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Invincible Summers
Fiction. INVINCIBLE SUMMERS explores the agony of family. The story begins with the death of Claudia Goodwin's father, and then plunges into the murkier emotional trouble that follows for years. Through the 1960s and 70s, the world around Claudia moves on. But her loss walks along with her. Gaines deftly manages that loss and the way it floats through time—not shrinking but morphing, not fading but fusing to all of Claudia's experiences. As the chapters progress through two tumultuous decades, they show how parents fumble their own children, how siblings abandon one another, and how people become itinerant and self-destructive. This is no simplistic tale of self- discovery, nor is it a dirge. It is, in Claudia's own words, a restless search for nowhere fueled by moments of whimsy, humor, and hope. I am glad to have read Gaines's fine debut novel and look forward to her next.
238 pages, Paperback
Published June 15, 2016
2 people are currently reading
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 8, 2017
I read this for book club, and wasn't sure what I would think of it.
The writing is excellent. I'm a reader who doesn't like books that drag every paragraph out with exact descriptions of every piece of minutia. She is a soft and fluent writer.
The story is that of a young girl, Claudia, who loses her father at an early age, and the years following the death. The story of how each family member copes with the loss is shown through her eyes and thoughts. It seems as if the death has sealed them all of emotionally in some way, and they never do manage to become a functioning family again; making it Claudia, by herself, against the world.
She endures an x con uncle living with them, a "less than caring" step father, a brother who struggles emotionally, and a lack of encouragement from her mother and step parent. There is also, the "coming of age" aspect. Through all these years, she's becoming a woman, dealing with boys, how to navigate relationships them, and what love is.
Overall is is a good, easy, read. I recommend it.
The writing is excellent. I'm a reader who doesn't like books that drag every paragraph out with exact descriptions of every piece of minutia. She is a soft and fluent writer.
The story is that of a young girl, Claudia, who loses her father at an early age, and the years following the death. The story of how each family member copes with the loss is shown through her eyes and thoughts. It seems as if the death has sealed them all of emotionally in some way, and they never do manage to become a functioning family again; making it Claudia, by herself, against the world.
She endures an x con uncle living with them, a "less than caring" step father, a brother who struggles emotionally, and a lack of encouragement from her mother and step parent. There is also, the "coming of age" aspect. Through all these years, she's becoming a woman, dealing with boys, how to navigate relationships them, and what love is.
Overall is is a good, easy, read. I recommend it.
August 14, 2020
I was captivated by this first-person saga of a girl who loses her father but continues to talk to him (his ghost) and he to her in lovely ways. It's done so well that we buy it hook, line, and sinker.
I see a love affair between the author and the main character, Claudia. It's soft, strong, and just beneath the surface on every page. And the relationships among Claudia and her brother and sister bring us along for a satisfying, if bumpy ride, which makes it all the more satisfying.
Bits of heavy philosophy sprinkle themselves around the book. Here's one: "Shackled together by memories and misunderstandings," she says of Claudia's mother, brother, and best friend, Mal. There were tons more.
I read the second half of the book in an afternoon. It was that kind of book!
I see a love affair between the author and the main character, Claudia. It's soft, strong, and just beneath the surface on every page. And the relationships among Claudia and her brother and sister bring us along for a satisfying, if bumpy ride, which makes it all the more satisfying.
Bits of heavy philosophy sprinkle themselves around the book. Here's one: "Shackled together by memories and misunderstandings," she says of Claudia's mother, brother, and best friend, Mal. There were tons more.
I read the second half of the book in an afternoon. It was that kind of book!
February 7, 2017
Breezy summer stories of youth & adventures
A richly layered coming of age story told through the summers of the 1960's thru 1980's, following young Claudia from the Midwest through Europe and back.
A richly layered coming of age story told through the summers of the 1960's thru 1980's, following young Claudia from the Midwest through Europe and back.
August 25, 2016
Who do you want to be? How will you get there? Women often explore these questions more deeply than men. Claudia Goodwin, who shares my last name and my sense that pieces of my life are missing, is the fictitious narrator of Robin Gaines memorable and stirring fiction debut, Invincible Summers. Written in Claudia's voice and covering several summers in the sixties and seventies, the novel digs into Claudia's psyche with the depth of any well-crafted memoir.
We start when Claudia sees the world through six-year-old eyes. She is on a car ride with Mommy and Daddy. Everything seems right though she has niggling doubts in the pit of her stomach when she listens to her parents talk and hears Mommy and Grandma arguing. In the next story, told when she is ten, her father dies.
