Book Review: The Summer I Wasn't Me

This book was REALLY difficult to read, not because it was bad or false, but because it's SO true.

The Summer I Wasn't Me

by Jessica Verdi

Lexi has a secret.  Unfortunately, her mother found her sketch book in her closet--it's the same girl, drawn over and over again.  Faced with the recent illness and death of her father, Lexi's mother encourages her to go to a summer camp to "de-gayify" herself, and Lexi, heartbroken over her father, agrees.  She just wants to fit in and make her mother happy again.

But at the camp, Lexi sees and experiences things that borders on mental and physical abuse, and she is left wondering how wrong it is to feel what she feels.  When her new friend Matthew, is caught up in an altercation with the owner of the camp, Lexi must stand up and do the right thing, and figure out just who she is and what her plan is for when she leaves the camp.

This book--just so you know, this story is REALLY difficult to read.  Not because I agree or disagree with Lexi's situation, but the camp is a horrible place. And I know stuff like that really does happen at real life camps--I've heard from people who have actually been to one.

The camp is cult-like, and the staff doesn't seem to really care about the teens and their well-being, more for their agenda and money.  They don't seem to live what they preach, and the reader starts to understand a little more the thoughts and feelings behind those individuals who have come out as LGBTQ.

I understand that there is probably a lot of argument over the publication of this book and it's presence in the library, but there is no way to just ignore that these camps exist, and that people identify as LGBTQ.  There is no reason for us to hate them--rather, let's try to understand them--and I think this book helps those who don't know a lot realize a little more.