Last Summer

by Kylie Ladd

Rory Buchanan has it looks, talent, charisma-an all around good-guy, he's the centre of every party and a loving father and husband. Then one summer's afternoon, tragedy strikes. Those who are closest to him struggle to come to terms with their loss. Friendships are strained, marriages falter and loyalties are tested in a gripping and brilliantly crafted novel about loss, grief and desire.

Told from the points of view of nine of the people who are mourning Rory, this riveting novel presents a vivid snapshot of contemporary suburban Australia and how we live now. Marriage, friendship, family-all are dissected with great psychological insight as they start to unravel under the pressure of grief. The characters live on the page; their lives are unfolded and their dilemmas are as real as our own.

Last Summer is a stunning novel about loss-the terrible pain of losing a husband, brother or friend-but also all those smaller losses that everyone must the loss of youth, the shattering of dreams, the fading of convictions and the change in our notions of who we thought we were. It is also about what comes after the how we pick up the pieces and the way we remake our lives.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Audiobook, Family

237 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Kylie Ladd is a novelist and freelance writer. Her essays and articles have appeared in The Age, Griffith Review, O Magazine, The Sydney Morning Herald, Good Medicine, Kill Your Darlings, The Hoopla and MamaMia, among others. Kylie's first novel, After the Fall , was published in Australia, the US and Turkey, while her second, Last Summer, was highly commended in the 2011 Federation of Australian Writers Christina Stead Award for fiction. Her previous books are Naked: Confessions of Adultery and Infidelity and Living with Alzheimer's and Other Dementias. Kylie’s third novel, Into My Arms, has been selected as one of Get Reading’s Fifty Books You Can’t Put Down for 2013. She holds a PhD in neuropsychology, and lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband and two children.

Reviews

[Sue Gerhardt Griffiths · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️s


About one persons death and how it affects family and friends. Each chapter is from a different point of view so we get an appreciation of what they are experiencing and their various ways to process the loss.

A hard read but enjoyable nonetheless.



Audiobook via BorrowBox
Published by: Bolinda audio
Read by Casey Withoos
Duration: 8 hrs, 41 min. 1.25x Speed

[EmG ReadsDaily · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautifully depicted story of love and loss, the complexities of human relationships and suburban life.

[Mish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review for the Australian Women Writers Challenge 2012

Rory is a larger then life character and prominent figure in his circle of friends. Whether it’s organising special events/training for the cricket club, or get togethers and parties for his friends - he was the key to keeping this tight nit group together. But Rory sudden death put a strain on the remaining friendship and marriages, and with some it has prompted them re-evaluate their own lives.

This is the first book I’ve read of Kylie Ladd and I think she did a marvellous job in capturing the emotional struggle of 9 individuals, and how they cope with grief from losing a loved one. It’s a fascinating insight on the different ways we mourn someone and how we look at life going forward; some were silent and withdrawn, some were angry and others took it upon themselves to make some life changing experience without either consulting or considering their partners. I noticed since Rory’s death that most of them kept their grief to themselves and rarely spoken openly to each other or their spouses about how they are feeling. It’s really hard on marriages and friendships when you’re shut down or excluded like this, and I can see the real importance of communication in these situations.

This is also a story of ordinary people with ordinary lives and how they juggle work, children, family life and marriage. They are real and believable situations and as a reader will find many situations in the book part of your everyday life. However I felt the ending left a lot of issues unresolved and there were too characters and story lines which seemed a bit too busy for me. But generally it was a pleasant and quick read.

[MaryG2E · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book grabbed me from the opening page and kept me reading long into the night. The story is set in the affluent eastern suburbs of Melbourne, about five couples whose common link is their membership of a suburban cricket club. The story is told through the voices of nine of them, the tenth character being silent, having dropped dead from an aortic aneurism in the practice nets one balmy evening. 39 yo Rory was the captain and coach, a larger-than-life personality who attracted everyone within his milieu, and who dominated all of their lives in various ways. His sudden death throws the group into grief and confusion. Nick, Joe, Pete and James were Rory’s friends and teammates. Colleen is Rory’s widow, while the other men’s wives are Anita, Laine, Kelly and Trinity. Each character takes the narrative forward through their individual voices.

