Psychic Summer

by Arnold Copper, Coralee Leon

Book by Arnold Copper, Coralee Leon

Genres: Paranormal, Thriller

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Les · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book when I was in college in the early 80's. It has stuck with me ever since. It was really creepy

11.13.19 Weird coincidence late in October Clyde Lewis did a show about Ouija boards and I started thinking about this book and couldn't remember the title. And since then 2 people have liked my review of the book. and now I remember the title.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A re-read that did not appeal to me as much as the first time I read it. The writing was not captivating but the subject could have been better. The coincidence of two people who were knowledgeable about karma and reincarnation seemed too much to me. Although the story is supposedly true, and the author (Arnold Cooper) seemed to be an intelligent man, the fact that he continued with the dangerous proposition of communicating with the dead, including 2 supposedly evil people, does not demonstrate intelligence on his part. To "help" the good female, someone who had died 100 years ago, seems a bit much to me. I am skeptical about the entire thing.

[Paul G · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting relic from a period of faddish fascination with the occult, post "Rosemary's Baby" and Aquarius, this book reaffirmed my resistance to fooling around with Oujia boards.
I remembered "Psychic Summer" being on a shelf at my family's beach house when I was a kid, and picked it used from Amazon to satisfy unfulfilled childhood curiosity.
It's not very scary (or well-written), but it's short & spooky enough to be fun.

[Sarah D Bunting · Rating 3 out of 5]

Absurd, name-droppy, amateurishly preoccupied with the minutia of meals...yet an entertaining time capsule.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

For some reason I couldn't put this book down.

[Wendy Harding · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may have read this book in the 80s, as a lot of its ideas – Western takes on Eastern spirituality – felt very familiar indeed. Those were the most interesting parts of the book, for me. Not the Ouija board sequences, which were vital but secondary to my involvement: no, it was the author constantly thinking aloud and speculating on the Eastern ideas distilled for him by his friend Sharma, and later, a spiritualist from England, and seeing where the ideas overlapped. The author was also honest enough to note when he felt annoyed by being told he was too intellectual about the whole experience and not understanding how his increasing obsession with endless sessions of Ouija, to try and ‘understand’ the spirits messages, were endangering his own mental health.

It was fascinating to see him partially lose sight of his own objectivity, despite increasing actual physical risk to himself and his friends: chandeliers crashing down on them during sessions, knives whizzing past people’s heads; possible moments of actual possession when they became too emotionally involved with the proceedings. The emotional and mental effects of it all were fascinating. Was it a true story, as sold? I don’t know. But as an openminded spiritual seeker, I would never play with a Ouija; I think I have enough going on without adding input from either my own subconscious less balanced parts of me, or actual unembodied entities.

I also loved his long descriptions of the places - Water island, Fire Island: it gave a real sense of the summer, the sand, the fog at night. They don't write books this way anymore...I may be about to read lots of late 70s/early 80s books again; just to hear this calm sort of tone. I never did think there was much wrong with being told, not only shown, as long as you like the voice of the narrator.

The only other thing to note is that it has attitudes of its era: most notable the casual sentence about the Eastern mind being passive and the Western mind being active and curious (mmmm - that's why the East has several hugely developed spiritual systems thousands of years older than the Wests', because they are passive and don't bother, tsk!).

For all its of its time flaws, I enjoyed this, and like one other reviewer, found it oddly unputdownable; if I hadn't been interrupted, I could have eaten it in a day!

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3.5. I really liked the authors writing style. Interesting tale, but I was let down by the ending, true story or not, I think I would have been satisfied with anything else. I would still recommend this to others, however, bc the paranormal intellect discussed within is very on point and does make you wonder about ghosts, karma, reincarnation and “making “contact” through a Ouija board. I mean come on, I think we all have one of those boards hidden in our attic from childhood…

[Addy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent telling of a true and horrifying story. Prob the fastest I've read a book and for that I give it a 5.

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember this book as a kid. It was a creepy good time. Great Summer read.