The Summer Guest by Justin Cronin (31-May-2005) Paperback

44 other viewers have described how wonderful this book is.
I was drawn in from page one - fully engaged and never bored.
The chapters were each written in first person - which I personally love.
Justin Cronin's writing is magical - from the characters to the scenery to tales of day to day life - he puts you right there. I highly recommend this book.

Justin Cronin "takes you there" with his beautifully chosen prose. The scenery, the characters, and relationships, the story. I loved every minute of this read. Who needs a movie when the words on the page are so expertly crafted?

Nice summertime novel. I have read and enjoyed Justin Cronin's The Passage and ordered this book while waiting for the sequel. Both books, while completely different themes, were extremely well written and enjoyable. Loved the story he weaved and the different perspectives of the characters through the years. Highly recommend it.

This is an absolutely wonderful book. I did not want it to end. This was my first book by Justin Cronin and I immediately ordered Mary & O'Neil when I finished The Summer Guest. I will be a big Justin Cronin fan.

This is an absolutely wonderful book. I did not want it to end. This was my first book by Justin Cronin and I immediately ordered Mary & O'Neil when I finished The Summer Guest. I will be a big Justin Cronin fan.

i had read the passage first and was surprised at how good it was having never heard of justin cronin. so i looked up his other titles and bought the summer guest. although of a completely different genre, the summer guest, is also a fantastic read immersing you in characters and thiers lives spanning decades.

I was immersed in the beautiful story. The characters were so amazing. I enjoyed every moment I read. Justin Cronin is a wonderful writer. This is the fourth book I have read. I can hardly wait for his next.

Reading the Passage trilogy, I really like the way Justin Cronin draws his ensemble. Living and having grown up in the Northeast made the location very real.To me; this was a wonderful story about life; its joys, its pitfalls; and how love can be spread and cherished from birth until death.A very warm and moving story.

Justin Cronin has written many books that challenge the reader and put him into situations that can seem very emotional and hard to overcome. This book is an emotional journey for it's characters. A book not to be missed by Cronin Fans.

I thought this book would never end. If you like a LOT of unrelated minutia, go for it. I found it tiresome to sort thru all the flotsam to find the story. In my opinion it could have been a good story if kept to only about a third as long and drawn out. The characters are all likable, there isn't a mean one among them, and there are no real surprises-----it's all pretty predictable.

Well, I liked "The Passage" and -- fully realizing that this would be a completely different type of book -- thought I'd read this based on all the positive reviews, and on the fact that Cronin is a pretty excellent writer (at least in "The Passage"). I'm pretty shocked at all the glowing reviews. This book, the characters, the overall story arc was pretty darn boring in my opinion. If readers thought this was a "page turner" or some kind of deep revelatory study of human nature, then I am left thinking that lots of readers lead pretty shallow/boring lives themselves. The multiple narratives felt like more of an academic exercise than a literary technique that really worked for this story, primarily because nearly all the characters sounded the same -- in terms of how they thought about what they were experiencing and how they described their experiences and feelings and the lessons they were learning. They all had very similar ways of describing their journeys, and I found none of the viewpoints particularly interesting or compelling. They all had certain experiences, primarily centered around family relationships, that ultimately led each of them to what to me felt like contrived, artificially profound thoughts and realizations. Wish I could think of some examples of these "profound revelations" off the top of my head, but I really can't. That's how unmemorable this book was for me. Also, some of the choices made by at least one or two of the protagonists seemed downright silly or stupid to me, yet somehow these choices are justified by romantic love -- because they seem to be exalted by the author in the context of the multiple, overlapping narratives. I'm not sure what Cronin hoped to achieve with this book, but it left me feeling a bit cheated. And (spoiler alert) in the end the "summer guest" (Harry Wainwright) doesn't even get to catch one final fish before he dies! I mean, come on.
Definitely can't recommend this.... maybe I'll try to get through "The Twelve".

After reading Passage and The Twelve I read this excellent book. Worked for many summers in the Adirondacks and found the imagery spot on! Have just received Mary and O"Neil. Looking forward to opening it.

The Summer Guest is an exceptionally beautiful novel which moved me to tears, laughter, and pure delight. The characters and setting were so real -- so authentic, that when I'd lay the book aside -- I had to take a moment to clear my head in order to resume my real life.

I've had this lovely book on my shelves for years (this is 2005 paperback edition) and during a recent grey and foggy weekend I roamed my shelves looking for something "summery" to read...and chose this.

