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Uma noite de verão
Às vezes, basta uma noite para romper o fio da inocência e inaugurar a trama da memória.
Verão de 1985. Cinco rapazes e uma garota passam as férias na ilha de Ré, na costa francesa. Entre paixões à flor da pele, o despertar da homossexualidade, tardes de sol e noites sem hora para acabar, o grupo de amigos vive em um tempo suspenso entre a despreocupação da adolescência e o desconhecido da vida adulta.
O que começa como uma celebração da liberdade acaba marcado por uma perda irreparável. Quando um dos amigos desaparece durante uma festa, a tragédia lança os sobreviventes diretamente no mundo adulto, onde o peso das ausências passa a fazer parte da vida.
Inspirado por um evento marcante de seu próprio passado, Philippe Besson, autor de Mentiras que contamos, recria suas memórias e oferece um romance delicado e cortante sobre juventude, amizade, luto e identidade. Um retrato sensível da transição para a vida adulta, que ecoa as obras de Édouard Louis, André Aciman e Annie Ernaux.
Para leitores que buscam autoficção literária, romances de formação, narrativas de memória, literatura francesa contemporânea e enredos sobre amizade, perda e descoberta do desejo, este livro dialoga com todos que já se perguntaram onde termina a juventude — e o que dela permanece.
"Philippe Besson escreve como o sol tocando um caco de vidro, devolvendo à luz aquilo que estava quebrado."
Le Point
"Inspirado em uma história real, Philippe Besson constrói um relato delicado, repleto de emoção, ternura e lágrimas."
Madame Figaro
"Um romance luminoso sobre o fim da inocência."
La Tribune
"Uma obra literária de grande qualidade."
La Dépêche du Midi
"Com uma escrita depurada, Besson emociona."
La Voix du Nord
Verão de 1985. Cinco rapazes e uma garota passam as férias na ilha de Ré, na costa francesa. Entre paixões à flor da pele, o despertar da homossexualidade, tardes de sol e noites sem hora para acabar, o grupo de amigos vive em um tempo suspenso entre a despreocupação da adolescência e o desconhecido da vida adulta.
O que começa como uma celebração da liberdade acaba marcado por uma perda irreparável. Quando um dos amigos desaparece durante uma festa, a tragédia lança os sobreviventes diretamente no mundo adulto, onde o peso das ausências passa a fazer parte da vida.
Inspirado por um evento marcante de seu próprio passado, Philippe Besson, autor de Mentiras que contamos, recria suas memórias e oferece um romance delicado e cortante sobre juventude, amizade, luto e identidade. Um retrato sensível da transição para a vida adulta, que ecoa as obras de Édouard Louis, André Aciman e Annie Ernaux.
Para leitores que buscam autoficção literária, romances de formação, narrativas de memória, literatura francesa contemporânea e enredos sobre amizade, perda e descoberta do desejo, este livro dialoga com todos que já se perguntaram onde termina a juventude — e o que dela permanece.
"Philippe Besson escreve como o sol tocando um caco de vidro, devolvendo à luz aquilo que estava quebrado."
Le Point
"Inspirado em uma história real, Philippe Besson constrói um relato delicado, repleto de emoção, ternura e lágrimas."
Madame Figaro
"Um romance luminoso sobre o fim da inocência."
La Tribune
"Uma obra literária de grande qualidade."
La Dépêche du Midi
"Com uma escrita depurada, Besson emociona."
La Voix du Nord
152 pages, Kindle Edition
Published March 27, 2025
About the author
Philippe Besson
69 books1,540 followersIn 1999, Besson, who was a jurist at that time, was inspired to write his first novel, In the Absence of Men, while reading some accounts of ex-servicemen of the First World War. The novel won the Emmanuel-Roblès prize.
L'Arrière-saison, published in 2002, won the Grand Prix RTL-Lire 2003. Un garçon d'Italie was nominated for the Goncourt and the Médicis prizes.
Seeing that his works aroused so much interest, Philippe Besson then decided to dedicate himself exclusively to his writing.
L'Arrière-saison, published in 2002, won the Grand Prix RTL-Lire 2003. Un garçon d'Italie was nominated for the Goncourt and the Médicis prizes.
Seeing that his works aroused so much interest, Philippe Besson then decided to dedicate himself exclusively to his writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 772 reviews
January 19, 2026
Remember Philippe Besson’s Lie With Me? That story wrecked me. So when I got the chance to read The Summer Boy, I was ready to get destroyed once again. It didn’t, but still…
The Summer Boy is Lie With Me’s sequel, or follow up, or whatever you want to call it. Philippe is now eighteen and still sometimes thinks about Thomas, his first love. But he is also ready to move on.
Lie With Me has a frosted stillness whereas The Summer Boy is hot and sweaty. Lie With Me is gentle and delicate whereas The Summer Boy is raw and restless. What they have in common is the writing and the darkness lurking around the corner. Think the sweltering summer from Call Me by Your Name. Without the romance though. Nothing seems to be happening. The teens swim, party, want to hook up, but as a reader you know a tragedy is coming.
I loved Nicolas. I have a soft spot for quiet melancholy guys, and the friendship between him and Philippe felt so precious. And the friend group, the summer, I could imagine it all so clearly. I am a kid from the eighties. Those songs! I knew them all. Going to the beach and lying in the sun all day. No phones, no nothing, just talking and laughing with the people around you.
