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Perennials
The quintessential summer read: a sharp, poignant coming-of-age novel about the magic of camp and the enduring power of female friendship, for readers of Stephanie Danler, Anton DiSclafani, Jennifer Close, and Curtis Sittenfeld.
At what point does childhood end and adulthood begin? Mandy Berman's evocative debut novel captures, through the lens of summer camp, a place that only appears to be untouched by the passing of time, both the thrills and pain of growing up.
Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin used to treasure their summers together as campers at Camp Marigold. Now, reunited as counselors after their first year of college, their relationship is more complicated. Rebellious Rachel, a street-smart city kid raised by a single mother, has been losing patience with her best friend's insecurities; Fiona, the middle child of a not-so-perfect suburban family, envies Rachel's popularity with their campers and fellow counselors. For the first time, the two friends start keeping secrets from each other. Through them, as well as from the perspectives of their fellow counselors, campers, and families, we witness the tensions of the turbulent summer build to a tragic event, which forces Rachel and Fiona to confront their pasts and the adults they're becoming.
A seductive blast of nostalgia, a striking portrait of adolescent longing, and a tribute to both the complicated nature and the enduring power of female friendship, Perennials will speak to everyone who still remembers that bittersweet moment when innocence is lost forever.
At what point does childhood end and adulthood begin? Mandy Berman's evocative debut novel captures, through the lens of summer camp, a place that only appears to be untouched by the passing of time, both the thrills and pain of growing up.
Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin used to treasure their summers together as campers at Camp Marigold. Now, reunited as counselors after their first year of college, their relationship is more complicated. Rebellious Rachel, a street-smart city kid raised by a single mother, has been losing patience with her best friend's insecurities; Fiona, the middle child of a not-so-perfect suburban family, envies Rachel's popularity with their campers and fellow counselors. For the first time, the two friends start keeping secrets from each other. Through them, as well as from the perspectives of their fellow counselors, campers, and families, we witness the tensions of the turbulent summer build to a tragic event, which forces Rachel and Fiona to confront their pasts and the adults they're becoming.
A seductive blast of nostalgia, a striking portrait of adolescent longing, and a tribute to both the complicated nature and the enduring power of female friendship, Perennials will speak to everyone who still remembers that bittersweet moment when innocence is lost forever.
276 pages, Hardcover
First published June 6, 2017
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4739 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 336 reviews
March 3, 2017
I attended a sleep-away summer camp in the Catskills Mountains for 10 years, from the summer I was 10 until the summer I was 19. It's crazy to think that I started there nearly 40(!) years ago, and made some incredible friendships which have sustained through all this time, thanks in some part to social media.
Over the years I realized that only those people who had similar experiences truly "got" what camp meant—how spending every day for eight weeks with people created more intense relationships than with those people you saw 10 months a year back home; how you'd spend so much time during the fall and winter wishing you could be back in camp, thinking of all of the things you couldn't wait to do when summer rolled around again, and how it felt like you could just pick right back up where you left off the year before. Many of those years were some of the best times of my life, and it's crazy how vivid the memories of those days still are given there are days I can't remember where I put my wallet.
Needless to say, when I saw that Mandy Berman's debut novel, Perennials , touched on the camp experience, I jumped on it.
Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin met as campers at Camp Marigold, the same camp where Fiona's parents met as children and fell in love. Even though Rachel and Fiona don't see each other much during the winter months, their friendship is as solid as ever, and they've already planned to stay in the same tent and be as inseparable as always. Yet the summer they turn 13 is a pivotal one, as they teeter on the brink between adolescence and self-proclaimed maturity, innocence and bravado, and their differences threaten to harm their friendship.
Rachel, the daughter of a single mother, knows she is fortunate to go to camp every summer, since they lack the financial resources Fiona's family has. Yet Rachel has something Fiona lacks—self-confidence in her looks and a willingness to test the limits of her budding sexuality, while Fiona has no interest in doing the same and resents Rachel both for moving forward without her and keeping secrets when she does. Even so, they know that their friendship is more important than anything else.
Six years later, Rachel and Fiona return to Camp Marigold as counselors. While they've maintained their friendship even though they attend separate colleges, they're looking forward to one last summer together before they need to become "adults" and pursue internships, jobs, etc. Yet it's not long after that they fall into the same behavior patterns—Rachel is rebellious, flirtatious, confident, and willing to take risks, while Fiona, caught in a cycle of low self-esteem, begins feeling the distance between her and Rachel growing.
During that last summer, things change for both of them, things that rock their lives and Camp Marigold. The book follows not only Rachel and Fiona, but Fiona's younger sister, Helen, now a camper, as well as some of the other counselors and camp staff. This is a book about the power and the burden of friendship, how sometimes our differences make us stronger friends while at other times they just ultimately tear us apart. It's also a book about how fast we want to become adults until we find ourselves in adult situations, and then we wish we could have our innocence back again.
I thought this was an interesting book, and there were definitely instances which I could so vividly picture in my head, as they reminded me of my own experience at camp. Berman is a very talented writer and she knows how to make you care about her characters, even when they may annoy you more than a little bit. (But chances are you know people just like them.)
I liked the first section of the book, which followed Rachel and Fiona as campers, but once the story moved six years later, I feel as if Berman got a little too ambitious and lost the focus and heart of her story. The book suddenly shifted to characters we had never met before, characters who seemed reasonably peripheral to the actual plot, and yet there was a great deal of time dedicated to them. They were interesting but it distracted from the real story (or at least what I wanted the real story to be). I also felt as if Rachel went a little too far, even though I could understand her motivations, and that made her a little less interesting.
I'll admit I was hoping this would provoke a little more nostalgia and generate a little less drama, but perhaps that was my fault. Still, this is a solid story about adolescent friendships and how they sometimes struggle as they move into adulthood, and I'd imagine that given the main characters are both female, it may resonate a bit more for women than it did me.
NetGalley and Random House provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
Over the years I realized that only those people who had similar experiences truly "got" what camp meant—how spending every day for eight weeks with people created more intense relationships than with those people you saw 10 months a year back home; how you'd spend so much time during the fall and winter wishing you could be back in camp, thinking of all of the things you couldn't wait to do when summer rolled around again, and how it felt like you could just pick right back up where you left off the year before. Many of those years were some of the best times of my life, and it's crazy how vivid the memories of those days still are given there are days I can't remember where I put my wallet.
Needless to say, when I saw that Mandy Berman's debut novel, Perennials , touched on the camp experience, I jumped on it.
Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin met as campers at Camp Marigold, the same camp where Fiona's parents met as children and fell in love. Even though Rachel and Fiona don't see each other much during the winter months, their friendship is as solid as ever, and they've already planned to stay in the same tent and be as inseparable as always. Yet the summer they turn 13 is a pivotal one, as they teeter on the brink between adolescence and self-proclaimed maturity, innocence and bravado, and their differences threaten to harm their friendship.
Rachel, the daughter of a single mother, knows she is fortunate to go to camp every summer, since they lack the financial resources Fiona's family has. Yet Rachel has something Fiona lacks—self-confidence in her looks and a willingness to test the limits of her budding sexuality, while Fiona has no interest in doing the same and resents Rachel both for moving forward without her and keeping secrets when she does. Even so, they know that their friendship is more important than anything else.
Six years later, Rachel and Fiona return to Camp Marigold as counselors. While they've maintained their friendship even though they attend separate colleges, they're looking forward to one last summer together before they need to become "adults" and pursue internships, jobs, etc. Yet it's not long after that they fall into the same behavior patterns—Rachel is rebellious, flirtatious, confident, and willing to take risks, while Fiona, caught in a cycle of low self-esteem, begins feeling the distance between her and Rachel growing.