However, The Summer Guest is not a lightweight summer beach book. This is a complex story of a family over time, children and their parents, love and loss -- all told simply and beautifully .

In Mr. Cronin's spare but expansive novel we begin in 1947, aboard a train chugging through a snowy Maine night and end up in 1997 on a tranquil late-summer evening lake, aboard an old wooden rowboat. Included in between -- the living, loving and loss of a family united by a remote Maine fishing camp with an expansive fish-rich lake - "lovely in its pure beauty of having been forgotten".

"the camp held a ninety-year lease from Maine Paper for two hundred acres rimming the lake to the north and west ... I didn't know exactly where the lines fell, but I didn't have to. It was so much land it didn't matter."

There are the obligatory rutted roads through the deep Maine woods to get to the camp, the idyllic rustic cabins, with fireplaces and creaky porches. The days are filled with early morning coffee with the loons, the intricate symphony of fly fishing and home cooked evening meals in the communal dining room. You can smell the pine trees, baked beans and wood smoke.

The title and the main story line refers to Harry -- a guest who has been coming to the camp for many years and is now an old and dying man. Different characters narrate each chapter and tell the past and present story from their individual viewpoints. So there's also Jordan, a local loner who has become fishing guide and winter caretaker of the camp. Then there are the long-time owners of the camp, Joe and Lucy who have an enviable inner strength and warmth.

Mr. Cronin knows the area and has rendered the voice of his story through dry and acerbic Maine eyes:

"He gave me a curt nod from the chin, the North Woods equivalent of a full body hug." and then this,

"this was an inbred town in northwest Maine where, as we said, half the people spoke French and the other half yelled."

When Jordan, the local fishing guide takes out a group of big city lawyers, the author deftly captures the inevitable situation.

"By this point Bill had actually managed to get his fish under control and was thrashing around in the shallows, his rod hand held high over his head to keep the line tight while, with the other, he made unsuccessful, scooping lunges with his net. Done properly, this can be one of the most satisfyingly graceful moments in the sport, but in Bill's case it was like watching a man trying to hail a taxi while simultaneously chasing a piece of blowing litter down the street."

Mr. Cronin has precisely penned the words to express emotions we have all felt -- from mournful sections which wrap the reader into the characters' brave sadness and loss - to the exquisite joy of first love...

"...the thought of Kate was suddenly woven like a thread through everything, all that had ever happened to me, the clean smell of the pines and the lake and the memory of my lonely winters, the very turning world we stood on. They say that the moment your life appears before your eyes will be your last, but I'm here to say that it's not so very different when you kiss a woman like Kate, whoever your Kate may be."

Mr. Cronin paints a beautiful picture of this remote Maine camp where the summers of deep woods and deep lakes come alive on the pages -- "enough silence to let you hear the planet spin or make you mad if you thought too long about it."

The Philadelphia Inquirer called The Summer Guest -- "A work of art, Justin Cronin has written a great American novel."
That captures it perfectly. I can only add it's a must read (and a must keep on my shelves) novel. I highly recommend it.

Read all my book reviews at Bookbarmy.com

This was a well-crafted story told from multiple POVs, each comprising a chapter. I wasn't surprised to learn Cronin was a product of the Iowa Writer's Workshop because his writing is excellent. There were times I just had to stop and re-read a sentence or an entire paragraph to fully appreciate the beauty of the words. If you like a lot of action, I might advise a reader to pass on The Summer Guest. It's not that kind of book. It's a slice of life with an introspective look at the characters who inhabit the pages. Beautifully done!

This award winning author is an actual professor of English at Rice University in Texas but was born and raised in New England. I live in southern Maine and the way he describes the area is compelling and accurate. What's most enjoyable to me about the author is his masterful use of similies and metaphors. His words paint such a vivid picture in your mind and several times I found myself laughing outloud. In one storyline, one of the main characters, Joe, is guiding a small group of lawyers, who are novice fly fishermen. He writes, "By this point Bill had actually managed to get his fish under control and was thrashing around in the shallows, his rod hand held high over his head to keep the line tight while, with the other, he made unsuccessful, scooping lunges with his net. Done properly, this can be one of the most satisfyingly graceful moments in the sport, but in Bill's case it was like watching a man trying to hail a taxi while simultaneously chasing a piece of blowing litter down the street"
There are many, many more. I will have to agree that some parts of the ending seemed rushed. Toward the end, he writes an exciting chapter where a couple characters find themselves in a very precarious, life threatening situation. A couple chapters later, he suddenly jumps 10 years forward and explains, in a single paragraph, how it turned out. That was a bit of a letdown. Still, it is one of the best books I've read and will recommend highly.