I’ll confess that I’m not a huge fan of the multiple voices style of narrative, but I’m pleased to say that in Kylie Ladd’s capable hands it works well. Firstly, each chapter is headed with the name of the particular voice in big black letters. Secondly, there is only one main narrative thread, i.e. what happens to each of them personally, their marital relationships and family affairs after Rory’s unexpected death. The author has created one continuous chronology, with no jumping back and forth in time.

The novel looks into the lives, thoughts and actions of a group of middle class 40-somethings and their families in an insightful way. Each character has issues lurking beneath the sometimes false bonhomie on display at the cricket club. The author handles these aspects with sensitivity, which I greatly appreciated.

While the prose style is plain and accessible to a wide readership, I found that many passages in the book sparkled, and I thoroughly enjoyed the writing style. One of the best novels I’ve read in a while.
4.5★s

[Lauren Keegan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last Summer is my first Kylie Ladd novel and I really enjoyed this Australian author’s take on the aftermath of death among a group of friends in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. When talented recreational cricketer Rory Buchanan dies unexpectedly at cricket practice from a heart condition, his wife, children and friends struggle to deal with their loss.

When I was almost seventeen and smack bang in the middle of my HSC trial exams, my best friend died in a car accident. Much of that time for me was a blur, but I still remember where I was and how I felt the moment the news broke. The aftermath was an extremely confusing time for me, it was the first brush with death I had experienced at that age and didn’t know what to expect. I was caught between wanting to move on and remember my friend with happy memories and wanting to respectfully mourn her too. So when I read the opening chapter of Last Summer which relays Nick’s account of losing his best mate I could connect with his experience on a deep level.

I was surprised thereafter to find that the POV switched at each chapter between four couples; Kelly (Rory’s sister) and her husband Joe, Nick and Laine, Pete and Trinity, Anita and James and then Colleen, Rory’s widowed wife. I was a tad disappointed that Nick didn’t have another chapter to himself until much later in the book and I actually found Nick and Laine’s story to be the most unresolved out of all the couples by the end- which was unfortunate because it was these two characters that I felt I connected with at the outset.

Last Summer explores the different ways people mourn; by withdrawing, by being surrounded by people, by talking or by dealing with it solitarily. The grief managed to affect each of these 9 adults in various ways and within the couples they were challenged with staying connected. Rory had always been the outgoing, sociable guy who brought everyone together and the group struggle to celebrate his memory when the one person who held them all together is no longer with them.

Through insightful storytelling, Kylie Ladd explores the many layers of grief and its effect on the family unit, friendships and the individual. She skilfully allows the reader to connect with many characters and understand them from various viewpoints. No doubt her background in psychology has allowed her to access her characters at a deep level and present them in a way that readers can relate to. Everyone has experienced loss at some stage in their life and with every loss comes change; Ladd explores how this change can transpire in the lives of friends and family. I’ll definitely be seeking out her first novel, After the Fall.

[Rose Askew · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was very difficult to get started. Trying to remember all the characters, who was married to who and which kids belonged to what parents was hella confusing... but I eventually mapped it out and when I did I began to really enjoy the book. I found myself interested in each character, and enjoyed developing an understanding of how each person came to that point in their lives.

It was easy to resonate with and involves themes that will likely engage a wide/vast audience. Some themes were challenging to read or consider because they were raw. The author touched on themes that are not readily discussed in our society, and presented them in a realistic way.

The ending made me feel a bit ripped off.. would have liked a few more chapters!

[Faye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is only the second novel I have read of this author and like the first I enjoyed this immensely. How not only the closest of friends can fall apart when they lose a loved one, how people can't cope with their own grief little alone help their loved ones. Worth the read.