When the tragedy struck, my chest tightened and I just wanted to keep reading. With Lie With Me in mind, I needed to know that everyone would be alright… When I closed my ereader, tears prickled behind my eyes.
I spent most of the book thinking it would land at four stars, but by the final page I hit that five‑star button with zero hesitation.
Thank you, Scribner and NetGalley, for this worthy successor of Lie With Me.
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The Summer Boy is Lie With Me’s sequel, or follow up, or whatever you want to call it. Philippe is now eighteen and still sometimes thinks about Thomas, his first love. But he is also ready to move on.
Lie With Me has a frosted stillness whereas The Summer Boy is hot and sweaty. Lie With Me is gentle and delicate whereas The Summer Boy is raw and restless. What they have in common is the writing and the darkness lurking around the corner. Think the sweltering summer from Call Me by Your Name. Without the romance though. Nothing seems to be happening. The teens swim, party, want to hook up, but as a reader you know a tragedy is coming.
I loved Nicolas. I have a soft spot for quiet melancholy guys, and the friendship between him and Philippe felt so precious. And the friend group, the summer, I could imagine it all so clearly. I am a kid from the eighties. Those songs! I knew them all. Going to the beach and lying in the sun all day. No phones, no nothing, just talking and laughing with the people around you.
When the tragedy struck, my chest tightened and I just wanted to keep reading. With Lie With Me in mind, I needed to know that everyone would be alright… When I closed my ereader, tears prickled behind my eyes.
I spent most of the book thinking it would land at four stars, but by the final page I hit that five‑star button with zero hesitation.
Thank you, Scribner and NetGalley, for this worthy successor of Lie With Me.
Follow me on Instagram
February 9, 2024
C’était beau, c’était simple, c’était du Philippe Besson quoi. Mon seul regret ? Trop court.
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January 9, 2026Acho que “Mentiras que contamos” nunca vai ser superado.
January 7, 2024
Il fut un temps où je surveillais attentivement la sortie des romans de Philippe Besson, je les achetais dès le jour de leur sortie, et je les dévorais très vite. C'était l'époque où je le nommais aisément comme mon romancier contemporain favori. Puis mon enthousiasme a diminué, après quelques romans moins réussis qui me donnaient l'impression que leur auteur tournait un peu en rond, sur le fond comme sur la forme. Pourtant, j'ai continué à lire chacun de ses romans, avec plus ou moins de bonheur.
C'est donc par une sorte d'habitude que j'ai lu ce nouveau roman de Philippe Besson, tout juste sorti cette semaine mais dont j'ai découvert la publication très tardivement. Le premier contact, par le résumé en quatrième de couverture, m'avait semblé prometteur. La lecture des premières pages m'a également rassuré, et j'ai finalement dévoré ce livre en une journée.
Tout n'est pas parfait, il reste quelques banalités, des tics de langage et un style parfois auto-caricatural, mais le récit est intéressant et j'ai retrouvé quelques fulgurances qui m'avaient tant plu dans les premiers romans de l'auteur. Ce n'est plus tout à fait le Philippe Besson de ses débuts, mais c'est tout de même bien meilleur que ses précédents romans.
C'est un peu triste à dire, mais Philippe Besson n'est jamais meilleur que quand il écrit sur ses obsessions : le manque, l'absence, le deuil.
C'est donc par une sorte d'habitude que j'ai lu ce nouveau roman de Philippe Besson, tout juste sorti cette semaine mais dont j'ai découvert la publication très tardivement. Le premier contact, par le résumé en quatrième de couverture, m'avait semblé prometteur. La lecture des premières pages m'a également rassuré, et j'ai finalement dévoré ce livre en une journée.
Tout n'est pas parfait, il reste quelques banalités, des tics de langage et un style parfois auto-caricatural, mais le récit est intéressant et j'ai retrouvé quelques fulgurances qui m'avaient tant plu dans les premiers romans de l'auteur. Ce n'est plus tout à fait le Philippe Besson de ses débuts, mais c'est tout de même bien meilleur que ses précédents romans.
C'est un peu triste à dire, mais Philippe Besson n'est jamais meilleur que quand il écrit sur ses obsessions : le manque, l'absence, le deuil.
June 8, 2026
The Summer Boy is one of those novels that is easy to admire but harder to love. Philippe Besson creates a vivid atmosphere of youth, friendship, first desires, and long summer days that seem endless while they last. The writing is simple, fluid, and highly visual, making the book remarkably easy to read. I could clearly picture the island, the beaches, the cafés, and the small moments that make up the story.
However, despite enjoying the reading experience, I found myself waiting for something more. The novel relies heavily on nostalgia and mood, and while it captures the feeling of a fleeting summer beautifully, it never left a lasting emotional impact on me. The story repeatedly suggests that this summer will become a defining memory, yet I never felt fully convinced by its emotional weight.
That is not to say the book is bad. On the contrary, it is accessible, engaging, and often charming. The friendships feel natural, the setting is immersive, and the coming-of-age elements are handled with sensitivity. But once I finished the novel, I was left with the feeling that it was simply "good" rather than memorable.
Overall, The Summer Boy is a pleasant and atmospheric read that succeeds in creating a strong sense of time and place. I enjoyed the journey, but I expected it to leave a deeper impression than it ultimately did.
However, despite enjoying the reading experience, I found myself waiting for something more. The novel relies heavily on nostalgia and mood, and while it captures the feeling of a fleeting summer beautifully, it never left a lasting emotional impact on me. The story repeatedly suggests that this summer will become a defining memory, yet I never felt fully convinced by its emotional weight.