During that last summer, things change for both of them, things that rock their lives and Camp Marigold. The book follows not only Rachel and Fiona, but Fiona's younger sister, Helen, now a camper, as well as some of the other counselors and camp staff. This is a book about the power and the burden of friendship, how sometimes our differences make us stronger friends while at other times they just ultimately tear us apart. It's also a book about how fast we want to become adults until we find ourselves in adult situations, and then we wish we could have our innocence back again.
I thought this was an interesting book, and there were definitely instances which I could so vividly picture in my head, as they reminded me of my own experience at camp. Berman is a very talented writer and she knows how to make you care about her characters, even when they may annoy you more than a little bit. (But chances are you know people just like them.)
I liked the first section of the book, which followed Rachel and Fiona as campers, but once the story moved six years later, I feel as if Berman got a little too ambitious and lost the focus and heart of her story. The book suddenly shifted to characters we had never met before, characters who seemed reasonably peripheral to the actual plot, and yet there was a great deal of time dedicated to them. They were interesting but it distracted from the real story (or at least what I wanted the real story to be). I also felt as if Rachel went a little too far, even though I could understand her motivations, and that made her a little less interesting.
I'll admit I was hoping this would provoke a little more nostalgia and generate a little less drama, but perhaps that was my fault. Still, this is a solid story about adolescent friendships and how they sometimes struggle as they move into adulthood, and I'd imagine that given the main characters are both female, it may resonate a bit more for women than it did me.
NetGalley and Random House provided me an advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
February 14, 2020
Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin are best friends who met at Camp Marigold. Every summer the two are reunited there and even after they grow out of it, they train to be counselors so they can spend one last summer there together after their freshman year of college. Their friendship is a complex one, especially with the many differences between the two. Rachel's much more self assured nature leave Fiona feeling insecure and in need of constant validation. The two try to manage around it but as the summer progresses things happen that only strain their relationship more.
The book also has single chapters with other characters like Helen, Fiona's younger sister as well as their mother. I liked the writing for this one and I was engaged while reading, my problem with it more was the choppy formatting. Though it is some what chronological, it just seems to jump in time, like the first chapter starts of with Rachel as a kid going to camp then jumps years ahead to Helen and her life and it was disorienting and took time to figure out how everything was interconnected. I wish it had been much more coherent and that we spent more time on like some of the characters, because I would get interested and invested only for the book to jump ahead elsewhere. Also things just accelerated at the end and so much happened at once, it felt really irritating. Especially when the book starts venturing into the other story lines that didn't connect into Fiona and Rachel, specifically when we get Mo and Nell's POV. I really don't think any of that had to be in there, it just made it feel like there was no one story line which then made it even more annoying when we return back to Fiona and Rachel.
I do appreciate and understand the vibe the author is going for and the idea of summer at camp being a sort of break from real life which is hard and draining. I just personally felt like everyone was kind of over the top about how much they loved camp though, maybe because I've never been to camp so I just don't see why so many of the characters were so attached. Also another thing that made me really uncomfortable was the way womanhood is presented in the book, especially in relationship to sex. I know that what's shown isn't out of left field and has basis in reality, but I still just did not enjoy the experience of feeling disgusting because of my body once again when it's something I had worked on for years to get past and I really don't think the view of sex that's portrayed is healthy, especially there at the end. It just rubbed me the wrong way to have to read the undertones of how great being a prepubescent girl is because of the lack of sexual connotations attached to one's body because I really just want to move past that personally or I might actually just jump out a window.
The book also has single chapters with other characters like Helen, Fiona's younger sister as well as their mother. I liked the writing for this one and I was engaged while reading, my problem with it more was the choppy formatting. Though it is some what chronological, it just seems to jump in time, like the first chapter starts of with Rachel as a kid going to camp then jumps years ahead to Helen and her life and it was disorienting and took time to figure out how everything was interconnected. I wish it had been much more coherent and that we spent more time on like some of the characters, because I would get interested and invested only for the book to jump ahead elsewhere. Also things just accelerated at the end and so much happened at once, it felt really irritating. Especially when the book starts venturing into the other story lines that didn't connect into Fiona and Rachel, specifically when we get Mo and Nell's POV. I really don't think any of that had to be in there, it just made it feel like there was no one story line which then made it even more annoying when we return back to Fiona and Rachel.
I do appreciate and understand the vibe the author is going for and the idea of summer at camp being a sort of break from real life which is hard and draining. I just personally felt like everyone was kind of over the top about how much they loved camp though, maybe because I've never been to camp so I just don't see why so many of the characters were so attached. Also another thing that made me really uncomfortable was the way womanhood is presented in the book, especially in relationship to sex. I know that what's shown isn't out of left field and has basis in reality, but I still just did not enjoy the experience of feeling disgusting because of my body once again when it's something I had worked on for years to get past and I really don't think the view of sex that's portrayed is healthy, especially there at the end. It just rubbed me the wrong way to have to read the undertones of how great being a prepubescent girl is because of the lack of sexual connotations attached to one's body because I really just want to move past that personally or I might actually just jump out a window.
May 17, 2017
2.5 stars
This book is slow and with very little action. Two girls are long time friends from their summers at camp. They come from very different backgrounds, one living in NYC with her single mother and the other from a well off family in the suburbs. Unfortunately, I found it very hard to care about either of these girls. Fiona’s self loathing made me feel irritation, not empathy, for her.
In addition to the two girls, there are chapters from Rachel’s mom, Fiona’s sister, her parents and other campers which really do nothing to advance the story. When Elizabeth Stout has intertwined stories, it works. Here, not as much although the stories themselves were ok. It's like a loosely based group of character studies. The author does a good job of getting the sense of summer camp, how quickly relationships form and dissolve over the summer months. The ending felt forced to me, and would have probably worked better if there had been some clues leading up to it.
My thanks to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.
This book is slow and with very little action. Two girls are long time friends from their summers at camp. They come from very different backgrounds, one living in NYC with her single mother and the other from a well off family in the suburbs. Unfortunately, I found it very hard to care about either of these girls. Fiona’s self loathing made me feel irritation, not empathy, for her.
In addition to the two girls, there are chapters from Rachel’s mom, Fiona’s sister, her parents and other campers which really do nothing to advance the story. When Elizabeth Stout has intertwined stories, it works. Here, not as much although the stories themselves were ok. It's like a loosely based group of character studies. The author does a good job of getting the sense of summer camp, how quickly relationships form and dissolve over the summer months. The ending felt forced to me, and would have probably worked better if there had been some clues leading up to it.
My thanks to netgalley and Random House for an advance copy of this book.
March 9, 2017
Wow! This is not just a fun nostalgic read of your camp days. This is a powerful book, similar to "Beartown," about the secrets we hide as a community, a society, etc. just so we fit in. The right social circles, the right schools, neighborhoods, cliques, and maybe even summer camps. It starts in childhood doesn't it? Who your friends are, where you go to school, if and where you go to camp, if your parents are divorced, a child of a single parent. It goes on and on. Even at a kid's camp, who could take advantage of who, the privileged and those who are not.
Parents should read this, everyone should read this.
Highly Recommend.
Thank you Netgalley and Random House.
Parents should read this, everyone should read this.
Highly Recommend.
Thank you Netgalley and Random House.
July 20, 2017
I never went to summer camp when I was growing up. I wasn't deprived, or anything like that. My parents would have let me go, had I asked — I simply was (and am) of the antisocial sort. I was the type of kid to haunt the local library during summer break. I wasn't one for physical activity. LOL.
However, I do like reading about summer camps — through them I experience what is maybe lacking from my own childhood. Truthfully, I don't feel I missed much . . . but still, the topic and setting of summer camp often makes for interesting (albeit cheesy, usually) stories. How does Perennials measure up? Well, it's not interesting or cheesy. It's just lifeless and lame.
