This week I have read This One Summer by Mariko and Jilian Tamaki. This is simply one of those stories that shares the real life of teens and family drama. There isn’t anything over dramatic that takes place and there’s not crazy plot twists to put us on edge. It’s the relaxing type that you can just read to share the emotions with and understand how the characters feel. The character development is beautiful, which is essential for these types of stories. Since there is nothing crazy going on, there really needs to be believable plots and dialogue.
I found it interesting to see Rose’s fascination with the Dud and the guys poor manners and talk of sex while Windy was disgusted. I really thought something bad was going to happen to one of them. One day they may get caught up trying to fit in with the guys the nasty girls they associate with and then someone may try to take advantage or peer pressure the young girls. I realized the story didn’t need that type of drama. We can understand what goes on with those kind of people from afar.
Another problem we see is within the family drama. Every family has some sort of drama go on and the kids never really understand why because it’s simply adult things. There is this disconnection with the mother and we believe she’s just removing herself for no reason. It seems that she just wants to be sad all of the time and she never wants to partake with the family. This is clearly difficult for both Rose and the father. Rose wants a mother that with relax and not start arguments and the father wants a wife that won’t give up. During their first argument there was so much emphasis on the shattering bowl. It symbolized the relationships they have and almost seemed intentional to avoid the husband’s kiss. Next the brother-in-law really pushes to get her into the water which causes the mother to freak out at him. I do believe she needed to lighten up because why go out with the family if you’re not going to spend time or enjoy it. We find out towards the end that the mother had a miscarriage while swimming and lost her second child. This is clearly a huge deal and could easily scar the mother. I have sympathy for the mother because it’s a horrible thing to happen. At the same time I believe it’s important to move on. The only way she could ever be happy is by moving on and enjoying what she still has and the daughter that is with her and the husband that still supports her. So yes, perhaps she’s had reason to be so removed but at the same time it’s something to leave in the past and move on to become a happy spirited mother once again.
The last issue that is briefly brought up from time to time is the idea of adoption and early pregnancy. As we see these kids talking about sex all the time one of them actually gets pregnant. There are chances for is to have sympathy for the pregnant girl, Jenny, but at the same time it is fare to say she was irresponsible to get pregnant, especially because these kids are really just a bunch of bums, as Windy would call them. There was a moment when Rose mentioned that Jenny was just a slut and should have controlled herself so this issue would not have happened. Rose says she should have taken care of her stuff to prevent the pregnancy because what would she do with it afterwards, give it away? This is offensive to Windy. Windy mentions that it’s sexist to blame the girl for being irresponsible, which is true because both sides should have known better. The reason it is really offensive to WIndy is because Rose keeps forgetting how Windy was adopted. We don’t know the story of why she was adopted or who her parents were. They could have simply been just like Jenny and the Dud, being irresponsible. What does that say about the situation? Windy may never have been born so we see how the two have apposing beliefs.
There’s obviously a lot you can take from the story. Even with the simple plot we seem to learn so much. Something to think about is how this is a small story about only two kids during one summer. That is nothing in terms of quantity of knowledge when compared to the world. We see how so much can be told and learned from in this one story. What if there was a story for the rest of the world, the billions of people. We all live different lives and have combinations of different issues that we must face. To be able to see everyones story would be amazing but of course impossible. We can learn so much from following others. To narrow it back down, these stories are able to feel real for one reason. It’s the character development that Mariko and Jilian Tamaki have created to bring this simple story of a summer come to life.
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