That is not to say the book is bad. On the contrary, it is accessible, engaging, and often charming. The friendships feel natural, the setting is immersive, and the coming-of-age elements are handled with sensitivity. But once I finished the novel, I was left with the feeling that it was simply "good" rather than memorable.
Overall, The Summer Boy is a pleasant and atmospheric read that succeeds in creating a strong sense of time and place. I enjoyed the journey, but I expected it to leave a deeper impression than it ultimately did.
August 14, 2026
"I felt sure that we would have been happy together, all our lives. So I couldn't stand it when it ended. It seemed so unfair. Pretty dumb, right?"
"No, it's not dumb," he says. "It's beautiful."
My third of Philippe Besson's novels, after In The Absence of Men (meh) and Lie With Me (LOVED). This ranks somewhere in the middle, and is somewhat of a sequel to Lie With Me - same protagonist, but different location and characters.
Set over a few days of summer in July 1985, Philippe (our lead) is the focus here, along with his friend François and Christophe - teens who live on the French island of Île de Ré, where the novella is set - as well as visiting Parisian siblings Marc and Alice, and Nicolas, a shy, retiring boy who has recently moved to the island.
A strong sense of nostalgia weaves itself through the novel, as it builds up to a tragic event that befalls Nicolas - something we're informed of from the start. The innocence and well-meaning idiocy of adolescence, languid school holidays where you simply 'hang out', and the attachments we form so quickly in our youth, intense yet often fleeting, are evoked beautifully by Besson. In one passage, he writes:
(Back then, there were no twenty-four-hour news channels or social media echo chambers endlessly recycling everyday horrors, making money from emotion, fabricating fantasies, stoking psychosis.)
As an 'elder millennial' (whelp, I turned 40 yesterday) I found a lot of the nostalgia here resonated strongly with me, and Besson harkens back beautifully to those days, but while also questioning how much humans really know each other. Our protagonist muses:
I find myself thinking about the things people tell us between their words that we don't understand, about what they show us of themselves that we don't see, because we're busy doing something else or simply distracted, because another person's life doesn't interest us that much, or because the swimmer, far out to sea, who appears to be waving to us is actually drowning.
A great summer read with enough profundity to satisfy those with more cerebral or philosophical tendencies, and with enough of a plot to keep things interesting without being cumbersomely mired in psycho-babble or superfluous waffle. While this doesn't reach the lofty heights of Lie With Me in my opinion, it's an excellent read. If Besson continues on with this protagonist, this reader would like a bit more angst and passion in the next work, but then again I do have a tendency for the melodramatic so perhaps that's just me!
A solid four stars and recommended.
"No, it's not dumb," he says. "It's beautiful."
My third of Philippe Besson's novels, after In The Absence of Men (meh) and Lie With Me (LOVED). This ranks somewhere in the middle, and is somewhat of a sequel to Lie With Me - same protagonist, but different location and characters.
Set over a few days of summer in July 1985, Philippe (our lead) is the focus here, along with his friend François and Christophe - teens who live on the French island of Île de Ré, where the novella is set - as well as visiting Parisian siblings Marc and Alice, and Nicolas, a shy, retiring boy who has recently moved to the island.
A strong sense of nostalgia weaves itself through the novel, as it builds up to a tragic event that befalls Nicolas - something we're informed of from the start. The innocence and well-meaning idiocy of adolescence, languid school holidays where you simply 'hang out', and the attachments we form so quickly in our youth, intense yet often fleeting, are evoked beautifully by Besson. In one passage, he writes:
(Back then, there were no twenty-four-hour news channels or social media echo chambers endlessly recycling everyday horrors, making money from emotion, fabricating fantasies, stoking psychosis.)
As an 'elder millennial' (whelp, I turned 40 yesterday) I found a lot of the nostalgia here resonated strongly with me, and Besson harkens back beautifully to those days, but while also questioning how much humans really know each other. Our protagonist muses:
I find myself thinking about the things people tell us between their words that we don't understand, about what they show us of themselves that we don't see, because we're busy doing something else or simply distracted, because another person's life doesn't interest us that much, or because the swimmer, far out to sea, who appears to be waving to us is actually drowning.
A great summer read with enough profundity to satisfy those with more cerebral or philosophical tendencies, and with enough of a plot to keep things interesting without being cumbersomely mired in psycho-babble or superfluous waffle. While this doesn't reach the lofty heights of Lie With Me in my opinion, it's an excellent read. If Besson continues on with this protagonist, this reader would like a bit more angst and passion in the next work, but then again I do have a tendency for the melodramatic so perhaps that's just me!
A solid four stars and recommended.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
A short but beautiful and impactful story.
I love Philippe Besson's writing and his way of telling a story. I read Lie With Me in the very beginning of 2023 and it blew me away and left such an impact that I still catch myself thinking about it, that's rarer than it used to be. Something about the way the story is told just reflects really well that it is ultimately based on real life and there's nothing quite like it.
I highly recommend it to everyone, it's so worth your time it will certainly move you.
Thank you Netgalley and Scribner for the ARC.
I love Philippe Besson's writing and his way of telling a story. I read Lie With Me in the very beginning of 2023 and it blew me away and left such an impact that I still catch myself thinking about it, that's rarer than it used to be. Something about the way the story is told just reflects really well that it is ultimately based on real life and there's nothing quite like it.
