Sanford Phippen

3.5 stars.

I really enjoyed this book set in Maine starting in 1960 when Andy who was a senior in high school worked at a hotel in Maine, his home state, during the Summer then and thereafter for years. He was a Kitchen Boy, boiling lobsters, helping out, chauffeuring guests. He worked with a lot of wonderful people and they worked and lived well together and had a great Summer along with one of the owners. The other one came up occasionally and he always kept in touch when he went to college. One Summer Andy took another job on the wharf working with lobsters which he didn't like as much as being at the hotel. He eventually went back and got promoted to Assistant Manager.

The hotel guests were characters themselves and I loved hearing about their lives in how they always talked about them.

The Maine accent always made me smile and I got used to seeing And ay instead of Andy and other pronunciations of certain words and starting saying them myself.

Throughout the book I was savoring for lobsters, clams, lobster rolls, and any delicacy that Maine has to offer.… (plus d'informations)

Another boy-to-man novel that’s really an autobiography written as a sequence of vignettes that all take place during a Maine boy’s life between the ages of 16-22 during the late 50s and early 60s while he’s a summer employee at Frenchman’s Bay Manor, a seasonal hotel owned and operated by Madella Richmond and Jean Meyer.

Winkled out of the text are the facts that Andy Harrison is bookish, a devotee of Thomas Wolfe, particularly, and current (then) American writers, in general; that he’s warm, friendly, naive, and virginal; that he longs to escape Downeast; that he dreams romantic dreams of life’s possibilities; finally, that he grows up remarkably untouched and unformed by the current events of his time.

While we’re introduced to a giant cast of hotel employees – mostly young Maniacs – and guests – mostly old and older ordinary out-of-staters, there’s no particular focus on a pivotal moment or moments of Andy’s life that are significant. Just a string of and then moments that accumulate in repetitive detail. “Andy” focuses on food prep, cars, and tepid attempts at sexual awakening. One’s overall impression is that the author is writing so close to home that he wants to make sure he leaves no truly bad impressions of anyone he introduces the reader to.

Still, I kept reading because the locale was exotic and lobster filled -- Yum! But Andy remains colorless and his observations of human nature vapid. Yet, we like him in a mild way because of his innocent boyishness. I’m just not sure that’s enough to make this a worthwhile read.… (plus d'informations)