Firstly, this novel has more structural problems than a termite-ridden set of wooden stairs. The first two chapters take place in 2000, at the summer camp that acts as the focal point of this novel, and then randomly switches to 2006. The two characters that are seen in the 2000 chapters are still around, but the reader is suddenly introduced to a ton of new campers, none of them fleshed out whatsoever. I think the main characters were supposed to be... Rachel? and . . . I'm blanking on the other girl's name. Yeah, I just finished this one and can't remember any of the characters' names. That's bad! Bad bad bad.
So the plot hops from character to character and situation to situation, and almost none of it is necessary to furthering the story, nor does most of it come together by the story's end. Either this one leaves a ton of loose ends hanging, or I was too bored to care. I sorta get what the author was going for: the wide ranging impact summer camp can have on young teens, but the problem is this novel is just too short. There are way too many characters crammed into this story, and all of them want to be the main protagonist. None of them are written well at all, and I just . . . God, I'm boring myself talking about this.
I honestly didn't have high hopes for Perennials, but I was expecting to at least get a breezy, fun summer read. Nope. This is just bland, flavorless melodrama populated with excessively, offensively boring characters and trite situations.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free review copy, which was given in an exchange for an honest review.
However, I do like reading about summer camps — through them I experience what is maybe lacking from my own childhood. Truthfully, I don't feel I missed much . . . but still, the topic and setting of summer camp often makes for interesting (albeit cheesy, usually) stories. How does Perennials measure up? Well, it's not interesting or cheesy. It's just lifeless and lame.
Firstly, this novel has more structural problems than a termite-ridden set of wooden stairs. The first two chapters take place in 2000, at the summer camp that acts as the focal point of this novel, and then randomly switches to 2006. The two characters that are seen in the 2000 chapters are still around, but the reader is suddenly introduced to a ton of new campers, none of them fleshed out whatsoever. I think the main characters were supposed to be... Rachel? and . . . I'm blanking on the other girl's name. Yeah, I just finished this one and can't remember any of the characters' names. That's bad! Bad bad bad.
So the plot hops from character to character and situation to situation, and almost none of it is necessary to furthering the story, nor does most of it come together by the story's end. Either this one leaves a ton of loose ends hanging, or I was too bored to care. I sorta get what the author was going for: the wide ranging impact summer camp can have on young teens, but the problem is this novel is just too short. There are way too many characters crammed into this story, and all of them want to be the main protagonist. None of them are written well at all, and I just . . . God, I'm boring myself talking about this.
I honestly didn't have high hopes for Perennials, but I was expecting to at least get a breezy, fun summer read. Nope. This is just bland, flavorless melodrama populated with excessively, offensively boring characters and trite situations.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the free review copy, which was given in an exchange for an honest review.
March 30, 2017
This is another example of a book I really wanted to like. The sleepaway camp setting is one I am familiar with, and I was very interested in seeing how the friendship between Rachel and Fiona grew and changed, as per the summary. What I got instead - a mix of random characters, way too many characters to actually care about any of them. There was definitely not enough of Fiona and Rachel and the event that "brought them together" at the end just felt forced and out of nowhere. And while I understand that some things in life just happen with no rhyme or reason, I wasn't invested enough in the characters to care.
I am giving 2 stars instead of 1 because I did like the easy writing style of the author and might be interested in reading something a little less scattered.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.
I am giving 2 stars instead of 1 because I did like the easy writing style of the author and might be interested in reading something a little less scattered.
Thank you to Netgalley for the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.
April 26, 2017
This one, for me, was kind of a hot mess. Lots of story lines that never really came together into a cohesive plot. Characters that had sub plot lines that were completely unnecessary and added nothing to the story. I felt we never got enough from Rachel or Fiona who were the main characters. However in the end the story really could have been Fiona's sister Helen's story all along. Overall the writing was fairly plain and simple, the characters were flat and the story incomplete and at times confusing. I'd say pass on this one.
May 29, 2017
Despite coming from radically different family backgrounds, Rachel and Fiona are quick to become best friends when they first meet at Camp Marigold over summer break. Even though they see each other three months out of the year, over time, their friendship only grows stronger. Eventually they return to the camp as counselors, both excited to be working together and eager to see how the summer will unfold. Unfortunately, though, things get off to a rocky start and then only get worse. Their summer is full of drama, misunderstanding, loneliness, disappointment, and, eventually, tragedy.
I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book. I was ready to give it five stars, but, unfortunately, I ended up hating the end. What starts out as a really solid and lighthearted coming-of-age story about friendship and growing up, ends as an overwrought, borderline unbelievable book with AN INTENSELY IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT WOMEN'S SEXUALITY AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT.
It's hard to know what author Mandy Berman was hoping to accomplish by concluding the story the way she does, but to me it didn't make any sense. I especially didn't appreciate the argument that little girls are perfect and pure before they hit puberty and that it might be better for girls to die young so they don't have to grow up and possibly deal with, say, awkward sexual encounters or sexual trauma or even a tense relationship with a future mother-in-law.
I mean, no, of course no one wants to experience trauma. But people do all the time, and it's possible to survive and thrive afterward. Life is about overcoming hardship. We learn from our bad experiences (even the really, really bad ones), pull ourselves together, and move forward. To argue that it might not be the worst thing for a "pure and innocent" little girl to die before she has to deal with a predatory penis just weirds me out. It's a really bleak stance to take--one of extreme powerlessness and pessimism.
So even though I enjoyed reading most of Perennials, the ending was so bad that, ultimately, I can't recommend the book.
I really enjoyed the first two-thirds of this book. I was ready to give it five stars, but, unfortunately, I ended up hating the end. What starts out as a really solid and lighthearted coming-of-age story about friendship and growing up, ends as an overwrought, borderline unbelievable book with AN INTENSELY IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT WOMEN'S SEXUALITY AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT.
It's hard to know what author Mandy Berman was hoping to accomplish by concluding the story the way she does, but to me it didn't make any sense. I especially didn't appreciate the argument that little girls are perfect and pure before they hit puberty and that it might be better for girls to die young so they don't have to grow up and possibly deal with, say, awkward sexual encounters or sexual trauma or even a tense relationship with a future mother-in-law.
I mean, no, of course no one wants to experience trauma. But people do all the time, and it's possible to survive and thrive afterward. Life is about overcoming hardship. We learn from our bad experiences (even the really, really bad ones), pull ourselves together, and move forward. To argue that it might not be the worst thing for a "pure and innocent" little girl to die before she has to deal with a predatory penis just weirds me out. It's a really bleak stance to take--one of extreme powerlessness and pessimism.
So even though I enjoyed reading most of Perennials, the ending was so bad that, ultimately, I can't recommend the book.
June 5, 2017
A slow moving book that suddenly and surprisingly fits in a lot of heavier subject matter toward the end. I would have liked it more if we had just been dealing with less characters. Even reading the book in one sitting, I had a hard time keeping track of who was who. I feel like eliminating at least two or three of the characters would have been easy. I wish we'd focused more on one camper that really interested me, but she ended up leaving.
The first couple of chapters focus on when two of our characters, Rachel and Fiona, are thirteen. They're best camp friends. Mostly seeing each other over the summer, they pick up right where they left off. Some differences between the two girls are obvious, but they really come to a head six years later when they're now nineteen and camp counselors. They've grown into very different people. Rachel is rebellious, spontaneous, and street smart. Fiona is more cautious, reserved and lacks self confidence. They now seem quite mismatched, but the bond they formed while they were only children still exists.
We also get perspectives from younger campers, other counselors, adults who work there, and even parents of some of the characters. There's a lot of detail about how they see each other and how relationships evolve over time. It's a quick read that leads to a very dramatic conclusion.
I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group, thank you! My opinion is honest and unbiased.
The first couple of chapters focus on when two of our characters, Rachel and Fiona, are thirteen. They're best camp friends. Mostly seeing each other over the summer, they pick up right where they left off. Some differences between the two girls are obvious, but they really come to a head six years later when they're now nineteen and camp counselors. They've grown into very different people. Rachel is rebellious, spontaneous, and street smart. Fiona is more cautious, reserved and lacks self confidence. They now seem quite mismatched, but the bond they formed while they were only children still exists.
