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Christine_Brady
Summer of Change
What an interesting book! I found that the juxtaposition between Leslie who is bent on destruction and her husband Jules who is desperately trying to save and create most interesting. This small island contains a summer of drama, teenage angst and aging sadness. Three generations of two families are pitted against the island, the people they love, and the threat of disease, death, and ultimate betrayal. I think this would make a very interesting book club discussion.
Arlene M. (White Oak, PA)
The Gypsy Moth Summer
The peaceful, ridged, waspy community of Avalon off the coast of Long Island is disrupted when a prodigal daughter, Leslie Day Marshall returns to the island with her two children and her black husband Julius. Leslie and Julius met during the protests and peace marches when they were in college. His was a humble upbringing and hers was of wealth and prestige. Her family led by her militarily strict father "The Colonel" built "The Castle" which was the largest home on Avalon. Her father built the Grudder plant where war missiles were produced and made his fortune from it.
After her parents died, she was left "The Castle". Leslie has an agenda that her husband doesn't know about, but he will slowly find out about it. They live in a small house on the estate until the castle will become habitable, and although Julius didn't want to live there he becomes caught up in the gardens and the flora and fauna that surround it.
The residents are having to put up with the gypsy moths which are doing a lot of damage to the environment and Julius takes on the project of getting rid of them with a vengeance.
There is also a lot of teen angst in this story which at times seemed like a young adult book.
Carole P. (Framingham, MA)
The Gypsy Moth Summer
Julia Fierro is a wonderful writer. The book just flows along and takes you with it. All of the characters are so vividly described that even if they only have a minor role they are well-fleshed out. She has woven several story lines together, each one as intense and important as the others. You have characters you love and some you hate. The descriptions of the people, the island and the issues are all so well done. I felt as if I was not just an observer, but part of the story. Why then, only a 4? Well, really a 4.something. That is because in among the beautiful language, the author threw in totally unnecessary lines that disrupted the flow. Why do we need to know that Maddie sat on a boys lap and could feel his erection? This type of thing happened several times. It never added to the story. Instead it felt like the author felt she had to throw something graphic into the mix. I found it disruptive and jarring. I have no issues with that type of writing if it adds or pertains to the story. For me though, it was like finding a torn page in the middle of the book.
I absolutely feel this book will be successful and should be read. I will read the author again. I just hope she stays better focused on what is important to the story and what detracts from it.
Suzi_S
Loved it and hated it
I loved the characters and found myself rooting for them--sometimes in spite of their best efforts to make me not do so. I have to say that I felt as if I knew these people, and that's a good thing. All of that said, the writing was too complicated at times, sometimes to the point where I had to re-read passages to make sure I knew what was going on. I think she could have managed the multiple voices with a bit more clarity.
Kristen_H
What a Summer
This is the first novel that I have read from this author, Julia Fierro. I enjoyed her style of writing and enjoyed this book. The main character(s) reminded me of a modern Romeo and Juliet, although without the long standing family feud. Just a difference in opinions and mental instability among the generations that have lived on the island for many years. I would recommend this to book clubs as I feel the discussions surrounding this novel would be very worthwhile.
Kathy_D
Jam-packed with important issues
I had a difficult time getting into the story at first, but then the characters drew me in. My feelings about them changed as the story progressed. The more I read, the more anger I began to feel - angers towards some of the characters, and also towards societal attitudes and resulting behaviors. Like Bob, the character who frequently shouted angrily at the TV, I wanted to shout at the characters in the book, " No! What are you doing?! Stop!" This book is jam-packed with important issues that need to be discussed, but is not for those who need happy endings. Fierro makes you "feel", and those feelings continue long after the last page is read.
Kristina H. (West Orange, NJ)
A Thick and Thorny Garden
With six different points of view, The Gypsy Moth Summer reminds me of an overgrown garden, where characters' lives are like tangled roots that weave in and out of one another, desperate to feed and bloom.
Fierro's prose is thick with detail; I often had to reread sentences several times, not an easy feat for a novel so long. Deconstructing her heavy sentences was worth it however; I was transported back to the 90's, mostly through the young and impressionable Maddie, ripe with the culture of her decade. At times the vernacular felt forced, but not enough to detract from the story. Fierro's robust descriptions made me I feel like I could pick each of her characters out in a crowd of millions. Not that I would want to; each of them with their own buried secrets, some deeper and darker than others.
At times the novel barely crept along, like a newly sown seed. At other times it seemed rushed, blooming overnight. And so much, maybe too much, happened in those last pages; as if someone took a weed wacker to the garden, hungry and merciless.
In the end, I wouldn't mind rereading The Gypsy Moth Summer and spending more time in Fierro's fine, albeit dense, garden.
Carol R. (Pembroke, MA)
The Gypsy Moth Summer
The story takes place in the summer of 1992 on Avalon Island, an islet off of Long Island where the working class inhabits the west end where Grudder Aviation controls the island and employs many of them. The affluent and owners of the Aviation firm inhabit the east end where the grand estates lie.
Prior to the aerial pesticide spraying to suppress the outbreak of the gypsy moth whose life cycle is well documented in the book, the island had an invasion of these disgusting pests which began their annual defoliation.
The story is told from the point of view of six different characters of all ages. It is told with an overkill of vulgarity in both bad language and sexuality and for that reason, I have to say that I didn't love this depressing book.
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