If any of us four was going to make it to Rio de Janeiro, it would have been Johann. In a way, that was clear from the start. Johann had what it took, and besides, he was the musician...
***
Sixteen-year-old Frieder’s plans for the summer are shattered when he fails two subjects. To be able to move up to the next year in the Autumn, he needs to resit his exams. So, instead of going on holiday with his family, he now faces the daunting and boring prospect of staying at his grandparents’ house, studying with his strict and formal step-grandfather.
On the bright side, he’ll spend time with his grandmother Nana, his sister Alma and his best friend Johann. And he meets Beate, the girl in the beautiful green swimsuit...
The next few weeks will bring friendship, fear and first love – one grand summer that will change and shape his entire life.
***
This is a beautiful story which has been exquisitely written.
It has a gentleness to the text, and is one of those books that I could imagine myself reading again. It has been set during the period of one summer, and we observe the main character, sixteen year old Frieder, sent to stay with his grandparents, as having failed a couple of his exams his strict step-grandfather takes on the task of bringing him up to speed for his re-sits. The rest of the family go on their family holiday as usual, leaving behind a very disappointed Frieder.
However, his sister Alma is with him, his best friend Johann nearby, and he also meets Beate, a girl who makes his heart sing and we observe Friedrich as he pursues her in his clumsy teenage way and falls in love.
We also watch him mature throughout the summer and the author does a brilliant job of conveying this on the page through sparse language and lack of sentimentality. I am sure we all remember the summers of our youth and the first time we fell in love. There were certainly points where I recognised myself as a teenager and could thus identify with Frieder. We observe the him mature and Mr Arenz portrays this perfectly.
The pacing of the novel is appropriate for it's genre, with just the right combination of dialogue and narrative. This book has left quite an impression on me and I enjoyed reading it very much. It is definitely one to slip into your summer reading.
ISBN: 978 1916788183
Publisher: Orenda Books
Formats: e-book, audio and paperback
No. of Pages: 300 (paperback)
About the Author:
Ewald Arenz was born in Nuremberg in 1965, studied English, American literature and history, and now works as a teacher at a grammar school. His novels and plays have received numerous awards. Tasting Sunlight was longlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize, shortlisted for the German Booksellers Best Novel Award, and featured on the Spiegel bestseller lists in both hardback and paperback for months. One Grand Summer won the German Booksellers Prize in 2021, and was a number-one bestseller in Germany. Ewald lives with his family near Fürth.
(ARC and media courtesy of the tour organiser)
(all opinions are my own)
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