Marjorie Reynolds (1)

3.5***

From the book jacket: When land developers uncover human bones at the site of the old drive-in, Callie Anne Benton realizes that she alone knows the identity of the victim who mysteriously disappeared thirty-six years ago. She recalls the tumultuous summer of 1956, when, nearly thirteen, she’s stuck at home with her parents during a long, hot summer in rural Indiana.

My reactions
I was completely hooked on this story from beginning to end. Callie is a wonderful character / narrator. She’s smart and observant, but also naïve and prone to flights of fancy. Living on the grounds of the drive-in, where her father is the manager, she’s watched too many movies, and her imagination tends to run away with her. The summer of 1956 is one where she begins to feel the stirrings of first love, but also witnesses the complexity of adult love. She doesn’t always understand what she sees but tries her best to piece it together.

It's a great coming-of-age story and told well. Brought back many memories of my family outings to the drive-in when I was a kid.… (mehr)

Land developers find the skeletal remains buried at the site of the old Starlite Drive-In theater. As news of the discovery reach Callie Ann Benton she rushes to the site. Being a small town, Callie Ann knows the sheriff quite well and he allows her to view the scene and the small amount of evidence that had been buried with the body. Immediately, Callie Ann knows who it is as she remembers a summer 36 years ago.

In 1956, the summer before she was to turn 13, Callie Ann lived with her mother and father at the Starlite. Claude Benton Jr. was the proprietor of the drive-in and the job came with the perk of a small house on the edge of the property. Callie Ann spent countless hours in the projection room above the concession stand with her father as he changed the ponderous reels of film every 20 minutes. These were the only times Callie Ann felt close to her father who was a bitter, angry man who felt trapped in a small town job with no prospects of the bright future he had always dreamed of. Much of his anger is directed at Teal, his beautiful agoraphobic wife, who has not stepped outside of their house in over five years. Claude resents Teal's affliction and treats her with disdain. Everything changes when a handsome drifter, Charlie Memphis, begins work at the drive-in as a handyman. Callie Ann is immediately smitten with Memphis, seeing him as one of the handsome heroes she watches on the huge drive-in screen. Memphis and Teal form a fast friendship and Memphis begins visiting the small house every evening as Claude runs the movie projector across the parking lot. Friendship soon turns to much more as Memphis shows Teal what it like to be appreciated and cherished. Teal learns to trust Memphis completely and he slowly brings her out into the world once again. Their relationship does not go unnoticed by Claude and after a heated physical confrontation between the two men, Claude tells Teal and Callie Ann that he fired Memphis and that he had left for good. Teal continues to believe that Memphis will return for her and Callie Ann and never gives up hope as the years pass.

Almost the entire book centers of that summer of 1956 when Callie Ann learns wonderful and sometimes very harsh life lessons. Although she is love-struck by Memphis she has her first kiss with a local farm boy and her first taste of puppy love. She is intrigued by the mysterious Memphis and feels there has been a lot of danger and possibly even criminal activity in his past. She is embarassed by the flowering of Teal's emotions and torn between her loyalty to her father and the kindness she finds with Memphis. I enjoyed Callie Ann's character so much and even though the identity of the vicitm was not a surprise it was a really good read.
… (mehr)

Sometimes a book evokes a time and a place so well, the reader feels like she's been dropped into it. That is the feeling I had reading Marjorie Reynold's The Starlite Drive-in.

Set in the hot, dusty summer of 1956 in a small Indiana town, I felt like I had to turn on the air conditioning to cool off, even though it was a cold winter day in New York City where I was reading the novel.

The book opens in the 1990s, where human remains are found at the old drive-in that Callie Anne's dad ran in the 1950s. Callie Anne, her dad Claude, and her mom Teal lived in a house on the drive-in property, and practically their entire lives revolved around around the drive-in.

For Teal, her entire life revolved around her house. Something happened to Teal a few years back; she became severely agoraphobic, unable to leave her home. This also meant that Claude and Callie Anne were stuck there too, something for which Claude resented Teal. He treated his wife and daughter poorly, yelling at them, talking down to them, calling them names; they walked on eggshells around Claude.

One day, a drifter named Memphis got a job working at the drive-in. Callie Anne, just beginning adolescence, fell hard for the good-looking, mysterious man. Memphis was a quiet man, but he had a connection with Teal. He didn't like the way Claude treated Teal, and began to fall in love with her. His presence at the drive-in changed everything for Callie Anne's family that summer.

Reynold's novel cast a spell on the reader. The characters are fleshed out and interesting, from the major ones like Callie, Memphis, Teal and Claude to the minor ones, like Teal's strong-willed sister Bliss, and Virgil, the young man who worked at the drive-in and with whom Callie begins a tender relationship. I liked how most of the characters were good at heart, but people with flaws, desires and hopes.

Although the story is told from Callie Anne's point of view, it was Teal's journey that moved me most. She went from a timid, lonely woman to someone who blossomed as she attempted to overcome her agoraphobia and open herself up to love. I loved her inner strength.

There is some action in the book, even a few scenes that will make you hold your breath. The story reminded me of The Last Picture Show (the movie, as I have never read the book), even down to the movie reference in the titles. It has a small 1950s town, characters with secrets, illicit love and a languid pace.

I think Callie summed it all up best when she said "I didn't know how to express what was really bothering me. It was tied up with loving Charlie Memphis and losing a dream and thinking life was too complicated and hard on people. There was even something to do with responsibility, but I couldn't make sense of it."

Life was hard on the people on The Starlite Drive-in, just like it is on many people. I have a feeling I won't soon forget them.… (mehr)