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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated Summer of '79 in Books

Mar 19, 2020

Summer of '79

Elin Hilderbrand | 2020 | Fiction & Poetry

8.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

This is an excellent novella following up with the Foley/Levin gang ten years after the events of Summer of '69. Kate and her children, Blair, Kirby, Tiger, and Jessie, gather again on Nantucket after the death of Kate's mother, Exalta.

"Exalta is dead. She died in her sleep two days earlier in the house on Fair Street, while Mr. Crimmins, their former caretaker, slept beside her."

There are a few books in the world that end perfectly, and you don't need another word. But many books are so engaging--the characters so vivid--that you often wonder what has happened to them. Elin Hilderbrand is such an excellent author and so good at world-building for her characters. It only makes sense that she would allow us to check in on her characters at a later date. And, because she's so good at bringing them to life, the concept works perfectly.

This is a slim e-book (coming out later in book form as part of a tribute anthology to the late Dorothea Benton Frank). I read it easily in one setting and quite enjoyed catching up with Kate and the kids, particularly the youngest, Jessie, who was my favorite in '69 and remains so ten years later.

"She feels like a stranger in her own family, but there’s nothing new about that."

Despite the somber occasion for which the family has gathered, it's quite fun to check in on them ten years later. Hilderbrand switches POV from Kate to all four of the kids, allowing us to see what they've been doing and how they feel. We also find Kate adjusting to moving into the role of family matriarch with the passing of her mother.

Overall, if you enjoyed Summer of '69, this is a great novella to catch you up on some beloved characters. I kind of wish we could have novellas like this for other favorite books. 4 stars.

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) in Movies

Aug 6, 2019

Are you ready kids?”

“Aye, Aye, Captain…………”

As if, one motion picture wasn’t enough. Nickelodeon decides to release a sequel to the well received 2004 movie, “Spongebob Squarepants.”

The game is afoot with pirate Burger Beard (Antonio Banderas), who finds a treasure map that leads him to a legendary book. This book tells the story of the day in the life of the residence of Bikini Bottom. Spongebob is hard a work flipping burgers at the Krusty Krab. Plankton as usual is trying steal the secret recipe to everyone’s favorite snack, the Krabby patty. In the midst of the battle to save the recipe from Plankton’s evil hands, the recipe vanishes in midair. When the town realizes this may be the end of the Krabby patty forever, everyone begins panic, panic turns into destruction, and destruction leads to a satirical play on every post-apocalyptic film imaginable. Always the skeptic, Mr. Krabs (Clancy Brown) turns the town and Spongebob’s closest friends against him. Forcing Spongebob to team up with Plankton, who has his own ulterior motives, to search for the recipe.

Plankton decides the best way to try to find the recipe is to invent a time machine so they can travel back to just before the recipe disappeared. Thus begins the adventure of travelling through time and ultimately ending with the entire gang, dressed up as superheroes, venturing on land to locate Burger Beard and get the recipe back.

Director Paul Tibbitt does an excellent job at taking all the visual humor that we’ve come to love from the TV show, and presents it with wonderful animation and stellar computer generated sequences for the dry land scenes.

Ninety minutes of Spongebob and friends’ zany antics, absurdities, and that obnoxious laugh is more than any parent can handle. That aside, you don’t have to be a fan of the show to enjoy those goofy laugh out loud moments. Definitely a movie geared towards kids!