I highly recommend it to everyone, it's so worth your time it will certainly move you.
Thank you Netgalley and Scribner for the ARC.
June 23, 2026
A classic Philippe Besson: his mostly short, loosely interwebbed, seemingly autobiographical novels are obsessed with former friends, love interests, and lovers disappearing, and this one is no exception. Besson loves to dissect experience – including meta descriptions of his main character's inability to feel or think things in a specific moment, which can seem deadpan or, on the flipside, deeply self-reflective. The Summer Boy tells the story of a group of teenagers during a magical summer in 1985 (my birth year), capturing all the angst of coming of age with clinical precision. It's not so much a felt novel as a thought novel, which I surprisingly really liked. I'll read his next one.
January 15, 2024
Un jour Philippe Besson écrira un livre que je n’aimerais pas, et dont la dernière page ne me fera pas systématiquement pleurer. Mais ce ne sera pas cette année.
Choisir ce livre c’est la promesse d’une envie irrépressible de danser sur du Jeanne Mas et de se sentir réchauffé, en cet hiver, par le soleil de l’île de Ré !
Été 85, comme chaque année pour les vacances, Philippe rejoint l’île avec ses parents. C’est l’occasion de retrouver ses amis d’enfance et de faire de nouvelles connaissances : Alice et Marc, les vacanciers parisiens, ainsi que le mystérieux Nicolas rejoignent la bande d’adolescents.
Tout est léger, on ne connait rien de l’autre mais c’est sans importance : la séduction, les virées sur la plage, la discothèque et les bières entre copains sont au rendez-vous. Pourtant l’auteur nous met en garde dès le début : un drame se prépare, qui leur fera quitter l’insouciance de leur jeunesse à jamais.
Une véritable ode à l’adolescence, à sa beauté fugace et à l’amitié : ce livre vous rappellera la préciosité de la vie. Et comme toujours avec Besson c’est magnifique !
Choisir ce livre c’est la promesse d’une envie irrépressible de danser sur du Jeanne Mas et de se sentir réchauffé, en cet hiver, par le soleil de l’île de Ré !
Été 85, comme chaque année pour les vacances, Philippe rejoint l’île avec ses parents. C’est l’occasion de retrouver ses amis d’enfance et de faire de nouvelles connaissances : Alice et Marc, les vacanciers parisiens, ainsi que le mystérieux Nicolas rejoignent la bande d’adolescents.
Tout est léger, on ne connait rien de l’autre mais c’est sans importance : la séduction, les virées sur la plage, la discothèque et les bières entre copains sont au rendez-vous. Pourtant l’auteur nous met en garde dès le début : un drame se prépare, qui leur fera quitter l’insouciance de leur jeunesse à jamais.
Une véritable ode à l’adolescence, à sa beauté fugace et à l’amitié : ce livre vous rappellera la préciosité de la vie. Et comme toujours avec Besson c’est magnifique !
May 28, 2026
Listen up! This is the gay novel of the summer! A must read! Beautifully written and devastating. Chilling. You also gotta know I'm a sucker for a tortured artist! Magnifique
June 24, 2026
Real talk: I found this novel to be super bland and annoying. The characterization was so vanilla. The dialogue was stilted. And the story is, to be quite frank: boring, or at least the execution was lackluster.
On summer vacation, Philippe is immediately drawn to Nicolas, the quiet & misunderstood boy in their circle of friends. Blah blah blah. One night (way into the second half of the novel despite this supposedly being the main hook), a mysterious tragedy strikes which shatters the group dynamic as well as Philippe’s newfound summer of exploration.
The biggest gripe that irritated me most about this book is that the narrator (an adult Philippe) kept stopping the story in order to remind the reader that technology wasn’t a thing back then. We need to be constantly lectured that cell phones and surveillance and social media didn’t exist, therefore the characters didn’t have access to things we take for granted now. On and on and on it went. It was such a lame thing for the writer to do. Like, just tell the story. Why break the tension with these tedious and obvious tidbits? Very awkward execution and exposition.
Philippe is an incredibly bland main character. Nicolas, the object of his affection is a walking cliché. The entire romance is a non-starter. Half-baked. Not much to invest in.
Then there are eyeroll-y things like the friends being surprised that our main character thinks like a detective when it’s the most basic things he’s expressing. Or when our narrator is so bothered about not knowing if Nicolas does drugs despite only meeting him a few days ago. Like, what?
This story thinks it’s grander and more profound than it really is. I loved that author’s LIE WITH ME, but this novel did nothing for me. Truth be told, I found it to be an empty novel. Nothing of interest to hold on to. Very basic. Very forgettable. Feels unfinished.
On summer vacation, Philippe is immediately drawn to Nicolas, the quiet & misunderstood boy in their circle of friends. Blah blah blah. One night (way into the second half of the novel despite this supposedly being the main hook), a mysterious tragedy strikes which shatters the group dynamic as well as Philippe’s newfound summer of exploration.
The biggest gripe that irritated me most about this book is that the narrator (an adult Philippe) kept stopping the story in order to remind the reader that technology wasn’t a thing back then. We need to be constantly lectured that cell phones and surveillance and social media didn’t exist, therefore the characters didn’t have access to things we take for granted now. On and on and on it went. It was such a lame thing for the writer to do. Like, just tell the story. Why break the tension with these tedious and obvious tidbits? Very awkward execution and exposition.
