the “every other weekend” club of broken homes and blended families. She’s an anxious girl with a lot of fears, but she keeps them to herself and doesn’t confide in her mother, despite desperately wanting to. She does her best to navigate the tricky waters of humorless stepfathers, moody older stepsisters, a befuddled father, and a mix of classmates dealing with their own issues.
Every Other Weekend is a quiet book. Nenny is introspective, an observer, and so it’s through her eyes that we watch the fragile bonds of this family get tested and strained. Things often go wrong, and while there is a lot of sadness, there is also a fair amount of gentle humor here. I think the most poignant parts for me were the references Nenny made to years later, when she asked her siblings and stepsiblings about what they were thinking during the time period in the book. Each of them was dealing with his or her own issues and problems, and yet they were barely connecting with each other, when they could have been a source of solace.
I like Sumerfield’s writing. It’s atmospheric and almost poetic at times without being pretentious. There’s also some 80s period detail in here, which I enjoyed. As to why Summerfield set the book in the 80s, I think there are two reasons: 1) divorce was becoming more common but it was before there was so much emphasis on the helping the kids handle it; and 2) the lack of social media and technology only heightened these kids’ feelings of isolation.
Every Other Weekend is a quirky, mostly sad book, and I am glad I picked it up. I am excited to see what this author does next.
May 21, 2018
This is a story about a third grader growing up in 1988 and learning how to be a part of a family when due to divorce and remarriage she lives in two homes. When tragedy strikes a glancing blow, this third grader also has to deal with the repercussions, and hopefully become stronger. The novel is written in the third person, but feels first person and sometimes second person throughout. It's an interesting writing style from the voice of an omniscient third grader that sometimes can see and reflect on future events. It also feels VERY autobiographical. The main character expressed a lot of elaborate fears that I too had as a kid, which endeared her to me. But the book really got cooking in the last third as the protagonist deals with sadness from the tragedy that strikes her family. Her interaction with a teacher near the end was beautiful, handled deftly and had me almost crying happy tears. This book dug into my heart by the end, and I didn't expect it to. So it was a wonderful surprise.
May 14, 2018
What an unusual and beautiful story. Zulema Rose Summerfield is an author I will be watching in the future. Here we have a fictional memoir related by an 8 year old girl named Nenny. Nenny is bright and articulate but very quirky and full of fear. The fears that live inside of Nenny are typical childhood bugaboos that are taken to the extreme in her very overdeveloped imagination. Nenny’s parents become divorced in the 1980s, a time when divorce ravaged so many American families. Nenny, a third grader in a Catholic school, finds herself adrift in a blended family, with her mom, two brothers, step dad and step siblings. When a family tragedy strikes her new family is devastated and Nenny’s world is once more torn apart. Told with compassion, humor, love and a great deal of understanding about the workings of a child’s mind, this book crept under my skin and kept me turning pages into the night.
July 6, 2020
I really went back and forth on how I wanted to rate this book. It's a novel told in vignettes rather than a straightforward novel. It was supposed to take place in 1988, but some of the details were off, like the Poison song Kat was supposedly listening to that actually came out in 1990 or calling the Christmas Barbie "Happy Holidays" Barbie, which would have been super weird in 1988.
I would say this was more of a California Noir novel than a novel about divorce. The situations are more California than universal. My parents were divorced, but I couldn't relate to any of this. It definitely didn't match my experience. I think it did capture the California experience pretty well though. I could see the characters pretty clearly along with their world.
It was an okay read, but not something that made me anxious to finish it. It was a quiet read. The ending was a nice surprise.
I would say this was more of a California Noir novel than a novel about divorce. The situations are more California than universal. My parents were divorced, but I couldn't relate to any of this. It definitely didn't match my experience. I think it did capture the California experience pretty well though. I could see the characters pretty clearly along with their world.
It was an okay read, but not something that made me anxious to finish it. It was a quiet read. The ending was a nice surprise.
June 24, 2018
My rating: 3.75 stars
Quirky selection of short stories (if short stories are your thing). At first I was bored but then I reached back to my own experience growing up in the 1980s and realized that's much of what Summerfield is trying to convey. Before middle class kids were overscheduled, we mostly just sat around with only our sibling(s) to talk to, or ignore, or fight with. If you're feeling nostalgic for the fall of Communism and fear of home invasions (I had forgotten that hysteria!) and other 80s touchstones, you might enjoy this selection.
Quirky selection of short stories (if short stories are your thing). At first I was bored but then I reached back to my own experience growing up in the 1980s and realized that's much of what Summerfield is trying to convey. Before middle class kids were overscheduled, we mostly just sat around with only our sibling(s) to talk to, or ignore, or fight with. If you're feeling nostalgic for the fall of Communism and fear of home invasions (I had forgotten that hysteria!) and other 80s touchstones, you might enjoy this selection.
January 15, 2019
I was so excited for this one and I only wish I had more time to get immersed in the story. I only had small bits of time to read this one so I felt like I couldn't get as in to it as I normally would. That being said, I think this book perfectly captured the experience as a young child of divorce. I found so many relatable moments as a child of divorce and was especially happy to see the subtle moments where Nenny reflects on what it means to have two homes.
November 26, 2018
The book told a story of a divorced couple through the eyes of one of their three children, as well as the impact it had on everyone involved. While deeply sad, emotional and confusing at times, it did provide a spark of hope throughout as well as showing the power and meaning of personal connections.
May 16, 2018
I loved this book! And that means that I read it too fast. I think I will read it over again, more slowly. It reminded me a bit of Ann Patchett's 'Commonwealth,' but this one was so much better.
January 16, 2021
Wow. I started off moderately skeptical that this book would be anything but “perfectly fine, though nothing special.” But the story, and the quality of the narration, builds and builds and there are some events that are both shocking and quietly profound that, by the end, I was really moved by the whole experience. 4.5 stars.
October 4, 2019
Three stars rounded up to 3.5. This is the story of Nenny, an eight year old in the late 1980's. Her parents are divorced and she has a blended family. The plot didn't feel very strong but I did like the main character.
June 13, 2020
Snore! I didn’t enjoy this book much at all. It started out okay, but became very boring. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and disliked their names: Nenny, Bubbles, Tiny, Windsor. C’mon!
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