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The Summer We Got Free (2012)

by Mia McKenzie(Favorite Author)

4.45 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0988628600 (ISBN13: 9780988628601)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Black Girl Dangerous Press

review 1: i loved this book. it was not like anything i have read before. great characters who will live in my head for a while. suspenseful page turner. the author's voice is consistent and interesting. pastor goode was almost too evil. i hate to think that good people would really be convinced to act contrary to their own nature under the influence of a bullying, abusive pastor. but i guess it happens. sort of hitler-style. as a painter, i felt Ava's art life was handled well. I found her artistic way of dealing with grief to be quite authentic. this book is also about the corrosive nature of secrets. Mia McKenzie juggled several big themes successfully. So, read this book! You will probably like it a whole bunch!
review 2: Once again, I really wi... moresh Goodreads would let us rate with half stars as I want to give this novel 3 & 1/2, but I'll round up because folks should read this. It's a luminous soulful sad novel of loss & redemption. It's quite strong 5/6 of the way through, but I found the end to unravel a bit. Or rather, peak and conclude with a speed and lack of verisimilitude that I found wanting compared to the rest of the story. However, it's still a lovely read. I admired the depths and equality she gave to fleshing out every one of the characters in the family, even when Ava is clearly the protagonist. Its themes and tone, while a bit heavy-handed at points, still illuminate a time and place that I knew nothing about. And as I read, I found myself connecting and emotionally responding to that street in Philly, to those people & their complicated lives. less

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