The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me: A Novel

by Suzanne Kingsbury

Deserted by her mother and raised by her whiskey-drinking, gun-shooting father, beautiful Haley has broken the heart of every boy in town. Yet she hides two intimate and explosive secrets that empower her just as they threaten to undermine everything she holds dear. Haley is engaged in a dangerous flirtation with one of her father's friends when Fletcher Greel, the Judge's son, comes home for the summer, having just graduated from a New England prep school. Fletcher's friend Riley is in love with a blues-singing black girl named Crystal, and Fletcher falls instantly for Haley. These four soon become inseparable, intoxicated by love, desire, and the new-found freedoms of late adolescence.
But Houser Banks is a small town where attitudes harken back to a time of racism and hatred. As the summer wanes, disapproval of Riley and Crystal's romance takes increasingly violent turns, and Haley's secrets surface to devastating results.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Summer, Contemporary, Book Club, Coming Of Age

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Suzanne Kingsbury was born in Baltimore, Maryland and grew up in Guilford, Connecticut. She has since lived in Africa, Southeast Asia, the Deep South, the Southwest, New England, Mexico and Panama. She is the author of two novels, The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me (Scribner, 2002) and The Gospel According to Gracey (Scribner, 2004. Both have been optioned for film and have been translated extensively in foreign markets. She is the co-editor of the anthology of southern writers, The Alumni Grill (Macadam and Cage, 2004) and has been anthologized in The Blue Moon Café and At My Grandmother’s Table. Her articles have appeared in Atlanta Magazine and Glamour magazine, among others. She won the 1999 Oxford Town Fiction Prize, has been an artist-in-residency at Yaddo, and was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship in Sri Lanka, where she studied temple ritual and ceremony and learned Kandyan dance and drumming. She has taught for Mississippi State, The University of Georgia, PIMA writing program, Ohio Wesleyan University, the Lost State Writer’s Conference, Tennessee’s Council for the Written Word and has been a presenter and panelist at literary festivals and conferences across the country. She is currently working on a series of novels about America at war, including novels about the US in Panama during the time of Noriega, the aftermath of the Korean war in a small New England town, and Montana during the 1960s draft for Vietnam. She lives in Brattleboro, Vermont and has made a second home in Panama City, Panama.

(from Web site)

Reviews

[R.B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

„Visiems mums reikia tik vieno - rasti žmogų, galinitį užpildyti gilią, maudžiančią tuštumą sieloje, kurią slepiame ir bandome apsimesti, kad jos nėra.“

Knyga, apie kurią dar ilgai galvosiu...

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is like reading 300 pages of prose poetry. So beautifully written.

[Ashley Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never been to the south, at least not the "deep" south and, man, did this book make me want to go. It's not that Kingsbury even made it seem that appealing - all she talked about was the heat, the way the sweat dripped down someone's neck, the stifling air in the rooms, etc. But she really made me FEEL it and I haven't really spent any time in that kind of environment...

It's a powerful book. Kingsbury does such a great sense of having you /feel/ relationships. I could sense the tension or happiness or love or whatever they felt between the characters. It was invigorating.

Pick it up!

[Galadrielė · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Vismantė · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kai knyga savo pavadinime turi žodį "meilė" (nesvarbu, kokia forma), dažniausiai tai sufleruoja, jog tai bus įprastas meilės romanas, bet "dažniausiai" tikrai nereiškia "visada". Jau pasiimdama knygą į rankas supratau, kad tai bus sunki istorija, tikriausiai viskas būtų kitaip, jei knyga vadintųsi "Vasara, kai mane įsimylėjo...", bet ne "Vasara, kai mane mylėjo...", tas būtasis laikas iškart nuteikia sunkumui ir pabaigai, nepriklausomai nuo to, kokia ta pabaiga bus. Visa knygos nuotaika, netgi aprašant linksmas akimirkas, buvo slogi, atrodo, kad jaučiau gelsvą pasakojimo spalvą, lyg žiūrėčiau seną, liūdną filmą. Bet istorija graži, su prieskoniais, su veiksmu, su daug meilės ir dar daugiau jautrių temų, kurios spaudžia širdį. Kartais iš to liūdesio norėdavosi padėti knygą atgal, leisti veikėjams gyventi toliau man pačiai apie jų gyvenimus daugiau nebežinant, bet nepabaigti gerai parašytos istorijos tik dėl širdyje atsiradusio liūdesio būtų nesąžininga. Jeigu istorija sukirbina tavo jausmus, tai yra labai didelis pasiekimas. Galiu pasakyti, kad knygos viršelis yra labai nedėkingas ir, tam tikra prasme, nepritraukiantis, bet jis slepia tikrai gražią, nors ir liūdną, istoriją.