Philippe is an incredibly bland main character. Nicolas, the object of his affection is a walking cliché. The entire romance is a non-starter. Half-baked. Not much to invest in.
Then there are eyeroll-y things like the friends being surprised that our main character thinks like a detective when it’s the most basic things he’s expressing. Or when our narrator is so bothered about not knowing if Nicolas does drugs despite only meeting him a few days ago. Like, what?
This story thinks it’s grander and more profound than it really is. I loved that author’s LIE WITH ME, but this novel did nothing for me. Truth be told, I found it to be an empty novel. Nothing of interest to hold on to. Very basic. Very forgettable. Feels unfinished.
August 13, 2026
Pe cât de tare ajunsesem să mă plictisesc pe la 60%, pe atât de mult mi-a plăcut restul cărții. Bănuiam că se va întâmpla ceva similar cu ce s-a întâmplat de fapt, deci nu a fost o surpriză, dar m-au impresionat sentimentele și gândurile cu care au rămas celelalte personaje după evenimentul cu pricina. Înțeleg de ce Besson a fost bântuit tot timpul de această traumă, fiindcă asta este până la urmă. The Summer Boy e o carte languroasă, perfectă pentru vară, include chiar și senzația aia de sufocare, angoasa tipică verii. Este o poveste despre sănătatea mintală, despre maturizare, despre vară și despre ce înseamnă prietenia.
August 8, 2024
3,5 - Pendant les trois quarts du roman, j'étais certaine d'aller vers le coup de coeur. L'atmosphère langoureuse et nostalgique, le groupe d'amis, l'intensité des sentiments des vacances... et même si la fin est très réaliste, j'aurais aimé ressentir davantage les choses, le crash.
Ceci dit, la plume de Besson me plait toujours!
Ceci dit, la plume de Besson me plait toujours!
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
philippe, buddy, uhhhh what the fuck.
On the one hand, I would say what the hell is wrong with Philippe Besson, but on the other hand…I’m not sure this one is actually his fault. Except that it is, and I’m so mad at him.
Off the bat, I can say this is probably my least favorite Besson, if only because it’s so much more focused on story in ways his other books are not. Lie With Me is story, sure, but it feels deeper than the story, like he’s exploring identity and queerness and coming of age and all these other things under the surface. *In the Absence of Men* is similar, much more rooted in grief and art and friendship, digging into the philosophy of life through war in the early 1900s. With Summer Boy, it feels both more surface-level and more…hidden in shadow. It has overlap with his other works - the same themes, the same coming of age, the same horror of grief, and yet this one is much more subtle. It’s slow, slower even than his other books, and he really doesn’t pack a punch until the last twenty pages or so. But the punch is brutal.
Did I want a bit more? Yeah, I think I like his other books so much because they go on tangents within the text. And this book does that every so often, but it’s not as prominent. And while I think the book called for that, because in many ways it’s a straightforward story that needs to be To The Point…I just always want more from Besson. I would read thousands of pages of his prose. I’m in awe of how he sees the world, how he reflects on his past, how he is able to withstand so much utter grief in his own story.
Autofiction is fascinating because on the one hand, we the reader are expected to meet the author in the liminal space where we both acknowledge that the story ahead of us is Real and True. The author says, This happened to me, maybe not quite like this but mostly like this. And the reader replies, I trust you even though I know you are about to lie to me. And yet, how are we supposed to continue reading if we know that the book is both a truth and lie? How does Besson expect us to trust that this is something that happened to him in his coming of age when it’s something so haunting and dark and brutal…and yet, it’s simple. It’s quick. It’s brief. The narrative does not draw itself out, it is not extravagant or poetic (though yes, in many ways there is poetry within these pages)…it’s straight to the point. Surely it can’t be anything but Real and True. Surely the universe wouldn’t be so cruel as to make this story True and Real.
I get why he had to write a book about it because good lord man, I would too.
To me, what’s most compelling about this book is that even though it’s queer, even though Besson has written extensively about his queer coming of age in his other stories, this one is not quite about that. I picked this up because I wanted to read about friendship (!!), and while this story dips into the queerness of friendship in the loosest sense, the echoes of an idea of queer friendship that might have been, it is first and foremost about the temporary friendships we stumble upon in our youth. It’s about how those friendships in particular haunt us. (I mean, it’s primarily about how That Particular Cursed Friendship That Ended Like That haunts Besson, but you get it.)
It feels similar to My Friends by Fredrik Backman…but it feels like a disservice to each of them to reduce it to that comparison. Backman’s story is saying something totally different than Besson’s. Backman reaches a conclusion that Besson never will. There’s overlap, they are parallels, but everything from the tone to the setting to the characters to the wretched plot is so different between them…and yet…I keep coming back to how much this reminded me of *My Friends.*
It’s insane to me that you can write a 200 paged book that says so much.
I’ll be thinking about this for a very long time.
On the one hand, I would say what the hell is wrong with Philippe Besson, but on the other hand…I’m not sure this one is actually his fault. Except that it is, and I’m so mad at him.
Off the bat, I can say this is probably my least favorite Besson, if only because it’s so much more focused on story in ways his other books are not. Lie With Me is story, sure, but it feels deeper than the story, like he’s exploring identity and queerness and coming of age and all these other things under the surface. *In the Absence of Men* is similar, much more rooted in grief and art and friendship, digging into the philosophy of life through war in the early 1900s. With Summer Boy, it feels both more surface-level and more…hidden in shadow. It has overlap with his other works - the same themes, the same coming of age, the same horror of grief, and yet this one is much more subtle. It’s slow, slower even than his other books, and he really doesn’t pack a punch until the last twenty pages or so. But the punch is brutal.