[Emily Fletcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, as the title suggests, a great summer read. Easy and engaging, Ladd follows a cast of Australian adults following the sudden death of one of their friends, covering ideas of family, complacency, loss and grief. I do wish some of the loose ends had been tied up a bit more - I like when books like this leave open ends, it feels more real to me, but I need certain resolutions to be made.
This isn't a thrilling shocking fantastical narrative so if thats your vibe Last Summer won't be for you. Instead, its a compelling look at the real lives and issues of the 'average' Australian, and the intertwining of a cast of characters that I found quite engaging.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since reading Kylie Ladd’s debut novel After the Fall I’ve been anxiously awaiting her next release. When I finally got my hands on Last Summer I was ecstatic and relieved when from the first line I knew it wasn’t going to be a decision I regretted.

They were making love when Rory died.” p1

With the sudden death of Rory Buchanan, his devastated family and closest friends are faced with the uncomfortable truth of their mortality and themselves. Their grief creates fractures in their relationships as they reassess their priorities and struggle to deal with their loss. Unflinchingly honest, Last Summer has a deceptively spare style that is nevertheless loaded with subtext. This novel is not only about death, but life and how we go on living despite a tragic loss. It is a universal theme, a common human experience that we all confront at some time and this novel will make you think.

Last Summer unfolds from the perspective of nine characters, each of whom have been affected in different ways by the tragedy. One of the things I find most impressive about Ladd’s writing is that her characters live within the pages of her novel. They eat, shower, bicker, make love, go to work, arrange childcare; these ordinary events contrasting the tedium of living against their complex emotional lives. It is often said that no two people react to an event in the same way yet we many of us consider that there is a ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ way, particularly where grieving is concerned. Last Summer perfectly illustrates the individuality of response to crisis and forces the reader to examine their own attitude.
Ladd’s background in psychology no doubt assists her in creating well rounded, authentic characters who are both familiar and extraordinary. The ordinary group of middle class suburbanites in Last Summer are as emotionally complicated as any individual you know.
One of the reasons that this novel resonates so strongly with me is because there are some eerie parallels to my own experiences. The death of a friend from an aggressive cancer (barely 2 months after her diagnosis) in my late twenties had a similar impact to that which Ladd writes about, on our group of friends. In the aftermath of her passing a couple split, another nearly destroyed her marriage by having an affair, three of the eight women in our circle changed careers (we had all worked together at the time), two couples moved away. The loss changed us all as we were forced to confront our mortality and examine our life choices.

Entertaining and compelling, Last Summer is the best contemporary fiction novel I have read all year with it’s insightful examination of life and death in the Australian suburbs. I’m already greedy for Kylie Ladd’s next book.

[Rachael Hewison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Last Summer was another Australian fiction novel I’d been recommended on Goodreads. Although it was an easy to read, fast-paced book, I didn’t entirely enjoy it.
Ladd has successfully presented the reader with a vast range of ways that people deal with grief and moving on after losing a loved one. Some of her characters lost their passion for life, others wanted to pick themselves up and carry on like normal. Rarely did any of them talk to each other about the sorrow they were feeling, not even to their spouses. Aside from this, Ladd’s work was also about normal adult life, how her characters coped with married life and parenthood. None of the characters seemed happy with their lives and all seemed to be dealing with some form of marital strife, which I found depressing and was uncomfortable to read. The characters were realistic nevertheless, with normal issues and everyday stresses.
The chapters are divided amongst nine characters, providing the reader with unique perspectives on the tragic death of Rory. After each chapter it felt like you had come to some understanding of what a character was like, only to have that understanding unravel once you read from a different characters perspective. The style reminded me very much of The Slap (Christos Tsiolkas), although I enjoyed Ladd’s work more.
The ending felt particularly rushed for me and there were a number of characters that I felt Ladd hadn’t finished dealing with, most notably Nick and Laine. Nevertheless Ladd gives an excellent portrayal on the effect grief has on the individual, friendships and family units.