[Shankia Tinsley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will start with the criticisms first. The reason I gave it four stars instead of five is because there were some things that didn't add up and still others that were underdeveloped that could have blossomed into so much more. I could write a five paragraph essay on where I feel Kingsbury went wrong, but I want you to read the story and judge for yourself, so I won't do that. Also, I don't think the title is as fitting as it seems. Since the story is told through two main characters, one of them being Fletcher Greel himself, neither of their names should be in the title. It should be something more generic--for example, "The Summer of Love" or something like that. Or, she could keep the title as it is but tell the story through one main character's point of view, which would be Haley's.

Next, this book is what you call a slow-burn, and it's not for everyone. Even I found myself getting frustrated within the first few chapters. Namely because the author doesn't use the typical quotation marks to signify when someone is speaking. This can be a bit off-putting and confusing for most readers.

Still, despite the negatives, The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me is one of the best books I have ever read. It had everything I want in a story: sensuality, suspense, drama, and forbidden romance. Moreover, Kingsbury writes from a deep POV and her writing style puts you right in the heart of a scene. The characters, to me, felt real, almost like they were distant relatives or friends of my own, and I understood every bit of their happiness, their joy, their pain, their confusion, etc. And as an aspiring author myself, Kingsbury is one of the few authors whose writing really challenged me to write better--the other being Megan Abbott.

All in all, The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me should have been a movie, or a TV series. It is hard to believe how long ago it was published and has not gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves. It is one of three books that I can think of that brought tears to my eyes when I was barely halfway through the book! (The other two being Uncle Vampire and Dark and Light: A Love Story). That said, if I had to describe this story in one word, it would be Unforgettable.

[Diana Norkė · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Bo teisus: dalykai, kurie nutinka mums ir apie kuriuos niekas nesužino, leidžia pajusti, jog gyvenime šį tą reiškiame. Kai turi paslapčių, aplinkiniai kažkaip tai pajunta ir dėl to labiau gerbia.”

[Aiga.a · Rating 3 out of 5]

Romāns "Vasara, kad Flečers Grīls mīlēja mani" ir Sūzanas Kingsberijas pirmais daiļdarbs. Autore dzimusi 1969.gadā ASV, un popularitāti pasaulē vēl nav iemantojusi, kā arī šis romāns nav plaši pazīstams pasaulē. Grāmata ir samērā bieza - 400 lpp -, tā no ārpuses ir vienkārša - priekšējo vāku rotā melnbalta, nostaļģiska bilde. Tieši grāmatas ārējais izskats pamudināja mani to izlasīt.
Romānā stāstīts par 4 jauniešu draudzību un pirmo mīlestību kādā karstā un tveicīgā vasarā nelielā Misisipi pilsētiņā. Railijs mīl melnādaino dziedātāju Kristelu, taču sabiedrība nespēj pieņemt šīs atšķirīgo rasu attiecības. Railija draugs Flečers, kurš pirms studijām ieradies vasaru pavadīt lauku mājās, mīl vietējo meiteni Kristelu, taču arī šai mīlestībai ir savi šķēršļi - Kristela slēpj kādu briesmīgu noslēpumu, kurš vasaras laikā uznirst virspusē...
Šis ir romantisma stila daiļdarbs - tajā ir patiesa draudzība, kvēla pirmā mīlestība, spilgtas personības, kā arī daudz skaistu un romantisku mirkļu un skarba traģisma.
Grāmatu ir viegli lasīt, tajā rakstniece attēlojusi jebkura parasta jaunieša izjūtas, sastopoties ar patiesu draudzību, pirmo reizi iemīloties, apzinoties savu seksualitāti. Autore izmantojusi arī daudzus sarunvalodas vārdus, kuri pietuvina romānu mūsdienu jauniešu ikdienai.
Tomēr sižets dažos brīžos šķita nedaudz saraustīts, kā arī tajā bija pārāk plaši aprakstītas situācijas, kuras nebija nozīmīgas notikumu attīstībā, kad dažbrīd traucēja iedziļināties galvenajā domā.
Romāns mani mudināja domāt par mīlestību un savstarpējām cilvēku attiecībām, kas mūsdienās ir liela vērtība. Šo grāmatu ieteiktu izlasīt jauniešiem, kuriem patīk atrast saistības starp literatūras darbu un savu dzīvi, tomēr neuzskatu, ka šī grāmata būtu tik izcila, lai to ieteiktu lasīt ikvienam.

