Two lovers, separated time and time again, one with the memory, the other, forgetting every life how much she loves the man she was meant to be with for eternity.
When they meet again, in the present day, will this be it? Their chance to finally enjoy life together, will Lucy finally remember how it was to be Sophia? Will she know how to love Daniel, unchanging, her beloved, her forgotten?
My review:
Brashares knows how to write a love story and right it well! Though The Sisterhood books are huge, and I do love them, The Last Summer of Me and You is my very favorite book of hers, My Name is Memory running an extremely close second.
The premise is great, it isn’t cluttered and filled with obnoxious time restraints, the book is written partially in the present, and partially as Daniel’s memories with and without Sophia, also called Constance, also called Lucy.
Daniel struggles greatly with his desires not to change, he wants to be the man he first was when he fell in love with Sophia, he resists new families, new bodies, even new names, insisting he be called Daniel in each new life. His memory allows this.
Lucy, on the other hand only struggles with loving Daniel, and not knowing why, exactly she does. When she begins to accept his memories as her own world, her lives, so to speak, she feels a kins-ship with the woman she once was in Constance, but she never really fully believe she is Constance, or Sophia come again, which is such a cool dynamic!
I love all the flashbacks, how the story is told through Daniel’s eyes, his memory, and in the eyes of Lucy. This book is part of a set series, and I jut cannot wait for book two, I have so many theories about characters that are alluded to, but not confirmed as having more to do with the current troubles than being “past-tense” which doesn’t really exist in this book. Everything comes back, and those with the memory hold grudges. I am especially anxious to see if my suspicions about Lucy’s sister will be confirmed.
The themes that run throughout the book fit well into the YA world, and I would recommend this book to anyone mature enough to know that sometimes you have to go far to find true love, and how important it is to be one with the one person you need more than memory itself. I won’t put an age on that, there is one sex scene, but I would call it making love, therefor it’s written in good taste. I believe there is some cursing, but not exorbitant, or I would have been turned off and stopped reading. If you want to fall in love with a book, let it be this book.
Thoughts on the cover: I love the water cover, first of all because the scene in the ocean is the best scene ever! Really, I reread it ten times. Also because things look blurred, as if a memory is forming. It’s simple, but gorgeous, I can’t wait to see the companion covers!
Notes on the names: Sophia means Wisdom, Constance means Constant, Lucy means Light. I guess you could say I have never read more perfect names for their individual lives. Daniel means God will judge me, and I suppose so, he has many lives to atone for, his actions will be judged forthcoming.
*Spoiler* I wonder if Lucy plans to name her baby (maybe twins!) Sophia. If you want to know, now that we are in the spoiler section, I think Lucy will give birth to the girl who inhabited the body of her sister. She has the memory too, I think.
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