Name: Emily, you can do better.
Item: The Summer Pact
Rating: 3
Author: Foskaa

8 февраля 2026

Emily, you can do better.

So, objectively speaking, the book is weak. First of all, the main problem is the characters. They are not distinct. Even though each chapter is told from the point of view of one of three friends, I constantly had to flip back to the beginning of the chapter just to remind myself who was speaking.

The characters have no individual voice. The same reactions, the same thoughts, the same tone. The name in the chapter heading changes and that is it. Because of this, the whole idea of changing perspectives completely loses its meaning.

The romantic storylines feel unconvincing.

SPOILERS. SPOILERS. SPOILERS.

The Tyson and Lainey romance seems pulled out of thin air. They were just friends the whole time and then suddenly something happens, for both of them at once, even though in reality nothing important actually happens. At the same time Tyson suddenly breaks down, while Lainey, who clearly needs help from professionals rather than friends, behaves, roughly speaking, like an alcoholic instead of a person with a serious psychological problem.

Hannah and her love story are a separate kind of nonsense. I had the feeling everything went the way it did not because the author truly wanted it, but because it was convenient. First, the Chekhov's gun that her boss hung on the wall at the beginning of the book finally fires. Second, the agenda. This is required, this is relevant, you cannot avoid it now.

What also bothered me was the number of topics that feel like they were simply dropped into the book for the sake of being topical. Epstein's island, politics, issues of representation of the Black community. I do not know, maybe we should also list every war and pour some coronavirus on top. At some point it stops serving the story and starts to look like a checklist.

Yes, the book is written fairly well, but it is unclear why it was written at all. Fragmented stories, people who are supposedly in their thirties but behave as if they are still stuck in puberty, all of it leaves a strange aftertaste.

There seem to be many themes, events, and conversations, but in the end there is not a single storyline that feels truly lived through.

Отзывы о книге The Summer Pact

The Summer Pact

Emily, you can do better.

Комментарии 0