[L.E. Chamberlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have a serious book hoarding problem, so a few years ago while in between moves I culled my overabundant collection. The Summer Fletcher Greel Loved Me stayed on the shelf, and it's not going anywhere. I absolutely adore it and can't read it enough.

A gripping southern Gothic tale, Kingsbury's debut novel wrapped around me like a steamy August night and wouldn't let me go. Haley's secret affair with Bo, a much-older family friend, eats her from the inside until Fletcher Greel, the judge's son, comes back to town and steals her heart. Haley is caught in a struggle between the cloying sweetness of rotting fruit that is her lust for Bo and the clear, pure love that she feels for Fletcher. Watching her balance this in her heart and her mind is a breathless journey.

Writing from both Haley's and Fletcher's POV, Kingsbury manages to give her narrative a lush intimacy. It manages to be both quietly intense and deeply moving without resorting to any overused Gothic tropes, and its melancholy ending - more Fletcher's coming of age than Haley's, really - is a wasp's sting of realism.

A must-read for anyone who loves lyrical prose, tightly woven plots that manage to give the air of a meandering country creek, and the bittersweet edge of first love.

[Joel Lantz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Over two hundred pages of underage drinking, smoking and sex before anything resembling a plot occurs. Mostly just page after page describing how hot it is. I hope the author made a lot of money from this so she can buy a keyboard with functional quotation mark keys.

[Adrienne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good God, why did I check this out from the library? Married to someone from Mississippi and even just reading the dialogue made me cringe. This is an absolute caricature of life in the Deep South. Skipped to the end just to find out what happened and that was that.

[Sammy-jo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didnt get into this book as much as i thought i would,i thought it would get better the more i read but it didnt really.

[MAC · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was going great for a while, couldn't put it down, then towards the end everything wrapped too quickly and in some ways fell flat.

[D. Krauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not my usual cup of tea, but I can’t resist a novel set among the swamps and ghosts and Spanish moss-shrouded towns of the Deep South. I used to live in LA - lower Alabama- so low I could see Florida out my backyard, and everything there is always twenty years ago. Same with this novel; it's set in the 1980s but it feels twenty years earlier. And that’s my problem with it. It’s settling on tropes that really don’t exist anymore.

Haley Ellyson is a sixteen-year-oldish beauty living in the small northern Mississippi town of Houser Banks with her hard-drinking, hard-fighting and somewhat dangerous Dad and his band of quasi-outlaws that spend their weekends around Haley’s dinner table drinking and playing cards. Her mother deserted her when she was young, but a quasi-stepmother, Gwyneth, has moved in and tends to Dad and keeps the place somewhat civilized.

Fletcher Greel is the son of the town judge and spends most of his life in northern boarding schools, showing up in Houser Banks only for the summers.

How ever are we going to get these two together?

Through Riley White and Crystal Wells, who are head-over-heels for each other, he a poor-white-trash dam worker with a rebuilt Roadrunner and an undying love for the blues and none for country music, and she a beautiful black girl who sings like Billie Holiday and Nina Simone combined. Uh, what? Black girl and white boy in Mississippi?

