BOOK REVIEW: "The Summer We Read Gatsby"

The Summer We Read Gatsby

By Danielle Ganek

Copyright 2010

Viking Penguin Books

Adult Fiction

3 Bookmarks

I've never been back East, let alone to the Hamptons.  But it certainly is fun to read about!  When a favorite aunt passes away and leaves her Hampton home to her two nieces, the half-sisters come together to make a plan for what to do with the home, a run-down cottage with a hefty tax bill.  Practical Cassie, the narrator, thinks the only thing to do is sell, while flighty Peck (the romantic, I should add), does what she can to convince her otherwise. 

The title of the book comes from a romantic experience Peck had in her youth with a young man who gave her a copy of The Great Gatsby.  Never forgetting him and carrying that torch for years and years, Peck finally runs into him again while the girls are trying to figure out what to do about the house.  In the meantime, Cassie runs into an old flame of her own and isn't quite sure how to handle it. 

With a mysterious artist holed up over the garage, a locked safe with no known combination, numerous Hampton parties, and a lively group of friends, the story never bores or disappoints. 

Fun book, although I frequently wished I was sitting on the beach while I was reading it!