Allyson Braithwaite Condie

"Following the sudden deaths of her father and autistic younger brother, Cedar Lee spends the summer working at a Shakespearean theater festival, making a new friend, and coming to terms with her grief"--

A Novel

Summerlost

Sarah Sammis

In terms of the road narrative project, this one as a realistic, contemporary middle grade novel comes in low on the road narrative spectrum. It's a marginalized protagonist trying to adjust to her new home along a Blue Highway.

Cedar is marginalized because she is new to the town and she is young. She is also the surviving child of a grieving woman who is understandably now over protective. Thus her circumstances leave her with little in the way of agency.

Home is both the farm house along the highway she's moved into, as well as Iron Springs. Making her new situation home involves making new routines, new traditions, new friends, and accepting the direction her life has taken. Finally the road traveled is the Blue Highway that brought Cedar and her mother two Iron Creek. It's also the same road that Cedar takes every day to and from her summer job at the festival. The road gives her time to think things through. It is her place of spiritual transformation even if bodily, she's not traveling very far.


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I can't believe this books is middle grade. It had some really heavy themes, but it was also poetic and beautiful and still retains its magic and innocence.

eliz

heartwarming, and has its own charm! short, meaningful chapters. one person’s admiration for another is trulyyy inspiring. <3

Mary Horton

Well, I'm not entirely sure what I thought of this. It was a sweet, meaningful story. The cover is unbelievably beautiful. The formatting is somehow perfect for this book. And the writing is just SPOT-ON.

Buuuut I wasn't a fan of all the lying that Cedar and Leo did. They both lied to the adults a LOT and sneaked around for much of the book. At least they apologized for what they did, but it still...well, it still felt rather bothersome to me. (Because yep, this is middle-grade. And I wouldn't want a kid to read this and think it is "okay" or justifiable to lie.)

I'm probably just being hyper-critical of that, but I don't know. XD

The storyline was good, but honestly, it felt a bit rambly and overloaded with unrelated details at times. I'm not entirely sure how to describe it. It just didn't totally click with me, I guess. *shrugs* 

Besides that, I DID enjoy the book! It was good. I adoreeeee Leo and Miles. <3 I JUST LOVE THEM. There were some great quotes and poignant reminders about life and memories and recovering from loss. It wasn't super emotional like I thought it would be, but that's okay. It still managed to strike a chord in my heart, despite the fact that it didn't make the most emotional bookdragon on earth (aka me) cry. ;)

Overall, I liked Summerlost. It's not a new favorite, by any means, but I'm tempted to buy a copy just so I can display its gorgeous cover on my shelf.

3.5 stars

Amy Grieve

I loved our main character Cedar and how strong she was. She still finds herself dealing with the sudden death of her younger brother and father a year later as she and her remaining family try to come to terms with their new dynamics. Condie did a great job at capturing Cedar's emotions with small moments like the way she described their new car and how they no longer needed a minivan for the three of them. It kept hitting me unexpectedly.

Cedar and Leo were also adorable together. I loved their dynamics and easy going friendship which I think is something very unique about reading middle grade novels. I usually find the stories a lot more refreshing and innocent because not every character is concerned with finding a significant other, but more interested in finding themselves and by the end of the novel I really did feel like they had found their person in each other.

The friendship Cedar found with Meg was also a high point of this novel. Meg was such a good character in her own right and they way she interacted with others always made me smile. She was a female character and during moments where she remembered the past I could feel myself slipping into the moment. 

Family was also an important theme. The interactions between Cedar and her brother Miles warmed my heart because they genuinely cared for one another and seemed to find a way to cope with the things they were feeling. Miles was one of my favorite secondary characters due to her total sweetness. The siblings also had their own ways of making sure that their mother was as fine as she could be and the way in which they solve their small issues through truthful conversations was a healthy thing.

The setting was beautiful. The whole idea of the Summerlost festival felt magical and at time I wished that I could work there. Actually this has a place on the list of dream jobs now.  And the references to the Shakespeare plays really made me want to go back and re-read them. 

Although some may be put off by the fact that this book is aimed at a younger readers and is told in the voice of a twelve year old girl I would still recommended it to people of any age. I am a twenty year old university student and I still enjoyed this book and identified with this novel in some ways. The prose was simple and the chapters were short so I flew through it in one sitting.

I would have liked to have more closure surrounding the mysterious death of Lisette Chamberlain as the whole murder mystery element was something which drew me to the novel. However, I understand that it may have been intentional to showcase how sometimes things just happen and you never really get to know the whys and hows.

Rebecca Light

The writing is wonderful from the start, but it took awhile for me to get hooked. Then I read the second half in one sitting. I valued the diversity featured in the book, both racial and neurological. There are times the story is painfully sad. My heart ached through many chapters. Perfect read for theatre kids and grown-up theatre kids who have spent their summers doing summer theatre or visiting Ashland or Utah Shakes. Made me very nostalgic for Sacramento Shakespeare and Fair Oaks Theatre Festival. An all all-around great book.

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

3.5 stars!

I’ve only read a small handful of middle grade books. I’m not exactly sure why that is, other than they don’t usually call to me. This one, however, really did, and I’m so happy I decided to give it a read.

I went with the audiobook for this one, which turned out to be quite entertaining. I listen to books on 1.5x or 2x speed, so after speeding it up, this book ended up only being a few hours along. I listened to the whole thing in just two sittings. (It would have been one sitting if adulting didn’t get in the way!)

The story of Cedar was an emotional one, though also very hopeful and uplifting. I loved the friendship between her and Leo. Though there wasn’t any romance since they’re both still very young, I loved how strong this friendship was and how it leaves open the chance of something more in the future between them. I thought the addition of the mystery having to do with the local Hollywood actress added quite a bit to the story as well, and it all tied together very nicely, wrapped up with a cute little bow on top.

I really enjoyed this MG read by Ally Condie. I’m not sure if she’s going to write more MG books, but I really hope she does. The flow of this story was effortless, which is something I always love about her writing. A fun middle grade book that I would recommend to the younger readers for sure.

(Thanks to Dutton Books for Young Readers for the review copy!)

Find this review and others like it at Lost in Literature!

Summerlost A Novel

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