Hardcover, 432 pages
Published July 27, 2021 by Soho Press.
From acclaimed author Jeanne Thornton, an epic, singular look at fandom, creativity, longing, and trans identity
Gala, a young trans woman, works at a hostel in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. She is obsessed with the Get Happies, the quintessential 1960s Californian band, helmed by its resident genius, B—-. Why did the band stop making music? Why did they never release their rumored album, Summer Fun?
Gala writes letters to B—- that shed light not only on the Get Happies, but paint an extraordinary portrait of Gala. The parallel narratives of B—- and Gala form a dialogue about creation–of music, identity, self, culture, and counterculture.
Summer Fun is an epic and magical work of trans literature that marks Thornton as one of our most exciting and original novelists.
First of all, I love an epistolary novel. can it still be epistolary if the letters are all one way? i think so... Also nourishing to the music nerd in me. At one point it made me think of Pynchon, though i'm not really into Pynchon. something about the pop-mysticism that runs through the story.
I loved this and all the layers in it - the overlapping notions of identity & self-creation, the metaphors from all of time. Hard to describe it now, but the whole time I was reading it, I wanted to talk about it with someone. Seriously one of the best I’ve picked up in a while.
Contains, sentence for sentence, some of the most arresting prose I've ever had the pleasure to read in a novel. I adored this book.