This novel really grew on me. My first thought was, "really, another book with chapters from different perspectives and time periods. Why is this a thing now?" However, over time the reasoning for it and the order in which information was revealed became important and made a huge difference. This is a beautiful story and I'm glad I read it.

A summer read that's overly verbose. The author is infatuated with his carefully worded prose and wants us to be too. A plot with many twists and turns that ironically are predictable and unsurprising. Cronin well captures the Maine camp experience and the stoic, slow, reticent culture that is rural Maine.

This will probably be one of this reviewer's favorite books of 2004. Justin Cronin's THE SUMMER GUEST takes place, for the most part, at a rustic fishing camp in Maine and centers on the dying wishes of wealthy businessman Harry Wainwright. Harry has been spending the last thirty summers at the camp, having become a friend to the family that runs the place. Joe Crosby is the current owner, running the camp with his wife Lucy. Harry has come home to the camp to have his last dying wishes fulfilled, to fish one last time out on the lakes, and to reveal who will inherit his estate to those at the camp who have come to mean more to him than family.
The novel opens with a prologue that takes us to the end of WWII. A war veteran, Joseph Crosby, has brought his wife Amy and infant son Joe to Maine, taking a risk by purchasing and re-opening a fishing camp that he learned to love as a boy. The prologue depicts a war hero who is about to risk all he has for the hopes of a better life, as the couple has spent their entire life savings to start anew in this remote part of the country.
The prologue is misleading, as the reader will at first assume the story is about a WWII veteran, but it is not. THE SUMMER GUEST instead revolves around Joe, Joseph's son, Joe's wife Lucy, and the wealthy businessman who becomes their friend. It is their relationship that drives the plot to its conclusion, ending with the third generation member of the Crosby family, Kate. What makes this book a must-read is the skill that Cronin uses to create these characters, making each of them come alive, and the story that is behind each character. The relationships that are formed are what make this book worth reading, and the mystery behind what really happened between Joe, Lucy and Harry come together by the end of the book, culminating with a revelation that affects everyone, especially Kate.
A different person narrates each chapter, telling the story of the past from varying viewpoints. Jordan Patterson opens the book with his introduction of Harry Wainwright and his current wife, their baby daughter January, and his grown son Hal from his first marriage. Jordan, who works for Joe and Lucy, spends his time doing odd jobs, helps take guests out on tours by the lake, and helps run the camp. It is a simple life, and he doesn't make a lot of money, but it's what he loves, and he lives at the camp all year round. Jordan's job that weekend is to see that Harry gets his last chance to fish before he dies.
As the novel progresses, the past is told in bits and pieces. Joe and Lucy's story starts with Lucy taking a job at the camp during the summer months. She's a teenager, a few years younger than Joe, and their story takes the novel to the height of the Vietnam War. Joseph takes yet another risk in life when he helps his son dodge the draft by sending him off to Canada, a seemingly contradictory action to take on the part of a WWII vet. A very involved plot line, it also tells the tale of Harry's love for Lucy, whom he met when he was still married to his first wife, who at the time was dying from a terminal disease, and Lucy was still a teenager. It is a love that spanned three decades.
Harry is the core of this novel. It is his story, ultimately intertwined with Joe and Lucy's past, that brings the plot to the present day. Their past lives are slowly revealed by each narrator until the secret is finally told by the end of the book.
The entire novel reads like a story out of another era, with the backdrop of the fishing camp as a reminder of another place and time. It is hard to believe that THE SUMMER GUEST actually takes place in 1994. Reading this book makes one think about lazy summer days from years gone by. If nothing else, Justin Cronin paints a beautiful picture of this out-of-the-way part of the country, creating a wonderfully magical place where the past mingles with the future. And with it, a poignant love story interspersed with tales about the Vietnam War is what makes THE SUMMER GUEST worth reading.
--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton

Whoa. Justin Cronin can write! This book is amazing.

So Joe and Lucy own a fishing camp in Maine. Harry is a rich man who loves the camp and is dying and he wants to come to spend his last days.

Each character then tells their story and back story: Joe, Lucy, Harry, Kate (Daughter), Jordan (Camp Guide), and Joe's dad.
The story goes from World War II to Vietnam, ending in 1994. And it actually sets nicely FIRMLY in those times. Like you read it and you can feel it actually sets in those times, not just you know it's supposed to happen then because the author says so somewhere.

The power of writing. It is real.

