Anybody know anything about the plot of the book the Stones of Summer?
shareIt's a teen coming-of-age story not too distant from CATCHER IN THE RYE from what I hear.
I also hear that the book isn't very good at all.
It is a coming of age story, but not too much like Catcher In The Rye at all. I read the first third and the beginning of the second before I had to return it to Interlibrary Loan. It's divided into three books representing three time periods in his life, vaguely autobiographical. It is somewhat stream-of-conscious in its narrative, vaguely similar to Thomas Pynchon but with a midwestern feel.
I think the book is very good at conveying the worldview of a young, gifted boy growing up in the midwest. I found it tedious at first but it did start to grow on me. Others had problems with the preponderance of alchohol in the second and third books.
Definitely it's been commented that the movie is much better than the book (not that the movie is portraying the book at all). I can't say having just read a third of it, but I really enjoyed some of his characterizations, and found something worthwhile in his writings to be sure. But yeah very possibly lacking something also.
Thank you for the information.
"Jealousy leads into stupidity." M.M.S.
I did read the book a few months ago. I don't exactly know how to describe my feelings on it. On one hand, I really struggled through it at times, particularly during the third part, where you find the main character coming apart mentally and physically, and where you find, often, "a book, within a book, within a book." The second part of the novel is one of the most beautiful things i've ever read, and i zoomed through it, eating up each word. On the whole, the novel was almost overly ambitious, but incredibly affecting none the less. Rarely have i encountered a book that stayed with me for so long. There are moments when it can be compared to Catcher in the Rye, but this novel really stands alone in my mind - i've never read anything quite like it. It's manic, overwhelming, brilliant, at times over done, and at times bordering on perfection. Read the book, but try not to take any preconceived notions into the experience.
shareSepta5, Would you highly recommend the book for its literature content?
"Jealousy leads into stupidity." M.M.S.