The Summer I Turned Pretty (*cough cough* and extremely annoying) - By Julia

The Summer I Turned Pretty (*cough cough* and extremely annoying)

*This review contains some mild spoilers, however, no major plot twists are revealed.

When Jenny Han’s, The Summer I Turned Pretty, was first recommended to me I was really excited to read it. I had heard good things about the book and many of my friends had read and enjoyed it. I was expecting a fun YA novel with a cute romance. Little did I know I was also signing up for a 276 page book about a whiny toddler *ahem* teenager mulling over how life’s greatest issue was obviously her boy drama. This book could legitimately be summarized in one sentence: Main character cannot decide which guy she likes best and generally acts like a whiny 3 year old for 99% of this book.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is a story about a girl named Belly and her summers at a beach house. Every summer her, her brother Steven, her mom Laurel, her moms best friend Susannah, and Susannah’s two sons Conrad and Jeremiah go to spend the summer at a place called Cousins Beach. Belly has been in love with Conrad (and sometimes Jeremiah?) since she was around ten. This particular summer Belly is 15, almost sixteen and she is determined to have the best summer ever, since it might be one of the last with everyone together. Jeremiah has football camp and Conrad is going off to college next year. (Yes, Conrad is eighteen and Belly is not even sixteen yet. Apparently that age gap is not an issue for Jenny Han.)

First off, I want to start off with the things I did like about this book:

• I really did like the way Cousins Beach was described. The whole story telling of Belly’s summer really made me feel like I was actually at the beach.

“The house was my world. We had our own stretch of beach, all to ourselves. The summer house was made up of lots of things. The wraparound porch we used to run around on, jugs of sun tea, the swimming pool at night” Page 4

Phrases like this make the setting so much more vivid and easy to picture. I really just enjoy the overall language and imagery used to convey the beach house. 

• This book was fairly entertaining and amusing. Although I was not a huge fan of the main character and some of her choices, I thought the overall story was a lighthearted, easy read. It definitely is the kind of book that would be really fun to read in the summer. I honestly really enjoyed reading it and I even read the other two in the trilogy. (So take all my negative reviews with a grain of salt.)

• Susannah and Laurels friendship throughout the novel was so sweet and supportive. I loved the way they interacted and the way they kept the summer beach house tradition alive for so many years. 

Now onto the things I majorly disliked about this book:

• Belly: Honestly my main issue with this book was the main character Belly. First off who nicknames their kid Belly and then continues to call them that until they are 16! I feel like that alone is a recipe for disaster and bullying. But besides that Belly is just a very irritating character. Throughout the book she whines about everything and always complains. At the beginning of the book she even complains about how she hated that the guys left the toilet seat up because it was a reminder that she was different from them. 

Additionally Belly is the most indecisive character to ever exist. At the beginning of the 

Story, readers are introduced to the two boys Belly spends her summers with:

Conrad: The super moody, broody, and grumpy emo boy who plays guitar and has the personality of a wet saltine cracker. (Think Edward Cullen but on a beach and not a vampire.) 

Jeremiah: The popular and bubbly golden retriever brother of aforementioned grumpy emo guy. He is the jokester of the summer group and has a slightly elevated personality of a stale graham cracker.

Belly spends basically the entire book trying to decide which guy she likes best, and she changes her mind constantly. For a few chapters it seems like she's set on emo boy but then suddenly, she drinks coke out of Twizzler straws with the golden retriever and she begins crushing on him. On top of that she decides that being indecisive about two boys just is not enough so she transforms her love triangle into a love square.

Enter Cam: A genuinely sweet guy who actually cares and treats Belly so lovingly. But, for some reason Belly does not have feelings for him and uses him as a way to make emo guy jealous. (Because why date someone kind and genuine when you could pine after the broody guy who has never reciprocated your crush on him.)

Honestly the highlight of this book for me was when Conrad finally told her how immature she was being throughout the summer.

“‘One minute you like me. Then Cam…’ Conrad paused ‘And then Jeremiah. Isn’t that right? You want to have your cake and eat it too, but you also want your cookies, and your ice cream’” Page 246

But, Belly’s indecisiveness does not just end with which guy she likes best. When she is at the drive in movie she actually has these thoughts all in the span of less than a page: 

“Even though I liked Cam, even though I wanted to be there, I had the sudden urge to jump out of the car and walk home. I’d only ever kissed one boy and that hadn’t been for real” Page 155

“I felt a wave of disappointment. … The date, if you could even call it that had been a failure. He didn’t even try to make out with me once. Not that I knew if I'd even have let him, but still. He could’ve at least tried.” Page 156

I find this actually so irritating because she literally showed how uncomfortable she was and how she didn’t want to be kissed so he respected her boundaries. AND THEN she has the nerve to think “He didn’t even try to make out with me. ” I think it is unfair that Belly is irritated at Cam when she cannot even make up her own mind about what she wants.

What’s more, Belly also has no sense of other people's boundaries. At one point in the book Conrad is feeling upset and overwhelmed due to things happening in the story and he goes off to be alone. Belly goes after him to “take care of him.” Keep in mind this is the day after Conrad had blatantly rejected Belly. 

“I wondered if it was possible to take someone's pain away with a kiss. … I cupped the back of his head, moved it toward me, and kissed him.” Page 262

Conrad is feeling sad and overwhelmed and Bellys solution is to KISS HIM???? Because obviously the only way you can comfort someone is by kissing them when they had clearly expressed the day prior that they DO NOT like you. *sigh*

• Besides the character Belly, I also really disliked the theme in this book that life is better when you are pretty. This book is specifically catered towards young teens and I believe portraying life as being better when you are ‘pretty’ is such harmful messaging.

“It was the summer I turned pretty. Because for the first time, I felt it, pretty, I mean. Every summer up to this one I believed it’d be different. Life would be different. And that summer it finally was. I was.” Page 21

This is such a bad theme to be promoting because it makes it seem that people, especially girls, are only worth something if they live up to society's expectations of ‘pretty.’ All people should be valued and treated with kindness and respect, not only those who are considered ‘pretty.’

• Another thing that bothered me in this book was the degrading of women. In the book Belly has a friend named Taylor who according to Belly is the popular friend who is pretty and attention seeking. She is constantly described as a stereotypical blonde girl who only cares about appearances and guys. I personally think that her entire character story was written in a slightly misogynistic way. For example: when Taylor has a crush or kisses a guy she is considered annoying or ‘pick me.’ Belly even goes as far as to call Taylor 'slutty.' However, when Conrad is with Red Sox girl there are no comments about him being annoying or attention seeking. 

• Finally, I really disliked the way one scene in particular was written:

“Cam cleared his throat and said, ‘Can I kiss you?’ I wished he hadn’t asked. I wished he’d just done it. Asking made everything feel awkward; it put me in the position where I had to say yes. I wanted to roll my eyes at him but instead I said, “Um, okay. But next time don’t ask. Asking someone if they want to kiss you is weird.” Page 216

This scene actually left me shocked. How in the world is asking for consent to kiss someone a bad thing? Also this sentence: “it put me in the position where I had to say yes.” Oh right, because saying ‘yes’ - a simple one syllable word, is SO difficult. 

In summary, I enjoyed reading The Summer I Turned Pretty. I felt like it was an entertaining easy read that had great summer vibes. However, it does have its faults and there were parts of the book that left me very frustrated and annoyed. If you are looking for a book with a fun story and you are willing to overlook some annoying aspects this is a great option otherwise you might be better off picking another book to read.

Written by Julia