Invincible Summer

February 28, 2011
Through a series of four summers at a family beach house, teenage Chase catalogues tumultuous changes in his family, from his sister's birth to his parents' divorce and his first sexual experience, with a family friend his older brother, Noah, has also slept with. Along the way, Chase and Noah discover Camus, who they quote at length, reflecting their feeling that they are "Stuck here forever. Stuck in the summer," despite these changes—until a tragedy permanently alters their family and forces them to grow up. Given the Camus references as well as a deaf younger brother who the family speaks with in ASL (displayed in bold throughout), Moskowitz's (Break) sophomore novel is an ambitious undertaking. The existential quotations give readers plenty to ponder and work well with the book's themes, though readers may find that the brothers' obsession with Camus strains credibility. Readers will have no trouble decrypting heavy foreshadowing about the accident that eventually rips this family apart, but even afterward the scenes between Chase and his family read more as overwrought than moving. Ages 14–up.

March 1, 2011

Every summer, Chase knows what to expect: time in the sand with his siblings, the company of the girls next door and the occasional fights between his parents. Between 15 and 18, his life shifts each summer, as his parents divorce, he loses his virginity and his siblings drift away from one another. Attempting to tell the story over four summers is admirable, but the voices, characters and drama are all flawed. Chase never develops as an authentic male voice, caught in a mix between teenage girl and older professor: Some of the language choices, as when he refers to his younger sister Claudia as "sexualized" and describes his neighbor's expression as "her rape face," jar. Younger brother Gideon's deafness seems more like an attempt at depth than anything else, and the ASL conversation pieces add unnecessary bumps to a rocky narrative. The sexual relationship that older brother Noah and Chase have with Melinda, the girl next door, borders on dysfunction. Moskowitz's second novel is more sand-in-shorts-irritating than engaging beach-blanket read, a sad follow-up to her powerful debut, Break (2009). (Fiction. YA)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 1, 2011

Gr 10 Up- Invincible Summer follows Chase McGill and his family across four summers at their beach house. Summer is everything to Chase and his older brother, Noah. The family is all together: arguing parents; preteen sister, Claudia; younger, deaf brother Gideon. Noah has already started yearly romantic trysts with neighbor Melinda, and Chase expects to someday end up with her sister. As the summers go by, a baby is born, the parents split up, Noah slips away by himself, Gideon starts to embrace sign language, and Chase begins a sexual relationship with Melinda despite her ongoing physical relationship with Noah. It's clear that the author cares deeply about her characters, and she gives their lines density and, frequently, a heavy nostalgic feeling. Teens will welcome the unfiltered dialogue that includes a moderate amount of curse words. Chase is a sympathetic protagonist who, like many teens, is on a quest for connection and understanding. Sometimes his overanalyzing comes off as a little pretentious, most notably in the Albert Camus-quoting contest he takes part in with Noah and Melinda. Readers will likely glaze over at certain plot elements, but they'll ultimately embrace Moskowitz's introspective characters and the dramatic situations in which they find themselves.-Emily Chornomaz, Camden County Library System, Camden, NJ

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2011
Grades 9-12 The dreamy alternate world of summer vacations at the beach provides the backdrop for this soulful look at the growing pains of a single, outwardly normal family. Every year the McGills spend a few weeks at the same beachfront property, right alongside the Hathaways, and romantic pairings have evolved between their respective siblings: 14-year-old Chase pines after the younger Hathaway daughter, while Chases older brother is off having sex with the older Hathaway daughter, Melinda. In four sections, each one year apart, Moskowitz delivers a series of scenessome so brief and spare youd almost have to call them momentsthat communicate Chases aching awareness of the passage of valuable time. A languid love triangle, in which Melinda is shared between brothers, is the closest the book gets to a distinct plot, though the tenderest scenes involve Chases youngest brother, who is deaf. Coming off the edgy Break (2009), this is surprisingly breezy, and you have to commend Moskowitz for her commitment to writing sensitive books with male protagonists.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)