The Summer We Fell Apart

by Robin Antalek

“[A] well-crafted and cunning debut novel…a testament to the resilience of the human spirit.”
— Publishers Weekly

The Summer We Fell Apart by newcomer Robin Antalek is a poignant, funny, and totally engrossing novel of family disasters and sibling rivalry—and it marks the debut of a pitch-perfect new voice in contemporary American fiction. Antalek’s tale of the trials and many tribulations of the hapless and more than a little dysfunctional Haas family recalls the work of Sue Miller and Ann Beattie—and is a wonderful introduction to a superb writer whose short fiction has been nominated for numerous awards, including the Glimmer Train’s Family Matter’s and Short-Story Award and the Bellingham Review’s Tobias Wolff Award for Fiction.

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Family, Book Club, Literary Fiction, Novels, Womens Fiction

367 pages, Paperback

First published December 16, 2009

About the author

My second novel, THE GROWN UPS, will be published by William Morrow in January of 2015. It's the story of a group of friends over many years and what they mean to each other. It's about family, about love, about disappointment and heartache. It's about celebrating the small triumphs in life and hanging in there for those you love. It's about longing to be grown up - and then finding out what it really means to one.

THE SUMMER WE FELL APART was published by Harper Collins in January of 2010. It was chosen as a TARGET BREAKOUT BOOK.

Reviews

[Beth Peninger · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book felt incomplete and unfinished on several levels. I don't mind the book being broken up into each of the siblings points of view but each of their parts left me feeling unsatisfied and slightly confused. Without spoling it, it is the story of four siblings and how their lives play out after they are raised by uninterested parents. While they are the definition of dysfunctional as they become adults and grow into their own stories they each find some sort of resolution with their parents and their childhoods. While that sounded good to me on the surface as I dug in I found myselftrying to piece together voids without much success. And in what seemed to me an effort to be profound and philosophical about their issues the author ended up leaving this reader confused and unfulfilled that I had indeed read a rich story.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robin Antalek's The Summer We Fell Apart was, quite simply, stunning. Books with multiple narrators typically leave me feeling detached and disjointed as a reader, unable to get close to any one particular character. But not so here, where we learn the quirks and backstories of each Haas child as we travel through time and space with them. In a story that could easily have become horrifying or worse, I never sunk into depression as I followed the kids from New York to California and back. My heart broke when theirs broke; my face creased when they smiled. So obviously so broken, Amy, George, Finn and Kate desperately needed to find somewhere to belong.

Their parents affected each of them differently, but the profound scars were lasting and obvious. Of all the stories, Finn's probably caused me the most pain. A young man who battles addiction the entire story, I kept waiting for him to have that great epiphany and begin to heal his life. But as things became worse and worse, I really wondered if he would ever be capable of change. Finn's chapter is the most graphic, detailing his sexual exploits and need to do anything for a drink. The time he spends with sister Kate was gut-wrenching.

The Summer We Fell Apart is a carefully crafted tapestry ripe with atmosphere, symbolism and incredible imagery. A family drama in the very best sense of the description, I couldn't put this book down. It succeeds where, for me, books like Hyatt Bass's The Embers -- a book similar in content, down to the writer father -- failed: it made me care, and not just about the "right" people. About everyone. A fantastic debut novel I would highly recommend to lovers of literary fiction and those ready to delve into the hard, blackened core of a one family -- and maybe emerge on the other side.

[Shelley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Plot, we don't need no stinking plot! Nothing happens in the 300 plus pages of wannabe familial dysfunction. I got duped by the cover and description and regret not pulling the bookmark. This book wants to be about a dysfunctional family, and if you're looking for that story, it ain't this book at all. Five year old kids telling never ending stories about unicorns playing baseball on Jupiter could tell a more interesting one than this. Now I wish I had read a story about baseball playing unicorns in space instead of this crapfest. This is a collection of disjointed short stories where important storylines are completely forgotten, and if that isn't enough, the author doesn't know the difference between that and who.

