This novel has SO MUCH IN IT, but it didn't seem crowded to me. It seemed messy like life. Fierro is a beautiful writer. I love the way she conveys the best and the worst that we humans can be. There's violence (against women, kids, dogs, and gypsy moths) that at times is hard to take, but not gratuitous and never excruciatingly detailed. I didn't see some things coming and am disappointed how other things turned out -- again, like in life -- but in the end, I finished the book with a sense of satisfaction of having been on an epic journey.

An excellent summer read for those who like family drama, well-wrought tragedy, and historical fiction.

Full review on my blog: https://wildmoobooks.com/2017/06/15/review-the-gypsy-moth-summer-by-julia-fierro... ( )

Powered by prose at once enchanting and colloquial, true, vividly-realized characters, and a literary voice that practically reverberates with authority, Fierro’s The Gypsy Moth Summer may not only be this year’s best second novel, but its best book period. Featuring a complex plot, a many-faceted story brimming with insights into people and families at all stages of the life cycle, zoology, myth, and allegory this is the rare beach read that doubles as a novel of ideas.

http://thenervousbreakdown.com/kbaumeister/2017/08/the-nervous-breakdowns-review... ( )

I've got mixed feelings about this book -I thoroughly enjoyed it until the end, then I was left disappointed by how everything turned out (but maybe I just had my heart set on a happy ending). I did enjoy reading about the lives of the various characters living on the island of Avalon, and I especially liked the Marshall-Simmons family and their complex relationships with the rest of the islanders. It was weird to read something set during the 1992 presidential election (Bill Clinton comes up repeatedly), but it did give the book an added historical context. An interesting read overall, one I just can't say I conclusively liked. ( )

The Short of It:

The inhabitants of Avalon island are trapped between the here and now and what the future holds for them during one of the worst moth infestations to ever hit the island.

The Rest of It:

The story starts off innocent enough. Jules and Leslie return to the island of Avalon with dreams of restoring her family home, known by all the locals as The Castle. While living in the cottage guest house, Jules is at first unsure of the move. Is this island ready to accept an interracial marriage, no questions asked? Jules is willing to find out when he discovers the beautiful gardens attached to The Castle.

Also on the island is Maddie and her rag-tag group of friends led by Bitsy, every bit as horrible as her name implies. Maddie is constantly measuring herself against her peers. Is she pretty enough? Smart enough? Cool enough? The pressure to fit in forces her to experiment even though in her head she knows it could end with disastrous results. But then Maddie meets Brooks, the son of Leslie and Jules. Brooks is like no other boy she’s met before but will their relationship be accepted by her friends? His family? Hers?

This is not the first time I’ve read a Fierro novel. Her first novel Cutting Teeth impressed me with its raw, brutal look at “adulting” before “adulting” was even a word. In The Gypsy Moth Summer, there is a lot of racial and class tension as these island inhabitants are thrown together while the destructive Gypsy moths devour trees to the point that their chomping can actually be heard.

This constant battle of life vs. death, creation vs. destruction, love vs. hate wears these characters down and the end result is a tightly wound novel full of dysfunction (my favorite thing). It’s not shiny and pretty to look at. It’s not sandy beaches and blue, blue water but it’s a little gritty and there’s heat between some of these characters which makes it a little racy at the same time. I loved how Fierro included facts about the Gypsy moth in the story and of course these life cycle inclusions could easily be compared to the island’s inhabitants as they go about their lives.

For more reviews, visit my blog: Book Chatter. ( )

Author Julia Fierro garnered critical praise for her debut novel, Cutting Teeth, about a group of preschool parents and a weekend they spend together on Long Island. (My review is here.)

She managed to corral a large group of characters and make them believeable and interesting. In her new novel, The Gypsy Moth Summer, we once again get a multi-character saga, this time set in 1992 Avalon Island, a stand-in for Long Island.

Leslie has been estranged from her wealthy parents since she married Jules, an African-American man. Leslie and Jules have two children- handsome, sensitive teenage Brooks and toddler Eva. When Leslie inherits her parents' large estate in Avalon, she moves her children and a reluctant Jules back to her now-crumbling family home.

Jules is less than excited, but he is a landscape architect and the beautiful gardens on his in-laws' estate seduces him. What he could do with those gardens! But he fears Leslie is hiding something from him too.

Jules is also concerned about his son Brooks. There aren't many black families on Avalon, and when Brooks becomes involved with Maddie, a 16 year-old with an alcoholic mother, and a father who berates (and beats) her and her brother Dominic, Jules' antenna is raised.

Maddie's grandfather is the Colonel, a man who holds an important position at Grudder Aviation, a company that made its upper echelon millionaires off the many years of government contracts they procured.

The effects of aging are taking its toll on the Colonel, and his wife Veronica can't hide his condition forever. Veronica doesn't trust Leslie, believing that she has come home to cause trouble for Grudder, so she intends to use Maddie's relationship with Leslie's son to uncover Leslie's plans.

Once again, Fierro writes multi-faceted characters, and each person's point of view is distinct. We understand why they do the things they do. Fierro creates such empathy for each of her characters, even the ones you may not particularly like.

You'll be transported back to your own teenage summer romances as Fierro gets those feelings and the 1992 atmosphere pitch-perfect. (The 1992 presidential race, the clothes and the food will bring back memories.)

Fierro has many balls in the air here, and she juggles them all with admirable skill. The Gypsy Moth Summer deals with family issues, class distinctions, race issues, summer romance, the military complex, corporate pollution and yes, a gypsy moth invasion that overshadows everything happening in the summer of 1992. I highly recommend The Gypsy Moth Summer, it will be one of the most-talked about books of the summer. ( )