57 pages • 1 hour read
Kristin HannahSummer Island: A Novel
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Kristin Hannah
Kristin Hannah is an American author who has published over 20 novels. She rose to fame with the publication of her historical fiction novel The Nightingale (2015). Hannah was over 50 when The Nightingale reached immense commercial success, and the novel is currently in production to become a film. While she has written primarily historical fiction novels since The Nightingale, her early work, including Summer Island, was more focused on women’s issues, including relationships and family dynamics. Hannah lives in the Pacific Northwest, where many of her books take place.
Hannah continues to write about women’s issues, especially instances where women were ignored or misrepresented by history. Her latest novel, The Women (2024), focuses on female nurses during the Vietnam War.
Genre Context: Beach Reads and Women’s Fiction
The “beach read” or “summer read” is known to offer escape and respite from daily life. It is often associated with a female readership and is stigmatized as being less substantive than other forms of literature. This form most likely emerged
Around the turn of the nineteenth century, [when] urbanization and industrialization gave summertime a new radiance—it offered a chance to escape the sweaty, overcrowded city and reconnect with nature. The steamship and the railroad made vacation getaways more accessible. Periodicals and newspapers began running features on resort towns and advertised summer activities and goods: cruises, camping gear, mineral springs. […] In short, bolstered by the era’s print culture, a new market of pleasure-seeking Americans emerged (Waldman, Katy. “The Invention of the ‘Beach Read.’” The New Yorker, 14 June 2019).
The typical beach read takes place in a liminal space, outside of societal norms, and at vacation spots during the idyllic summer season:
The American summer novel spotlights unmarried youngsters, especially solo women; it croons of courtship and love […] By the dénouement, which usually deposits the characters safely in September or October, societal rules have reasserted themselves, with the male lead restored, by his time off, to health and productivity, and the heroine ensconced in honest wedlock (Waldman).
Beach reads are primarily geared toward women and focus on motherhood, marriage, and parent-child relationships. They often include some form of a marriage plot. As a result, these novels are not considered to be highbrow and are instead often viewed as inconsequential, fluffy novels. This is misogynistic and belittles the fact that many people—men and women—find these novels enjoyable, and that their plots and themes are important and valuable to readers.
Summer Island features many of the markings of a stereotypical “beach read.” It focuses on women’s issues and relationships, exploring the reconciliation between Nora and her daughters. It includes a marriage plot, ending the novel with the marriage of Dean and Ruby. And, most importantly, it takes place at a beach. However, Hannah deviates from the beach read genre in several areas. The novel does not shy away from difficult, political subjects, such as gay rights, as seen with Eric’s story, and shaming, portrayed through the non-consensual release of Nora’s nude photos. The novel does not take place at a tropical beach, but a beach in Northwest Washington state. This suggests a damper and colder atmosphere than that of the typical beach read. The chillier environment is also reflective of the novel’s more serious topics.
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