3.2/5 ( )

I had never heard of this author nor anything about the book before I started reading it. Sometimes this is a good thing. In this case it was. I had now expectations. It is an interesting take on a marriage that is imploding, and adds some offbeat sideline players to the mix. I do think it is helpful to be at least in your late 30's or older and married to appreciate the book. The story is a little predictable, and things do all kind of come together to neatly but it was a very good book. ( )

In the sweltering heat of one summer in a small Midwestern town, Claire and Don Lowry discover that married life isn't quite what they'd predicted.

One night Don, a father of two, leaves his house for an evening stroll, only to wake up the next morning stoned and lying in a hammock next to a young woman he barely knows. Meanwhile, his wife, Claire, leaves the house to go on a midnight run—only to find herself bumming cigarettes and beer outside the all-night convenience store.

As the summer lingers and the temperature rises, this quotidian town's adults grow wilder and more reckless while their children grow increasingly confused. Claire, Don, and their neighbors and friends find themselves on an existential odyssey, exploring the most puzzling quandaries of marriage and maturity. When does a fantasy become infidelity? When does compromise incite resentment? When does routine become boring monotony? Can Claire and Don survive everything that befalls them in this one summer, forgive their mistakes, and begin again? ( )

Didn't finish. Too many F-bombs. ( )

Summerlong by Dean Bakopoulos
This book starts out with a married couple, two kids and they are nearing 40 and some changes are coming to each of them.
One night he gets up and walks out to find a woman lying in the grass and ends up waking up next to her in the morning. She has taken a run she knows he's home in the basement watching TV, he'd be there for the kids if they should waken.
She ends up having a few beers with a younger man. Iowa is where they live. Don works at a real estate agency. The cops find them both and deliver them home along with a foreclosure notice and their kids with a cop on the lawn wrapped in blankets.
Neither of them explain where they had been and doing-it's just a fantasy, now back to real life. Claire is an author but only has one book under her belt.
We learn of their other relationships and what is going through their minds...
Stories go back in time before they met, during their dating years and up to date present time spent with others.
Lives of all involved intertwine and loved hearing of the northern woods vacation...but will they have a chance at forever love?
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device). ( )