The Summer We Read Gatsby

April 12, 2010
Two half-sisters search for the “thing of utmost value” in an inherited ramshackle Southampton cottage in Ganek’s witty new novel (after Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him
). The story is narrated by introverted, newly divorced, would-be writer Cassie, but the flamboyant center of the story is her older half-sister, Peck, a theatrical socialite determined to “bring out” her sister while thwarting Cassie’s sensible plan to sell Fool’s House, the cottage they’ve jointly inherited from their eccentric aunt Lydia. As they wonder whether the house’s treasure is a Jackson Pollock painting, a first edition of The Great Gatsby
, or a family secret, the sisters’ contrasting personalities clash in hilarious ways. During a summer marked by parties that recall both the artsy milieu of Pollock and the posh extravagance of Gatsby, the two sisters run into long-lost loves, strange neighbors, aggressive real estate agents, and charming artist hangers-on as they ponder the legacy of their beloved Aunt Lydia and their relationship to each other. Even though many of the novel’s revelations can be seen a mile away, getting there is a fun, witty, and surprisingly moving trip.

April 15, 2010
Half-sisters reconnect with each other, and with Mr. Rights from their pasts, during the summer of 2008.

Their Aunt Lydia, sister to the father who left Peck's mother for Cassie's, has bequeathed her rickety shack in Southampton to the two young women."The situation," Peck declares with her usual drama,"is that you and I can't agree on anything." Cassie wants to sell Fool's House and head back to Switzerland, where she works desultorily as a journalist. Peck, a would-be actress living in New York, wants to hang onto the house as an accoutrement to the ultra-fabulous lifestyle she aspires to. She also wants to accept an invitation from Miles Noble, who broke her heart seven years ago, the summer she obsessively read and reread The Great Gatsby and pressed it on 21-year-old Cassie, who'd never read it. Surely it means something that the now fabulously wealthy Miles is throwing"a GATSBY party" and has invited them? Cassie, more sober than her flamboyant semi-sibling, doubts it but agrees to go in hopes of finding architect Finn Killian, who might know the combination to Aunt Lydia's locked safe. The guy she remembers as a distant older man turns out to be a sexy charmer, though Cassie is convinced against all evidence that he's"just being polite" as he pursues her throughout the summer. Peck, meanwhile, is dismayed by the vulgarity of Miles' ostentatious mansion, but comes to appreciate his sterling qualities as the season winds down with hints of the economic meltdown to come. There's absolutely no suspense about narrator Cassie ending up with perfect Finn, though she's amazingly obtuse about his interest, and Peck is made up of attitudes and tics rather than actual personality traits. Still, Ganek (Lula Meets God and Doubts Him, 2007) provides enough zippy one-liners, moderately vivid party scenes and adequately attractive descriptions of clothes to sustain a paper-thin plot involving a missing painting and an unwanted houseguest.

Agreeable, predictable and forgettable.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 1, 2010
Cassie and Peck are half sisters reunited when their aunt wills them her summer cottage in the Hamptons. Cassie is meek and grounded; Peck is an impetuous wannabe actress. When the sisters take over the home, long used as an artist's refuge, they learn about each other's quirks as well as discovering some of their own. VERDICT A beach read for the literary set from the author of "Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him".

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2010
The beach can cure anything, or so Peck (short for Pecksland) tells half-sister Stella. They have never been close, but for the summer theyll share the Hamptons beach home their beloved Aunt Lydia left to them in her will. Fools House, a gathering spot for artists during Lydias tenure, comes with an annual resident fool artist as a free lodger above the garage. Peck, a Manhattanite actress, and Stella, a journalist living in Switzerland, cant afford the house, but love it too much to sell it. In between the chic parties and events of the summer season, they search for the item of great value that Lydia says she has left them. Is it the unsigned painting above the fireplace? The possibly first edition of Gatsby? And, most important, is the treasure valuable enough to let them keep the house? Friendships and romances rekindle, sisters grow close, objects disappear, mysteries are solved, and what is truly of value eventually becomes apparent in this charming, entertaining, and brightly written summer read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)