[Michael Guidera · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found last summer to be a couple of good things. It was a good meditation on the effects of sudden death on the people closer to the deceased.
More interestingly I found it to be a good answer to hurl, 25 years too late, at Margaret Thatcher after her claim there is no such thing as society, only individuals and families.
What I found most distinctive in this novel was how embedded the action was in society. It showed very clearly that society includes a range of institutions that need to be supported by government to make possible the civil society we need and depend on to make life meaningful. What I took away from this novel was that without society and its institutions, the life of families and individuals would turn Hobbesian at a very rapid rate.

[Karyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

disappointing, the story never really went anywhere and the ending was sudden and felt like it was still the middle of the book

[Marilyn Watson · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you join a large group of friends, chances are there is a pecking order, and the removal of one member can alter the dynamics of the whole group. This story tells of a loss of a relatively young man, not yet 40, who has been the unquestioned leader of a group of families whose lives revolve around cricket and the local cricket club. His sudden, unexpected death has ramifications for them all over the ensuing months, and is told from separate viewpoints off the other group members. I enjoyed the development of the characters and their stories. Grief affects people in various ways and we read about how differently people deal with it. Despite being a rather sombre subject, it is nevertheless an enjoyable read, though I did feel as though one or two of the storylines weren't satisfactorily complete when the book ended.

[Tanya Boulter · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has been on my tbr list for a while so I finally picked it up and read it. Found it hard to follow most of the characters and who they were connected to. But do like that each chapter was one characters story. A fairly accurate account of some typical Australian families, bit too much cricket for me

[Steve lovell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love peering at road atlases. In doing so I am mentally planning road trips – road trips that I realise I'll never do. Why? I hate driving – but still, I dream of the open road, of grey nomading and the places in Oz I'd nomad to. If only I didn't abhor getting behind the wheel of a car. Still, I ruminate – and peer at road maps. I imagine being one of these wizened, ageing vagabonds who've been everywhere in this wide brown land, spinning yarns to others of a similar ilk around an outback campfire - like my good friends Noel Next Door and Kevin from Cairns (with their partners Jane and Kim). It'll never happen – but I do dream and continue to peruse road atlases. I've bucket-listed the Kimberleys, Kakadu and the Daintree – and one day I'll get to those, but more than likely in a manner far less romantic than those who Winnebago around Highway One. That is a forlorn aspiration.

One of the roads that I've often regarded with interest is the one that proceeds in a roughly northern direction from Broome up a peninsula to Kooljaman Resort and Bardi, passing by Beagle Bay and Lombardina – or, at least, that is what is indicated in my said atlases. According to Kylie Ladd, though, along its route is also the community, largely indigenous in make up, of Kalangella. It is here that the author places a bevy of female characters central to her fourth novel, 'Mothers and Daughters'. Amira has been posted to this Kimberley outpost for twelve months on a teaching contract, with teenage daughter Tess in tow. By the time their mates arrive for a week's visit, both have fallen in attachment to the place and shed their big city personas. The mother's friends – Scottish Morag of fair skin, acerbic Fiona who'd need more than a week to fall in love with any place - and groomed to the max Caro, initially clearly have little notion of what they are letting themselves in for. Each is accompanied by a single daughter. Bronte, Macey and Janey are as different from each other as three teenagers could be. Stork-like Bronte is an ugly duckling on the cusp of becoming a graceful swan, Macey is pierced and professes to be a goth and Janey – well, Janey is a real piece of work. She is a self-absorbed bitch of the first order. All the visitors find the place initially too primitive for their tastes – what, no mobile reception! But gradually the location works its charm on a few and during the stay some find that they really do need to take a good hard look at themselves. Tess' sophisticated mates also find that she is a very different kettle of fish to the school friend they thought they had pegged back in Yarra City. She's gone all native on them.

