Herman Raucher (1928–2023)

I loved this thing. Way wacky haunted house psychological horror tale that’s pretty weird and fun along the way. Also a poignant story about how war and combat teach basically normal and good people to become unhinged and paranoid. We identify with the protagonist who has mostly sublimated his war trauma even as we realize from his thoughts and behavior that this has shaped who he
now is, and a creepy house he inherited from ‘Nam buddy Maynard is not going to make things better, or is show more it?

The house in the Maine wilderness becomes a symbol for what’s going on in Austin’s head and we’re not even sure if the people or animals he encounters are real, in his head, or wraiths. In fact, the entire novel is laden with symbols of death and rebirth.

Nice embodiment of PTSD which didn’t even have a name when this was written.

Raucher is better known for the coming of age novel Summer of ‘42 which was made into a popular and much talked about (at the time) movie. This was another cloaked war story from a different perspective. show less

In that particular summer Hermie was fifteen, wildly obsessed with sex, deeply and passionately in love with an "older woman" of twenty-two. Summer of '42 is the story of Hermie and the lovely Dorothy, of Hermie's frantic efforts to become a man, and of his glorious and heartbreaking initiation into sex.

By turns hilarious and heartbreaking coming of age story set during WWII, based on the book by Herman Raucher. The scene in the drugstore is a masterpiece. Ms. O'Neill is unforgettable

This was a re-read of an old favorite and, as with all good literature, every trip to Packett Island reveals new insights and details laying about the beach and in the prose. A fine story well told of an earlier, more innocent – not simpler – time. It was like visiting an old friend and reminiscing. Almost an exercise in free association, a read that leaves you with a smile on your face and the urge to pour the sand out of your shoes.