A Song for Summer
by Eva Ibbotson
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Book Summary Information
Author: Eva IbbotsonEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-10
ISBN: 0142408662
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Speak
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780142408667
- Condition: USED - Very Good
- Notes: 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of A Song for Summer
Book Review: A Piece of Magic
Summary: 5 Stars
A Song for Summer tells the story of Ellen, a clever and beautiful girl raised by her staunchly, hilariously feminist mother and aunts. Despite their efforts to train her to be a scientist, a politician or at least an artist, Ellen is incurably domestic. She loves to work with her hands- cooking, cleaning, gardening and simply taking care of people.
Immediately after she graduates college as valedictorian of her domestic arts school, Ellen travels to Austria to work as housemother at an eccentric boarding school on the verge of ruin. She works to bring warmth and order to the run-down school, and her loving nature works magic on the children. She also meets the dashing Marek, a man as kind and competent as she is, who works as groundskeeper but is secretly transporting Jews out of 1939 Germany.
This sounds like the makings of a trite romance novel. It isn't. The book is surprisingly complex, with dozens of minor stories woven into the main drama of Ellen's life. Her life is rarely a drama, though, and that is this book's magic. It is an unabashed celebration of the ordinary. In real life as in A Song for Summer, distant battles and noble ballads are no more important than bathing suits, home-cooked meals, birthdays and pet tortoises.
The other extraordinary strength of this work is its humor. Ibbotson upholds the name of British wit by never taking herself or the book too seriously. Her understated irony pervades the plot, so subtly that it is easy to miss. The book at times reads like a crash course in high culture, as Ibbotson shamelessly name-drops great composers and famous musical works, yet manages to come across as natural thanks to a tongue-in-cheek attitude that refuses to give these notables too much credit. And even in the darkest moments and most luminous joys of Ellen's story, funny touches keep the story grounded in reality.
A Song for Summer is not perfect. At times it barely manages to stay on this side of cliché. It also suffers from the occasional dull spell with too much description.
Yet any girl who reads it will want to be like Ellen. Any guy who reads it will identify with Marek. It seamlessly fuses the sublime with the mundane, making a book that soars like a symphony and has the earthy goodness of fresh-baked bread.
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