Ratings

Content Ratings based on a 0-5 scale where
0 = no objectionable content and
5 = an excessive or disturbing level of content

Guide to Rating System

LANGUAGE

VIOLENCE

SEXUAL CONTENT

ADULT THEMES

Ratings Explanation

Sexual Content:  Carmen’s mother, Christina, sleeps with her boyfriend, David.  Kostas and Lena spend an amorous night pushing the limits.  She desires him, but he restrains himself to be a “gentleman”.  When Lena breaks up with Kostas, “the rebound girl” becomes pregnant.  Kostas leaves Lena and returns to Greece to marry the girl.  Carmen spends a lot of energy describing Paul, her father’s attractive stepson.   Brian, Tibby’s friend, spends the night sleeping on the floor of her dorm room.  Tibby shuns Brian’s friendship in her quest to be associated with “cool” peers.

Adult Themes:  Bridget travels to Alabama to get to know her mother’s past as she spends time with her grandmother, Greta.  Bridget grapples with her mother’s mental illness and subsequent suicide.  She also deals with her father’s distancing role in her life.  Carmen attempts to drink her sorrows away, only to become drunk.  Carmen learns to meld the multi-faceted roles of her single mother.  Lena confronts her mother about Eugene, a long lost romance.

Synopsis

The pants make a second summer’s tour through four young girls’ lives: Bridget, Lena, Tibby and Carmen.  The girls each experience the tumult of relationships with their family, friends and those they love as they mature and learn from their summer’s adventure.

I found this book to be very light and packed with romantic drivel. Intense grappling throughout.  Unfortunately, this type of literature is extremely popular.   If you are going to spend 430 pages reading, invest your time in something more substantive.

©2009 The Literate Mother