Her brother, Burke, and she both struggle, as if the courage and confidence their parents were trying to instill is disintegrating inside them. If you want to assign blame it could go to the loss of their father; or their mother's grief; or Uncle Wade, who is recently out of prison; or StepRoy, the man mom marries; or a multitude of other factors make them feel rootless. Or it could simply go to the lack of communication created by this unspeakable void.
What matters is how they try to live and cope with the emptiness that surrounds them and how they try to fill the holes created by their dad's unexpected death. They are clothed, sheltered, and fed, but they are missing the emotional nourishment that helps children become confident, productive people. Claudia's pursuit to find a purpose is particularly poignant when juxtaposed against two Kennedy assassinations, the Vietnam War, and her need to flee the guilt and responsibility she feels for her father's death, her mother's career-altering disfiguration, and her brother's downslide into drugs and alcohol.
I did not lose my father until I was 33 but it's easy for me to relate to Claudia and Burke, who know something is missing, but cannot label the problem, much less fix it. Gaines has created the angst, loss, and frustration her characters must cope with and sprinkled it with unexpected humor and discoveries. She is an experienced journalist as well as a skilled novelist. Her writing is honest and authentic. We feel like we are inside Claudia's head, seeing the world through her eyes. SCN readers and others will love this story.
by B. Lynn Goodwin
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
We start when Claudia sees the world through six-year-old eyes. She is on a car ride with Mommy and Daddy. Everything seems right though she has niggling doubts in the pit of her stomach when she listens to her parents talk and hears Mommy and Grandma arguing. In the next story, told when she is ten, her father dies.
Her brother, Burke, and she both struggle, as if the courage and confidence their parents were trying to instill is disintegrating inside them. If you want to assign blame it could go to the loss of their father; or their mother's grief; or Uncle Wade, who is recently out of prison; or StepRoy, the man mom marries; or a multitude of other factors make them feel rootless. Or it could simply go to the lack of communication created by this unspeakable void.
What matters is how they try to live and cope with the emptiness that surrounds them and how they try to fill the holes created by their dad's unexpected death. They are clothed, sheltered, and fed, but they are missing the emotional nourishment that helps children become confident, productive people. Claudia's pursuit to find a purpose is particularly poignant when juxtaposed against two Kennedy assassinations, the Vietnam War, and her need to flee the guilt and responsibility she feels for her father's death, her mother's career-altering disfiguration, and her brother's downslide into drugs and alcohol.
I did not lose my father until I was 33 but it's easy for me to relate to Claudia and Burke, who know something is missing, but cannot label the problem, much less fix it. Gaines has created the angst, loss, and frustration her characters must cope with and sprinkled it with unexpected humor and discoveries. She is an experienced journalist as well as a skilled novelist. Her writing is honest and authentic. We feel like we are inside Claudia's head, seeing the world through her eyes. SCN readers and others will love this story.
by B. Lynn Goodwin
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women
September 21, 2016
Robin Gaines’ novel, set in the 1960s and 1970s near Detroit, follows her protagonist Claudia through eleven summers, from age six to twenty-three, as she faces her father’s early death, her mother’s adjustment and remarriage, and her own trials and disappointments with relationships and family. By means of a believable first-person voice, we follow changes in Claudia’s perception, from the young girl’s into a young adult’s. We witness her awareness of the importance of connection even as she learns from her mistakes.
Claudia’s final reflection rings true to what we witness in her story: “It hurts to remember the dead and the mistakes with the living. All the things that should have been said. All the things that should have been done. . . . I’ve learned that bittersweet memories are sustenance for winter’s long haul” (221).
Many readers will no doubt identify with Claudia, a character who is “invincible,” undefeated by the trials of being human.
Claudia’s final reflection rings true to what we witness in her story: “It hurts to remember the dead and the mistakes with the living. All the things that should have been said. All the things that should have been done. . . . I’ve learned that bittersweet memories are sustenance for winter’s long haul” (221).
Many readers will no doubt identify with Claudia, a character who is “invincible,” undefeated by the trials of being human.
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December 16, 2016Eh.....
September 6, 2017
Invincible Summers will take you back to the summers of your youth—blending memories of love and laughter with loss and heartbreak. This coming-of age story, which follows 10-year-old Claudia through eleven summers, reveals the depths of Claudia's inquisitive mind and tender heart as she struggles to find her place in a tumultuous world. The story is a beautiful tale of self-discovery by author, Robin Gaines, an award winning journalist and fiction writer whose work has appeared in a variety of publications ranging from newspapers and magazine to anthologies and literary journals. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews