Happier tale than the title would suggest
Emo teen Kyle Jackowski is a born and raised New Yorker living with his miserly, abusive step-father and his perennially dis-empowered mother. When Kyle runs afoul of the legal system, he's sentenced to a residential work-program on a dairy-farm upstate. It may well be the luckiest day of his life. His placement family are welcoming and nurturing in a way that Kyle has never experienced before. But when their biological son returns from college and Kyle recognizes the guy from his dream...
This book is a feel good tale of first-love and a young guy coming into his own when he finds an environment that is suited to him. The beginning scenes (and pretty much any scenes with his step father) are a bit over the top and the wholesomeness and acceptance that he finds in the rural family are almost too good to be true but still, this is a pleasure to read.
Some of the passages involving Kyle's first exposure to farm-fresh foods actually made me hungry (and a bit homesick.) The first time the boys spend the night alone under the open sky, the city-boy, country-boy thing is one of the sweetest romantic scenes I've read in yonks.
The title of this book DOES make sense but in a way it sets the wrong tone for the novel. At first glance, it sounds sad but one soon learns that "Last of the Summer Tomatoes" aren't necessarily a bad thing when a new crop is just around the corner. Just a bit nostalgic.
As a guy who grew up in the country and then moved to the city, I enjoyed this book a lot. Not sure if it will have the same impact on those that city slickers through and through.
Emo teen Kyle Jackowski is a born and raised New Yorker living with his miserly, abusive step-father and his perennially dis-empowered mother. When Kyle runs afoul of the legal system, he's sentenced to a residential work-program on a dairy-farm upstate. It may well be the luckiest day of his life. His placement family are welcoming and nurturing in a way that Kyle has never experienced before. But when their biological son returns from college and Kyle recognizes the guy from his dream...
This book is a feel good tale of first-love and a young guy coming into his own when he finds an environment that is suited to him. The beginning scenes (and pretty much any scenes with his step father) are a bit over the top and the wholesomeness and acceptance that he finds in the rural family are almost too good to be true but still, this is a pleasure to read.
Some of the passages involving Kyle's first exposure to farm-fresh foods actually made me hungry (and a bit homesick.) The first time the boys spend the night alone under the open sky, the city-boy, country-boy thing is one of the sweetest romantic scenes I've read in yonks.
The title of this book DOES make sense but in a way it sets the wrong tone for the novel. At first glance, it sounds sad but one soon learns that "Last of the Summer Tomatoes" aren't necessarily a bad thing when a new crop is just around the corner. Just a bit nostalgic.
As a guy who grew up in the country and then moved to the city, I enjoyed this book a lot. Not sure if it will have the same impact on those that city slickers through and through.
