Camp Forevermore, an overnight camp meant to be a growing and bonding experience for young girls. It even boasts an overnight kayaking and camping trip on a remote island.
But what starts out as a fun adventure ends with five girls stranded and fending for themselves.
Years later, the experience may be behind them but all of the women are fundamentally changed by what happened.
I will say that my expectations of this one were not quite met. Although, it is all my own fault. I went into this with the unfortunate timing of having become completely obsessed with Yellowjackets!
I quite enjoyed the camp story.
The girls, none of them really friends from the start, set off with their leader, Jan, a former counselor at the camp, and make such good time that they decide to camp further out. Which means that when tragedy occurs, no one knows where they are!
Nita, Andee, Isabel, Dina, and Siobhan’s stories unfold in their own chapters, sandwiched between chapters outlining the camping trip itself. It makes for a much more character-driven story than I usually choose.
Many of the women aren’t obviously scarred by what happened, but, as with much trauma, they are nonetheless affected. The events follow and haunt them for years!
And they’ve all taken very different paths. Nita is married with kids. A former doctor who seems to feel her greatest accomplishment was helping the other girls get through it all.
Andee isn’t actually the main character in her chapter. Instead, it’s her sister, who was left behind after Andee won a place at the camp. The two of them live together for years, orbiting each other like two planets rather than supportive sisters.
Isabel’s story is the one that I was most drawn to. Her first real connection is one that also ends in tragedy. She’s also the only one that ends up with any connection to the others after everything is said and done.
Dina, sadly, is the most obviously marked by the events. She also doesn’t have a great relationship with her mother, which is part of her journey.
Finally, there’s Siobhan, who narrates the camp story. But while it would seem she’s given the most screen time, I was disappointed not to get more from her.
Fu, whose upcoming short story collection runs the gamut of genres, is an exceptional writer, taking even the smallest moments in a person’s life and using them to show how the events of the past never do truly leave us.
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