It did take a little while to settle into this novel and at times there is a little clunkiness with the prose – but Ms Ladd can sure spin a captivating yarn. Her protagonists, warts and all, did draw this reader in and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent with these creations of Kylie L's writerly mind. With Janey, Ladd has produced a real horror and I was eager to read on to see if she receives her comeuppance. Tess is a sensible delight, but of the younger brigade Bronte for me was the most compelling with all her self doubts and general fragility. Will the experience toughen her up as Fiona so hopes? And with Caro, will she get to bed the charismatic black-hunk Mason - a serial child producer, wise to the ways of 'country'. And finally, will Fiona get what a gem she has in Bronte. These are all fascinating questions that the author leads the reader on a wonderful journey to their solutions. So much can happen in a week. Throw in a bit of Aboriginal culture, with resulting culture clash and we have, in 'Mothers and Daughters', a fine flavoursome treat.

As we do with 'Last Summer'. Published three years prior to '14's above title, this novel had me in from the get go. The fact it followed a cohort of couples strongly attached to the sport of cricket aided it's cause for me. It focuses on the social life and interrelationships between the men of a suburban cricket club - with each other, their WAGs and offspring. All are affected by the untimely death of another charismatic male, club legend Rory Buchanan. It throws the cosiness of the club dynamics all out of kilter, with all manner of sexual machinations ensuing. Ladd is a dab hand, as well, at describing the mechanics of the actual act and some males, in reading this, may be pleasantly surprised at her praise for the advantages of the smaller member in intercourse. She also introduces her fans to the delights of the mating game 'flirt tiggy' – try it out if you’re in the market. Perhaps the author's only failing in this terrific tale is that sometimes her reproduction of the blokiness associated with team sport does not quiet gel – but overall this is only a minor quibble which certainly does not in the slightest detract.

I ripped through both these tomes in a couple of days each, a sure sign of their pulling power and I am eager to track down Ms Ladd's two other offerings – 'After the Fall' and 'Into My Arms'. Perhaps this writer will never come into calculation for something like the Miles Franklin, but these two novels are engrossing page-turners. I loved them.

[Ann D · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book and really enjoyed it. One thing that happens to one person can affect so many people So true. The book gave me goose bumps at times for the fact fiction can be so close to real life.

[Lyn Quilty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hard to keep track of the characters at times - who was married to who, who owned which child. Too much cricket for my liking and the sex scenes a bit gratuitous. Ending was too abrupt. Story line had lots of potential but needed a good edit.

[Bree T · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rory Buchanan had it all. Captain of his local cricket club, he was the centre of it and of many people’s lives. The life of the party, the glue that held it all together. He had a good marriage with a wonderful wife and two sons. A successful business and a beautiful house. His friends and family idolized him.

When Rory dies at cricket training from an aneurysm of the aorta, the people left behind in his life are devastated. His sister and wife struggle to make sense of it. His friends from the team struggle without his leadership and drive, his enthusiasm for the game. In several cases he was why they were there, why they were still playing. And this larger than life character is now gone, leaving behind a group of people who are struggling with his loss and unsure of how to go on, which direction to go in.

Last Summer is told from nine different perspectives – the people who were closest to Rory and who are most affected by his death. There’s Nick, Pete, Joe and James – all members of the same cricket club, and their wives, Laine, Trinity, Kelly (also Rory’s sister) and Anita as well Rory’s widow Colleen, taking turns at the narrative. They are all vastly different people and their ways of dealing with the grief, or in the case of some, the grief of others, are all different as well.

Last Summer is an observation of family life. Of tragedy. And everything that comes in between. Given its geographical setting and the revolving narrative, comparisons to The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas were inevitable. I read The Slap back in April for Aussie Author Month and although I didn’t exactly like it, or relate to it, I thought it was definitely an interesting and powerful piece of writing. So is Last Summer. But it also has the added bonus of being a much more enjoyable and accessible read. And I could relate to the characters a good deal more easily.

