The Summer Guest, Justin Cronin
The Summer Guest, Justin Cronin
3 Rating(s)
List: $22.50 | Sale: $15.75
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The Summer Guest

Author: Justin Cronin

Narrator: Various

Unabridged: 13 hr 47 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/12/2013


Synopsis

With a rare combination of emotional insight, narrative power, and lyrical grace, Justin Cronin transforms the simple story of a dying man’s last wish into a rich tapestry of family love.

“A work of art . . . a great American novel.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

On an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him.

From the battlefields of Italy to the turbulence of the Vietnam era, to the private battles of love and family, The Summer Guest reveals the full history of this final pilgrimage and its meaning for four people: Jordan Patterson, the haunted young man who will guide Harry on his last voyage out; the camp’s owner Joe Crosby, a Vietnam draft evader who has spent a lifetime “trying to learn what it means to be brave”; Joe’s wife, Lucy, the woman Harry has loved for three decades; and Joe and Lucy’s daughter Kate—the spirited young woman who holds the key to the last unopened door to the past.

As their stories unfold, secrets are revealed, courage is tested, and the bonds of love are strengthened. And always center stage is the place itself—a magical, forgotten corner of New England where the longings of the human heart are mirrored in the wild beauty of the landscape.

Intimate, powerful, and profound, The Summer Guest reveals Justin Cronin as a storyteller of unique and marvelous talent. It is a book to treasure.

About The Author

Born and raised in New England, Justin Cronin is a graduate of Harvard University and the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Awards for his fiction include the Stephen Crane Prize, a Whiting Writers’ Award, and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts. He is a professor of English at Rice University and lives with his wife and children in Houston, Texas.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Carol on February 26, 2025

This was a re-read for my book group. I love this author's non-vampire stories, and I enjoyed it even the second time around. I wish that I liked vampire books because I sure love the way this author writes. I recently finished Mary and O’Neil and now The Summer Guest. Both novels were structured in......more

Goodreads review by switterbug (Betsey) on February 27, 2011

It is so rare to read a book that has not one boring page in it. This is an elegantly written family saga and suspenseful tale which is visually stunning and emotionally riveting. Polished, immersing, unputdownable. I wanted in. I wanted to leap into the novel--literally! and connect with the charac......more

Goodreads review by Alex on September 02, 2008

I had Justin Cronin as a professor and he was pretty great. He gave these quizzes to make sure you did the reading, but they would be really really easy. You would know the answers right away if you read, but wouldn't have a clue if you didn't. I got a 100 on all of them. Once, however, I was starin......more

Goodreads review by Sarah on October 30, 2010

Didn't believe in the characters, which made me really not care about them at all. Which is a shame, because there was a lot of sad stuff going on here and it would have made me feel less like a heartless bitch if I could respond with some kind of emotion. But all the characters told their individua......more


Quotes

“Justin Cronin succeeds, touchingly and tenderly, in portraying life itself as a triumph of hope over experience.”The Boston Globe

The Summer Guest is a jewel, the best book I’ve read in a long, long time. . . . By all means take it to the beach, but be warned that it’s more than entertainment—it’s a work of art. Justin Cronin has written a great American novel. . . . Reading this novel, I couldn’t help but think of Hemingway, Andre Dubus and Wallace Stegner.”—Susan Balee, The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Here is a gifted and assured writer whose work reveals a fine sense of place and thoughtful characters who have something worth saying. . . . The Summer Guest is a haunting story about the way time changes us and about what endures.”Houston Chronicle

“The bedrock realities of family and place remain constant in spite of the vicissitudes of emotions and events, and the voices of these Mainers have a lovely calm that evokes the timeless summer place. . . . The novel’s recognition of human frailty and nobility rings true, as does its faithful recreation of a place outside the storms of history.”Publishers Weekly

“Luminous.”Booklist