Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Overlook TP
Manufacturer: Overlook TP
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 576
Printing Date: February 24, 2004
Publishing house: Overlook TP
Sale Popularity Level: 968090
Studio: Overlook TP
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Originally published to glowing reviews in 1972, Dow Mossman's extraordinary debut is a sweeping coming-of-age tale that developed a passionate cult following. It recently inspired the award-winning documentary film Stone Reader, described by Peter Rainer of New York magazine as “a marvelous literary thriller that gets at the way books can stay with people forever.”
Rendered with breathtaking artistry and emotional depth, The Stones of Summer captures the beauty and pain of postwar America. Its vivid evocation of culture-void Iowa in the ’50s and ’60s reveals in layer after layer of richly observed detail the maturation—the very soul—of an artist. Its rediscovery was the catalyst for one filmmaker to confront his faith in the power of great literature to endure, and it can now be embraced by readers everywhere.
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers 
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Looking at the number of 5-star reviews vs. the number of 1-star reviews, it looks like people either love it or hate it. I will agree that it is--was--avant garde writing. And I hate to say this... Well, maybe I won't. I was going to say I think it might be a guy book... but that would be sexist, and I'm certainly not that. I do recommend getting the documentary The Stone Reader and watching that for inspiration before reading the book. And then... to each his own....
Rated by buyers -
Reading The Stones of Summer was equal to penetrating 581 pounds of aluminum, by pulling it back one sheet of foil at a time. The plot is simple; "Four unused matchsticks". But the backdrop is a fireworks factory on fire. Would I recommend this book? Yes; but don't try to analyze it, because it will blister your brain.
Rated by buyers 
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When I found this book in the book store and read the cover it sounded like a very good read. After looking over some of the pages I was a bit taken aback by some of the prose but thought it would turn out to be a good read. I was wrong.
You have to love this book to finish it. I struggled through several tedious pages trying to figure out what the heck Mossman was trying to say, finally giving up and putting it away.
The characters weren't very well explained and the conversations they have are just plain boring. Mossman's descriptive style reminded this reader of the hippy-speak of the sixties. It didn't make sense then and it doesn't make any now.
Rated by buyers -
I discovered this book on the shelf with mostly hack job bestsellers and romantic trash, and a few books on Law Enforcement at a beach house we rented this year. It was one of the all time great beach read discoveries, probably exceeding the time I found The Magus in a beach house. It is sprawling, poetic, confusing, spiritual, overwritten and magical, I am a severe literary snob, but this is an great book, and belongs in the upper echelon of twentieth century american novels.
Rated by buyers -
A truly amazing piece of work. Funny, though provoking, highly original. I'll never forget those characters. Don't let the length scare you away. It reads fast.
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