Summer of Night discussion

I enjoyed this book hugely but was disappointed when Duane was killed off. Not only did I think he was the most interesting character with the most interesting family but his death signalled the end of the cerebral / supenseful side of the book, and the start of the 'action' phase of the book leading up to the endgame (which I didn't enjoy quite as much).

Am I right? If not, who was the better character?

Yes it was. I was sorry to see him go,but I thought it was good for the book to have one of the main characters to be killed off. It makes it more realistic.

Yes, he was the best (and most fleshed-out) character. Pretty gutsy move by Simmons.

I think Duane was Simmoms' Falstaff in a way. He realized that if Duane were to continue in the narrative he might become bigger than the the theme of 'summer boyhood club destroys ancient monster'. It was a totally ballsy move, but then again so is a 250,000 word suspense/horror novel.

The man is very good at what he does. Goddamn bastard.

Yes! I loved Duane....it wrenched my heart the way he tried to save his dog when his own life was endangered. A stand up guy.

Lawrence wrote: "I enjoyed this book hugely but was disappointed when Duane was killed off. Not only did I think he was the most interesting character with the most interesting family but his death signalled the e..."

I completely agree with you, there was an emptiness in the book without Duane. Out of every character I believed he was the most well developed, the tragic back-story with his dad leaving him for days on end to fulfil his need for alcohol stung me.
You could feel his disappointment when his dad would do this and his relief when he didn’t.
I think Dan Simmons may have killed him off because he didn't know where to take his story.

Or maybe Simmons ran into George RR Martin.

Since the story was set in my real hometown and i knew all of the characters, i have to say that mike was my favorite, because he was my favorite in real life. Duane was the only fictional of the main characters. Knowing that made it difficult for me to get too attached to him.

Lonye wrote: "Since the story was set in my real hometown and i knew all of the characters, i have to say that mike was my favorite, because he was my favorite in real life. Duane was the only fictional of the m..."

Wow! I knew the book was based on Simmons' childhood but didn't realise the characters were generally real people. I wonder what the 'real' people think of their fictional counterparts, if they've read the book?

i'm not sure if all of the real characters read the book, but i'd think so. when the book came out, an article ran in our local paper. all of the boys (now men) were interviewed for the article. i can't think they would not take the chance to read the book in which they were featured as main characters. obviously, the sci fi parts of the story were fiction, but the places in the book where the boys lived and played are real places in my hometown.
i have lived in this town for 47 years and work at the school...the "new" one that sits on the site of the one featured in the book. bricks from the old one still work their way up thru the soil on the dirt playground. by the time i moved here, dan simmons was long gone, but one of my classmates lived in his house across the street from the grade school.
2 summers ago i organized a book reading of "summer of night" with my coworkers. (i am the only one working at the school who knew any of the characters.) i contacted the real mike and he agreed to be our answer man, so we all sent him questions we had and he was gracious enough to answer them and share his memories and stories of those childhood summer days. i made a brochure for everyone with pics of the old school, history of the town and stories mike shared. after the reading meeting we took a driving tour of every place mentioned in the book. it was the greatest book club!!!
i found dan simmons' facebook page and contacted him thru it hoping he'd reply so i would have input from him for the brochure and reading meeting, but he never did. i was disappointed, but knowing mike and having his input was just as good.

It's a shame Dan Simmons didn't reply. But knowing that the town and characters actually existed made this a very special book for me.

it is a very special book to me too, as it is to many of my generation of locals. dan simmons and the boys who were his friends in the book, are in their mid 60s now. there are not many people left in our community who knew any of them as real people. i made sure that my 3 children heard the "history" of the book.......real names of the characters, where they lived in town, locations of some of the happenings. that was one reason i decided to hold and host the book club meeting about the book; so a new group of people would know the true story behind the story dan simmons told in this book.

I guess so, I didn't develop any particularly strong ties with either of the characters but Duane might have been the most interesting one after all. At first, I found his chapters a tiny bit boring because they mostly involved him buried in books and frequenting the local library, but they soon became really suspensful as he began to uncover the mystery of the bell etc. All in all it was definitely surprising for me to see him go, and in such an explicit way at that. But as was mentioned, it was a nice and effective catalyst for the things to come. His death really did set things in motion, so to speak.

i think dan simmons developed duane's character so much because he is the only fictional character in the book. the rest of the boys were real boys, friends of dan's when he lived in the town.they all had personalities and characteristics that dan knew, but since duane was "imaginary" if you will, he needed to build him from the ground up, for himself as much as the reading audience.