The Summerhouse
Grade : D

They say an author is only as good as her last book. I hope I am more open-minded than that. I have been disappointed in Deveraux’s books since Remembrance, but I didn’t give up completely. I borrowed newer works from friends, the library, and even read them in bookstores, always hoping to find that magic again. I was looking for that spark that made me glom her works and start reading romance novels. Unfortunately The Summerhouse isn’t the book to restore my faith.

Leslie, Ellie, and Madison met on their 21st birthday at the DMV in New York City. All had moved there to make it big, but fate had different plans for them. Nineteen years later Ellie invites them to celebrate their 40th birthdays together at a summerhouse in Maine. Each woman arrives showing her age and ready to re-evaluate her life. Leslie, the aspiring dancer, has become the mother of two and a housewife. She worries her husband is cheating with his secretary, Bambi. Madison, with the supermodel looks and a love for medicine, is a veterinary assistant, a divorcee, and childless. Ellie, the art student, ended up a very successful romance novelist. Unfortunately she hasn’t written a single word in three years. The stories dried up when her ex-husband took her to cleaners, turning Ellie into a fat hermit who dreams of nothing but vengeance.

After an evening of catching up on the past two decades, the women go shopping. In the mood for a lark, they decide to go see a Madame Zoya. She offers them a chance to change their future by changing one decision they made in the past.

The story offers an interesting premise. Everyone has that one moment in their life they would like to redo or change. Who wouldn’t take that chance? Unfortunately the execution of this plot idea didn’t quite work.

There was no clear focus or one character for whom the reader can identify. The story opens with a focus on Leslie, ends with Ellie, but the most pages were devoted to Madison. The actual idea that these women could change their past is not brought up until nearly two-thirds of the book is completed. At this point everything suddenly felt rushed and story lines were left hanging only to be tied up neatly in a few paragraphs of dialogue towards the end. Worst of all, I didn’t actually like any of the women. A bitterer group of heroines I have yet to encounter.

They all have horrible marriages and the reader learns about these ad nauseam. Their battle cry is “Men are Slime.” Yes, they have compelling reasons, especially Madison, who is left unable to have children through a tragic accident. But I never once felt empathy or sympathy for these women. They chose to stay in those relationships, and when everything went south instead of doing something they sat and whined about their lives.

The other problem I had with the book is the message Deveraux unintentionally promoted: a woman is nothing if she does not/cannot have children. None of these women found happiness until they had children. This was reinforced by the fact the only woman to keep her life as it was is Leslie, who has two children already. Yes, many women want children, but women can be complete and successful without them. To imply that Madison and Ellie could not be happy unless they gave birth was unfair slight to any woman who decides not to have children or adopt.

My other quibble was believability. I could suspend disbelief for the plot idea of changing one’s fate, but I didn’t believe that three women could be made to sit in the DMV in NYC all day so one clerk and his boss could ogle them (aren’t the DMVs in NYC a little too busy for this?). Also, Ellie’s divorce settlement is so extreme that I’m surprised her lawyer wasn’t disbarred for allowing it to happen. And why, in three years, did she never once appeal?

On a final note, this is not a romance. Yes, each woman gets her happily ever with a husband, but there is very little relationship interaction and no male lead I’d call a hero. We never really get to know their spouses and all the romance occurs off-stage.

While I had high hopes for The Summerhouse, in the end I felt as bitter as the women with whom I was required to spend an evening. Not just because the book was disappointing, but because it is sad to see Deveraux lose her magic touch.

Reviewed by Jennifer Schendel
Grade : D
Book Type: Fiction

Sensuality: Subtle

Review Date : May 9, 2001

Publication Date: 2002

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Jennifer Schendel

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