What do You think about A Girl Named Summer (1998)?
The story of Summer, she is a fifteen year-old girl having the struggles of her age, thinking boys and being beautiful are the most important missions in her life. The boy she liked named David and we absolutely know nothing about him, except for he has a grandfather, he is a senior year student, he is a swimming teacher and he likes running. Both characters are quite adorable to the point of being cheesy. I did not find the plot or the characters deep enough to make this one something other than a quick, cute read. We know nothing much about anyone other than Summer herself. However, there is a huge message behind this very short and cute story, honesty is everything. It was written all over it in big capital letters. There was also the importance of family and self-confidence issues but those were really put in mildly. There was one really good thing about the book, when you forget about the message it is trying to give all through it, it was very realistic. The way how Summer thought about David, her efforts to make him like her, her jealousy, meaningless and stupid lies to get attention, and lame misunderstandings and stubborness that lead them to be seperated. It was all too real and took me back to my teenage years, and made me smile remembering how those days were. The language was fairly simple and it was an easy , fun read. Thank you NetGalley for the copy. An ARC copy from Net Galley 06/21/2012
—Tuğçe Sevin
Novel ini diterbitkan Dastan kalau aku gak salah. Dan aku baru tahu kalau ternyata Julie Garwood (JG) menulis tentang cerita cinta remaja. Kalau di Indonesia mungkin sebutannya teenlit.Ceritanya sederhana dan umum sih. Tentang remaja perempuan yang jatuh cinta. Yang namanya jatuh cinta, kita akan berusaha menyelami hobi oleh orang yang kita sukai. Kebetulan David ini suka lari, jadilah si Summer bilang dia juga lari, terus diajak ikutan lomba lari. Kalang kabut deh si Summer dan berusaha latihan lari.Di samping itu, seperti cerita cinta biasanya, ada perempuan lain yang membuat cemburu. Walaupun si David sudah menunjukkan rasa sukanya kepada Summer, tapi Summer masih ragu karena Ann mendekati David juga. Mana mungkin David tidak tergoda dan bagaimana mungkin Summer bisa bersaing dengan Ann?Jangan mengharapkan sesuatu yang baru dari cerita singkat ini karena kamu mungkin tak akan menemukannya. Tapi aku suka dengan keluarga Summer yang lucu, santai, dan saling mendukung. David juga sweet walaupun rada menyebalkan karena dia sempat dekat dengan Ann.Overall, cerita pendek yang menyenangkan. Cocok sih buat jadi selingan dan buatku cukup mengejutkan juga karena JG menulis cerita remaja seperti ini :)
—Angela Noviana