[Greg Olear · Rating 5 out of 5]

Robin Antalek's soaring debut concerns the tribulations of the Haas family --- four grown children and their mother--- before, during, and after the death of the failed-playwright patriarch, who was as achingly absent in their childhoods as he is in the novel. The characters are so well drawn, their stories woven together so expertly, that it's hard to believe that this novel grew out of a collection of loosely-affiliated short stories. Also notable is her adroit and effective use of the simplest things ---lemon trees, leather jackets, scarves---as symbols.

In books of this kind---five characters, five stories, five points of view---there are usually one or two weak links in the chain. Not so here. You'll care about these characters---all of them---as deeply as if they were members of your own family (and perhaps more).

Oh, and don't let the prim and proper cover fool you---The Summer We Fell Apart has some racy passages, including the most uncomfortable ménage à trois scene in recent memory.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. But I kept thinking, "I know this story. I've read a book or seen a movie with the exact same plot."

The Haas family was an eight on a scale of ten in Dysfunctional. Both parents were completey self-absorbed and neglected their children unless, for some personal reason, they needed them. Playwright father. Actress mother. Ramshackle house. Tight siblings.

All of the above is true except for the siblings part. Each section of the book was written from the point of view of one of the children. Amy, the youngest, was the creative one who followed her heart despite her self-doubt. George was the gay one who was sensitive and sensible. Finn was the self-destructive alcoholic. And Kate was the bitter, ultra-successful eldest.

Given this, perhaps the reason I felt I had read the story before was because the cast of characters was so familiar to me from other novels. Some people like books filled with suspense and intrigue. Others enjoy evocative vampire love. My choice is often the totally screwed up family books.

[Suka · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book to be depressing and disjointed. I did not mind that the story was told from five different views, but Amy's was the only one with any depth. Her fascination with Miriam was understandable but then she mostly disappeared until Finn's section. I still don't get why she was even introduced since her role was never really explained. It wasn't like she broke up the family or brought them together, she was just there.

I found the situations in which the siblings found themselves to be just so sad -- neither parent taking interest in their care, cleaning out the house, their father's funeral, and so on. Although each view started where the previous one left off, I found no comfort or continuity. They didn't seem to care about each other, not really.

Maybe I'm being picky, but am I the only one who noticed that, the weekend they were cleaning out the house, Amy confesses to Miriam that she is pregnant, but then nothing was said about the baby for the rest of the novel? Did she have the baby, lose it, give it up -- did I miss something?

[Lin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don't bother. This book holds the distinction of being the lowest rated read in the five years my book club has been meeting!

Four children of a dysfunctional family each get a section to tell a part of their story. The first child to speak tells hers in first person narration; the three others' and the mother's sections are third person narration (??). The four children tell different stories -- you don't see the same situation from different perspectives; you see four (five with mom) different snapshots at different times of their lives. Obviously important times, but I found I didn't really care about any of the characters. George's section (and he was the character I cared about the most) contains the new "de rigueur" element for hip fiction: homosexual sex. TMI -- way too much!

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book quite difficult to get into; it seemed to jump from time to time (i.e., past to future) without a clear delineation of how much time had passed. I found the first narrator, or point of view focus, Amy, to be bratty and self-centered, so that turned me off. George was by far the most interesting and sympathetic character. However, this just felt more like a mish-mash or hodgepodge of random thoughts thrown together; I understand the cohesive part was supposed to be the dysfunctional parenting, but that was barely noticeable--to me, anyway.

[Nicole · Rating 1 out of 5]

The characters in this book were total stereotypes of the four "roles" children of neglectful, self-absorbed parents would chose to play: the oldest became a type-A control freak, the youngest became an angry artist, the middle two sons became an alcoholic and a lonely caretaker. None of the characters are interesting, all are one-note. When the narrative steered towards the gay teacher deciding to sleep with one of his student's fathers, I was done. I don't want to read about that.

[J · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love looks into the messed up, but somehow compeling, lives of rich people. This book had all the makings of a great such story.

Unfortunately, it was too graphic and explicit to enjoy. Within the first 15 pages, we have 2 graphic descriptions of breasts. We also have a situation involving 2 brothers and a sister swiming naked in a pond. There is an explicit description of the girl touching her brother's private parts underwater.

