Two boring teen girls spend their summer hanging out at the beach with their families. Nothing happens for 300 pages and then something does to give the narrative an unearned sense of purpose. This One Summer? This one sucks.
It really is surprising how little happens in this book. Mariko Tamaki writes a convincing portrayal of some teens’ summer holiday experience except is it worth writing when it’s this banal? She has nothing to say about the girls, nothing to say in general, nothing happens and the thing at the end was contrived literary pap at best. The book’s message seems to be: growing up, eh? It’s a… thing that… happens…
Also, note to Mariko Tamaki: excessive use of “like” in dialogue does not make for realistic teenspeak - it’s exactly the kind of irritating detail a crap writer who doesn’t know how to write young people’s dialogue would do.
Jillian Tamaki’s art is really impressive. It’s very skilful, emotive, and just looks very beautiful. She really captures the spirit of nature with her visuals and was the only thing that kept me turning the pages.
It’s amazing to me how critically acclaimed this one is when it’s so clearly lacking in substance. Definitely not one to bother with - Mariko Tamaki writes another turkey (jerky)!
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