We also get perspectives from younger campers, other counselors, adults who work there, and even parents of some of the characters. There's a lot of detail about how they see each other and how relationships evolve over time. It's a quick read that leads to a very dramatic conclusion.
I received a copy of this book from Net Galley and Random House Publishing Group, thank you! My opinion is honest and unbiased.
July 6, 2020
This wasn't a bad book; I wouldn't say it was great either. It was a surprise ending that is for sure. It was not what I was expecting at all. The characters were pretty well done. There were a few characters and I didn't mind getting to know them through the story. It was from different points of view throughout, which was a bit odd sometimes. It also left things where it didn't feel like there was much closure. That was the strangest and most frustrating thing in the book I think.
I found parts of the story odd, but overall it was good. Would I recommend it? I'm not really sure; I guess it would depend on the person or what they were looking to read maybe?
I found parts of the story odd, but overall it was good. Would I recommend it? I'm not really sure; I guess it would depend on the person or what they were looking to read maybe?
March 8, 2017
Was left breathless after finishing Mandy Berman’s debut Perennials. Set at a summer camp, spanning 2000 - 2006, it is everything you may want from a coming of age story told by many different points of view. It is such a great insight into female friendships, and how they can morph throughout the process of maturing, distance, and experience. I loved how the focus shifts from character to character, and always being surprised who we hear from next, spanning 11 year olds to parents and other adults. It is a great, bittersweet binge read.
December 19, 2016
Review forthcoming.
March 20, 2017
via my blog
“This was the underbelly of responsibility: When things went wrong, the fingers turned back at you.”
A friendship that begins at summer camp as children carries two young women back to camp as counselors. The story opens at Camp Marigold , Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin become childhood friends bonded by their shared experiences there. As is often the case in the most lasting friendships, the two come from completely different homes and worlds. Rachel’s raised by a single mother, her father absent- a chunk of her life a secret. Where her mother comes off as a train wreck, and her life less sheltered than Fiona’s, there is love. Denise’s set up with Rachel’s father is complicated and she pulled the short stick but he has means, and not much else to give their daughter. Growing up in a home where a beautiful mother has only herself to rely on can leave edges on a kid but it also can make them stronger, more outgoing. Rachel has spunk, ease with friends and boys as the girls hit their teens. Her life is full of experience, simply by where she comes from. Her secrets are always bigger than Fiona’s, and there is envy as much as their is love in their friendship. Fiona is another story, where Rachel is fun and worldly, attractive- Fiona feels average and boring. Her side of the friendship is being the ‘responsible one’, always sober about everything in life, in every moment. Can you love and hate your best friend at the same time?
Along with their story, the year the friends return as camp counselors, Fiona’s pretty, shy little sister Helen joins the camp. In many ways, she doesn’t have the same ambition of her siblings, never one to do anything but what she chooses. There is a strain between the sisters, and Fiona often seems negative and sour, so much so that Helen wonders how in the world she and the vibrant Rachel are friends. How can college be so wonderful when her sister is gloomy? Helen is drawn to kids from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ which is anyone less fortunate than her family. Lucky for her, Rachel is in charge of her cabin.
A lot of what hit me is how Fiona victimizes herself despite her privilege and Rachel has much more in her life to whine about and yet doesn’t. Both exhaust each other as they grow, one being more wild the other too tame. There are more stories about counselors and campers, the parents, but the main focus is on Fiona and Rachel. People change, and friendships can be a weight as much as they can uplift you. Life is precious and the universe can seem random, and this final summer at camp is going to change all of them.
I never went to camp, I spent my summers on the beach or swimming in my pool, going to Disney World with whichever relative came around.. but I got a taste of it reading this novel. It’s not just about camp though, in fact it’s more about the pain of shedding our skin as we come of age, drifting away from friends and family. It’s about envy of friends and even siblings, how our parent’s disastrous love molds us and why we need people different from ourselves to grow. The end was sad, didn’t expect that. For those hungry to walk down memory lane of their summers at camp and those who never went and wondered about it. This will be out just in time for summer reading.
Publication Date: June 6, 2017
Random House
“This was the underbelly of responsibility: When things went wrong, the fingers turned back at you.”
A friendship that begins at summer camp as children carries two young women back to camp as counselors. The story opens at Camp Marigold , Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin become childhood friends bonded by their shared experiences there. As is often the case in the most lasting friendships, the two come from completely different homes and worlds. Rachel’s raised by a single mother, her father absent- a chunk of her life a secret. Where her mother comes off as a train wreck, and her life less sheltered than Fiona’s, there is love. Denise’s set up with Rachel’s father is complicated and she pulled the short stick but he has means, and not much else to give their daughter. Growing up in a home where a beautiful mother has only herself to rely on can leave edges on a kid but it also can make them stronger, more outgoing. Rachel has spunk, ease with friends and boys as the girls hit their teens. Her life is full of experience, simply by where she comes from. Her secrets are always bigger than Fiona’s, and there is envy as much as their is love in their friendship. Fiona is another story, where Rachel is fun and worldly, attractive- Fiona feels average and boring. Her side of the friendship is being the ‘responsible one’, always sober about everything in life, in every moment. Can you love and hate your best friend at the same time?
Along with their story, the year the friends return as camp counselors, Fiona’s pretty, shy little sister Helen joins the camp. In many ways, she doesn’t have the same ambition of her siblings, never one to do anything but what she chooses. There is a strain between the sisters, and Fiona often seems negative and sour, so much so that Helen wonders how in the world she and the vibrant Rachel are friends. How can college be so wonderful when her sister is gloomy? Helen is drawn to kids from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ which is anyone less fortunate than her family. Lucky for her, Rachel is in charge of her cabin.
A lot of what hit me is how Fiona victimizes herself despite her privilege and Rachel has much more in her life to whine about and yet doesn’t. Both exhaust each other as they grow, one being more wild the other too tame. There are more stories about counselors and campers, the parents, but the main focus is on Fiona and Rachel. People change, and friendships can be a weight as much as they can uplift you. Life is precious and the universe can seem random, and this final summer at camp is going to change all of them.
I never went to camp, I spent my summers on the beach or swimming in my pool, going to Disney World with whichever relative came around.. but I got a taste of it reading this novel. It’s not just about camp though, in fact it’s more about the pain of shedding our skin as we come of age, drifting away from friends and family. It’s about envy of friends and even siblings, how our parent’s disastrous love molds us and why we need people different from ourselves to grow. The end was sad, didn’t expect that. For those hungry to walk down memory lane of their summers at camp and those who never went and wondered about it. This will be out just in time for summer reading.
Publication Date: June 6, 2017
Random House
March 10, 2020
Full Review on The Candid Cover
If you are longing for the days of summer camp, this might be the book for you. There are some really interesting and many diverse characters to learn about. However, Perennials seems to start off following Rachel’s young adult years, but then becomes a scattered tale of events. The book contains multiple perspectives, and while the main story is intended to relate to Rachel and her experiences, it seems that there are many narratives that don’t fit together all the time.
The setting of Perennials is the lower Berkshires and it really is the perfect backdrop for a book of summertime adventures. Berman has captured this idyllic spot in Connecticut quite well through her descriptions of the region. The book will most definitely have you longing for a trip to this mountainous and quaint region of the U.S.
Rachel is definitely the most developed character in the novel, and the book follows her years as a young adult. At times she is very dislikable, and at first it is to show that she is learning from her mistakes. However, once she is in her 20s and is still acting inappropriately, the character becomes strange and hard to follow.