I couldn't finish it.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most moving part of this entire book was the lemon tree on the front cover. The characters themselves were of no interest and by the end, I still couldn't figure out what the summer was when they fell apart. One brother was gay and there were quite a few sexual scenes in which an uptight person would be offended, but his story was honestly the most interesting of the four. Best advice? Admire the pretty cover and move on to something more interesting.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was excellent. The characters were interesting and I wanted to keep on reading. Their story was about a very dysfunctional family but not John Irving-crazy which is what made it credible and sympathetic. The different perspective from each family member was well written and wasn't repetitive since it didn't overlap too much. I only wished it'd have a chapter about Myriam.

[Jill Gann mccloughan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book but it was just too slow & so dang boring. It was like I had to force myself to finish it. I'm no quitter so I kept reading with an open mind but never could grasp it. The ending was terrible and actually seemed like I must be missing some pages. I'm relieved it's over.

[Shara · Rating 1 out of 5]

Find me a wall to bang my head against!! Ugggh I gelt frustrated reading this! Ang got worst book this year for this one :)

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I hadn’t realized it was published 10 years ago-I guess it was just new on audible. I was fully invested in all of the characters and felt they were well developed, although Finn was perhaps a bit more of a cliche. I just wish that each sibling’s story (there are 4 siblings and they each have a “section” written in their own voice) were somehow more intertwined. But that’s part of the point, I suppose. This is one of those books where not much happens but you get to know the characters and care deeply about what goes on in each of their lives. I enjoyed watching them evolve throughout the years and found the ending satisfying.

[Bookfeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not sure what to say about this one. I liked it. I would recommend it if you like to read about family dynamics and dysfunction but there's no real plot here. Or maybe I missed it. Still, it didn't drag on and it didn't feel unfinished.

[Michaela Turcotte]

DNF 27%

Life’s too short to force yourself through books this bad

[Scott Julien · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms. Antalek does a nice job of outlining the lives and psyches of all five protagonists. While it might have been nice if she wove a happy ending to the family dynamic, the way she leaves things with Mom and siblings presents a different, and realistic, perspective.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dysfunctional family told from each member's vantage point. You can't help but like them all.

[Patty · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have read a lot of novels about dysfunctional families over the years. I have always assumed that there are so many books about unhappy families because as Tolstoy said, “All happy families resemble one another, each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” And that unique unhappiness makes for a good story.

However, this is the first time I remember reading two stories one right after the other where the father causes so much of the family misery. In The Precious One, the dad seems to be trying hard to protect his second family from ordinariness and sadness so he causes problems for his older children. I believe that his protectiveness is very well intended, although painful for all involved.

In The Summer We Fell Apart, the father appears almost malevolent. Both the mother and the father seem terribly unsuited to parenting, but the dad seems to play the four children off against one another. I found this particularly troubling and reading these novels so close together makes me want to find an antidote very quickly.

Not that I disliked this novel. Antelek knows how to tell a good story and I like the fact that she has all four children and the mother contribute to the tale. I found that I had more sympathy for the four kids because I got to hear how each of them saw their life. As each section of the book began, I was looking forward to how each sibling would tell their tale and relate the family history. Although the Haas were not happy and their story was sometimes painful, I am very glad to have met them. Throughout the book, I was rooting for the happiness of all the kids.

I would not necessarily recommend this book to readers of Marisa de los Santos who wrote The Precious One. She seems to want her families to live happily ever after. NoveList Plus suggests Jeanette Walls and Jonathan Franzen as read-alikes for Antelek. They both seem reasonable to me, especially Wall. Her parents in The Glass Castle were also neglectful parents.

If you are interested in tales told by several people or you like contemporary fiction about families or you just want to remember that your family is not the worse, I recommend this novel. I hope that you would find one character in the bunch that you will root for.

[hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

ugh I wanted to love this, but it really just went nowhere. I don’t mind character driven stuff - I actually LOVE it - but this literally went nowhere. I don’t understand why the pov’s were so disjointed? i expected some sort of overlap or interweaving but each part just read like an individual short story pertaining to some sort of character study. which is fine, I liked the characters! I was actually really interested in all of them!! but it never went anywhere. it was mundane and plain the entire way through and even when we got to the plot twist (? can it be called that??) it was anticlimactic and dissolved into nothing.

part of the issue, I think, is that everything important happened off page. which can work on occasion, but in this situation where every single important event in their lives happens off page, it sort of leaves you wondering what is the point? what happened to amy’s pregnancy? how did kate and eli get to where they were and why did nothing happen after he cheated on his wife? miriam and finn happened so far into the peripheral vision that it was impossible to believe their relationship was so significant it sent finn over the edge when it dissolved.

and just on a random point, it annoyed me to no end that amy’s section was first person but the rest third, but amy ended up being completely irrelevant until the very end of the book?? what is the point in distinguishing her as so important we get her inner dialogue, while the rest we are merely observing, if we never see her again and her trials and tribulations all happen off page? I kept expecting to go back to her pov for something… and it never happened.


I dunno man. it’s weird because I devoured this so quickly just hoping something would happen because I really liked the writing style and the complexity of the characters was really engaging. but it just… petered off into nothing. and, oh, it annoys me that richard’s blatant abuse of kate is never really resolved and she’s still perceived as the goody two shoes daddy’s girl 🥲 justice for kate (minus the bit where she sleeps with a married man)

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A to Z Project, Book 16
More like 3.5 stars. Antalek delivers a story about the four children of a self-obsessed playwright and actor whose neglect as children has made them largely dysfunctional adults. The chapters switch in perspective through the four children and their mother, reading more like connected short stories than a novel.

I've been close to families like that in Antalek's book, where dysfunction makes everyone unable to do the right thing in the crucial moment, so I found the book very believable, but that doesn't make it lovable. Three of the children are just too unlikable, and even though I believe their characters, I still found them tiresome.

The best stories are about the gay son, a teacher, and his efforts to form a relationship with one of his student's parents. Perhaps it's because this character seems to be the only one motivated and healthy enough to want anything. The story about the oldest daughter, a driven lawyer, and her sad attempt to rehabilitate a house and her alcoholic brother Finn, also works.

Other parts of the story don't seem worked out to me. Youngest daughter Amy is a riddle to me, even though she gets more coverage than any of the others. The parents, who are meant to be the villains of the piece, remain too vague. The author just tells us that they were neglectful, but besides the father's affairs and the mother's unavailability, nothing that terrible from them is ever depicted. The book would have benefited greatly by showing a little more of that.

There are hints throughout that great mysteries are going to be revealed, but they ultimately aren't. While I think this is true to life, it creates some misdirection in the writing that distracts from appreciating what is working in the story.

[Lex · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Summer We Fell Apart is centered on four siblings who grew up in a creaky old house with parents who were barely there. I like books that jump from perspective to perspective and love a dark family drama, so I had high hopes for this novel, but it really fell flat for me. Each sibling got a section of the book, followed by a section from their mother's perspective. The first section, from the perspective of youngest sister Amy, was frankly hard to push through. I never got a sense of Amy's character at all, and even the description of the summer referenced in the book's title, which was referred to multiple times later on as a pivotal moment, didn't feel relevant. Amy's section was also the only one written in first person, which made for an odd shift. The next section, from youngest brother George's perspective, was better but had a predictable and (in my view) semi-unrealistic love story at its center. At this point, I probably would have given up on the book, but the third section from the perspective of Kate, the oldest sister, was actually really well written and interesting in comparison to the others. I finally felt like I'd landed on a well-developed character, and was sad when her perspective gave away to the final two, older brother Finn and the crew's mother, Miriam, who seemed to only be included to put an extra-large bow on the book's ending. Even though Kate's perspective was my favorite, I felt like quality of writing gradually rose throughout the book, which is something I've encountered before in first novels. I haven't read Antalek's second book, but I'd assume it's better written since she seemed to kick the training wheels off about half way through The Summer We Fell Apart.

[Kari · Rating 5 out of 5]

I REALLY loved this story! I always find it interesting to hear the different perspectives from people in the same family and their upbringing, this book delivers and so much more.

