Book description
A “powerful song about what it means to survive as a woman in America” (Jesmyn Ward), this “fiercely astute” novel follows a sister determined to uncover the truth about her twin’s disappearance (Tayari Jones).
On a cold December evening, Autumn Spencer’s twin sister, Summer, walks to the roof of their…
Why read it?
2 authors picked Speaking of Summer as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
I love this book because nothing is as it seems, especially Autumn, the unreliable narrator, who is searching for her missing twin sister, Summer, who disappeared in a way that defies all reason.
It kept me guessing until the very end. And even though the answer Autumn uncovers about what happened to Summer is completely unexpected, given the circumstances of Autumn’s life experiences, it made perfect sense. I thought about this book for a long time after reading it.
This book expertly navigates the topics of mental health and sexual violence, as well as the plight of missing black women,…
From Angela's list on thrillers about missing black women & girls.
Kalisha Buckhanon’s Speaking of Summer develops a major trope of recent disappearance-fiction by women: a search, sometimes a quest, involving two women who are close friends, lovers, or sisters.
But Buckhanon’s novel also experiments with an unreliable narrator, timely social critique, and some Dostoevskian madness. It’s also a novel of Manhattan: as in so many other disappearance-writings, geography (urban geography in this case) is a key element in the narrative as well as in the symbolic and thematic weave of the work.
By the end, the cumulative aspects of the protagonist’s life – her work, her art, her loves, her…
From Robert's list on using disappearance in innovative ways.
If you love Speaking of Summer...
These Blue Mountains
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
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