Thursday, February 10, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

 




Summer Sons is a Queer Southern Gothic (Horror) novel by author Lee Mandelo.  Gothic stories are always a bit hit or miss for me, as they rely on atmospheric descriptions as much if not more than character interactions in order to convey the mood of the story - something that doesn't really fit my reading style, which often glosses over such descriptions.  But Summer Sons has been hitting a ton of "Best of" lists from sources I trust, so I wanted to give it a try.  

And well....aside from my issues with gothic stories in general (and Summer Sons very much relies upon those atmospheric descriptions of what its protagonist is feeling), Summer Sons was a difficult read for me, especially in its first quarter.  A lot of this, to be clear, is probably due to a mismatch of book and reader - I have trouble reading a story featuring a protagonist spiraling self destructively in grief, pushing away a friend rudely and assholishly, falling into drugs and alcohol (to a certain extent).  Add in the fact that a central relationship to the book starts with some rough if maybe abusive language, it very much made it hard for me to really like the main character or relate to or even understand his actions.  

Others will find this more believable I'm sure, and after that first act, the story turns into a really well done and interesting queer southern gothic, dealing with issues of inheritance, grief, and identity in the South, with a spirit filled mystery that is a bit predictable but works rather well, and even the central relationship turns out strong after the rocky beginning.  So I get why others really loved this, even if it very much didn't fit me.  

-----------------------------------------------------Plot Summary-----------------------------------------------------
Andrew never wanted to come back to Tennessee, the place where he and his adopted brother - and more than brother - Eddie had their horrifying experience together, the place where Andrew most started to find the spirits of the dead haunting him.  But Eddie insisted, and left Andrew behind to start a graduate program at Vanderbilt, expecting Andrew to later follow.  Except Eddie kept making excuses for Andrew to stay away, until six months later the unthinkable happened:  Eddie was found dead in an apparent suicide, leaving his original family's vast inheritance to Andrew.  

Unable to deal with the reality of Eddie's death, which Andrew cannot believe is an actual suicide, Andrew comes back down to Nashville, to figure out what Eddie could possibly have been doing to lead to his death.  But Eddie has left Andrew only things he can't understand - a poor roommate Riley trying to get through academic elitism that doesn't fit him, that Riley's cousin, a hard partying, drug dealing, drag racing, aggressively insistent boy named Sam Halsy, and worst of all, a wraith with bleeding wrists that continues to haunt him and force him to relive feelings and pressures that make him sick.  

Grieving, Andrew has no idea what to do with all of this, and between the supernatural and physical things Eddie left him, he begins to spiral out of control.  And finding answers to set him right will require Andrew to figure out Eddie's secrets, and more importantly, figure out his own secrets, the truths about himself that Andrew never allowed himself to voice, never allowed himself to think, even as Eddie seemed to understand it and share it more than Andrew ever realized.....
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There's no way to talk about Summer Sons without spoiling some things - namely the queer part of the story, which is a central part of the story even as it is something Andrew denies for a good bit (although even an unknowing reader, who missed the advertising for this book, would get the hints fairly early I think).  Andrew begins the book grieving for Eddie, his adoptive brother, and is heavily implied quite early, though Andrew could never admit it, that his loss is driven by the fact his feelings for Eddie were more than platonic.  And that grief fucks up Andrew real bad - to the point where he's self destructive as all hell, pushing away his closest friend* incredibly rudely, as well as his family, and a lot more.  

*That friend Del, was basically used by Andrew and Eddie as a third wheel so they could have sex without admitting their relation to one another, and rightfully comes to understand with help of a psychiatrist, and no help from Andrew, that Andrew and Eddie were using her and they don't deserve her concern...especially how Andrew acts in this book.  Andrew's not wrong in trying to keep her away, but he's an ass for how he does it because he can't admit he never really cared for her.*

And this self-destruction in grief is insanely hard to read, especially in the book's first act, when Andrew is just spiraling all over the place.  He's unsure if he's right in his belief Eddie didn't commit suicide, pushing everyone away even when they try to help them, taking alcohol and cocaine when given to him even though he insists he was trying to push Eddie away from drug usage, and falling unconscious repeatedly in various places (with some help from a supernatural wraith following him, to be fair).  This of course isn't helped by his denials over his own sexuality, even as he punches out a guy for calling Riley a gay slur (and claims to himself that the guy was calling Eddie one).  

And then there's Sam Halsy, the guy who (spoiler) becomes Andrew's love interest, and starts the relationship by basically browbeating him with belittling language into coming out to his parties and races while Andrew is grieving.  (An example text from Sam: "Why'd you come here if you're going to be a bitch.  Eddie didn't make you SOUND like a bit h but you're proving him wrong.  I'm trying to welcome you with open arms").  For the first act of the book Sam is an utter ass, and Andrew's willingness to accept Sam's invitations feel like more self destruction than anything, and felt to me, as well a more meek person when it comes to relationships, like the start of an abusive relationship that isn't particularly enjoyable to read.   And well, in the remaining 3/4 of the book, Sam is revealed to have far more depth, to be a good guy at heart despite it all who cares deeply for his cousin and who develops feelings for Andrew (and in return, although Andrew is always shit at showing it).  But it's a start to a relationship that just makes Sam feel like an utter asshole in a book where our central character is ALSO acting like an asshole, which made it hard for me to read this book.  

Others will have less trouble with the above, perhaps if you come from a different background than me, a White Cis Jewish kid from the North, who barely drinks and doesn't/never has done drugs, and whose relationships tend to be characterized at first by meek texts afraid to ask for much, but for me this was tough to read, and especially hard to understand and relate to.  

Of course once you get past that first quarter of the book, the book becomes a lot stronger, and I can see easily people really loved this book.  The gothic horror of the University and the haunts that first Eddie and then Andrew wind up investigating are done really well, with the book showcasing a number of strong themes - how underprivileged students are left behind by advisors who abuse those relationships (a major secondary character is a Black PhD student who is trying to be a good mentor, and be a straight edge student with his research, only to see his advisor steal his work once, and then abandon him and shun him for the white kid who comes from nowhere who's always messed up; another character is Riley, Andrew's and formerly Eddie's trans roommate, who also finds his work rejected repeatedly).  The atmosphere of the horror and the truth of the history that gets revealed, naturally of course having roots on a plantation (although it isn't directly related to slavery) works very well, and after the first act, the relationship between Eddie and Andrew, and Andrew and some of their friends, actually works....if only it didn't start in that way.  And the ending, and Andrew's choice in how he tries to deal with the harm he's done, with the past that is then revealed, is fitting in how Andrew doesn't accept what he finds, and tries to make a new start.  

Mind you, the book still has the issue most SciFi/Fantasy books have with mystery plots - there are only two plausible culprits, and once one is ruled out by the 2/3 part, it's obvious who is responsible for the murder; even worse our heroes go to confront that person in the dumbest possible way, leading to the climax.  But again the ending works really well. And if you are more able to handle Andrew's self destruction, and Sam's browbeating of him at the beginning, I can see why you'd really love this book.  For me though, it was tough to read, and while still solid in the end, it isn't something that will be on my best of lists.  

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