The Summer that Melted Everything
Ratings9
Average rating4.6
15
Ratings9
Average rating4.6
"Fielding Bliss has never forgotten the summer of 1984: the year a heat wave scorched Breathed, Ohio. The year he became friends with the devil. Sal seems to appear out of nowhere - a bruised and tattered thirteen-year-old boy claiming to be the devil himself answering an invitation. Fielding Bliss, the son of a local prosecutor, brings him home where he's welcomed into the Bliss family, assuming he's a runaway from a nearby farm town. When word spreads that the devil has come to Breathed, not everyone is happy to welcome this self-proclaimed fallen angel. Murmurs follow him and tensions rise, along with the temperatures as an unbearable heat wave rolls into town right along with him. As strange accidents start to occur, riled by the feverish heat, some in the town start to believe that Sal is exactly who he claims to be. While the Bliss family wrestles with their own personal demons, a fanatic drives the town to the brink of a catastrophe that will change this sleepy Ohio backwater forever."--
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???It was a heat that didn???t just melt tangible things like ice, chocolate, Popsicles. It melted all the intangibles too. Fear, faith, anger, and those long-trusted templates of common sense. It melted lives as well, leaving futures to be slung with the dirt of the gravedigger???s shovel.???
Summer has lots to offer. It depends were you life what will be. Summer should be a fun time with family and friends. The summer of ‘84 in Breathed, Ohio is different. Attorney Autopsy Bliss is the cause of it. He invites mr morningstar in a sarcastic manner after a chase did not go as he wished. His request has been answered. It's a shock because were a cloven hoofed biblical figure should be a thirteen year old black kid with the oddest green eyes shows up claiming to be the devil himself. The authorities can't find his family looking for him and he ends up staying with Fielding Bliss and his family. Fielding Bliss is the narrator and tells his story summer of 1984 story somewhere in the future as an older man.
Tiffany McDaniel's debut is shelved on goodreads as a magical realism adult novel. The magical realism aspect for me at least is in the setting. I love how Breathed, Ohio breathed heavily as if it was out of breath of the heat. Haha, a pun. The book shows characters that have monstrous capabilities. The citizens display how mob mentality happens. Racism, homophobia, fear of AIDS, agoraphobia, child abuse and religion are shown not heavy handed and are done in a non preachy way. This book has brought me out of an reading slump. A 6-month reading slump, the agony. McDaniel's writing is amazing. Although it it hit me hard emotionally i'm glad i had the chance to read. I will definitely re-read it in the future. I can't wait to see what will be next.
The devil turned up
finally, someone to blame
he seemed so harmless.
elkezdtem, föladtam, beleolvastam az áradozó kritikákba, újra megpróbálkoztam vele, aztán némi szenvedés után eszembe jutott az a cikk, amibe a seveneves olvasásának idején botlottam, és amiből megtudtam, hogy ez a hosszas leírásoktól hemzsegő stílus nem az én agyamnak való, aztán megnyugodtam, hogy nem vagyok én rossz ember és végleg lemondtam róla.
The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
Yeah, Keyser Söze's paraphrase of C. S. Lewis' appropriation of Charles Baudelaire isn't part of this book, but it might just encapsulate it. Maybe.
It's the summer of 1984 in Breathed, OH, and it's hot. Really hot – and about to get a lot hotter. 1984 is a big year – HIV is identified as the virus that leads to AIDS, Apple releases the Macintosh, Michael Jackson's Pepsi commercial shoot, and the following advertisement runs in the local newspaper, The Breathian:
Dear Mr. Devil, Sir Satan, Lord Lucifer, and all other crosses you bear,
I cordially invite you to Breathed, Ohio. Land of hills and hay bales, of sinners and forgivers.
May you come in peace.
With great faith,
Autopsy Bliss
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Disclaimer:I received this eARC via NetGalley at the author's invitation in return for this post. My thanks to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Tiffany McDaniel for this.
N.B.: As this was an ARC, any quotations above may be changed in the published work – I will endeavor to verify them as soon as possible.
