Summer Island: A Novel

Ruby is one of the novel’s protagonists. At the beginning of the novel, she serves as Nora’s foil, illuminating Nora’s qualities through contrasting ones. However, as she matures, the two women begin to complement each other and the novel emphasizes their similarities. She is Rand and Nora’s youngest daughter. At 27, she struggles to make a living. Additionally, she has a hard time sticking with tasks: She is fired from her waitressing job for missing shifts, and her agent admits that no one in Hollywood wants to work with her because she can be so difficult. While Ruby is talented, she assumes that her talent will be enough to make her famous, and refuses to take classes or study other comedians. The source of all her material is Nora, especially what she perceives to be Nora’s poor parenting.

Ruby undergoes the biggest transformation in the novel. At the beginning of the narrative, she is angry and purposefully makes herself ugly:

She used makeup to take off the years. Enough ‘heroin-chic’ black eyeliner and people would assume she was young and stupid. Sort of the way gorgeous celebrities wore godawful hairdos to the Academy Awards; their message had to be looks don’t matter to me (46).

However, as she spends more time with Nora, Ruby begins to abandon her facade and embraces her natural beauty. She accepts herself on a deeper level as well as Nora, from whom she inherited her beauty.

Additionally, Ruby begins the novel believing that Nora abandoned her as a teenager to pursue fame. However, through talking to Nora, she learns that her mother simply left due to mental illness and heartbreak. Learning the truth about her parents’ marriage forces Ruby to grow up and see the world as the complex place it truly is. This allows her to rethink her relationship with fame, and she ultimately opts to live a quiet life with Dean on the island, writing books.

Eric is Nora’s closest confidant and one of the reasons she decides to recuperate on the island. He was a childhood friend of the Bridges’ and comes from a very affluent family. As the eldest son, he was expected to take over the family business; however, he was ostracized when he revealed that he was gay and in a relationship with his partner, Charlie. As a result, his only close familial relationship is with Nora.

Because Eric is dying of cancer and knows he has very little time left, he steps into the role of a wise advice-giver. He appears to have almost an otherworldly understanding of his friends and family’s problems. Notably, he is who Nora—the famous advice-giver—turns to when she needs advice, highlighting his skill. Additionally, Eric speeds up the healing process for many characters. When Dean comes to be with him, Eric refuses to make small talk and insists they speak about meaningful topics: “Don’t. I’m dying. I don’t need time-filler. Jesus, Dean, you and I have spent our whole adulthood talking around anything that mattered. I know it’s genetic, but I don’t have time for it anymore” (120).

Eric’s impending death galvanizes the other characters into action. Many rush to find peace before his death. While it’s never explicitly said, it appears that Ruby and Dean’s reconciliation happens quickly so that Eric can see them together, something that pleases him since he helped Nora reconnect the two.

Through Eric, the novel emphasizes the importance of chosen family. He dies surrounded by his family—Nora, Ruby, and Dean—and is quickly reunited with his partner Charlie: “‘Thanks […] Nora. You were always my mom.’ Eric smiled and closed his eyes. A moment later, he whispered Charlie, is that you? And he was gone” (386). In this way, the novel also hints at a benevolent afterlife.

Dean Sloan is one of the novel’s protagonists. He is Eric’s youngest brother and Ruby’s love interest. At the beginning of the novel, Dean is a stereotypical rich, handsome playboy:

Last year, a local magazine had named him San Francisco’s most ineligible bachelor because of his reputation for nanosecond affairs. It was true; he’d certainly slept with dozens of the cities’ most gorgeous women. But what the reporter hadn’t known, hadn’t even imagined, was how tired Dean was of it all. (36).

Without Ruby and Eric, he is completely lost in the world, notwithstanding his significant wealth and good looks. Despite his shallow reputation, Dean is an extremely empathetic and kind man. He rushes to be with Eric and makes it clear that Eric’s sexuality was not the cause of their estrangement, but instead his own heartbreak over Ruby.

Dean spends most of his life trying to make his mother happy. However, Eric’s illness and death propel him to take control of his life. Following a date with Ruby, he decides to find his passion: “He came to a camera shop and went inside. On a whim, he bought a kick-ass camera and enough film to record the tearing down of the Berlin Wall” (313). Dean is a dynamic character who grows throughout the novel. He begins to feel more at peace in his life and relationships, and turns to art, abandoning the business world he previously inhabited. Art allows him to make lasting memories with Eric, as the first picture he takes is of his brother. No one from Dean’s biological family attends his wedding, implying that Eric’s death—and his parents’ lack of attention—permanently ended his relationship with them.