The Last Bathing Beauty
Book Review - The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan
Book Review - The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan
I met Amy Sue Nathan in an online class through Gotham Writers on novel writing. As many books as I critique, I was interested in learning more about the writing process. I’ve said it many times on this blog, I’m in awe of anyone who can sit down and write a novel. I’d be paralyzed looking at an empty page on my computer screen. Amy Sue Nathan taught me a lot about the process of writing a novel, which is a lot less mystical than many authors make it out to be (although there is a little magic involved.) All of this to say, I learned Amy Sue Nathan was coming out with a historical fiction novel shortly after our course ended so I asked if I could have a copy to read and review!
Book Review - The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan
The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan is about Betty “Boop” Stern, the granddaughter of a well-known local couple who owns a lakeside resort in South Haven, Michigan. The novel jumps back and forth between 1951, the summer before Betty plans to leave for college at Barnard, and 2017 as she says goodbye to South Haven with her lifetime best friends and prepares to move to California to live with her son. She revisits that fateful summer that changed the trajectory of her life.
Book Review - The Last Bathing Beauty by Amy Sue Nathan
Betty reminded me a bit of my grandmother who is definitely the type to enter and win a beauty contest at the “Catskills of the Midwest.” When I imagined Betty I pictured my grandmother (although they were different in many ways, including a key detail in that my grandmother is not Jewish.) I love hearing my grandmother’s stories, which is probably why I enjoyed reading this novel. There were no major twists or shocking discoveries, although there was an air of mystery surrounding how exactly that summer unfolded. Reading this book was like sitting down in your grandmother’s living room and hearing her tell a story from her youth. It is a bit jarring to imagine your grandmother as a teenager, but also incredibly heartwarming.
