THE LONG SUMMER OF GEORGE ADAMS

by Weldon Hill ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A

A second novel by the author of Onionhead. The Long Summer of George Adams is concerned with the ordinary, everyday events in the life of an unspectacular man living in a small Oklahoma town in the middle of the twentieth century. George Adams is in his fortieth year and finds the fact mildly depressing; he feels that he should have accomplished more than he has and that he should have provided for his family in a more tangible way. His wife and two sons, however, don't seem to suffer unduly from George's sense of being remiss. Actually, neither does George, sustained as he is by his own good humor and by an appreciation for the ironies of life. For his sons the summer of 1952 was a time of heartbreak, which they managed to survive; for Amanda, George's young sister-in-law, the summer brought decisions, about love and marriage which would determine her character; and for George himself the summer of his fortieth year included an ill-fated affair which had no disastrous results and which lent a touch of finality to an inevitable kind of temptation. Eventually, George, a railroader, loses his job to automation but the fact is a kind of relief for he can now devote himself to what was always a vague longing -- farming and a certain commitment to his part of the country. Written in a low-keyed, highly detailed way very much suited to the character of its hero (or near-hero) the book is thoroughly believable and engaging in a non-insistent way.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McKay

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1961

Categories: FICTION