We had some BIG thoughts about Big Summer...
If you've been here since our first blog, (linked here) you'd know that every month Sara and I will be sharing a new read for discussion in our series The Book Club. These books will range from new to old reads, hopefully covering as many genres as possible and we're hoping you follow along with us. We even created a list of discussion questions so you know the direction we will be taking our analysis ahead of time.
At the beginning of each month, we will be posting a recap video of our thoughts and answering the questions to provide some sort of study on how we felt about the book, its plot and its themes. This months video is already live on our YouTube channel so you can follow along with the conversation and the laughs that come between.
TLDW: Even the title wasn't an accurate description of the book inside.
And to make things super simple for the word-skimmers we keep close to our hearts, we'll be providing a synopsis of our responses on the blog. Find our answers below! Warning: this Book Club loves to S P O I L.
1. Which event in the story causes all others?
C: The night the main character, Daphne, tells off the guy in the club and then later her friend Drue for putting her in that position in the first place. From there, the author opens the plot to Daphne’s new social media career and a friendship that needs rebuilding.
S: It’s a toss up for me. I’d have to say either when Daphne accepts to be maid of honour at Drue’s wedding or in the flashback when Daphne stood up for herself at the bar.
2.What is the book’s climatic scene? How did the author build up to it?
C: The book’s climatic scene was Daphne discovering Leela in her apartment and they struggle as Daphne admits she knows Leela’s true identity. The author built up to this by having Daphne leave the car, walk home alone, ponder a previous conversation she had with Barbara, ask Barbara to send her a picture of something she saw in the house the day they visited her, enter her apartment alone, and the rest was the event itself.
S: When Drue is found dead, it sets off a series of secrets to be revealed: Nick reveals he is Aidan — the little boy from the prologue; Drue did a secret lap year in California before attending Harvard; Daphne discovers the wedding was a complete media stunt to set up a cash grab and that Stuart was really still seeing Corrina; Nick finds out his father is Mr. Cavanaugh and is Drue’s half brother; Daphne and Nick are both left in the will. But none of these were the overall climatic scene; even Drue’s death. Given all this, the true climatic scene is when Daphne goes to her apartment alone and Leela is there waiting for her. She finds out that Leela got in trouble for taking the SATs for Drue back in school and from there was isolated from her family. On her own, struggling to get by, she developed an obsession for Drue and revenge.
3. Does the book’s ending resolve the plot? If it doesn’t do you think this was intentional? What else do you want to know?
C: In my opinion, it did and it didn’t. It did resolve the notion that people can change, not to judge a book by its cover, and it resolved Daphne’s idea of having to settle in a relationship in fear that a mediocre romance was all she’d ever receive. It didn’t resolve other aspects of the book: Drue’s complicated relationship with her father, Mr. Cavanaugh’s dramatic love life, the mistresses, the themes of loneliness, body positivity or female friendship, etc. But I think this was intentional - I don’t think the author wanted to go down all those other roads in fear it wouldn’t be a simple beach read. I wish I could know more about Nick’s mother’s murder. It was such a random addition to the story and I felt like there could have been more there.
S: Yes, the plot is technically resolved by the end, but it felt the author didn’t address each theme in the novel’s conclusion. For example, the theme of self-acceptance. By the end of the novel, Daphne was still making fat jokes about herself, Darshi hadn’t told her family about her girlfriend, Drue died feeling insecure about herself. The theme of isolation was never fully explored and therefore was not given a satisfying ending and I wish the author had given a better explanation for the death of Christina.
4. How might the story be different if it was from another character’s point of view?
C: I think this story would have been different from a lot of different character’s points of view. If we had Emma as the protagonist, we would’ve heard the internal debate of loving your life with your hard-working single mother but wishing you could be part of the life your father leads. If we heard the story from Drue’s perspective, it would have been about a glamorous life in the public eye but not having true connection with anyone in her personal life and struggling to choose between fortune and fame with Stuart or love and hard work with Aditya. The book also would have been more about complicated family relationships rather than just a theme to compare between the characters. (Daphne, Drue, Darshi, Leela all had very different family lives).
S: I agree wholeheartedly with Carmelina. Also, imagine if the book was in Mrs. Cavanaugh’s perspective. You’re in the hospital, sick over the death of your daughter and you have to defend your husband’s daughter, conceived through an affair he had behind your back. That’s a story I’d like to hear.
5. Does this story have an antagonist or villain? What traits does this character reveal about the story’s hero?
C: The main antagonist in this story was obviously Leela from the perspective the reader was given. She reveals the trait of naivety in Daphne and contrasts the idea of getting revenge where Daphne never went down that route considering all the things that have happened to her.
S: I don’t think the story had a main antagonist but rather depicted inside the characters themselves. For instance, because of Daphne’s issues with her outward appearance she craved Drue’s acceptance and attention. It’s why she chose Drue over Darshi in school, and why years later, she found herself accepting Drue’s request to be part of the wedding. Ultimately, it is this internal struggle that leads Daphne to make the mistakes she did. Even Nick, as another example; he went through great measures to keep his secret about who he truly is because it is an insecurity for him. He could have taken the time to find out who his father was on his own, but decided not to because he’d rather not confront it.
6. Are there any particularly striking visual symbols in the book? What do you think they represent?
C: Water is the visual symbol that comes to mind when thinking of Big Summer. The epigraph was a poem of a drowning man, Christina lives alone on the cliff over a large body of water, they have the rehearsal dinner on the beach, Daphne is intimate with Nick in a hot tub, Drue is found dead in a hot tub. For some character’s, water represents solitude, sinking, depth, isolation. For other’s, water brought forth the feeling of weightlessness.
S: WATER!!!
7. If you were making this book into a movie, who would you cast in the lead roles?
8. What is your favourite moment or quote?
C: Favourite part of the book was the prologue describing Christina’s life. “Christina bent down and started to sing. Her story was almost at its end, but, that night, she had no idea."
S: My favourite moment is the summer when Daphne spent the summer with her grandmother. This was a part of the book that I feel to which a lot of women who’ve ever struggled with their body image can definitely relate. Maybe we’ve not all been taken to a Weight Watchers appointment or had to visit a neighbour’s cat with the motive of sneaking out a few forbidden treats, but the shame Daphne’s grandmother holds, how Daphne wonders why she’s being forced to eat dry tuna sandwiches and a few almonds for lunch… It was so raw, so emotional and relatable to a lot of us.
Now, if you missed the announcement in the video, we even created a Spotify playlist for Big Summer! It's arguably the best playlist we've ever curated. Give it a listen!
Also, you're probably looking for the announcement for July's Book of the Month. This month's read will be All The Missing Girls by Megan Miranda. If you like what you saw here, be sure to pick up a copy of July's book and get reading!
Sincerely,
Carmelina
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