Did I want a bit more? Yeah, I think I like his other books so much because they go on tangents within the text. And this book does that every so often, but it’s not as prominent. And while I think the book called for that, because in many ways it’s a straightforward story that needs to be To The Point…I just always want more from Besson. I would read thousands of pages of his prose. I’m in awe of how he sees the world, how he reflects on his past, how he is able to withstand so much utter grief in his own story.
Autofiction is fascinating because on the one hand, we the reader are expected to meet the author in the liminal space where we both acknowledge that the story ahead of us is Real and True. The author says, This happened to me, maybe not quite like this but mostly like this. And the reader replies, I trust you even though I know you are about to lie to me. And yet, how are we supposed to continue reading if we know that the book is both a truth and lie? How does Besson expect us to trust that this is something that happened to him in his coming of age when it’s something so haunting and dark and brutal…and yet, it’s simple. It’s quick. It’s brief. The narrative does not draw itself out, it is not extravagant or poetic (though yes, in many ways there is poetry within these pages)…it’s straight to the point. Surely it can’t be anything but Real and True. Surely the universe wouldn’t be so cruel as to make this story True and Real.
I get why he had to write a book about it because good lord man, I would too.
To me, what’s most compelling about this book is that even though it’s queer, even though Besson has written extensively about his queer coming of age in his other stories, this one is not quite about that. I picked this up because I wanted to read about friendship (!!), and while this story dips into the queerness of friendship in the loosest sense, the echoes of an idea of queer friendship that might have been, it is first and foremost about the temporary friendships we stumble upon in our youth. It’s about how those friendships in particular haunt us. (I mean, it’s primarily about how That Particular Cursed Friendship That Ended Like That haunts Besson, but you get it.)
It feels similar to My Friends by Fredrik Backman…but it feels like a disservice to each of them to reduce it to that comparison. Backman’s story is saying something totally different than Besson’s. Backman reaches a conclusion that Besson never will. There’s overlap, they are parallels, but everything from the tone to the setting to the characters to the wretched plot is so different between them…and yet…I keep coming back to how much this reminded me of *My Friends.*
It’s insane to me that you can write a 200 paged book that says so much.
I’ll be thinking about this for a very long time.
June 6, 2026
Wat een mooie verrassing dat dit verhaal over Philippe Besson zelf gaat en er sprake is van herinneringen aan Thomas uit Lie With Me!
Ook dit verhaal is breekbaar geschreven en hoewel Philippe een summer fling heeft, gaat het nu niet om zijn liefdesleven. The Summer Boy is een verhaal waarbij je het warme zand van het strand tussen je tenen voelt en het zweet op je rug in de broeierige uitgaansgelegenheden.
Mijn hart ging uit naar de jonge en trieste Nicolas, tranen in de ogen.
Please Philippe, blijf schrijven over je leven.
Over Thomas:
"Can I tell you something"?
(...)
"I wanted to kill myself when he went away. I felt sure that we would have been happy together, all our lives. So I couldn't stand it when it ended. It seemed so unfair. Pretty dumb, right? "
"No, it's not dumb," he says, "It's beautiful."
Ook dit verhaal is breekbaar geschreven en hoewel Philippe een summer fling heeft, gaat het nu niet om zijn liefdesleven. The Summer Boy is een verhaal waarbij je het warme zand van het strand tussen je tenen voelt en het zweet op je rug in de broeierige uitgaansgelegenheden.
Mijn hart ging uit naar de jonge en trieste Nicolas, tranen in de ogen.
Please Philippe, blijf schrijven over je leven.
Over Thomas:
"Can I tell you something"?
(...)
"I wanted to kill myself when he went away. I felt sure that we would have been happy together, all our lives. So I couldn't stand it when it ended. It seemed so unfair. Pretty dumb, right? "
"No, it's not dumb," he says, "It's beautiful."
March 21, 2026
I was very excited for this book. I have read all of the english translations of Besson’s works, with Lie With Me being one of my favorites. However, after reading this book, I found myself wanting more. Besson’s writing this book from an after that fact point of view, recalling a story that happened when he was young. With constant asides that took me out of the story, it was hard to fall into the moment of this book. With unnecessary references like Angry Birds and the constant reminder that there was no modern technology in 1985, Besson was over explaining information that was not needed. This book was short, and it was hard to connect with each of the characters. We knew very little about main protagonist and the sense of place was often lacking. Usually, I would be able to say that Besson overcomes these flaws with beautiful prose and a heart wrenching story but this was not the case. The conflict didn’t arise until over halfway through the book with little to no set up and I didn’t find myself invested in the resolution of the conflict. The ending was unsatisfactory and left me questioning what the point of this book was for. Sure, it was an easy read and a nice story about a summer vacation that happened to take a turn for the worse, but I honestly expected more.
July 25, 2025
« après tout, les gens ont bien le droit de disparaître »
Want to Read
January 25, 2026May can't come soon enough 😍
July 14, 2026
more like a 3.5 but the atmosphere was perfect and it just felt like i was there. perfect for the summer and so easy to immerse yourself in and breeze through. so for that i’m bumping it to a 4.