The book opens with one of the better ‘hook lines’ I’ve come across in recent times… “They were making love when Rory died” and from that point on, putting this book down is not an option. The characters are all refreshingly regular, the sort of people you might work with, or live next door to. Some are more sympathetic than others but one of the interesting features of this book is the way that Ladd manages to slowly shift the way you feel about certain characters as the book progresses. Uptight and unlikable characters suddenly grow and change and become people in which you can identify with.

What really strikes me about this novel, is the incredible portrayal of family dynamics. Ladd is a psychologist who will tell anyone that asks that she’s a voyeur…she likes to watch people. And that shines through in her writing. The families in this novel differ, but the one thing that remains constant is the accuracy with which they appear on the page – from married characters Pete and Trinity, dealing with Trinity’s issue of being adopted and whether or not to track down her biological mother and their rebellious teenage daughter, to Rory’s grieving widow Colleen, struggling to make a life for herself and her boys after the devastating death and some unexpected news that rocks her world.

There’s a simplicity in this story that is beautiful – the narrative is uncomplicated and smooth flowing, despite the different changes in view. The families and marital relationships are easily kept straight, something that contributes to the fast pace at which you can get through this novel! At its core it’s about a group of people grieving the loss of someone in his prime, a man they admired and loved and how that one thing ripples through their lives, no matter how differing those lives are. Not everything they do revolves around the loss but their acts and words are touched by it and it creates divisions, fractions within a group that were perhaps not there before, or too well hidden. Without Rory it seems, people see fit to act differently – to leave behind the normal, the mundane of the previous life, the life that contained him. It’s like a wake up call to make changes, to grasp what is in front of you because tomorrow it (or you) may not be around to take the opportunity.

Last Summer is set in Melbourne, a city where I have lived (on the periphery) for the last 5 years now. One of my favourite things in fiction is reading a novel where the setting is familiar, where I can feel a connection to the location. I am not well traveled, so this doesn’t happen to me too often! I don’t live where the characters live but that essence of the city, the place that is known to me and understood, is still there. To me this book is Melbourne in summer – cricket games, and bbq’s, kids at the house that has a pool, New Years Eve parties, friendships and families.

The sophomore novel is always an interesting one, especially when you’ve really enjoyed an author’s debut. Last Summer ensures that the success and crafty writing of After The Fall was no fluke. If you are interested in family relationships and evolving dynamics of friendship then Last Summer is definitely a book you should be reading!

[Loretta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book, and it ended how you would imagine it in real life..would recommend.

[Plum · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was really hard on the emotions and I’d say if you were going through the mill s bit right now, it might be an idea to put this one aside for a read later, when you were ready.

[Belinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just didn't care enough about the characters to finish it

[Belinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only thing I liked about this book was that it was set in Melbourne, my home town. I don't tend to read much contemporary - a good reminder why I must be more picky when I do so!

[Jodi · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5🌟

[Natasha A · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was good but I skipped through the cricket bits, there were a lot of lengthy descriptions

[Janine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It involved the going's on of a small group of friends over a Summer period. They were all involved in the local Cricket club and when Rory died the repercussions of that event affected all involved.

[Melina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Like J. K. Rowling’s The Casual Vacancy, this is a book about what happens to a group of people after a ‘good guy’ dies. In this case, the other people are fellow members of Rory Buchanan’s Division 2, cricket team and their wives. Each chapter gives us another point of view from one of the nine people (we also learn about Rory’s widow), with a few general chapters about ‘big events’ which occur.

In The Casual Vacancy, the people who we learn about are rather different and don’t necessarily interact with each other. In Last Summer, they’re almost too close, so the events that happen – finding a long lost mother, separation, cheating, suffering possible medical issues – almost feel like too much. Additionally, since there’s a whole chapter on each character, you really start to get into their story, then you’re catapulted into a new one, left with a generally dissatisfied feeling.

