Summer Sisters
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| Author | Judy Blume |
|---|---|
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Novel |
| Publisher | Delacorte Books |
| Released | 1998 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 399 |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-385-32405-7 |
Summer Sisters (ISBN 0-385-32405-7) is a 1998 novel by Judy Blume. It focuses on the life of two fictional characters, the girls Victoria Leonard (Vix) and Caitlin Sommers.
Because of its heavy sexual content—including lesbianism—this Blume novel is aimed squarely at an adult audience, not her pre-teen audience, books for which she gained popularity.
[edit] Plot
Summer Sisters is a coming-of-age novel about two girls who meet in their preteens and are complete opposites... there is Victoria "Vix" Leonard, a shy but intellectual wallflower, and Caitlin Somers, who is beautiful and confident. The book, however, starts at a point in the future of the girls' friendship, when Vix is a college grad in the middle of a workday and receives an unexpected call from her old best friend, Caitlin. The rest of the story is mostly told in flashbacks as Vix recalls her relationship with Caitlin.
[edit] Detailed synopsis
Summer Sisters begins with a phone call from Caitlin to Vix. Caitlin calls to inform Vix that she is marrying Vix's ex-boyfriend and first love, Bru. Vix is shocked and vomits because of the news.
Flashback: Now the reader learns of Vix's family and first encounter with Caitlin. Vix's homelife consists of her controlling mother, Tawny, an average-joe father who is not a big part of the story, and three younger siblings, Lanie, Lewis, and Vix's favorite, her wheelchair-bound brother Nathan. Tawny works for a Countess and is always making Vix feel as though she is not good enough. Then Vix meets Caitlin in her sixth grade class, and Caitlin invites Vix to come to Martha's Vineyard with her for the summer. This is when Vix's whole world is turned upside down.
After much debate, Vix convinces Tawny and her father to let her go with Caitlin. Vix flies out East from her New Mexico homestead and meets Caitlin's family: her laid-back father, Lambert "Lamb" Somers, her brother "Sharkey", and Trish, a bodacious ex-girlfriend of Lamb's who is still close with him, but is replaced by Abby, a woman who means well but rubs Caitlin the wrong way. Her son, Daniel, and his friend, Gus, also vacation with Caitlin's family. This section of the book focuses on the mishaps and adventures that the kids go through, including Vix and Caitlin experimenting with lesbianism and their crushes on two older boys, Joseph "Bru" Brudegher and his cousin, Von.
When the summer ends, Caitlin and Vix remain friends and continue to attend school together. They make it a tradition for Vix to spend every summer with Caitlin from then on, hence the "Summer Sisters." As the girls mature, they encounter their first heterosexual experiences (Caitlin with Von, supposedly) and Vix's in-depth and long-term relationship with Bru, which continues into her college years when she attends Harvard on a scholarship from Lamb and Abby, who are by this time married. Caitlin is accepted to college but chooses not to attend and travels abroad with her mother, Phoebe. Around this time, Vix's beloved brother Nathan succumbs to his physical disabilities and dies as a result, leaving Vix devastated. Vix's younger sister, Lanie, becomes pregnant and has her first child, and Lewis seems to drop out altogether and join the military.
Vix goes to Harvard while still remaining in a relationship with Bru. She makes new friends, most notably Maya, her uptight roommate whose worrisome ways begin to grow on Vix, and they become close. Most of her Harvard pals are virgins and are fascinated with Vix's sexual endeavors with Bru. However, things turn sour when Bru and Vix can't handle the pressure of staying together and temporarily break up. Later, a passionate meeting leads to their renewed faithfulness, but all's well does not end well. Later in her college career, Bru asks Vix to marry him, and she will not let herself accept because she feels there is too much difference in their characters and future. Vix misses Bru, but moves on and casually dates other people, whilst Caitlin has numerous hetero and homosexual escapades in Europe. The girls keep in loose contact over the years, each becoming busy with their own lives until the fateful day when Caitlin makes that phone call and tells Vix about her upcoming nuptuals to Bru.
Caitlin invites Vix to the wedding, and she finally decides to go, only to end up sleeping with Bru the night before. Then, Vix discovers that Bru stole not only her virginity but Caitlin's as well. As Bru thinks in the book, "he loves them both... he is glad they have decided for him [who he will be with.]" Caitlin and Bru get married nonetheless, and Caitlin has a daughter, Somers Mayhew Brudegher, whom they call "Maizie." Vix, meanwhile, reconnects with Abby's son Daniel's friend, Gus, whom she met all those summers ago at the vineyard. She and Gus slowly fall in love and eventually get married as well. In the final chapters, Vix visits Caitlin again after Caitlin has a breakdown and leaves her family, her marriage to Bru ending in divorce and Bru marrying Star, a local store worker. Vix is pregnant with her first child at this time, a baby boy to be named Nate in honor of her late brother. Caitlin and Vix's meeting is friendly yet somehow strained, as they are not young anymore and do not hold the same place in each other's hearts as they once did.
In the end, Vix is enjoying married life and motherhood when she and everyone else learn that Caitlin has been lost in an alleged boating accident... she was in a boat by herself and that was the last time anyone ever saw her, as the boat turned up empty and Caitlin unaccounted for. Blume is not clear on the true reasons behind Caitlin's disappearance, as no body is discovered and there is no damage or foul play, leading the audience to choose between the possibilities that Caitlin purposely vanished from her family and friends or perhaps she did indeed drown. The closing thought is Vix's recount of her "summer sister" and the memories they will always share, but knowing that that is indeed all it is now: a distant memory.
