Reviewed by Christy
In August 1975, camp counselor
Louise discovers one of her 13-year-old campers is missing. And not just any
camper – Barbara Van Laar. Barbara is the daughter of the wealthy owners of the
summer camp. Working class Louise knows her livelihood and her dreams of
bettering her younger brother's future are at stake if Barbara is not located
quickly. What follows is a sprawling drama centering the Van Laar family, its
many employees, and the surrounding townspeople in their shadow.
What I enjoyed most about this novel
is that there is no one protagonist. Moore spends time with multiple characters
(Tracy – Barbara's bunkmate, TJ – the camp director, Judy – a young detective,
and many more). It also isn't a linear timeline, jumping from the 1960s to the
1950s to earlier in the summer of 1975. Moore keeps a handy timeline before
each chapter with the current time in bold, which I found immensely helpful. I
have recently discovered a love for expansive character studies, and Moore
really executes this particular style well. I can't say the characters sounded
terribly different from one another but that didn't bother me. The storytelling
was too engaging for me to mind.
There
are many wealthy, terrible people in this novel who are deeply frustrating to
read about but that's what makes the tragic aspects of the story so much more
impactful. We know that there are rich people who will always get away with
being rude, entitled, and so much worse long after we finish the final page.
Moore's prose is simple but moving, and I found myself unable to shake the
heaviness I felt while reading even after I put the book down. When I initially
started reading, I was not expecting to be affected so much but I'm really glad
I read it! I would rather a book make me sad than make me feel nothing at all.
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