Overview
An Unforgettable Summer
When sixteen-year-old Lang has the chance to spend the summer at the ritzy East Hampton estate of retired rock star Ben Nevada, he's pretty sure that it will be the summer of a lifetime. But what Lang doesn't expect is that in addition to hobnobbing with the rich and famous of the rock world, he'll find himself coming out about his homosexuality to his childhood friends, reevaluating his relationship with his boyfriend, Alex, and-most surprising of all-falling in love with a girl.
From the award-winning author of DELIVER US FROM EVIE, this is a powefully moving novel of a young man's struggle to come to terms with his sexuality, his emotions, and ultimately himself.
When sixteen-year-old Lang has the chance to spend the summer at the ritzy East Hampton estate of retired rock star Ben Nevada, he's pretty sure that it will be the summer of a lifetime. But what Lang doesn't expect is that in addition to hobnobbing with the rich and famous of the rock world, he'll find himself coming out about his homosexuality to his childhood friends, reevaluating his relationship with his boyfriend, Alex, and—most surprising of all—falling in love with a girl.
From the award-winning author of Deliver is From Evie, this is a powerfully moving novel of a young man's struggle to come to terms with his sexuality, his emotions and ultimately himself.
Author Biography:
M.E. Kerr is a winner of the American Library Association's Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the 2000 ALAN award from the National Council of Teachers of English. She lives in East Hampton, New York, and remembers clearly the hometown boy who chosenot to fight when all the other young men, including her brother, were marching off to war.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
With its addictive combination of absorbing themes and glamorous setting, Kerr's newest stands up to the best of her oeuvre. Lang Penner, still in high school, can't decide if he should come out. His single mother, not entirely accepting his gayness, discourages him; his lover, an actor who's just a bit older than him, favors candor. The issue seems paramount the summer Lang accompanies his mother from their home in New York City to work on Long Island for Ben Nevada, a reclusive retired rock star. Nevada has the mystique of Elvis and John Lennon, but although Lang is awed by his music, he doesn't let Nevada push him around. He refuses to squire around a teenage girl visiting from France, the daughter of Nevada's ex-lover. But Huguette proves as charming as Audrey Hepburn (Kerr doesn't just state this, she shows it), and Lang more than enjoys her company. His uncertainty about declaring his gayness to her gets more complicated as his attraction to her grows stronger. Meanwhile, he feels acutely aware of other people's duplicities: Huguette deceives Nevada about contact with an unsuitable boyfriend in France; the restaurant where Lang works serves pre-prepared food and passes it off as homemade; etc. Kerr's pacing is swift, her treatment of the rock-star scene glossy and compelling, and her approach to sexuality frank and honest. Lang and Huguette do have sex-once; and Lang comes to understand that sexual orientation is rarely fixed or unswerving. This book successfully challenges readers' assumptions, breaking them down to offer more hopeful, affirming ideas about love and truth.Publishers Weekly -
A gay teenager contemplates coming out and finds himself attracted to a French girl. "With its addictive combination of absorbing themes and glamorous setting, Kerr's newest stands up to the best of her oeuvre," said PW in a starred review. Ages 12-up. (May)Children's Literature -
The subject of this book-homosexuality-may turn off young male readers, which would be a shame because its young male protagonist is so realistic and likable. Lang Penner is summering in the Hamptons because his mom has a job housekeeping for a reclusive former rock star. Lang is involved in a secret relationship and tired of pretending to be just like his straight friends. He misses his boyfriend fiercely and can't wait for summer to be over. When the rock star wants him to entertain his visiting goddaughter, Lang is at first resentful and later glad, as the girl turns out to be a quirky, notable friend. As their relationship subtly changes, Lang begins to question his true nature. Yet this is NOT a book in which a gay character is "reformed" by the love of a beautiful girl. Instead, it's an examination of all kinds of love, betrayal, values and renewed hope.The ALAN Review -
In a groundbreaking novel, M. E. Kerr once again tackles the issue of homosexuality-but this time from the point of view of a male. Spending the summer in the Hamptons, seventeen-year-old Lang Penner and his mother have moved into the caretakers' cottage owned by rock star Ben Nevada. Although Lang's mother has resigned herself to the fact that her son is gay, Lang struggles with how to break this fact to his long-time friends who have come to visit. Then the struggle increases when Nevada's teenage houseguest Huguette arrives, and Lang becomes surprisingly infatuated with her. How will he explain these feelings to his friend Alex? Portraying difficult issues, realistic dialogue, and a rock music world, this book should become widely read and profoundly discussed by mature teens. HarperCollins,School Library Journal
Gr 10 UpLang Penner, 17, spends the summer on Long Island, where his mother is working for Ben Nevada, a wealthy retired rock star. Lang's lover, Alex, is pressing him to live openly as a homosexual and quit dissembling. The title pretty well sums up Lang's actual strategy. He slowly grows more open about his sexuality but becomes deeply attached to Huguette, a young woman from France whose parents have sent her to spend the summer with their friend Nevada. Lang is so smitten that he'd "always think of it as the summer that I loved a girl," after their one and only night of love-making. This is M. E. Kerr, so Hello, I Lied is sharp, funny, and vivid. The trouble with it is that Kerr's previous book covering the same territory, Deliver Us from Evie (HarperCollins, 1994), has a narrative drive so powerful that Lang's inconclusive summer pales in comparison. Evie's story, told from her brother's point of view, leaves readers room to breathe. Lang's first-person narrative is awkward and overt. In the earlier title, Patsy Duff, Evie's lover, barely appears and has only a few lines, yet is completely believable. Huguette drives Hello's plot, yet she never lifts off the page. Not much happens in the story, and the plot meanders.Kathy Fritts, Jesuit High School, Portland, ORKirkus Reviews
Trust M.E. Kerr (Deliver Us From Evie, 1994, etc.) to put a new twist on an old story: "I know that I'd always think of it as the summer that I loved a girl," Lang, the narrator, concludes ruefully. But Lang is solidly and happily gay, although, unlike his lover, Alex, he can't quite bring himself to be public about it. He moves with his mother to the caretaker's cottage on a retired rock star's Long Island estate, to "help out, hide out, cool out, come out." He finds himself saddled with an unwelcome duty when his employer enlists him as a "safe" chaperone for Huguette, a long-dead band member's daughter who has been hastily flown over from France to break up a teenage infatuation. Hanging out with Huguette, an Audrey Hepburn look-alike with cute, accented English, Lang not only gets a taste of life in a rarefied social stratum, but begins to develop strange—for him—feelings; meanwhile, as he nerves himself to come out to his school friends, he pines for Alex, and on their infrequent dates, not only gets a taste of gay society, but experiences the gamut of public reactions. When Lang and Huguette do end up in bed together, both recognize it as an end rather than a beginning.Written in Kerr's blithe style, this is an urbane story with a bit of an edge, a likably confused protagonist, and some deftly inserted information.