The Square Root of Summer by Harriet Reuter Hapgood

The Square Root of Summer

by Harriet Reuter Hapgood

My heart is a kaleidoscope, and when we kiss it makes my world unravel . . .

Last summer, Gottie's life fell apart. Her beloved grandfather Grey died and Jason, the boy to whom she lost her heart wouldn't even hold her hand at the funeral. This summer, still reeling from twin heartbreaks, Gottie is lost and alone and burying herself in equations. Until, after five years absence, Thomas comes home: former boy next door. Former best friend. Former everything. And as life turns upside down again she starts to experience strange blips in time - back to last summer, back to what she should have seen then . . .

During one long, hazy summer, Gottie navigates grief, world-stopping kisses and rips in the space-time continuum, as she tries to reconcile her first heartbreak with her last.

The Square Root of Summer is an astounding and moving debut from Harriet Reuter Hapgood.

Reviewed by Joséphine on

4 of 5 stars

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Initial thoughts: Part of me enjoyed The Square Root of Summer while part of me felt conflicted. The winding chronology gave the book such an odd pacing and that made me feel rather distant. At the same time, it's a stylistic choice of narration than captured the off-kilter summer Gottiewent through. There's so much to this book that I'm still trying to grapple with before I write my review proper.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 9 May, 2016: Finished reading
  • 9 May, 2016: Reviewed