Summertime Island

by Erskine Caldwell

Simmering sexual desire... explosive white-black conforntation... ribald, earthy humor... warm and rich humanity... These are among the electric elements that spark Erskine Caldwell's latest triumph.

Genres: Fiction

128 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Erskine Preston Caldwell was an American author. His writings about poverty, racism and social problems in his native South won him critical acclaim, but they also made him controversial among fellow Southerners of the time who felt he was holding the region up to ridicule.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erskine_...

Reviews

[Luís · Rating 4 out of 5]

A man suggests to his nephew, a teenager from Tennessee, that they spend a week fishing on an island in the Mississippi formed by sandbars that are difficult to access. To do this, they must team up with a rude, violent, and radically racist man who has what they lack: a truck to get there and transport all the equipment necessary for this week. Their acolyte driver, who also has alcoholism, wants to bring a black man who would serve them as an enslaved person and to be treated as such. A young mulatto teacher agrees to accompany them because he was contacted by the uncle, more civilized and friendly than Rick, who told him of the beauty of the place and the fact that they would be there alone and would spend a dream week there to eat the product of their catch.
The society portrayed by Erskine Caldwell needs to be more engaging. It does not make you want to get to know it more closely. But reading this short novel makes us understand how it is that it is still in the novel for its intrinsic violence towards black people. This hatred, this contempt for this significant American minority, is part of the DNA of the white and poor population, not all of them, of course, and these faults are more or less anchored depending on the history of the American states. In any case, it is very well written and described; I am susceptible to the difference between the superb, harsh, and magnificent environment and the pettiness of the characters, amoral cowards locked in their class behavior.

[Russell Bittner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Summertime Island is another rock-solid Caldwellian novel. The themes are familiar ones; the characters, typically Caldwellian.

Perhaps a couple of direct citations will suffice to give you, a potential reader, some taste of Erskine Caldwell’s skills as a writer.

On pp. 147 – 148, we find the following: “(i)t was a gray dawn with thin streaks of motionless dark clouds above the southern horizon and the three people from Paxton, rolled up in quilts, were still asleep in the open-ended lean-to when we had carried everything to the skiffs and were ready to leave Summertime Island.

“A fiery sun soon came up over the bluff behind Little Dipper Landing and then by the time we had rowed the loaded skiffs about halfway across the backwater the whole sky was being colored with a pale blue tint.

“There was still a lingering coolness of night air and an early morning mist was slowly rising from the warm water and making little wisps of vapor looking like misshapen gray balloons that sparkled briefly in the sunlight just before suddenly vanishing as if they had never existed. In the calm air of early morning before the coming of daytime breezes, a long column of wood-smoke, looking as solid and motionless as a tall smokestack above a factory, went straight upward from the kitchen chimney of Clyde Owens’ house.”

Perhaps the following bit of dialogue on p. 160 will spark your interest enough to wonder what surprises this novel has in store: “Steve,” Guthry said after a while, speaking slowly and looking down the road toward the river and Summertime Island, “Steve, I didn’t know there’d be things like this going on when we started out on this fishing trip. I made a big speech about how much good it’d do you at your age to get away from homefolks for a few days and learn about growing up with men. And I was boasting about what a great thing it was for you to have an uncle who’d take you on a camp-out down on the river. I won’t take any of that back, and all I can say now is that it sure wasn’t planned the way it’s turned out.”

Is Summertime Island the best of Erskine Caldwell’s work? Clearly not. And yet, I think it’s as good a place as any to start with him if you haven’t already.

RRB
Brooklyn, NY
31 May 2019

[Fernando Évora · Rating 4 out of 5]

A história da literatura norte-americana é profundamente marcada pelas preocupações sociais. Steinbeck, Hemingway ou Dos Passos são bons exemplos disso, mas autores mais recentes como Roth ou Auster também não se furtam a essa ideia de intervenção e denúncia. Erskine Caldwell mergulha profundamente nestas questões, apresentando-as de forma crua - verdadeiramente em carne viva - e usando uma linguagem simples.
A "Ilha de Verão" poderá parecer, numa sinopse rápida, um romance de aeroporto ou literatura juvenil: homens que acampam numa ilha do Mississipi (ilha que apenas surge no verão) para uns dias de pescaria. Neste caso não se deve ligar à sinopse. "Ilha de Verão" é um romance sobre o racismo, as relações entre os homens, entre homens e mulheres, entre gerações; um romance sobre os preconceitos e como é que eles surgem, a educação. Também será um retrato do Sul dos EUA durante os anos cinquenta-sessenta; na verdade é um romance intemporal sobre os Homens e a Humanidade.
Caldwell foi um escritor muito prolífico. Tenho lido alguns livros seus que me desiludiram. Este porém, aconselho vivamente. Este e o magnífico "Estrada do Tabaco".

[Mariana Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

Summertime Island é um romance de Erskine Caldwell publicado em 1968. O livro aborda temas de racismo, pobreza e diferença de classes, num cenário americano que ainda não esqueceu a escravatura.

O meu exemplar é uma edição Unibolso dos anos 80. A capa é muito feia, mas a tradução é boa. 

Steve, um jovem de Memphis, está de visita ao tio Guthrie, em Unionville, Tennesse. O tio promete ao sobrinho uma viagem de pescaria que lhe ensinará tudo o que precisa de saber sobre a vida... mas que acaba por trazer lições indesejadas. 

Quatro homens embarcam no passeio: Steve e Guthrie, o vizinho racista Troy e o professor negro Duke. A ilha onde vão pescar é como um pequeno paraíso... mas onde quer que os homens vão, levam o pecado, o preconceito e a brutalidade consigo. Este é um verão que Steve não irá mais esquecer. 

Gostei muito do estilo de escrita, limpo e directo, de Erskine Caldwell. Coloca-nos na perspectiva de Steve de um modo quase neutro, ausente, que nos permite tomar as nossas próprias conclusões. É um homem atento às realidades e injustiças do seu tempo. Se houve uma coisa a criticar ao longo do livro, foi a inacção de Steve, mas principalmente de Duke e Guthrie, no final. Queria muito que fossem heróis. Mas esta é uma história sem heróis... e era assim que se vivia. Também isso é uma lição. 

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

We have another little gem from Caldwell. The secret to Caldwell is not to read too many at once. Otherwise the similarity of themes can bog you down an£ makes it difficult to differentiate between books.

Here we have a story based on the characters Steve (who the story is told through) Guthry, Troy and Duke.

We have the same themes, alcohol, race, sex and depravity. The usual underlying theme as per usual is race, that between Troy and Duke. Troy the archetypal racist, Duke however, an educated teacher, a novel twist.

What strikes me with this story is the relationship between Steve/ Guthry and Duke. Steve and Guthry treats Duke as an equal and infact it is Steve and Guthry v Troy. I found the friction and talk between Guthry and Troy the best, a novel twist.

When the conversation turned to Duke who wants to know where in the US race isn’t an issue, th3 concept that this won’t change “in our lifetime” was very profound.

In parts, the story on the Island and washing in the river is very reminiscent of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

[Andreia Moita]

Um livro bastante retrógrado e machista com personagens racistas e brutos. Escrito em 1968 pretende mostrar as injustiças e os preconceitos que ocorriam numa América pobre em dinheiro e em espírito. Penso que a mensagem e os propósitos são claros, contém uma certa atualidade e chamada de atenção pertinente, porém é fraco em termos de ação e escrita. Não me fascinou nada, repetiu-se várias vezes e tornou-se lento de ler.