Perennials - Mandy Berman

Random House, June 6, 2017.

Three Stars

Perennials is an evocative, nostalgic summer read about the uncharted land between childhood and adulthood, filtered through the backdrop of a rural New York summer camp. The fleeting eight weeks of camp are narrated by both the campers and the counselors, who return year after year – as they discover secrets, temptation, and their own developing bodies and minds.

Thirteen-year-old girls Rachel and Fiona become best friends at Camp Marigold, despite their vast socio-economic differences. Rachel lives in New York City with her single mother, although she occasionally sees her father – whose wife and legitimate children don’t know she exists. She is a street-smart city kid who lacks Fiona’s wealth and family, although she has something more powerful – her burgeoning adolescent sexuality, and a newfound ability to control the boys and men around her. Fiona lives a more sheltered suburban life with her parents and siblings, and yet she is insecure, naïve and envious of Rachel’s popularity.

Six years later, Rachel and Fiona return to Camp Marigold as counselors. The girls see camp life through new eyes, as they are forced to confront the past and embrace the adults they have become. The novel explores the intricacies of female friendship, as well as the complications of adolescent longing – both for each other, and for their own future. The campers are eager to grow up fast, at the expense of lost innocence.

The novel builds slowly to its tragic climax, although it is not climactic enough in my opinion – there is constantly elevating tension, yet no real release. The intensity of the summer camp situation is perhaps difficult to relate to if the reader hasn’t experienced it, although there are some very vividly described moments that Berman expertly captures. However, there are also too many shifts to different characters, which distances the reader from the forward movement of the plot.

The story advances unevenly, and the ending is sudden, without the expected sense of closure. I felt that I was missing the necessary connection between reader and character, because even seeing the girls at their most intimate moments still kept them at a distance from me. However, I did feel that Berman did an excellent job of describing the intensity of relationships in situations like this, when certain people who seem so vital to us in the short term, just suddenly disappear from our lives. Despite that, I think this may have worked better as a collection of short stories or series of summer camp vignettes instead of being forced to fit into the novel format.

I received this book from Random House and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.