I was browsing for some good Mexico beach reads this Spring and thought this might be a viable option based on the fact that it mentioned Dartmouth (where my grandma worked for many years), the Atlantic ocean that my mom and grandma love so much, and the 30's.
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| Looks like a great beach read! (Source credit: http://kindlesandwine.com/2013/12/17/review-interview-giveaway-a-hundred-summers-by-beatriz-williams/) |
About the Author
Beatriz Williams is a Stanford graduate who spent several years in New York and London while getting her feet wet in writing fiction part time. She now lives near the Connecticut shore with her husband and four children while continuing to pump out new best sellers, including her newest called "The Secret Life of Violet Grant".
Overview
It's the summer of 1938 and Lilly is forced to face her past at her family's beach home in Seaview, RI. So much for sun in the fun while you are forced to watch your ex-fiance and childhood friend hop around in newlywed bliss.
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| Fun fun, 1930's beach novel! (Picture source credit: oops) |
The book takes you between two times, 1938 at the beach and 1931 when Lilly meets the love of her life, and helps her unravel how things went so wrong...and if she can ever be happy again.
Did You Like the Book?
I'm just going to come out and say it; holy sh*t it was awful and at multiple point I said things out loud like "Really?!" and at the end I started audibly laughing. While I was okay with the cheesy love story, the East Coast social club house scene, and the anti-Jewish sentiments in the upper class as WWII approached, the ending was the final poo icing on this crap cake.
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| What I thought I was in for. (Photo source credit: http://woodstockwardrobe.com/page/9/) |
So that you don't even THINK about reading it, I'm going to tell you the ending because it's that bad. The day after the love birds reignite their flame after seven years apart, Lilly (shy socialite) and Nick (Dartmouth QB) decide that they have to be together, even in the wakes of him being forced into being married to her best friend through a rather manipulative plan.
Then, when he drives to confront his crazy, money and attention grubbing wife and Lilly gets a big heart about saving her best friend (who's a monster) a huge hurricane rips through Seaside and kills all of the characters that were inconvenient to her Nick and Lilly's plot line of having three children and a beach house happy ending on the sunset. Which is exactly what happened.
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| What I actually got...a feeling sorry for herself society girl and a college QB with dreams of not being part of his dad's successful broker business (BUT I WANT TO FOLLOW MY DREAMS AS AN ARCITECT DAD!). (Photo source credit: http://artcontrarian.blogspot.com/2012_07_01_archive.html) |
They wrap up the story with her popping out three little rug rats with him, and then the author has the kahonas to end with a scene where she's having a day on the beach with her kids nine months pregnant with her favorite sassy socialite Aunt, to when her surprise, her true love Nick arrive home from WWII after bravely volunteering to go off to help his country.
Well Isn't There a Silver Lining?
Yes, there is. I learned about the 1938 Hurricane that really did strike the East Coast, specifically Rhode Island and Connecticut. This little history nugget toward my infinite search for new useless crap to learn about made this terrible time spent worth it.
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| Watch Hill, RI is about 7 miles from where Napatree Point was located. Napatree Point is the area the fictional town of "Seaside" was based on. (Source Picture Credit: http://www.beatrizwilliams.com/about-A-HUNDRED-SUMMERS/the-1938-hurricane-in-pictures) |
If you'd like to learn more about the hurricane of 1938, which created waves of up to 25 ft and winds up to 100 mph, here's a few good resources I came across:
