Sommaren 1985 - A review

[Siggdalos]

Yesterday I finished reading JAL's latest novel, Sommaren 1985 (The Summer of 1985). In short, it's about a group of seven childhood friends who've hung out together during summer vacations on a fictional island (Särsö) in the Stockholm archipelago ever since they were little. In the year the book takes place, in the weeks leading up to Live Aid, all but one have turned 14 and, with puberty being what it is, it's suddenly become important for the boys to try to impress the girls. The former make an expedition to a remote island where they stumble across a dying mermaid, which they take home and hide in an old hot tub, and then in usual order everything goes to hell.

And, well, what can I say. It's really good. JAL himself has on several occasions (including here) described it as being like a quintessence or parody of all the tropes he likes to use in his stories, but I do feel it stands apart well enough from his other books, aside from one or two specific plot elements which I think feel like a repeat of things he's done before. It has all the warmth, sorrow, humor, and fine-tuned depictions of emotions and relationships that you would expect, and I expect the characters will stay with me for some time. If you like his other stories you'll like this one. Simple as.

It's noticeable that the book started out as a short story and then got expanded into a novel. It's a short book--only about 320 pages (I finished it in only a couple of days of fairly leisurely reading)--and the plot is quite simple and straightforward without any added complications or distractions. This is not a bad thing, in fact I found the directness and simplicity of it refreshing. That said, I think the plot is maybe overly predictable in parts; some of the eventual reveals get pretty clearly telegraphed from early on. But then, I don't know that this is necessarily a bad thing either.

For those who are interested in connections between JAL's different stories (like I am), there are a couple of references to Harbour indicating that the stories take place in the same or at least adjacent universes, so that's fun.

[a_contemplative_life]

Thanks for this review. It's been a while since I've tackled any new JAL books. I may need to check this one out!