June 8, 2026
This is my third novel by Philippe Besson after Lie with Me and In the Absence of Men, and it is every bit as beautiful. One of the things Besson does so well is capture a single moment in time with remarkable precision. He drops believable, fully realized characters into a specific place and landscape and gets right to the heart of the story without wasting a word. His novels are always short, but they are mighty: filled with longing, beauty, heartbreak, and the bittersweet pain of past memories. This one perfectly captures the intensity of youth, the exciting nature of first love, and the way certain summers can shape the rest of our lives. Besson’s prose feels effortless, yet every sentence seems carefully chosen to maximize its emotional impact. There’s also a sense of melancholy running beneath the story that I found very moving. His books are beautiful but also tragic—my favorite combination—and they always leave me feeling like I’ve experienced something bigger than their page count would suggest. This is another unforgettable novel from an author who has quickly become one of my favorites.
June 30, 2025
une énorme claque. c’est le premier livre de philippe besson que je lis et j’ai immédiatement été touchée par la sensibilité de sa plume, si légère et remplie de poésie. le récit est d’autant plus sensible quand on sait qu’il s’agit d’un événement vécu par l’auteur. j’ai trouvé ça beau, cette volonté de témoigner de cette fameuse nuit où tout a basculé. ”on doit aux disparus de les attendre, de les attendre au moins un peu” : philippe, merci de nous avoir donné l’occasion de l’attendre un peu à notre tour
”et si j’avais compris que la nonchalance, quelquefois, sert seulement à masquer des tempêtes intérieures ?”
”et si j’avais compris que la nonchalance, quelquefois, sert seulement à masquer des tempêtes intérieures ?”
December 27, 2024
Ce qui fait de ce livre, un livre exceptionnel ce n’est pas tant l’histoire mais la manière fabuleuse dont l’auteur réussi à nous plonger dans l’ambiance exacte des vacances d’été. En lisant ce livre, j’ai réellement senti la chaleur du soleil sur ma peau, l’odeur de la mer et les grains de sables sous mes pieds. J’étais comme happée dans des vacances en pleine période scolaire. Les personnages étaient justes, complets. On se rend compte qu’ils ne sont pas inventés et ça donne un charme extraordinaire à cette œuvre. J’aime la simplicité des mots qu’utilise Philippe Besson. Cela rend la lecture fluide, presque comme si on avait pas besoin de lire tellement chaque phrase semble évidente, choisie spécialement. Les mots sont bien là, mais ce sont réellement des images qui défilent sous nos yeux. C’est une expérience assez particulière, et je dois l’avouer, sympathique.
June 11, 2026
honestly all of Besson’s stuff ive read so far has been pretty similar in story and theme, he loves a self insert…but it works! this one focuses on a teenage summer where Besson and friends come to terms with sexuality and their relationships with each other and a mysterious new boy
April 2, 2026
174 pages sans que qqchose se passe ☠️
September 25, 2026
The Summer Boy follows Philippe, now 18, as he spends a summer with his friends. This is a sequel/prequel to Lie With Me, as there are parts of it that take place after Philippe leaves high school, but also before certain sections at the end of Lie with Me.
The story begins in a similar fashion to the previous novel: Philippe catches sight of someone who looks familiar, attempts to follow him, and it’s here that he begins to reflect and remember a summer he spent with his friends when he was 18, where something happened.
I had no clue that this book was in the works. I just stumbled on it randomly on Goodreads. It should be criminal that there wasn’t bigger fanfare about this book coming out. Lie With Me is one of my favourite books of all time. It had such an emotional impact on me. I don’t think this book was on the same level, but I liked it. Philippe Besson is talented at telling stories, and especially with the language he uses to tell those stories, but I’m unsure if it’s a book I’d return to again. Nonetheless, I did enjoy reading it. I was expecting this to be more of a romance, and although there was some, it wasn’t really a romance. It was more a snapshot of a moment during summer among this group of friends, before one of them goes missing, and is never found again.
Lie With Me had a haunting quality to the writing, to the story, as it was told retrospectively. But The Summer Boy feels different. If these books were seasons, Lie With Me would be fall and winter, whereas The Summer Boy would be summer, obviously. It feels like summer in a novel. The hot weather, the condensation trickling down a bottle of beer, the sand against your clothes, stuck to your skin, the heat of a gaze, a touch, the sweat rolling down skin, a sticky kind of sex, where you feel like you’re vibrating out of your skin. Philipe also feels like more of a mature character. He still thinks about Thomas, is still feeling the effects of that relationship, but he feels more sure of himself, of who he is and what he wants.
Philipe Besson really focuses on small moments in time, that have an impact on the characters for the rest of their lives. He writes a lot about the what ifs, of things ending but not quite ending, existing in that in between space of wondering. There’s a feeling throughout the novel that something is on the horizon, that something is going to pierce the idyllic nature of the summer the characters are spending together. And I think that’s the crux of the story. That this disappearance of one of his friends, with no resolution or explanation, has an impact on Philippe, it’s something that he thinks about, and is in effect haunted by, for the rest of his life, similar to his relationship with Thomas in Lie With Me. I feel like Besson writes stories about his own life and fictionalises them slightly, and I think he does it as a way to make sense of his memories, and to remember, to put it down on the page and maybe let go of it.
I enjoyed The Summer Boy. Philippe Besson needs to write more books, and he needs to have anything he has ever written translated immediately. The world deserves to experience more of his stories.
“Tell me, reader, do you know why the most beautiful stories must always end badly?"