One thing that is really enjoyable in contemporary fiction are characters that are relatable and engaging. Berman has created quite a few unique characters that will appeal to many. Having said that, while this book has encompassed many different perspectives, and makes for a diverse read, it seems to contain too many points of view. There are also no clear indications of a change in perspective, which makes it difficult to follow along with the events in the story. Multiple perspectives definitely add to an understanding of the plot, but when it becomes too muddled it can be too much for the reader.
Perennials is a contemporary novel that has a beautiful setting, diversity, and a summer theme. Although there seems to be the perfect elements for a great beach read, this one falls a little flat. The book has far too many perspectives and story lines to follow.
If you are longing for the days of summer camp, this might be the book for you. There are some really interesting and many diverse characters to learn about. However, Perennials seems to start off following Rachel’s young adult years, but then becomes a scattered tale of events. The book contains multiple perspectives, and while the main story is intended to relate to Rachel and her experiences, it seems that there are many narratives that don’t fit together all the time.
The setting of Perennials is the lower Berkshires and it really is the perfect backdrop for a book of summertime adventures. Berman has captured this idyllic spot in Connecticut quite well through her descriptions of the region. The book will most definitely have you longing for a trip to this mountainous and quaint region of the U.S.
Rachel is definitely the most developed character in the novel, and the book follows her years as a young adult. At times she is very dislikable, and at first it is to show that she is learning from her mistakes. However, once she is in her 20s and is still acting inappropriately, the character becomes strange and hard to follow.
One thing that is really enjoyable in contemporary fiction are characters that are relatable and engaging. Berman has created quite a few unique characters that will appeal to many. Having said that, while this book has encompassed many different perspectives, and makes for a diverse read, it seems to contain too many points of view. There are also no clear indications of a change in perspective, which makes it difficult to follow along with the events in the story. Multiple perspectives definitely add to an understanding of the plot, but when it becomes too muddled it can be too much for the reader.
Perennials is a contemporary novel that has a beautiful setting, diversity, and a summer theme. Although there seems to be the perfect elements for a great beach read, this one falls a little flat. The book has far too many perspectives and story lines to follow.
March 21, 2017
A novel about summer camp may sound amateurish or YA but Perennials is anything but. In Mandy Berman's terrific debut novel you are introduced to a wide variety of characters that have a little bit of each one of us in them. We meet Rachel, Fiona, Denise, Helen, Sheera, Mo, Nelly and we remember our own camp friends or nostalgia. For someone who never went to camp we understand a little more about Camp Dynamics and how we grow. While I was never a huge fan of camp reading this story helped me understand all of the things at play for campers and the counselor. For the campers we find a group who is discovering themselves, they are discovering sexuality, their bodies are changing and some are not in that change. The unknown is exciting and thrilling to these new teens or about to be teens. With the older counselors they too are discovering adulthood and what it means to be an adult. Making good choices or learning from mistakes. Mandy has a terrific way of making each scene not only believable but also human. She has taken a great deal of time to get to know her characters and make them real. A must read!
I received this book from Netgalley and decided to write an honest review.
I received this book from Netgalley and decided to write an honest review.
May 19, 2017
This is one of those books that is sticking with me even weeks later. I keep turning it over and over in my mind and remembering the moments and characters and feeling all the feelings. It's also one of those books that I genuinely miss. I want to be with Rachel and Fiona and Helen more. For me, this is the mark of a forever favorite book and will always live in my heart as one of the all time best.
Berman puts into words all the feelings a young girl (and old girl, honestly) has but can't articulate - how it feels when you just don't quite fit in and you don't know why, how it feels when you hate your body, how it feels when you just need to cry, when you feel something that's not "okay" to feel but you feel it anyway, how good friends are your actual lifeblood and all you need. I kept catching myself saying "yes, that's exactly it!" And felt like Berman just got me.
I can't wait for whatever Berman does next - I'll be the first in line!!
Berman puts into words all the feelings a young girl (and old girl, honestly) has but can't articulate - how it feels when you just don't quite fit in and you don't know why, how it feels when you hate your body, how it feels when you just need to cry, when you feel something that's not "okay" to feel but you feel it anyway, how good friends are your actual lifeblood and all you need. I kept catching myself saying "yes, that's exactly it!" And felt like Berman just got me.
I can't wait for whatever Berman does next - I'll be the first in line!!
April 29, 2017
This book was not bad. It was actually an interesting character study, which presented snapshots of all these different people. The people were very different from each other, but they were connected through Camp Marigold.
My general issue is that I cannot accept this as a YA book. Yes, there were characters in this book who fit the age for upper YA, and maybe they did get the most page time, but there were all these other characters, who had entire chapters dedicated to them, and were unrelated to anything going on between Rachel and Fiona. In fact, some of the chapters were dedicated to peripheral adults, and they shared some very adult problems from very adult perspectives. I am in my 40s, so I appreciated reading these chapters. I found them to be a provocative look into these people's lives, and the issues they were dealing with. However, I felt like it took the focus off of Fiona and Rachel, and I was expecting their story.
I am ok with character studies and no plot, but this was a sad slice of life. I do tend towards books that are a little lighter or at least are laced with hope, but this on was imbued in woe. And then the ending was so abrupt. I was hoping to get a little bump there, but it just sort of ended.
My general issue is that I cannot accept this as a YA book. Yes, there were characters in this book who fit the age for upper YA, and maybe they did get the most page time, but there were all these other characters, who had entire chapters dedicated to them, and were unrelated to anything going on between Rachel and Fiona. In fact, some of the chapters were dedicated to peripheral adults, and they shared some very adult problems from very adult perspectives. I am in my 40s, so I appreciated reading these chapters. I found them to be a provocative look into these people's lives, and the issues they were dealing with. However, I felt like it took the focus off of Fiona and Rachel, and I was expecting their story.
I am ok with character studies and no plot, but this was a sad slice of life. I do tend towards books that are a little lighter or at least are laced with hope, but this on was imbued in woe. And then the ending was so abrupt. I was hoping to get a little bump there, but it just sort of ended.
December 27, 2020
Have you ever read a book that was so harrowing, not because of the content, but because of how eerily similar it was to your own life?
Literally, this entire book was déjà vu. I spent pretty much the whole time in perpetual tears.
Perennials takes place at a co-ed summer camp in Connecticut. The first few chapters take place in the year 2000, and then it jumps to 2006 for the last 75% of the book or so. Each chapter is told from a different point of view, whether it’s a counselor or a camper, but the majority of the story follows two young women, Rachel and Fiona, as they come back to camp as counselors for the first time since they were younger.
There is so much happening in this story, I’m not really sure how to begin to explain the plot!
While the camp is set in the woods of Connecticut, we also see Fiona’s privileged home life in upper middle-class New York, and Rachel’s one-bedroom apartment in NYC with her single mom.
While the summary makes it seem as though the main characters are Rachel and Fiona (which I wouldn’t necessarily argue otherwise), the book almost reads as a series of vignettes that carry through the course of a summer. Sometimes a POV is introduced once and only once, and that POV is never brought back into the story. The character may weave through other perspectives however, and I honestly adored this style of writing. I think a lot of readers may struggle with it because it can seem like there are too many characters and not enough resolution, but I honestly loved how open ended some subplots ended up.
I thought the writing was very reminiscent of summer itself: flowery, spontaneous, and carefree. It definitely has a literary vibe to the tone and the structure with some traditional genre elements. I loved the way the book seemed to weave back and forth between literary fiction and genre fiction.
The plot was all over the place, but that’s one of the things that made the book so special to me. At camp, days both speed by and drag on and weeks blur together and Perennials did a great job of really realistically portraying the pacing that was so familiar to my camp life. There are so many people at camp you interact with everyday and so many different conflicts going on and complicated relationships that seem to change within hours, and while the plot may seem sloppy at first glance, it was surreally realistic (is that redundant?? I honestly don’t know any other way to explain it).
