A CERTAIN SUMMER by PATRICIA BEARD

After closing the last page of A CERTAIN SUMMER by PATRICIA BEARD, I had a strong desire to learn more about World War II. When I ask myself why this desire to gain more knowledge about a war is so deep, I think it's because of the wonderful way Patricia Beard writes a book. From the timeI began to  read the novel there was this feeling that my body had slipped away to Wauregan, the community on Long Island, and become a neighbor and friend who knew everything happening to Helen, a woman whose husband is counted as missing during WWII overseas across the street from a bakery in a house, etc. I also felt close to her son, Jack, the men in her life Frank and Peter and also, her housekeeper and friend, Kathleen. Really, I think it's impossible not to become one in spirit with these people while reading the book. Also, I loved Max, the war dog, who is now licking his war wounds like the soldiers coming back home from the battle fields. None of these men are the same as when they left to go to war. Although, it is very difficult for these men to share what they saw, heard and smelled.

However, I did wish the novel had begun with the heroes and heroines of the Resistance and Frank and Peter's fight to escape. Instead the reader isn't taken overseas until nearly the end of the book. Putting the Resistance movement at the end of A Certain Summer makes the war lose its importance. Usually, on a phone call or an emergency visit the most important circumstances are told first. Instead, here we learn about Helen's love life way before the reader is taken to the most significant part of the book, the situation where Peter goes missing. I also think Kathleen's voice was muffled. Usually, a housekeeper has a very strong voice.

Still, the novel is intense with the feelings of the soldiers who make it home, with the feelings of a child who loses his dad and the importance of a place in our lives. Also, there is the inability to discern who is a true hero and who is a false hero. Perhaps, this is because the people left at home find it hard not to sympathize and believe the words of every soul who makes it back home.

The novel is remarkable. I will not forget the new knowledge I gained about war dogs. Didn't know about dogs who help in the war and come home to become Therapy pets. So Max opened a whole new world to me. Perhaps Max is the reason I want to know more about WWII. War dogs are still used in wars.