The story begins in a similar fashion to the previous novel: Philippe catches sight of someone who looks familiar, attempts to follow him, and it’s here that he begins to reflect and remember a summer he spent with his friends when he was 18, where something happened.
I had no clue that this book was in the works. I just stumbled on it randomly on Goodreads. It should be criminal that there wasn’t bigger fanfare about this book coming out. Lie With Me is one of my favourite books of all time. It had such an emotional impact on me. I don’t think this book was on the same level, but I liked it. Philippe Besson is talented at telling stories, and especially with the language he uses to tell those stories, but I’m unsure if it’s a book I’d return to again. Nonetheless, I did enjoy reading it. I was expecting this to be more of a romance, and although there was some, it wasn’t really a romance. It was more a snapshot of a moment during summer among this group of friends, before one of them goes missing, and is never found again.
“Have you been with many guys?” he asks.
I spare him the details. “Only one who mattered.”
Sounding wistful, or maybe even admiring, he says: “So you’ve been in love…”
“Yeah, but it’s over now. His name was Thomas.”
And then I say: “Can I tell you something?”
He turns to look at me. He says: “Yes.”
“I wanted to kill myself when he went away. I felt sure that we would have been happy together, all our lives. So I couldn’t stand it when it ended. It seemed so unfair. Pretty dumb, right?”
“No, it’s not dumb,” he says. “It’s beautiful.”
Lie With Me had a haunting quality to the writing, to the story, as it was told retrospectively. But The Summer Boy feels different. If these books were seasons, Lie With Me would be fall and winter, whereas The Summer Boy would be summer, obviously. It feels like summer in a novel. The hot weather, the condensation trickling down a bottle of beer, the sand against your clothes, stuck to your skin, the heat of a gaze, a touch, the sweat rolling down skin, a sticky kind of sex, where you feel like you’re vibrating out of your skin. Philipe also feels like more of a mature character. He still thinks about Thomas, is still feeling the effects of that relationship, but he feels more sure of himself, of who he is and what he wants.
“There was the sunlight and the salt on our skin. We were optimistic, cheerful, enthusiastic. We were carefree and lazy. We were going with the flow, surrendering to the moment. And we were together.”
Philipe Besson really focuses on small moments in time, that have an impact on the characters for the rest of their lives. He writes a lot about the what ifs, of things ending but not quite ending, existing in that in between space of wondering. There’s a feeling throughout the novel that something is on the horizon, that something is going to pierce the idyllic nature of the summer the characters are spending together. And I think that’s the crux of the story. That this disappearance of one of his friends, with no resolution or explanation, has an impact on Philippe, it’s something that he thinks about, and is in effect haunted by, for the rest of his life, similar to his relationship with Thomas in Lie With Me. I feel like Besson writes stories about his own life and fictionalises them slightly, and I think he does it as a way to make sense of his memories, and to remember, to put it down on the page and maybe let go of it.
I enjoyed The Summer Boy. Philippe Besson needs to write more books, and he needs to have anything he has ever written translated immediately. The world deserves to experience more of his stories.
March 10, 2025
C'était trop bien ! Mon 1er Besson et sûrement pas mon dernier !
June 28, 2025
3.5 ⭐️
Agréable et touchante lecture, mais rien de renversant.
Agréable et touchante lecture, mais rien de renversant.
December 27, 2024
4,5
Another little gem by Philippe Besson who is such a perceptive and sensitive author.
In 'Un Soir d'Été' he recounts a tragic autobiographical episode that happened in 1985 when Philippe was 18 years old, on summer vacation with his parents at the holiday island of Île de Ré.
As every year, they stay at the house of friends of his parents, whose son François is the same age as Philippe. This year François introduces Philippe to his new friend Nicolas.
Social class remains the number one theme in French literature - or so it seems to me - and it is not different here, as Philippe, François and Nicolas strike up a friendship with the Parisian siblings Alice and Marc.
It's clear from page 1 that something terrible will happen, and while the suspense is palpable throughout, it is the nostalgia and melancholy combined with the deceivingly simple style that are the novella's strongest points.
Highly recommended!
Another little gem by Philippe Besson who is such a perceptive and sensitive author.
In 'Un Soir d'Été' he recounts a tragic autobiographical episode that happened in 1985 when Philippe was 18 years old, on summer vacation with his parents at the holiday island of Île de Ré.
As every year, they stay at the house of friends of his parents, whose son François is the same age as Philippe. This year François introduces Philippe to his new friend Nicolas.
Social class remains the number one theme in French literature - or so it seems to me - and it is not different here, as Philippe, François and Nicolas strike up a friendship with the Parisian siblings Alice and Marc.
It's clear from page 1 that something terrible will happen, and while the suspense is palpable throughout, it is the nostalgia and melancholy combined with the deceivingly simple style that are the novella's strongest points.
Highly recommended!
January 16, 2026
Thank you to Netgalley for an advanced readers copy in exchange for an honest review. This book was so wonderful to read and I would honestly read anything by this author. Philippe Besson writes adolescence so beautifully and the characters always feel so real. Although not much happened in this book it was more of a snapshot of a certain event of moment in time that we got to see. The story is a follow up to lie with me but I wouldn’t say you have to read that one first. I loved this so much even though I did enjoy lie with me a little bit better.
Want to Read
May 29, 2026waiting for my pre ordered copy to arrive in mid June - presumably when it will be available in the UK. Why I need to wait so long is inexplicable.
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