Voices in Summer

Voices in Summer by Rosamunde Pilcher
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

The Gist

After I finished Another View by Pilcher I was ready to dive into another one of her books.

It is a bit difficult to find a good, reliable listing of her publications, the year of publication and a synopsis that isn’t misleading. It took me a bit of time, but I finally settled on Voices in Summer based on the little book blurb I found.

The Details

Sadly, I found the synopsis for this story very misleading, which impacted my opinion of the story while I was reading it. I kept waiting for the thing to happen that was alluded to in the synopsis. So, one could say I was slightly distracted in my reading.

Nevertheless, as soon as I had finished Voices in Summer all I could say was “phft…?!”.

What the heck did I just read?

I felt this story just threw everything at the wall and saw what would stick. We got an unhappy marriage, divorce, a child, a second marriage, some sort of illness, a mystery, the beginnings of an important discussion on care for the elderly, murder, and some elements of chauvinistic behaviours.

Parts of this story really did not age well at all either. I had a strong impression that this story meant to show where a woman’s place is supposed to be and what the proper opinion regarding abortion should be.

I know, I understand that this story was written in the mid-80’s, but it almost felt like some situations and scenarios were created specifically to bring forth said opinions, even though they had little to nothing to do with the actual plot of the story.

Throw in Pilcher’s great talent for describing the beautiful English scenery and I’m at a complete loss at to how to feel about this story.

On the one hand, I was deeply disappointed by Voices in Summer. On the other hand, I couldn’t get enough of its scenery and the fuzzy, happy feelings it gave me at times.

The Verdict

Overall, I’m at a loss. I loved it and I hated it. For now I am taking a break from reading Pilcher’s stories, but I cannot wait to read another one of her books.

I have never been so torn.