Well, yeah.

Because this is the 1980s. If this was the 1960s, then people would be swinging from trees but, by this time of our national development, not so much. And I know because I saw it. I was attending a peanut farmer country school when segregation was initiated and, well, that got ugly. Some. But it was pretty much over a couple of years later. Why? Because we kids simply didn’t believe what our parents were telling us.

Kingsbury is leaving the impression that this relationship is forbidden and I’m not buying it. Were there people who looked askance? Well, yeah, but the trouble Riley and Crystal get into is more because of Haley than it is any disapproval by the local peanut farmers.

Because Haley is a tease. Just is. She has strung along a couple of the boys to the point of their immense frustration and Crystal is Haley’s best friend and Riley is Fletcher’s and when they introduce Fletcher to Haley and the sparks fly, the spurned boys are not happy, race being secondary. Frustration is primary.

And, boy, is there a lot of frustration here. Haley is having a fling with one of her Dad’s close friends and, boy, is it weird. The sex scenes between them are more like a Penthouse letter than anything and will leave you absolutely confused as to who did what to who and how. Indeed, the first actual sex is about ¾ of the way through and, really, it’s a relief. So to speak.

So what you have is a setup where you absolutely expect some Heat of the Night explosion of passion and hate and, yeah, you do get that, but not for the reasons you may be thinking. And it is unresolved in a way that makes me question how southern these boys really are because there’s just no way my pals in LA would have taken this lying down. Me, neither, and I’m half Yankee.

There is a body hidden in the woods that figures prominently throughout and may have a lot more to do with Haley’s self-destructive urges than anything. She keeps going back to where it’s buried. That’s not healthy.

This is an oddly constructed novel, told in alternating chapters from Haley’s then Fletcher’s viewpoints. And it’s an annoyingly constructed novel because Kingsbury is all avante-garde and MFA and doesn’t use punctuation because that’s so bourgeoise, which will drive you crazy. So be warned.

Did I like this novel? Yeah, I did, even though I wanted to smack a few of the characters around, especially Haley. Riley is the best character in the book and he steals every scene in which he appears. I knew a couple of guys like him.

Kingsbury grew up in Connecticut, like I couldn’t figure that out, but has spent a considerable amount of time in the south mostly working for universities, where 1960s tropes are kept alive. This book was published in 2002 and has one of those annoying Acknowledgements sections where the author thanks every single person in her life who gave her a half-smile and so encouraged her muse.

Spare me.

[Sarah Nuñez · Rating 3 out of 5]

If I could make this 3.5 stars, I would. There are parts of this book that I absolutely loved. I truly felt submerged in the south in the late 80’s, there was a simple magic to it.

The beginning was slow for me, but intriguing enough to push through. After about 5 chapters I was hooked, and feel in love with the four main characters. I ended up extremely disappointed in the last few chapters. The story ended so abruptly, there was so much potential for either a series or more chapters… I was left wanting more depth and more closure by the ending.

My other gripe is that the other doesn’t use quotations when people speak, and that got annoying sometimes.

Overall, I’m glad I read this book, but probably won’t read anything else from this author.

[Greta]

There are many books that I enjoy, some that I like and a few that I love. But with this one I am 100 % sure that it has been written for me and me alone and we were meant to meet and that we will probably be living happily ever after for years and years to come. Can I call this my soulbook? I’ll do that regardless.

This book is also living proof that literary translation is a very sad form of art and that there are things that you simply can’t translate: the way this book reads in English and in Lithuanian are two completely different experiences. Imho the South is untranslatable.

[Katydid · Rating 5 out of 5]

I first read this book in high school, and I remember how impactful it was then. It held the same punch 20 years later as an adult. This was a deeply moving book that included themes of racism, murder, and love. The conversion from paper to e-book didn’t go quite right because there were a ton of grammatical and punctuation errors. The ending was sad and left me in a reflective mood.

