The Summer that Melted Everything

Have you ever seen a movie and you can see the strings, the green screen is super lame or, my favorite, the sea rescue scene where the actors look like they are fighting a bathtub? It kind of takes you out of the movie. This book is like that and I'm not having it.

If you like a book with overblown, overwrought analogies and children making more profound statements than the Dalai Lama, you might enjoy this. It felt like if The Onion wanted to make fun of a book it would look like this. These are not direct quotes but they could be: "His eyebrows were like rows of freshly turned earth in a fallow field." "Her hair was like a corn field in windstorm."

The Summer That Melted Everything is about a man who invites the Devil to come to town. I refer to the Devil as the Debil. Someone started this on a podcast and I'm just keeping it going. Well, the Debil shows up and it turns out he is a 10 year old African American kid (or is he a runaway?) Yikes. Well, there is a whole big theme about racism but because that wasn't enough it also covers: homophobia, AIDS, dwarfism, agoraphobia, xenophobia, spousal beaters, child abusers, suicide, birth defects and the list goes on and on. Set it rural Ohio in the early 80's, everyone except a few enlightened individuals, are hillbilly racist crazies. If that isn't bad enough there is a DeLorean in the book. Considering only 9,000 DeLoreans were ever made...NO DELOREANS WERE IN RURAL OHIO IN THE 80'S. I know it's fiction, but now it's getting ridiculous.

I think if you were maybe 19 years old and hadn't read many books maybe it would seem poetic. It's also super-duper sad so....even if you like this kind of thing read at your own risk.  Don't say the Debil didn't warn you. 

Even if I don't like a book, I'm not going to recommend a crappy cocktail. I have my standards. The Sidecar is one of my favorites and this variation sounds interesting.  Rum Sidecar:  Go ahead and sugar the rims of your glasses with lemon juice and sugar, add another 1/2 teaspoon of sugar to a cocktail shaker with 3/4 ounce of lemon juice, add ice and 1 &1/2 ounces of dark or aged rum and 3/4 ounce of triple sec. Shake, strain and garnish with a lemon twist.