TALE OF TWO SUMMERS
Brian Sloan
Simon & Schuster
Fiction
ISBN-10: 0689874391
ISBN-13: 9780689874390
256 pages

At its most complex, one of the greatest frustrations of life lies in the inability to communicate. Sometimes we can't communicate because we can't find common ground. Sometimes we can't communicate because we're being pigheaded. And sometimes, we just don't understand that the rules have changed and we forgot to change with them. Whether we understand it or not, technology such as the Internet has forced each of us to rethink the way we talk to each other. We create online profiles and identities. We use shorthand --- ROFL, IMHO, BTW. We emote ---    :-(   ;-P. And without really knowing it, we've found a new language.

With a fairly steady stream of recent YA books seeking to embrace this new style of communication, centering on the way we IM and blog to each other, it would be easy to lump TALE OF TWO SUMMERS by Brian Sloan into that category. And it would be a mistake. In Sloan's hands, our cyberspeak becomes less a way of keeping in touch and more a reflection of our deepest feelings and insecurities.

TALE OF TWO SUMMERS centers on Hal and Chuck, best friends for the past 10 years, who are spending their first summer apart: Hal is staying home to take driver's ed while Chuck is off to a nearby theatre camp. Chuck starts a blog as a means for the two to stay in touch about their activities over the summer. In alternating posts, we watch as they expound on their romantic lives (Hal is falling for a French diplomat's son, while Chuck struggles to get noticed by his leading lady in the musical they're performing together at camp).

While it's the first summer they've spent apart in a long time, it's also a summer for other firsts. This is the first summer since Hal came out to Chuck (after an unfortunate incident at New Year's involving a slightly drunken kiss). And the essence of that first marks the heart of this book as the two friends search for a new language to talk to one another. Hal's posts demonstrate an eagerness to share this side of himself with his closest friend while also trying not to cross a line of comfort and alienate his friend. Chuck is the yang to this yin, trying to show his support for his friend who is coming into his sexual identity and prove that things really haven't changed between them, although Chuck's language clearly indicates he hasn't figured out how to deal with this latest step in the evolution of their relationship.

Sloan perfectly captures the Internet zeitgeist with his piercing portrayal of two friends grappling with changes --- in their relationship to each other and in their burgeoning sexual lives --- they barely understand themselves. He expertly carries the reader along on this journey of discovery that offers equal parts humor and heartfelt emotion. TALE OF TWO SUMMERS would be a great addition to your summer reading list.

   --- Reviewed by Brian Farrey (emohawk9000@gmail.com)

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