Two distant, self-absorbed, artistic parents who only have proof that they can get along four times; their children. As they pursue their theater careers and spend time trying to get even with each other for grown up issues, their children are left to fend for themselves together and apart. Each on battling different demons and creating memories of what they thought their parents were like. As they are growing up and navigating adult life, their interactions with each other evolve, some more than others. Letting go of past hurts and disappointments helps, but as we progress through each sibling's story, one is left to wonder: What if? What if just one time one of them had reached out to express how they were feeling or what they saw, or what they knew? Could that have changed the direction of Finn's world? Having parents who are so aloof and out of touch with their own children makes life that much harder and adding resentment to the mix really makes for a great story.

If we look around to those in our lives, how much of this could be them? Or us? I know a few people, as adults, who have learned the "truth" about events and people in their family and it seemed to hit from nowhere. Some felt they had lived a lie, others were just so perplexed. This is a story that can really resonate with many.

[Susan Becraft · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning debut for Robin Antalek

This is a family drama par excellence, and I devoured every word. The book is divided into stories told from the perspective of five members of the Haas family. Sometimes this format can bore me as the mini-stories become repetitious, but Robin Antalek makes it work. The stories are not repetitive. Rather they build on one another to create a complete picture of a most unusual family.

I cannot find enough adjectives to describe the quality of character development. By the last page, I knew every member of this extraordinary family. I truly did. Kate, in particular, is eerily like me. Not a doubt in my mind that she is cursed by the documented Oldest Daughter Syndrome, as she is controlled by her father even beyond the grave. I found pieces of myself in every character, and I could almost hear each character's voice because of the realistic dialogue. The writing is superb, as well, as the transition from one mini-story to the next is seamless.

What a gift you have, Robin Antalek! I have already begun your second book with great anticipation.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

The focus starts when 4 siblings all react to their father dying. Most of these siblings aren't close, and the story is told from all 4 points of view, but it picks up where the other left off. There is wonderful character development and just when you start to understand one perspective it's time to read from someone else's view.

If you have brothers or sisters, if you get along or you don't, if your family is close or it isn't, this book is for you. A wonderful tale of a family that wants to pull together and break free at the same time, I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because a couple of themes that keep coming up don't get answered... which is always good to keep the imagination going, but I loved these characters so much I wanted to know everything. Robin Antalek is wonderful in this debut and I can't wait for her to write another.

[Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book chronicles the teen and adult years of four children who grew up with brilliant but basically absent parents. Part 1 (3 chapters) is told from the perspective of the youngest, Amy. Part 2 (2 chapters) is told from the perspective of the second youngest, George. Part 3 (3 chapters) is told from the perspective of the oldest, Kate. Part 4 (1 chapter) is told from the perspective of the second oldest, Finn. The epilogue is told from the perspective of their mother, Marilyn. What is a little odd is that the entire book is told in third person except for Amy's chapters. I liked that the book is on a timeline. Although there are references to the past through memories, each part happens after the last. Their perspectives of each other and their parents are interesting. Amy and George are close while Finn fades in and out and Kate has mostly kept to herself. Interesting novel of how a dysfunctional family has lingering effects through adulthood.

[Jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Glass Castle it was not...I left this in a hotel room in Paris. I read it on the plane over and didn't care enough to bring it back home. I agree that the book was well crafted but the story was a little too formulaic. Fiction can go so many ways (spare, wordy, fanciful, baroque, grotesque)unfortunately I wasn't always believing the ways this story went. I wanted to like the characters but found them hopeless and struggling to make sense of their lives, goals, sense of self worth, etc. It was actually kind of uncomfortable but I hung in until the end. I guess the word I'd use to describe this book is contrived.

[Jul · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars. The cover calls it a novel, but I never find an overarching plot which is really the reason for the missing stars. So it seemed to be a collection of vignettes about each family member. The writing is good, though no real effort is made to adjust for the different point of views. I find the younger siblings sympathetic--I only really liked George's story. Kate and Finn were depressing. It was hard to finish the novel. I read the first chapter a month ago. I finally decided to push through this week--this is probably where a plot would have helped keep me reading without a month's interruption.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really glad that I followed through and finished this book. I had a really hard time getting into it. The book is written from the perspective of 5 different characters, and to be honest - I couldn't stand the first. I didn't like her voice or her story, and I really had to force myself to push through. That being said, it was well worth with it, because once I got past that character, I really got into the book and the other characters and I am very happy that I finished the book. I would read another by the author!