All characters are so believable, like they are so normal. They are not all good or all evil. They are like real people. Yet, they are likeable, and special in their own ways, and so decent. (I know what I sound like, but it's true.)
There is a love triangle. AND THIS IS HOW A LOVE TRIANGLE SHOULD BE DONE. And I usually hate a love triangle; people never come out likeable from a love triangle. BUT NOT THIS ONE. So decent. So sad. This is not a predictable, supersweet romance with cancer and various bad events thrown in to manipulate your emotion. This is subtle. Upscale. There is tenderness, loyalty, and tragedy. Very classy.

OMG. Some parts can be described as page-tuner!

The end is a little too neat and sunny, a little different in tone than the rest. But at that point when I care about these people, I do require.

Read this book, you guys. This is real lit.

I read the last paragraph of The Summer Guest just a few minutes ago, and am experiencing the conflicting emotions that beset a reader who cannot stop reading because the story, characters, setting are all so compelling, but at the same time, does not want the book to end.

Cronin's treatment of family, loyalty, love, moral dilemma and choice is all quite moving. I live in the woods of Southern New Hampshire, and have spent time in Maine over the years. This author manages to to create rich setting and character without lapsing into cliche, a trap that many who write about this part of the world frequently fall into--what can I say?--I just love the book.

The story is told from the points of view of the various characters. The many ways in which their lives are connected emerge gradually, in a tantalizing manner, but gracefully. I do not want to disclose plot, except to say that anyone who has been part of a family will be moved and rewarded by reading this exceptional novel. Also, I urge you to read Mary and O'Neil, Cronin's first novel.

If more stars were available, I would award them all.

I bought the book this morning wanting (and expecting nothing more than) a nice, quiet, lovely and relaxing summer read. What I got, instead, was a tableau of such fine brush strokes that left me breathless.
Given Cronin's interest in medicine, I can't help but think of Shaw when thinking of Justin's writing. Shaw once said something to the effect that all human suffering can fit inside one man... and Cronin has managed to distill the true essence of human suffering and filled his cup with it. What delighted me (and saddened me at the same time) most about this bewitching novel was that Cronin was able to let his characters drink unabashedly from that cup. What a wonderful, wonderful ride. There is not a single character in there, not even those that pass by briefly, that doesn't throw a God-awful punch about the human condition. I have nothing else to say to Justin but thank you from my heart, my neurons, and my gut. Keep it coming, Justin.

Verónica Albin
Rice University

Vivid, engrossing, lyrical. The storytelling style that swept you into The Passage doesn't fail in The Summer Guest. Rich characters, complex connections. The exploration of love, death and the questioning of our purpose in our time here with those we love are all wrapped up in a place that speaks to the soul. Worth the read, worth the emotional investment.

Beautiful story telling as always from Cronin. The parts about fly fishing, and the sensations and emotions that accompany it, are brilliantly told. Being from Maine, I feel he really portrayed our state perfectly. From the epic lakes, to the picturesque rivers, and even our bustling city on the ocean. Each were described with elegant detail. The characters were all developed in a very likable fashion. I highly recommend this book, especially if you are looking for a good summer read to bring to "upta camp"!

Reading is one of my greatest pleasures and a friend who knows this gave me "The Summer Guest". I was not familiar with the author and didn't know anything about the book before I began. I have since recommended this book to all of my friends. It is truly one of the best books I've read and I am a voracious reader. The language is absolutely beautiful and the characterizations are wonderful. It is a book to savor and, although I rarely reread books, I will definitely read this one again.

John Citron's review from March 24, 2006 says it all. If you are in doubt about whether to purchase "The Summer Guest", do it anyway. You will not be disappointed.

I love the way the author wove the characters, time and story line around. I would recommend this to anyone who loves the simplicity of different lives that blend & separate, each character well defined.

This started out fairly well, and then it turned to crap by page 100. Boredom! I TRY to like Justin Cronin because he graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the best writing school in the country, but I just can't get past the boredom. Boredom is not a good thing, is it? For 200-odd some pages, nothing happens! Won't somebody kill somebody or something!

There's something mythical and metaphorical about an old cabin on a Maine lake that has been in a family for several generations. That fishing camp serves as the bedrock for Justin Cronin's charming novel, The Summer Guest, and provides the foundation for Cronin's exploration of the ties that bind those within the Wainwright family. The story is set in motion on a single late summer day when patriarch Harry Wainwright, dying of cancer, revisits the camp for one last time. Back story that fills in the causes of the tensions between the individuals at the camp is provided in alternating chapters and different POVs.

Lovely writing.