H.L. Sudler

For those that follow my book blog (ozziesbookblog@wordpress.com), you will know that I RAVED about the first book in this series, Summerville. Great news!! Book two lives up to the high bar established by the first book and has all the subtext of the first plus a whole lot more.

When last we left Summerville, a man had been raped on one of the beaches at Rehoboth by a group of men. A woman had also been raped by one of these men. Obviously, there is a whole lot more to what seems like a conventional, boilerplate legal thriller. Go read my review then return. For the rest of you…..

Sudler explains that these books are a compendium of a series of articles he writes for a small newspaper. For those that love Dickens and Armistead Maupin’s Tales of the City, then Summerville is a must read! What I love about Summerville is what I love about Dickens. There are a host of social justice themes and issues that reflect society in the same way Dicken’s wrote about the London of his day.

What I also love is the fodder for book clubs. Some of the themes in Return to Summerville include but are not limited to: relationships with age differences; the issues that arise when someone dates a close friend’s child; unrequited love; losing one’s employment due to sexual orientation; male and female relationships; long held secrets and intergenerational lies; the choices we make in life and the reasons; survival; witness protection; the mob; gangs; relocation; memory…..so many great issues to explore and discuss.

Sudler expands on his inspiration for this type of story. This includes the great old soap Dark Shadows and the book, movie and tv show Peyton Place. That was actually wonderful to read in his own words as there were several points in the novel where I thought “Wow! This is like Peyton Place!”.

Now for the good news/bad news. Great books suck you in and just like the first one, I cleared my schedule, read the whole things in a day finishing at 4:30am! Yep, it’s one of THOSE books. I should also mention that like all 5 star books (and this is 5 stars, make no mistake) there is some confronting and sexually explicit material suitable for mature readers. Keep an open mind and you will be rewarded.

The bad news? Sudler left us on a genuine cliff hanger!!!! I almost died when I got to the last page and realized I now have to wait for the next installment in what will be a triology. I can hardly wait!!! There is so much here to love and I can’t recommend this author and these books enough. I reiterate, if book stores had this book on the front display, it would be a sell out of major proportions. If Peyton Place could do it, Summerville could easily outsell it several times over. Grab your summer novel but be prepared for a sleepy day after you stay up all night reading it!… (mais)

Wow. This is an intense book. I read it in one 7 hour sitting and when I finished, I felt so many different things that initially I felt that I would not be able to rate this book. I took a shower and pondered on it and after some thought about how I would review this book and what I would say, I have actually decided to rate it 5 stars with strings attached. Because of the attached strings, this review will be quite long and I apologize in advance but I feel it is fair to allow readers a generous taste of what they might encounter in reading this book.

There is an afterword in which the author explains that he originally wrote this as a serial for a newspaper. That explains certain elements that I ran across and this information might be good at the beginning rather than the end but either way, good to know. He also goes into some explanation at the end of the book at what he was trying to achieve with each character. I think when the story was novelized there must be a way to get that information into the flow of the plot because I think it would have helped the reader understand better what was being conveyed.

I decided this book deserves 5 stars because despite the very controversial and disturbing nature of much of the story, there are so many wonderful discussions to be had from the reading of this book that individuals and book clubs and university lit classes could spend months deconstructing and discussing the characters, their story lines and the social issues embedded in this book. And that is the testament of a 5 star read.

For people uncomfortable with subject matter and characters who are gay and lesbian then this story will prove challenging. Because in addition to the issues surrounding sexual orientation, there are issues that are inner-community struggles that will push buttons for LGBT people. One for instance ( hands up, it was for me) was the stereotyping of the single lesbian character and the very first reference to her as a dyke. While I appreciate the fact that this is a community reclaimed word, the undertones in some of the story felt very misogynistic and so – button pushing. But also the stuff of wonderful debate and discussion.

Some of the issues the story dealt with were: parents and children; father/son dynamics; the issues faced by gay parents and gay children; the issues faced (in this case) by men who identified as heterosexual but who had sexual and intimate feelings for men; men who were formerly married and living a heterosexual life but came out as gay later in life; generational conflicts between those born in more tolerant post-AIDS society versus those born in earlier, more closeted generations; race; racial stereotyping both from within and without particular racial groups; misogyny; cultural stereotypes and taboos; rape and power issues (both male and female);stalking; class issues and bullying and coercion among members of the military. Yeah. I know. You are reeling right?

All of this set within one summer community – Rehoboth Beach, Delaware- over the course of one summer. The setting was perfect and brilliantly done. First, I really felt like I got to know the community and its boundaries and character. I also thought it was wonderful that Delaware was used. I have a goal to read stories set in each state and it is shocking how difficult and under-represented many of the states are in terms of setting in books. It made me want to visit these beach side communities and while they may be familiar and even old hat to those from the East Coast, as a West Coaster (non-Californian) I enjoy being given a travelogue of places more off the beaten path.

Spun from all of these elements, is a fairly intense thriller/suspense story. I am not giving any spoilers on that front. Suffice to say that for 7.5 hours, aside from being gob smacked at all the social issues and wondering who I was going to give the book to next so that I can discuss it, I was glued to the same spot in order to find out how all these threads were going to play out.

There are some frustrations in the story. Some of the story lines feel incomplete or make you feel like you lack information and want more. Some of the characters don’t make sense and the female characters need to be made more substantial given the complexity of the male characters and the quality of the story. There are loose ends and apparently the sequel is being written. But due to the overwhelming strengths in other areas of this book the misses were far less than the hits.

This is a great book for book clubs. This is a great book for people who like to delve into deep book discussions. This is a great book for its diversity in so many areas of life. And once again, I ask, is it because of race or sexual orientation that books like these are relegated to niche shelves in independent or specialty bookstores? Because I think readers are bold enough to pick this one up from right on that front display shelf in any bookshop and go home feeling like it was money well spent and discovering an author that they will search out for future works to be read.… (mais)