Summerlong - by Dean Bakopoulos (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"Tennessee Williams has nothing on Bakopoulos when it comes to marital and moral dissipation... Into this emotional abyss Bakopoulos injects a high degree of coy humor and wry self-deprecation to deliver a heartbreaking and wise ... A sure hit with fans of the three Jonathans: Dee, Franzen, and Tropper."--Booklist (starred review)

From the Back Cover

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. His wife, Claire, out on a midnight run, finds 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. Can Claire and Don survive everything that befalls them in this one summer, forgive their mistakes, and begin again?

Review Quotes

Dean Bakopoulos is a great talent--everything he writes is full of insight and inspiration and the best kind of divine comedy. -- Lorrie Moore

Summerlong is Dean Bakopoulos at his finest: daringly funny, heartbreakingly sad, and forever on the watch for redemption. This is a book for any season, any reader, anywhere--it shimmers with magic, lust, and love. -- Nickolas Butler, author of Shotgun Lovesongs

There is no better guide through a hot summer in the heartland than Dean Bakopoulos...Lovers chasing all over the joint, the glorious wreckage, and Bakopoulos with his keen eye, his sympathy and his wit, there to see all. -- Jane Hamilton

"Tennessee Williams has nothing on Bakopoulos when it comes to marital and moral dissipation... Into this emotional abyss Bakopoulos injects a high degree of coy humor and wry self-deprecation to deliver a heartbreaking and wise ... A sure hit with fans of the three Jonathans: Dee, Franzen, and Tropper." -- Booklist (starred review)

"Provocative, sultry... the novel stays light on its feet; its breezy chapters are laced with sex and humor... between the louche vibe and matriarchal presence, the novel often feels like Armistead Maupin's San Francisco teleported to the Midwest." -- Kirkus Reviews

"Bakopoulos is very much his own writer, and it is his distinct humanity and sense of humor that make this story so emotionally rewarding. This is that rare, contemporary suburban novel with characters the reader can actually embrace in spite of their many flaws." -- Publishers Weekly

"A witty read about likeable people behaving badly." -- People

"A couple in a crumbling marriage find themselves entwined with two lost 20-somethings during a hot, sticky Iowan summer... Dean Bakopoulos, who lives in Iowa himself, crafts a surprisingly steamy Midwestern landscape and a set of characters who will do anything to stay afloat as their lives fall apart." -- Esquire

"Summer gets weird in a Midwestern town when married couples start behaving recklessly-as if, my God, they're not married at all! Bakopoulos... uses the adults' bizarre behavior to examine ideas about marriage, happiness and that oh-so-slim line between fantasy and infidelity." -- Miami Herald

"A dishy warm-weather read... Bakopoulos draws readers into the intimate life of married couple Claire and Don Lowry as they wrestle with parenting, failed ambitions and the search for middle-aged happiness. There's sex, drugs and more sex in this steamy summer tale, with an intensely emotional undercurrent." -- Wisconsin State Journal

"Attention vacationers: Award-winning author Dean Bakopoulos... has served up a sultry story that fits perfectly in your carry-on...[but] This isn't just a story of people enjoying a free-love bacchanal; Summerlong also explores the consequences and heartbreak of testing the limits of relationships." -- BookPage

" For a novel steeped in marital atrophy and midlife ennui, "Summerlong" offers plenty of humor in unexpected moments." -- New York Times

"Summerlong is the Great White Midlife Crisis novel that Jonathan Franzen has tried to write (and failed) and Jonathan Lethem has tried to write (and failed) and Michael Chabon (wisely) half-avoided ever trying to write. But Dean Bakopoulos pulls it off." -- NPR.org

"Summerlong is both smart and satisfying." -- Metro US

" 'Compared to the moody and fierce North Atlantic, the vista of the icy blue lake seems to make your heart swell rather than tremble, ' thinks ABC when she sees it. The novel's ending, sort of surprisingly, provokes the same reaction." -- Newsday

"[A] sexy but surprisingly poignant new novel...Bakopoulos's greatest talent is his ability to mix ribald comedy with heartfelt sorrow." -- Washington Post, Ron Charles

"All the threads Bakopoulos has been expertly weaving suddenly begin to connect, and suddenly everything fits in a way that is as dazzling as the firefires that dot the shore, bringing a sense of absolute wonder and even a kind of hope." -- San Francisco Chronicle

"Beyond the muggy weather, Bakopoulos, writer-in-residence at Grinnell College, conjures the milky mood of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream, ' with pot and booze substituting for fairy dust and lovers entwined with the wrong person... Lord, what fools these mortals be! And what fun to see them in action." -- Seattle Times

"A sharply observed and smartly written book... captures the that instant of perfect equilibrium, where everything is exactly right - when love and family and career have come into exquisite balance. And then the instant after when everything you thought you've built just falls to pieces." -- NPR, Best Books of 2015

"With great heart and humor, Bakopoulos drops us into the town of Grinnell, Iowa, during a single summer heat wave of lust, longing and the vagaries of love." -- San Francisco Chronicle, 100 Best Books of 2015