Truthfully, the characters were nothing special. I didn’t feel intense attachments to any of them; many of them were unlikeable. They all made questionable, if not downright awful, decisions. I thought they’re relationships and interactions with each other were interesting, but the characters were never really the driving factor of the novel.
I also just want to take a beat to appreciate the title: perennials are a type of flower that bloom annually. The camp the story takes place at is called Camp Marigold, marigold being a common perennial flower. It’s with heavy handed symbolism that Perennials is rooted with the implication that campers and camp staff bloom annually each summer, when they arrive at the camp they waited ten months to return to (I’m literally tearing up as a write this I just love camp so much).
Perennials is not a happy book. This is not a feel-good summertime campy beach read. This book was intense; there were scenes that were complicated, upsetting, shameful, and sometimes just messed up. It was like someone took my list of every nightmare I had while working at camp and turned it into a manuscript.
This was one of the first books I read in 2019. Originally, I wasn’t going to write a review because I figured it would just be me gushing about how perfect summer camp is. I think my review and my opinions are outliers; Perennials has a fairly average rating on Goodreads and some average reviews. I don’t expect other readers to be as nearly touched by this book as I was.
Reading this book at a time of heavy transition in my life was incredibly grounding. I had such a visceral reader-response reaction to this book that I still, weeks later, cannot stop thinking about. Perennials is wonderful because it both reprieved me of the real-world while also forcing me to face my own reality, therefore forging a really unique connection.
I cried literally every time I opened this book. This book literally fell into my life at the exact moment I needed it. Perennials really could’ve been my book, written solely for me. I almost don’t want to recommend it to other people because I doubt anyone would have the same reaction I had.
Literally, this entire book was déjà vu. I spent pretty much the whole time in perpetual tears.
Perennials takes place at a co-ed summer camp in Connecticut. The first few chapters take place in the year 2000, and then it jumps to 2006 for the last 75% of the book or so. Each chapter is told from a different point of view, whether it’s a counselor or a camper, but the majority of the story follows two young women, Rachel and Fiona, as they come back to camp as counselors for the first time since they were younger.
There is so much happening in this story, I’m not really sure how to begin to explain the plot!
While the camp is set in the woods of Connecticut, we also see Fiona’s privileged home life in upper middle-class New York, and Rachel’s one-bedroom apartment in NYC with her single mom.
While the summary makes it seem as though the main characters are Rachel and Fiona (which I wouldn’t necessarily argue otherwise), the book almost reads as a series of vignettes that carry through the course of a summer. Sometimes a POV is introduced once and only once, and that POV is never brought back into the story. The character may weave through other perspectives however, and I honestly adored this style of writing. I think a lot of readers may struggle with it because it can seem like there are too many characters and not enough resolution, but I honestly loved how open ended some subplots ended up.
I thought the writing was very reminiscent of summer itself: flowery, spontaneous, and carefree. It definitely has a literary vibe to the tone and the structure with some traditional genre elements. I loved the way the book seemed to weave back and forth between literary fiction and genre fiction.
The plot was all over the place, but that’s one of the things that made the book so special to me. At camp, days both speed by and drag on and weeks blur together and Perennials did a great job of really realistically portraying the pacing that was so familiar to my camp life. There are so many people at camp you interact with everyday and so many different conflicts going on and complicated relationships that seem to change within hours, and while the plot may seem sloppy at first glance, it was surreally realistic (is that redundant?? I honestly don’t know any other way to explain it).
Truthfully, the characters were nothing special. I didn’t feel intense attachments to any of them; many of them were unlikeable. They all made questionable, if not downright awful, decisions. I thought they’re relationships and interactions with each other were interesting, but the characters were never really the driving factor of the novel.
I also just want to take a beat to appreciate the title: perennials are a type of flower that bloom annually. The camp the story takes place at is called Camp Marigold, marigold being a common perennial flower. It’s with heavy handed symbolism that Perennials is rooted with the implication that campers and camp staff bloom annually each summer, when they arrive at the camp they waited ten months to return to (I’m literally tearing up as a write this I just love camp so much).
Perennials is not a happy book. This is not a feel-good summertime campy beach read. This book was intense; there were scenes that were complicated, upsetting, shameful, and sometimes just messed up. It was like someone took my list of every nightmare I had while working at camp and turned it into a manuscript.
This was one of the first books I read in 2019. Originally, I wasn’t going to write a review because I figured it would just be me gushing about how perfect summer camp is. I think my review and my opinions are outliers; Perennials has a fairly average rating on Goodreads and some average reviews. I don’t expect other readers to be as nearly touched by this book as I was.
Reading this book at a time of heavy transition in my life was incredibly grounding. I had such a visceral reader-response reaction to this book that I still, weeks later, cannot stop thinking about. Perennials is wonderful because it both reprieved me of the real-world while also forcing me to face my own reality, therefore forging a really unique connection.
I cried literally every time I opened this book. This book literally fell into my life at the exact moment I needed it. Perennials really could’ve been my book, written solely for me. I almost don’t want to recommend it to other people because I doubt anyone would have the same reaction I had.
March 1, 2017
Perennials
By
Mandy Berman
What it's all about...
This book is about campers and parents and camp counselors who all went to summer camp at Camp Marigold. It begins when Fiona and Rachel...camp friends...are really young and the book follows them as they in turn become camp counselors. The book tells the backstory of parents and campers and counselors...their issues, their fears, their thoughts...all of these are explored. Camp Marigold is what bonds everyone together and what eventually tears everyone apart. It's kind of a sad book.
Why I wanted to read it...
I was fascinated by this camp. No one really seemed to ever want to leave it. Everyone seemed to want to come back. But not everything that happened at camp was fun.
What made me truly enjoy this book...
Again...I just enjoyed reading about the lives of these characters.
Why you should read it, too...
Readers who enjoy books about personal growth will like this book. Readers who like reading about characters with lots of issues will like this book. Readers who like horses will like this book. It's a book that seems to focus on real life issues. I did not love it but I found it interesting.
By
Mandy Berman
What it's all about...
This book is about campers and parents and camp counselors who all went to summer camp at Camp Marigold. It begins when Fiona and Rachel...camp friends...are really young and the book follows them as they in turn become camp counselors. The book tells the backstory of parents and campers and counselors...their issues, their fears, their thoughts...all of these are explored. Camp Marigold is what bonds everyone together and what eventually tears everyone apart. It's kind of a sad book.
Why I wanted to read it...
I was fascinated by this camp. No one really seemed to ever want to leave it. Everyone seemed to want to come back. But not everything that happened at camp was fun.
What made me truly enjoy this book...
Again...I just enjoyed reading about the lives of these characters.
Why you should read it, too...
Readers who enjoy books about personal growth will like this book. Readers who like reading about characters with lots of issues will like this book. Readers who like horses will like this book. It's a book that seems to focus on real life issues. I did not love it but I found it interesting.
August 1, 2017
What a beautiful debut! This novel brings to mind those quintessential camp experiences, the temporary lives we create for ourselves, and weaves together the individual stories of the characters into a powerful narrative of friendship. At under 300 pages, this makes for a great binge read.
December 30, 2017
More reviews available at my blog, Beauty and the Bookworm.
I never went to sleepaway camp as a kid or teen. I went to week-long day camp a few summers as a Girl Scout, and I think there were a few weekend-long overnight excursions, but nothing long-term. It was just something that never came up and something, reflecting back, that my family probably couldn't have afforded even if it had come up. So to me, summer camp has all the sheen of media, and typically in the horror movie sense. You know, campers missing in the woods, something in the lake that's killing people...that kind of stuff.
