The Summer Guest (Paperback)

The novel opens with a prologue that takes us to the end of WWII. A war veteran, Joseph Crosby, has brought his wife Amy and infant son Joe to Maine, taking a risk by purchasing and re-opening a fishing camp that he learned to love as a boy. The prologue depicts a war hero who is about to risk all he has for the hopes of a better life, as the couple has spent their entire life savings to start anew in this remote part of the country.

The prologue is misleading, as the reader will at first assume the story is about a WWII veteran, but it is not. THE SUMMER GUEST instead revolves around Joe, Joseph's son, Joe's wife Lucy, and the wealthy businessman who becomes their friend. It is their relationship that drives the plot to its conclusion, ending with the third generation member of the Crosby family, Kate. What makes this book a must-read is the skill that Cronin uses to create these characters, making each of them come alive, and the story that is behind each character. The relationships that are formed are what make this book worth reading, and the mystery behind what really happened between Joe, Lucy and Harry come together by the end of the book, culminating with a revelation that affects everyone, especially Kate.

A different person narrates each chapter, telling the story of the past from varying viewpoints. Jordan Patterson opens the book with his introduction of Harry Wainwright and his current wife, their baby daughter January, and his grown son Hal from his first marriage. Jordan, who works for Joe and Lucy, spends his time doing odd jobs, helps take guests out on tours by the lake, and helps run the camp. It is a simple life, and he doesn't make a lot of money, but it's what he loves, and he lives at the camp all year round. Jordan's job that weekend is to see that Harry gets his last chance to fish before he dies.

As the novel progresses, the past is told in bits and pieces. Joe and Lucy's story starts with Lucy taking a job at the camp during the summer months. She's a teenager, a few years younger than Joe, and their story takes the novel to the height of the Vietnam War. Joseph takes yet another risk in life when he helps his son dodge the draft by sending him off to Canada, a seemingly contradictory action to take on the part of a WWII vet. A very involved plot line, it also tells the tale of Harry's love for Lucy, whom he met when he was still married to his first wife, who at the time was dying from a terminal disease, and Lucy was still a teenager. It is a love that spanned three decades.

Harry is the core of this novel. It is his story, ultimately intertwined with Joe and Lucy's past, that brings the plot to the present day. Their past lives are slowly revealed by each narrator until the secret is finally told by the end of the book.

The entire novel reads like a story out of another era, with the backdrop of the fishing camp as a reminder of another place and time. It is hard to believe that THE SUMMER GUEST actually takes place in 1994. Reading this book makes one think about lazy summer days from years gone by. If nothing else, Justin Cronin paints a beautiful picture of this out-of-the-way part of the country, creating a wonderfully magical place where the past mingles with the future. And with it, a poignant love story interspersed with tales about the Vietnam War is what makes THE SUMMER GUEST worth reading.

--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton

I'm going to preface this by saying this was one of my favorite books this year so far. THE SUMMER GUEST by Justin Cronin is the story of three people - Joe and Lucy Crosby, and a multi-millionaire Harry Wainwright, whose lives are tied together through circumstances involving a fishing camp. The story itself is more emotionally driven than action-driven, and with the beautiful writing skills that Cronin uses, I found this book refreshing and very enjoyable.

THE SUMMER GUEST is in part a love triangle. Joe and Lucy meet as teenagers at the fishing camp that Joe's father runs. At the same time, Harry has become a regular customer, but he is already married. Unbeknownst to Lucy, Harry's wife is terminally ill. In the meantime, there is a chemistry between Lucy and Harry that is hard to deny, but her heart belongs to Joe, even when he evades the Vietnam draft and escapes to Canada, leaving her behind in Maine.

The story's present day is 1994, and Harry has returned to the camp one last time. He is terminally ill with cancer, and knows this will be his last visit. Joe and Lucy are now married, and they run the camp. They have hired a young man named Jordan to help run it with them, and it is to Jordan that Harry leaves the camp, after buying it from Joe and Lucy, who have decided it is time to let it go. They now have a daughter, Kate, that rounds out the cast of characters, and it is through Kate that the story ends with a final "bang", as a secret is revealed to the reader that ties all of them together.

This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed the characters that Cronin created in THE SUMMER GUEST. The book spanned several generations and two wars, and the author was able to tie everything together, making the characters to be believable and real. His descriptions of the natural landscape of Maine helped create an atmosphere of idyllic summers and of an age long gone. I would certainly read more of Justin Cronin. Highly recommended.