The summer I went crazy happened forty years ago when I was just seventeen, but I've never forgotten.
It started with rape and ended with a promise. In between I fell in love, broke the law, and made an irrevocable decision.
The Summer I Went Crazy
by Laura Koerber
Genre: Coming of Age, YA Literary Fiction
The rule for guys like me was that we'd grow up to be like our parents. Our parents put a lot of work and money into making sure we did. I got it all: the expensive private school education, the summers in Europe, the family connections to a congressman and other influential people, an admission to Yale. I was fast tracked for success.
Instead, I became the witness to a rape.
And I fell in love, broke a bunch of laws, made an irrevocable decision, and made a lifetime promise.
And
now, forty years later, I am making a phone call.
The Year
I Went Crazy is a rewrite of an earlier novel, Coyote Summer. The
plot is much the same, but Coyote Summer is a magical realism novel
with a fantasy element, while The Summer I Went Crazy is straight
realistic literary fiction about coming of age.
**TRIGGER WARNING – While not containing the direct decription of rape, it does describe dealing with the aftermath of rape and includes drug and alcohol abuse.
Laura is an artist who lives on an island with her husband and her two dogs. She has always entertained herself by telling herself stories. As a child, she used to like going to bed because she could lie awake under the covers and run movies in her head. Later, as an adult, she enjoyed long distance driving for the opportunity to spend hours writing novels in her imagination.
Now Laura divides her retirement time between dog rescue, care for disabled people, political activism, and yes, she still tells herself stories while she is driving. Her first book, The Dog Thief and Other Stories, written under the pen name of Jill Kearney, was listed by Kirkus Review as one of the One Hundred Best Indy Books of 2015. She's also the author of I Once Was Lost, But Now I'm Found, Limbo, The Eclipse Dancer, and Wild Hare. She has a story contribution in the book Rescue Smiles, too.
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Hi everyone, Thank you for your interest in my novel. Though the story is about the aftermath of sexual assault, it's not a graphic or depressing book. Ben, the MC, is shocked by the incident and further shocked when he finds out that most of his friends and family are more interested in protecting the perpetrators than the victim--which happens in real life quite often. Ben responds by spending the summer without his family and, home alone, he has adventures, takes risks, falls in love, and grows into the person he needs to be.
ReplyDeleteThis looks really interesting. Thanks for hosting this tour.
ReplyDeleteAppreciate the 'trigger warning' although it's not as sensitive as all that, even attempted rape is a life altering experience. Sounds very smart.
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