Perennials both is and isn't like that. Ostensibly about two young women, Fiona and Rachel, who attended a camp as children, as they return for one final summer as camp counselors and learn about growing up in the face of a tragedy. Well, there is a tragedy indeed--more than one. And while there are no serial killers lurking in the woods and no monsters cruising the lake, this book sometimes struck me as a horror story of another kind entirely, because what is up at this camp is very, very wrong. Counselors are sleeping together--as teenagers do--and the camp director even gets involved. Someone witnesses a rape--a very obvious one, in which the victim is seen saying she wants to go to bed, and is blatantly pulled into the woods and raped despite her protests--and the victim is punished for it along with the perpetrator. Ill fates await not one but two campers over the course of the same summer.
The lens Berman chose for this was interesting. The story is told in third-person through a variety of perspectives; Rachel and Fiona each have a couple of chapters, but most of the book has the viewpoints of a variety of other characters. The camp director, the two girls' mothers, Fiona's little sister, other counselors, campers, etc. all get to chime in with things happening over the course of the summer. My favorite was probably Sheera, and I would have liked to see more of her; she was so different from the other characters, which was no doubt the point, and I felt a little robbed when she exited the stage relatively early in the book. Seeing things through both Rachel and Fiona's perspectives was interesting, though--from Fiona's perspective we can see that she thinks Rachel doesn't really care about her except to serve as the "responsible" one, but from Rachel's we get another view: that she really does love Fiona, she just wishes she would come out of her shell and not need constant reassurance that she's liked.
The title here was especially poignant; while marigolds, the plant the camp is named after, are annual flowers, Fiona and Rachel themselves are perennials, coming back year after year and seeming to pick up right where they left off. The difference is this final summer, when things seem to change so drastically in such a short period of time. Both of their lives are ultimately turned upside down and the two are pushed apart by the events of the summer--however, the book ends on a positive note, with the potential for them to recover and grow closer together as a result, if they want to.
On the downside, the multiplicity of viewpoints leads to a lot of info-dumping. Because there are so many characters and Berman wants to give you the full story about what brought each of them to Camp Marigold, there's a lot of "This happened to this person, which made them feel this way, which led to this." There are a few great flashback scenes that did far more to contribute to character building than the straight-up info dumping, which showed some of what Berman could do, but the book's short length limited them by necessity and so we were left with long periods of info separating out bits of character interaction and forward movement.
Ultimately, I liked this. However, I think it's much darker than Berman intended it to be. Obviously there are some tragic events here, but there's another layer of darkness underlying it all that I'm not sure was deliberate. And if it was--well, this was marketed in entirely the wrong way. But for a character-driven book, I thought this was very good.
4 stars out of 5.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for winning a Goodreads giveaway.
I never went to sleepaway camp as a kid or teen. I went to week-long day camp a few summers as a Girl Scout, and I think there were a few weekend-long overnight excursions, but nothing long-term. It was just something that never came up and something, reflecting back, that my family probably couldn't have afforded even if it had come up. So to me, summer camp has all the sheen of media, and typically in the horror movie sense. You know, campers missing in the woods, something in the lake that's killing people...that kind of stuff.
Perennials both is and isn't like that. Ostensibly about two young women, Fiona and Rachel, who attended a camp as children, as they return for one final summer as camp counselors and learn about growing up in the face of a tragedy. Well, there is a tragedy indeed--more than one. And while there are no serial killers lurking in the woods and no monsters cruising the lake, this book sometimes struck me as a horror story of another kind entirely, because what is up at this camp is very, very wrong. Counselors are sleeping together--as teenagers do--and the camp director even gets involved. Someone witnesses a rape--a very obvious one, in which the victim is seen saying she wants to go to bed, and is blatantly pulled into the woods and raped despite her protests--and the victim is punished for it along with the perpetrator. Ill fates await not one but two campers over the course of the same summer.
The lens Berman chose for this was interesting. The story is told in third-person through a variety of perspectives; Rachel and Fiona each have a couple of chapters, but most of the book has the viewpoints of a variety of other characters. The camp director, the two girls' mothers, Fiona's little sister, other counselors, campers, etc. all get to chime in with things happening over the course of the summer. My favorite was probably Sheera, and I would have liked to see more of her; she was so different from the other characters, which was no doubt the point, and I felt a little robbed when she exited the stage relatively early in the book. Seeing things through both Rachel and Fiona's perspectives was interesting, though--from Fiona's perspective we can see that she thinks Rachel doesn't really care about her except to serve as the "responsible" one, but from Rachel's we get another view: that she really does love Fiona, she just wishes she would come out of her shell and not need constant reassurance that she's liked.
The title here was especially poignant; while marigolds, the plant the camp is named after, are annual flowers, Fiona and Rachel themselves are perennials, coming back year after year and seeming to pick up right where they left off. The difference is this final summer, when things seem to change so drastically in such a short period of time. Both of their lives are ultimately turned upside down and the two are pushed apart by the events of the summer--however, the book ends on a positive note, with the potential for them to recover and grow closer together as a result, if they want to.
On the downside, the multiplicity of viewpoints leads to a lot of info-dumping. Because there are so many characters and Berman wants to give you the full story about what brought each of them to Camp Marigold, there's a lot of "This happened to this person, which made them feel this way, which led to this." There are a few great flashback scenes that did far more to contribute to character building than the straight-up info dumping, which showed some of what Berman could do, but the book's short length limited them by necessity and so we were left with long periods of info separating out bits of character interaction and forward movement.
Ultimately, I liked this. However, I think it's much darker than Berman intended it to be. Obviously there are some tragic events here, but there's another layer of darkness underlying it all that I'm not sure was deliberate. And if it was--well, this was marketed in entirely the wrong way. But for a character-driven book, I thought this was very good.
4 stars out of 5.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher for winning a Goodreads giveaway.
June 6, 2017
Originally posted on You Have Your Hands Full
I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Perennials is author Mandy Berman’s debut novel. I was looking forward to reading this book because I spent seven summers at sleepaway camp as both a camper and a counselor, so I could relate to the subject matter and wanted to see how this (albeit fictional) account compared to my own experiences.
Rachel lives in an apartment in the city with her single mother and Fiona lives in a big house in Westchester with her family. But when they meet at summer camp as girls, they find that they have a lot in common.
The plot jumps forward to the summer after Rachel and Fiona’s first year in college when they return to camp as counselors. They have grown apart, and they are both beginning to realize that they don’t have as much in common as they used to. Fiona is self conscious about the weight she gained away at school, and Rachel is just looking to have some fun. Of course, neither of them have any idea what will transpire over the summer.
The most fascinating thing about this book is that it features multiple perspectives. It would be expected, of course, to hear Rachel and Fiona’s thoughts, but the reader is also treated to hearing part of the story from the perspective of Rachel’s mother, Fiona’s mother, and Fiona’s younger sister, who is a camper in Rachel’s bunk.
Perennials captures the essence of summer camp so well- the friendships, the contretemps, and everything in between. Camp is the perfect place to figure out who you want to be and what you want out of life, and this is evident in the text. Berman does a wonderful job of writing a variety of vastly different “voices” and it would be hard to pick which character I found to be the most interesting. I’ll end my review with a caveat: I’m sure Perennials’ summer camp theme will appeal to younger readers, this book contains mature subject matter and is not intended to be a YA or middle grade novel.
I received a digital copy of this book from Netgalley/the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Perennials is author Mandy Berman’s debut novel. I was looking forward to reading this book because I spent seven summers at sleepaway camp as both a camper and a counselor, so I could relate to the subject matter and wanted to see how this (albeit fictional) account compared to my own experiences.
Rachel lives in an apartment in the city with her single mother and Fiona lives in a big house in Westchester with her family. But when they meet at summer camp as girls, they find that they have a lot in common.
The plot jumps forward to the summer after Rachel and Fiona’s first year in college when they return to camp as counselors. They have grown apart, and they are both beginning to realize that they don’t have as much in common as they used to. Fiona is self conscious about the weight she gained away at school, and Rachel is just looking to have some fun. Of course, neither of them have any idea what will transpire over the summer.
