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    The Summer Guest
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    The Summer Guest
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    The Summer Guest
    Audiobook13 hours

    The Summer Guest

    Written by Justin Cronin

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award for his radiant novel in stories, Mary and O'Neil, Justin Cronin has already been hailed as a writer of astonishing gifts. Now Cronin's new novel, The Summer Guest, fulfills that promise-and more. With a rare combination of emotional insight, narrative power, and lyrical grace, Cronin transforms the simple story of a dying man's last wish into a rich tapestry of family love.

    On an evening in late summer, the great financier Harry Wainwright, nearing the end of his life, arrives at a rustic fishing camp in a remote area of Maine. He comes bearing two things: his wish for a day of fishing in a place that has brought him solace for thirty years, and an astonishing bequest that will forever change the lives of those around him.

    From the battlefields of Italy to the turbulence of the Vietnam era, to the private battles of love and family, The Summer Guest reveals the full history of this final pilgrimage and its meaning for four people: Jordan Patterson, the haunted young man who will guide Harry on his last voyage out; the camp's owner Joe Crosby, a Vietnam draft evader who has spent a lifetime "trying to learn what it means to be brave"; Joe's wife, Lucy, the woman Harry has loved for three decades; and Joe and Lucy's daughter Kate-the spirited young woman who holds the key to the last unopened door to the past.


    As their stories unfold, secrets are revealed, courage is tested, and the bonds of love are strengthened. And always center stage is the place itself-a magical, forgotten corner of New England where the longings of the human heart are mirrored in the wild beauty of the landscape.

    Intimate, powerful, and profound, The Summer Guest reveals Justin Cronin as a storyteller of unique and marvelous talent. It is a book to treasure.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateMar 12, 2013
    ISBN9780804126670
    Unavailable
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    Reviews for The Summer Guest

    4/5

    131 ratings8 reviews

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    • 4/5
      I really enjoyed this book. The story is about a family and a place. It is told with stories from the various characters. The 'big' story in the books comes out of these individual pieces. Cronin is a beautiful writer. I loved the The Passage Trilogy and this older novel did not disappoint me.
    • 5/5
      A loving and beautifully-realized portrait of a family running a fishing lodge in Maine and their 30-year relationship with a wealthy businessman who arrives for one week each summer. First-person chapters rotate among the main characters and slowly reveal the importance of the connections among the group. Wonderful.
    • 5/5
      A family who runs a camp in rural northern Maine, expands to include a rich man who visits once a year and a man who escapes his life to lead fishing expeditions. The patriarch, a damaged survivor of WWII, runs an underground railroad for those selling to dodge the draft and head to Canada. When the rich man comes to the camp to die, the entire family, extended and otherwise, assemble.
    • 5/5
      I knew Cronin as the author of post-apocalyptic books like The Passage. But this book came before that series and is a much different type of book. The Summer Guest centers around a fishing camp in Maine. We gradually learn the backstories of the camp's owners, Joe and Lucy Crosby; a frequent guest and wealthy businessman, Harry Wainwright; and camp employee, Jordan Patterson. But the action centers on one day, a day marked by what may be Harry's final visit to the camp and that may change the lives of everyone associated with the camp. Although the shifting viewpoints slows the pace of the story a bit, it is handled masterfully and adds depth that sets this book apart. I felt connected to each character, to their struggles and their deep relationships to the camp. It is a high compliment from me to compare this book to the journeys to Maine that I've taken with Elizabeth Strout.
    • 4/5
      On the cover of my copy of this book, newspapers and other authors made comments such as: "a work of art," and {Cronin} is a joy to read." I honestly couldn't agree more. He writes beautifully, and has an amazing talent of describing moments and emotions with breathtaking insight. There were passages in this novel that literally made me draw in my breath. His descriptions and the relationships among the characters are what drives this book; the plot did not draw me in quite like the plot in The Passage did. The writing though...oh, the writing..
    • 5/5
      Nicely paced when you just want to get into a book and enjoy the exploration of characters and timelines and a placement in mostly deep wood Maine.
    • 5/5
      I heard about Justin Cronin's earlier book, on LIbraryThing and found a copy in my own library where it has been waiting for me to discover it since he wrote it in 2004. I've read his books, [The Passage] and [The Twelve] and loved them. And, I have already pre-ordered the third book in this trilogy. The Summer Guest is nothing like those books and that's okay. This is a wonderful book and I loved every word. It's set in the woods of Maine and is the story of the family who have owned and run a fishing camp, for several generations, in these beautiful backwoods. It is also the story of Harry Wainwright, a great businessman who has been coming here for 30 years. Harry comes back to the camp at the end of his life, he wants to spend one more day fishing and remembering his life and the people who were an important part of it. It was a real treat to, not only find out about this book, but to find it here at home and read it immediately. Now to track down his first book, [Mary and O'Neil]. Highly recommended!
    • 3/5
      Totally different from the authors most recent tomes, The Twelve and The Passage, which I read and enjoyed. This is warm and sweet, a perfect summer read, to me.
      Joe and his son Joe, Lucy, Kate, Harry Wainwright and Jordan are all characters that were human and flawed but so likable.
      The narrators did a wonderful job. I especially liked the Maine accent, that lent such authenticity to the characters and the setting.
      Recommended listen or read for those willing to give some time to a slow burning story full of heart.