[Vilma Marija · Rating 3 out of 5]

Iki pusės knygos kankinausi, nes skaitėsi labai sunkiai, norėjosi mesti, bet vėliau viskas įsivažiavo. Dviejų porų paauglių meilės istorijos, kurios persipina su rasizmu, pedofilija, žmogžudyste. Nors pabaiga nuspėjama, bet buvo liūdna, kad taip viskas baigėsi.

[Shana Peliti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable read, sweet story. I felt like i was falling in love at 16 again as well. My only complaint is that it had no quotation marks around spoken words, and it made it difficult to read. It took me a lot longer than a book this size typically would.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is so underrated. It's beautifully written and captures the loss of innocence.

[Angela Coulet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this years ago and still on top of my memories. I was fascinated by the way years 50 were to live in. Even so the adventures of the characters in the book. It took me in and kept me reading. The writer gets you in the characters head.

[Milda Sereliene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nuostabi knyga

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compelling first novel by Kingsbury, holds your attention.

[Kathy Buys · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful story of young love but with a deeply sad story underlying it all.

[Andrew Livanis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such lyricism deserves to be shared to the world. Find a group of friends, imbibe them with spirits and have public readings of this book. We did and we loved it.

[Gerda Giedraitiene · Rating 5 out of 5]

labai patiko. graži istorija, labai graži ir literatūrinė kalba

[Eva · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interrotto perché non mi piacevano i dialoghi e non mi interessavano i personaggi

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of my favorite books ever. I actually found this gem at BN in the bargain bin years ago and was instantly taken by the synopsis that I had to have it. I loved this story of Haley and her summer with Fletcher Greel. Fletcher is everything that Haley isn’t and she finds that intimating at first but then she can’t help but fall for him. Haley is from the south where people are stuck in their ways and are stubborn to change. While Fletcher is a guy whose smart and has everything easy in his life. He thinks everyone has his way of thinking. I’m a sucker for the whole opposites attract thing so I enjoyed the romance between these two. However Haley’s has secrets that could change everything she holds dare. Their summer of love is not only fun and adventurous but also has a dark underside.

This is a true coming of age story that will have you glued to its pages. Between the hot summer south and the budding love you can’t help but fall in love and feel for all the characters. It’s equal parts love story, suspense and adventure. Suzanne Kingsbury writing is simply breathe taking and beautiful. She writes of the south with both beauty and darkness with both equally represented in the read. It will make you remember your first love and also make you think. It makes you realize that sometimes love isn’t just enough that sometimes the world isn’t so nice and can be downright cruel at times. I recommend this read to everyone! Afterwards you will feel like you learned and were part of something. It touches all points in what a great read should have. This is the ultimate summer book to read on one of these hot summer days.

[Hannah Whyte · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing was evocative and the secondary characters-- especially Riley, and to a lesser extent Crystal-- were captivating, though seemed much older than their supposed late teenage years. I'm 23 and had a hard time believing that Riley was so world-wise, having lived his entire life in Houser Banks and in a seeming state of perpetual intoxication. As another reviewer commented, reading the amount of times he slugged back alcohol nearly led me to a hangover of my own. I would have rather encountered a story with these two characters as a lead, in which the author was able to flesh out their relationship and personalities more distinctly. However, the actual "heroine" Haley grated on me from the beginning. It was not made clear why Haley was Aphrodite personified. Certainly she was not one for stimulating banter-- her only desirable quality seemed to be another kind of stimulation. I couldn't relate to her and had a hard time believing there was actually any depth to her. I would give Haley one star but the writing itself deserves more, so a compromise at 3 seems fair.

[Alyssa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't love it, honestly. i felt like the secret's Haley was keeping throughout the book didn't really tie-in to the arc with Riley/Crystal, and i felt like the events culminated for Crystal wasn't handled as well as it could of been - it was like we got all this slow build-up to something bad you just knew was going to happen, and then the bad thing was rushed and glossed over and i never got to find out how she dealt with it. I also was confused by the side stories with Robin and the woman in the "voodoo" shop. It just felt like the author had a lot of ideas of what she wanted happening and when and have them all tie together, and instead she ended up writing a lot of descriptors about the wind blowing in your face and the hot summers in Mississippi.