The most fascinating thing about this book is that it features multiple perspectives. It would be expected, of course, to hear Rachel and Fiona’s thoughts, but the reader is also treated to hearing part of the story from the perspective of Rachel’s mother, Fiona’s mother, and Fiona’s younger sister, who is a camper in Rachel’s bunk.
Perennials captures the essence of summer camp so well- the friendships, the contretemps, and everything in between. Camp is the perfect place to figure out who you want to be and what you want out of life, and this is evident in the text. Berman does a wonderful job of writing a variety of vastly different “voices” and it would be hard to pick which character I found to be the most interesting. I’ll end my review with a caveat: I’m sure Perennials’ summer camp theme will appeal to younger readers, this book contains mature subject matter and is not intended to be a YA or middle grade novel.
October 12, 2017
I won this book through the Goodreads First Reads program. Thank you!
3.5 stars.
This book is not a showstopper but it is a very well-written piece of fiction. Mandy Berman really, really understands young women. She writes their pride and their insecurities equally well, painting a complete picture of the characters in a relatively short book. There were a few parts that felt like filler but overall I was really satisfied with this book. For a first novel, it's really very good.
I never attended sleepaway camp as a child, and stories about the camp experience fascinate me. On one hand it seems like a fun way for kids to learn and grow away from their families, and on the other hand it seems like there is a LOT of unsupervised shenanigans. That's not necessarily a bad thing but I'd hate to think that what happened to Rachel (or Helen's friend!) could have happened to one of the much younger girls.
This would probably make a good book club book, as there is quite a bit to unpack here in terms of discussions about girlhood and femininity and so on. I would be comfortable recommending this to older teens but the content is a little too intense for those younger than 11th grade.
3.5 stars.
This book is not a showstopper but it is a very well-written piece of fiction. Mandy Berman really, really understands young women. She writes their pride and their insecurities equally well, painting a complete picture of the characters in a relatively short book. There were a few parts that felt like filler but overall I was really satisfied with this book. For a first novel, it's really very good.
I never attended sleepaway camp as a child, and stories about the camp experience fascinate me. On one hand it seems like a fun way for kids to learn and grow away from their families, and on the other hand it seems like there is a LOT of unsupervised shenanigans. That's not necessarily a bad thing but I'd hate to think that what happened to Rachel (or Helen's friend!) could have happened to one of the much younger girls.
This would probably make a good book club book, as there is quite a bit to unpack here in terms of discussions about girlhood and femininity and so on. I would be comfortable recommending this to older teens but the content is a little too intense for those younger than 11th grade.
June 3, 2020
DNF on page 168.
When I was 21-24 I spent my summers teaching at an Arts Camp in upstate NY and it still firmly has my heart, I was hoping for a sweet book to reminisce about summer romance, the lake, making new friends and kids being lil loveable shits.
I was quite enjoying the summer camp vibes but hearing the backstories of all the parents and keeping track of the generations was so tiring, especially because almost every character had a mundane 4-6 letter American name that made it impossible to remember who was who (an English boy named Chad, really?). Then there was an abrupt POV change - to an English woman who 'graduated' school and measures in km - and I just couldn't anymore. There wasn't anyone to root for to be worth continuing with a book I'd lost respect for.
Flipped through the rest of the book to spoil myself and I'm dumbfounded at how much seems to happen in the last 100 pages given how relatively sluggish the rest was.
When I was 21-24 I spent my summers teaching at an Arts Camp in upstate NY and it still firmly has my heart, I was hoping for a sweet book to reminisce about summer romance, the lake, making new friends and kids being lil loveable shits.
I was quite enjoying the summer camp vibes but hearing the backstories of all the parents and keeping track of the generations was so tiring, especially because almost every character had a mundane 4-6 letter American name that made it impossible to remember who was who (an English boy named Chad, really?). Then there was an abrupt POV change - to an English woman who 'graduated' school and measures in km - and I just couldn't anymore. There wasn't anyone to root for to be worth continuing with a book I'd lost respect for.
Flipped through the rest of the book to spoil myself and I'm dumbfounded at how much seems to happen in the last 100 pages given how relatively sluggish the rest was.
May 30, 2017
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC copy of this in exchange for an honest review.
I've never been to summer camp, but always wanted to as a kid (especially after watching The Parent Trap!), and am often drawn to stories set at camp so I can live vicariously. This book's best parts were set at the camp. I felt the early part, set in 2000, were well done - characters were introduced/developed well, and camp life was well described. However, I felt the later part sort of rambled a bit. There was quite a bit dedicated to peripheral characters who really didn't fit the narrative all that much, other than being at camp, and I didn't feel really added anything to the story. There were quite a few tragedies, as well, which felt kind of rushed, and not really dealt with fully, especially at the end. I think a little more focus on the main two characters would have made this a better story overall. Not a bad read - quick, and decent writing, but not my favorite. Certainly if you had spent summers at camp, it is likely to be quite nostalgic.
I've never been to summer camp, but always wanted to as a kid (especially after watching The Parent Trap!), and am often drawn to stories set at camp so I can live vicariously. This book's best parts were set at the camp. I felt the early part, set in 2000, were well done - characters were introduced/developed well, and camp life was well described. However, I felt the later part sort of rambled a bit. There was quite a bit dedicated to peripheral characters who really didn't fit the narrative all that much, other than being at camp, and I didn't feel really added anything to the story. There were quite a few tragedies, as well, which felt kind of rushed, and not really dealt with fully, especially at the end. I think a little more focus on the main two characters would have made this a better story overall. Not a bad read - quick, and decent writing, but not my favorite. Certainly if you had spent summers at camp, it is likely to be quite nostalgic.
November 18, 2017
Awesome debut for 80% and then the end lacked closure for the enormity of the characters. Rings of the style of Conversations with Friends and the subject matter of Marlena.
Berman is such a talented writer, most apparent in the subtle twists she reveals as the characters do mundane things (like Fiona eating PB on bathroom floor) but also- this book is not quite "there". The sheer number of back stories overwhelms the thread that ties them all together (the camp), and yet if it was a book of stories or at least sectioned into parts titled the characters names, I could have been more focused, instead of surprised every time the POV made a sudden jump.
Psyched though to see what else this 28yo comes up with!
Berman is such a talented writer, most apparent in the subtle twists she reveals as the characters do mundane things (like Fiona eating PB on bathroom floor) but also- this book is not quite "there". The sheer number of back stories overwhelms the thread that ties them all together (the camp), and yet if it was a book of stories or at least sectioned into parts titled the characters names, I could have been more focused, instead of surprised every time the POV made a sudden jump.
Psyched though to see what else this 28yo comes up with!
March 2, 2017
Mandy Berman's first novel brings back fond memories of being a camp counselor and the often tumultuous summer camp society. Anyone who went to camp or managed these kids will relate big-time. Even if you didn't have a camp experience, you were once a teenager and you may see yourself or a friend that had similar qualities and experiences, just like these fascinating characters. Immerse yourself in a great read.
August 3, 2023
I give this a solid three. There was no plot until the last few pages but there was a lot of character development of different people at the camp. They all reminded me of someone from camp. Along with the circle game, color wars, co-Ed dances, and the lake it was very nostalgic. The massive plot twist gave me goosebumps. all in all I appreciated the focus on female friendships you make at a summer camp because it resonated with me but if I hadn’t gone to camp it probably would not have hit.
March 21, 2018
As a former die-hard summer camper, I really enjoyed this book. It was not groundbreaking by any means, but I loved the feeling of camp that it brought on. I will say that then ending seemed a little off, I just feel like I missed the point maybe? I loved the display of friendships and how Berman captured what summer camp friendships feel like. Overall it was entertaining, charming, and really captured my attention.
September 18, 2021
It was a book about how innocent you are when you’re young, everyone has a different story, and life is precious. It was a good read with some heavy stuff at times, but still good.
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