The Melancholy of Summer
Summer is here and with the warmth comes some amazing new YA releases. The Melancholy of Summer is the newest YA novel from Louisa Onomé and a reminder that sometimes the arrival of the warm weather brings with it cold winds of change.
Summer has arrived and for Summer Uzoma that means a season of hopping between her friend’s couches and listening to their excitement about starting university when her life is completely falling apart. Her parents are under investigation for fraud and have been on the run for the past year and although she has managed to stay under the radar, child protective services has found out about the seventeen year old on her own and have stepped in to place her somewhere until her eighteenth birthday. Luckily, her cousin Oluchi has stepped in to offer a place to stay but Summer barely knows her since she grew up in Japan and is some sort of pop star. Thus begins a season for Summer to really confront her feelings, her family and her future.
Louisa Onomé has created the exact opposite of the Hot Girl Summer read. The back of the book coins it the Sad Girl Summer novel and that title could not be more accurate. Summer has A LOT to unpack. Louisa Onomé packs a gut punch with this story. At times it feels completely hopeless with incredible undercurrents of sadness, frustration throughout the story while also confronting the excitement and hopefulness of big change, growing up and self discovery.
The tension slowly builds and builds throughout the story. From the beginning, readers are aware that there is so much going on under the surface with the adults in Summer’s life. Throughout the whole story, adults let her down each and every time. Even Oluchi who is supposed to be the adult but is barely out of her teens herself. Summer is so guarded that she can’t even open up to her best friends, the people who have been with her since day one.
This is a story about relationships. I found the relationships in this story to be incredibly interesting. Summer keeps her friends Sid and Tanya and Sid’s girlfriend Kirsten at arm’s length through most of the story. Although they are supposed to be her best friends she hides herself from them for fear of being left behind. I particularly loved the relationship between Summer and Jet. Jet was an acquaintance at the start of the story but slowly becomes her closest confidant, as much as she is willing to reveal which is surprisingly little. Her relationship with Jet became a safe space for her throughout the story, and who was the only person to speak up for her. Her relationship or lack there of with Oluchi is a complete mess, neither letting the other in and suffering from their demons on their own. Finally, the relationship between Summer, her parents and her Auntie Dara. Three adults that should be protecting Summer but who have completely and utterly abandoned her.
Summer is perfectly frustrating for a YA character. Teenagers are such complicated beings. I really felt a connection with Summer in the way that she carries these heavy weights and is trying so hard to do everything on her own. I know there will be so many readers who will feel this deep connection with the terror of letting people in, of the sympathy you feel like you need to suffer and the feelings of weakness when asking for help. Thankfully there is some resolution near the end but not one that you might expect. It’s not a hopeful story in the traditional sense. There is resolution but not one readers may expect at the beginning of the story.
Louisa Onomé’s descriptions of the freedom Summer feels when on her skateboard are visceral. They are similar feelings I would experience when I was a young adult and taking my bike everywhere. The wind feels like it can just wash everything away until you have to stop. It’s the stopping that’s the hardest. When we finally stop, the feelings catch up with us and we are forced to confront the demons.