I didn’t find most of the characters particularly likable (actually, I found most of them pretty shallow) or particularly interesting, which made it hard sometimes to remember which character I was reading about. I think I would have liked the book a lot more if it had narrowed its focus – if it had chosen to look more in depth at a smaller selection of the people – which would have allowed some of the characters to grieve in a more simple fashion, without big life changing events also going on. If you’re particularly looking for a book about what happens to people when someone dies, I would suggest The Casual Vacancy over Last Summer. Or take a slightly different focus and read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society or in the children’s books – Love Aubrey.

This review originally appeared at Adventures of a Subversive Reader

[Helen McKenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rory is a great Aussie bloke - a father, husband, brother, son and good mate to many. He's also the captain of the local cricket team and the nucleus of a group of friends in suburban Melbourne. Then suddenly (and shockingly) one day he dies....and everybody around him is left floundering as they try to pick up the pieces of their lives without Rory in it.

I really liked the way the premise of this book and how it explored what happens when a tragic, unexpected event occurs. It illustrated wonderfully just how different people cope (or don't cope) and how people attempt to move on. This is especially true when losing a person like Rory, who they all relied upon in one way or another.

The multiple point of view format worked really well for this novel, with each chapter exploring a different character's reaction to Rory's death. Although some of the chapters overlap a little (in terms of time or events), it is not repetitive in any way and was very easy to follow.

Kylie Ladd has captured each character in Last Summer wonderfully and I came to know and like/dislike each of them well. Although Rory does not actually appear in the novel, he is also explored through flashbacks to the same level.

The author has also created a stunningly accurate snapshot of a contemporary Australian group of friends. Although set in Melbourne (and it captures Melbourne perfectly), it could be set in any Australian city and be any group of thirty/forty something friends with kids the same age in a smorgasbord of professional/trade careers.

Last Summer is easy to read but explores many deeper issues and is thought provoking in many ways. Although not suspenseful as such, it captured my interest from the first scene and held it until the last.

[Sean Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

On an otherwise normal summer night Rory Buchanan drops dead on a cricket pitch, and his friends and family have to adjust to the thought of a life without him where he was the center of everyone's attention.

In many ways this book reminded me of The Slap, as in a bunch of self-absorbed Melbournites have their world turned upside down by some catastrophic event. Whereas The Slap reveled in its own sense of 'ooh, the world's fucked up and everyone in it is as well', Last Summer tries to other a more hopeful view. Unfortunately it also ends up in some Jodi Picoult-ish quagmire of cliches.

That is not to say the book doesn't have its good points. Having just lost a family member recently, I really feel that Ladd has captured brilliantly some of the emotions of grief and destitution that those dealing with death go through. This was especially shown through the character of Nick - some of the scenes where he has to shut himself away in order to break down are beautifully written.

The ending is a little pat, though. Not everything is resolved but one in particular feels a little forced. Still, it's a good and compelling read.

[Greg Barron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last Summer is a slice of suburban life, studied through the objective lens of a microscope. The characters move in and out of focus, each subject to a probing examination by someone who not only knows how to observe human nature, but can tell a compelling story as well.

The characters are not perfect. Nor should they be. Joe becomes hard to like. Anita goes off, rather selfishly, to find herself. Kelly is the stand-out to me--she leaps off the page, and I found myself looking forward to her chapters even more than the others.

Friendship with Rory was the glue that held them all together, and the tragedy that almost drives them apart. Yet, the bond of the cricket club proves to have a strength of its own. The novel ends on an optimistic note, and with a great line. I'm not going to spoil it by saying what it is. This is a great book, hard to fault. Go and buy it.

Four and a half stars.

[Kylie Duthie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would actually give this 3 & 1/2 stars, but 1/2s aren't possible, and 3 stars simply seemed too low. I did really enjoy this book. I wanted to keep reading to see what was going to happen. But I did feel like there were too many main characters. At times, I found it hard to keep track of who was married to who, & which children belonged to them, and what were they up to at any given time. And even though I felt like I knew them all quite well, I would have preferred there to be less main characters, so that they could have been explored in more detail. But that probably goes against the premise of the book, ie. how the death of one person affects the various people around him. In summary, a quick easy read.