Book Review: Last Summer of The Camperdowns & Note To Self: A Novel

 

I really like Oprah’s advice about lifestyle, décor, health and pets. Generally, I really do not like her advice about books. She tends to favor the saga, and I’m not so much a sprawling saga kind of girl. Unless we’re talking Thornbirds, possibly best sprawling saga ever. The star-crossed love between Maggie and Father Ralph? So hot.

 

But this summer I started off with one of Oprah’s recommends, Note to Self: A Novel by Alina Simone. Remarkably, it was not a saga. Unremarkably, it was not that good.

It’s about Anna, a 30something New Yorker, struggling with a midlife crisis and an addiction to the internet. She remedies both by answering a Craigslist ad seeking roadies for an indie film. The film-making experience doesn’t turn out like Anna expected.

 

But, for me, this Oprah-recommended, book-reading experience turned out exactly as expected. The book was well written but incredibly depressing. If you want to feel bummed out about the superficial culture we all call home, this book is for you. You will read it and torch every social media account you ever opened. Which might not be a bad thing because then you’ll have more time to read books!   

 

So I read Note To Self and was disgruntled. Oprah is a media giant. How can all of her book recommends be bad? So I tried another: The Last Summer Of The Camperdowns by Elizabeth Kelly.

 

Huzzah! Finally, a piece of writing Oprah and I agree on.

Camperdowns is a great read! Set in the 70s, it’s a coming-of-age tale about Riddle, a 13 year old who lives with the WASPiest parents in the WASP-iest place ever (horse country on the Cape).

Riddle’s a scrappy heroine trying to figure out her place in the world and the answer to the summer’s mystery: what happened to a local teenage boy who mysteriously disappeared? But Riddle’s no girl detective. She’s the daughter of Camp, an intellectual running for political office, and Greer, a retired Hollywood actress, whose biting tongue is almost as big as the box office she once earned.

The book’s dialogue crackles, as do the plot twists. Camperdowns is the rare combination mystery and morality tale. Author Kelly plays with the concept of good and evil, painting characters with shades of both. Interesting and thought provoking.

Go, Oprah! And go, summer reading. What are the books you can’t put down this summer? Write about them in the comments section! Next, I’m picking up Life After Life, a book my well-read and ace-book-picking friend, Shawna, says is excellent. (Click this link to go to amazon to view more information about The Last Summer Of The Camperdowns.)