Line #24 Literature/SummerSisters


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/summer_sisters__judy_blume.jpg]]
2	''Summer Sisters'' is an adult ComingOfAge story by Creator/JudyBlume.
3
4	Victoria has no idea what to expect when Caitlin Somers invites her to spend the summer with her at Martha's Vineyard. Caitlin is rich, energetic and classy; Vix comes from a family that can barely get by, with a mother who has become a BrokenBird.
5	----
6	!!Tropes for this book include:
7	* AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder: Bru with Vix [[spoiler:and Caitlin]] being off the island [[spoiler:starts an affair with Star, the owner of the new vitamins store.]]
8	* AbusiveParents:
9	** Darlene to Tawny, Vix's mother. Tawny is horrified when she catches herself [[spoiler:slapping Vix for applying to Harvard, repeating the cycle of abuse.]]
10	** Ed had an abusive stepfamily. He got out of it as soon as he could by joining the army.
11	* AllTakeAndNoGive: ZigZagged with Caitlin. While she does use people for her amusement, her sense of generosity allows Vix to gain opportunities she otherwise would have lacked. Vix says as much towards the end.
12	* AmicableExes:
13	** Phoebe and Lamb, who share custody of Caitlin.
14	** Averted with [[spoiler:Tawny and Ed, Vix's parents.]]
15	** ZigZagged with Bru [[spoiler:and Vix.]]
16	* BabiesEverAfter:
17	** Bru [[spoiler:and Caitlin]] have a baby girl. [[spoiler:Bru goes on to have several more children with Star.]]
18	** Vix [[spoiler:and Gus raise a boy named Nathan.]]
19	* BabiesMakeEverythingBetter: Subverted. Bru thinks this will be the case when [[spoiler:he marries Caitlin. Instead of shaping up and actually caring about the people who love her, she runs away to another country and abandons their child]].
20	* BenevolentBoss: The Countess to Tawny, even taking her on vacation [[spoiler:after Nathan dies and leaving enough money to her to live on in Florida.]]
21	* BittersweetEnding: Vix ends up [[spoiler:as a successful PR agent and marries a man she loves, but Caitlin disappears and no one knows what's happened to her.]]
22	* BrokenBird: Tawny, alternating with AbusiveParents.
23	* CallingTheOldManOut: Vix to her mother when the latter accuses her of letting the Somers take over her life. Vix makes a sharp point that her mother doesn't seem to care at all about her future, while at least the Somers do.
24	* ChildrenAreCruel: Lanie and [[spoiler:her two kids]] are not the nicest people. Lanie as a teenager acts out, [[spoiler:and gets pregnant before turning eighteen, while calling her father's new girlfriend a "cow" and hitting up on Vix for money, thinking that she's rich and spending money on herself. Her children follow suit, which Vix lampshades.]]
25	* CoolBigBro: Averted with Sharkey, Caitlin's older brother, and with Daniel, her step-brother.
26	* CoolBigSis: Vix for Nathan. Subverted with her other siblings Lanie and Lewis.
27	* DeadGuyJunior: Vix names [[spoiler:her son after Nathan, who dies early in the book.]]
28	* DelicateAndSickly: Nathan, Vix's brother, has muscular dystrophy. [[spoiler:He dies from complications with pneumonia]].
29	* DisappointedInYou: Sharkey to Caitlin for not making anything of her life.
30	* DisproportionateRetribution: Tawny slaps Vix for applying to Harvard and her CallingTheOldManOut moment.
31	* DrivenToSuicide: In the end, everyone fears that [[spoiler:Caitlin did this after Vix went to visit her in Italy. The authorities find her boat, but no person in it]]. They hold a memorial service, though Vix hopes that one day she'll receive a postcard out of the blue.
32	* EveryoneHasStandards: Everyone in the Somers family except Sharkey is horrified that [[spoiler:Caitlin leaves Maisie behind after divorcing Bru. Phoebe in particular notes that she didn't abandon either Caitlin or Sharkey]].
33	* IgnoredEpiphany: Caitlin seems to give an accurate summary of the terrible things she's done when reuniting with Vix for the latter's thirtieth birthday: [[spoiler:abandoned her baby, stole Bru, and lied to Vix about a lot of things. She plans to marry an Italian man who doesn't know about Maisie, and refuses to let Vix ask any questions]].
34	* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Vix beats the odds and gets accepted into Harvard, while Caitlin defers her acceptance to Wellesley to travel the world and Sharkey goes to Stanford.
35	* KarmaHoudini: Caitlin for all of her actions, including [[spoiler:marrying Vix's ex and leaving her child.]]
36	* LaserGuidedKarma: On a reread, Bru is less sympathetic, as he admits in his chapters that he can't choose between either Vix or Caitlin. He also confesses to himself that he cheated on Vix with either Caitlin or Star, and sleeps with Vix the night [[spoiler:before his wedding to Caitlin]]. It's thus less cold-feet on Vix's part and more ProperlyParanoid that she refuses to marry him, and [[spoiler:Caitlin leaves him while ceding custody of their child to her father Lamb]].
37	* MayDecemberRomance:
38	** Caitlin has an affair with a married director.
39	** Paisley flirts with an older man but nothing comes of it.
40	* NeatFreak: Maia, Vix's college and post-grad roommate. She's also mycophobic.
41	* ParentalAbandonment: [[spoiler:Caitlin leaves Bru and their one-year-old Maisie.]]
42	* PartingWordsRegret: A variant; Vix accepted Caitlin's AllTakeAndNoGive relationship because that was how they rolled, and she benefits from Caitlin being friends with her. [[spoiler:When Caitlin is presumed dead, Vix thinks that if Caitlin is alive and calls her out of the blue to celebrate their fortieth birthday, she's going to finally insist they sit and talk about their issues]].
43	* RaisedByGrandparents: Lamb and his sister were raised by their grandmother after their parents died in a car crash [[spoiler:As well as Caitlin's daughter Maisie after she abandons her]].
44	* ReallyGetsAround: Phoebe while traveling in the summer; Caitlin follows suit.
45	* SurprisePregnancy: [[spoiler:Vix's sister Lanie gets pregnant when she's only seventeen.]]
46	* TeenPregnancy: [[spoiler:Lanie, to Maia's surprise.]]
47	* UnexpectedVirgin: Caitlin. Despite her telling Vix that she lost her virginity to a ski instructor while on vacation and her giving Von oral sex while they're dating, she surprises [[spoiler: Bru]] by [[VirginityFlag bleeding]] when they have sex after Vix goes back to New Mexico for Nathan's funeral.

Context Literature / SummerSisters