Something Like Summer (novel)

Last updated
Something Like Summer
Something Like Summer Book Cover.jpg
Author Jay Bell
Cover artistAndreas Bell
LanguageEnglish
Genre Young adult, Romance, LGBT [1]
PublisherCreateSpace Publishing
Publication date
January 2011 [1]
Publication placeUnited States
Pages290 pp [1]
ISBN 9781453875049

Something Like Summer is a 2011 novel by Jay Bell, and the first installment in the Something Like... series. It was adapted into a film of the same name in 2017. The novel centers around the life of Benjamin Bentley, a 17-year-old from Houston, Texas, and his tumultuous relationship with two love interests over the span of several years.

Contents

It deals primarily with themes of personal fulfillment, self-acceptance and the process of coming out.

Plot

Plot summary

The novel is written from a third person limited point of view, told through the eyes of the book's main character, Benjamin Bentley. It is divided into three separate sections based on the varying stages of Benjamin's life as the story is taking place.

The first part of the book, set in the city of Houston in 1996, focuses on the relationship Ben eventually develops with Tim Wyman, another teenager who he attends high school with. Though Ben gradually manages to help Tim accept different aspects of his repressed homosexuality, and even talks him into breaking up with the girlfriend he dated in order to maintain his appearance, they eventually break up after a close call with the police who nearly catch them having sex in a public park. The two teenagers carry on with their lives and eventually go their separate ways.

The second part of the novel is set three years later in 1999, when Ben is a freshman student in college and has relocated to Chicago. He meets flight attendant Jace Holden while flying back home for the holidays, and the two eventually fall in love and decide to move in together. After Ben transfers to a new school in Austin, he discovers that Tim is also a student there. Tim, now having embraced his sexuality, makes repeated attempts to meddle in Ben's new relationship, eventually convincing Ben that Jace is cheating on him so that they can get back together. Ben eventually learns the truth, and decides to leave Tim and get back together with Jace.

The third and final segment of the novel takes place in 2003. After having graduated, Ben begins working part-time as a speech therapist and actor at a dinner theater. Ben and Jace later decide to get married and buy a house together. Tim eventually pays Ben a visit after one of his performances at the theater and beckons Ben to help him leave his dysfunctional relationship with Ryan, a younger college student who abuses alcohol and drugs. After helping Tim, Ben attempts to establish a platonic relationship with him whilst living with Jace. He soon realizes he can't and decides to cut him out of his life, seemingly for good.

Jace's health begins to deteriorate some years later after suffering from a brain hemorrhage, and he eventually succumbs to a brain aneurysm. In light of Jace's passing, Ben suffers depression and contemplates suicide. His friend Allison turns to Tim for help, and sets up a reunion between the two. The two meet each other once again, and after realizing that Tim has turned his life around and overcome all his previous hang-ups, Ben agrees to resume the relationship they began over a decade earlier when they were teenagers.

Main characters

Critical reception

The book was also a finalist in the 24th Lambda Literary Awards under the category of gay romance. [2]

Film adaptation

Something Like Summer was adapted into a film by Blue Seraph Productions in 2017. The screenplay was written by producer Carlos Pedraza, and the film was directed by David Berry. Both men had previously worked in the production of another LGBT film, Judas Kiss , in 2011. Actor Grant Davis played the lead role of Benjamin Bentley, while Davi Santos and Ben Baur played the roles of Tim and Jace, respectively. [3] The movie was released on February 25, 2017. [4]

School edition

A second edition of the novel was published in August 2017. The revised version, marketed as being more school friendly, largely removed the book's descriptions of sexual acts between the main characters. On the film's website, author Jay Bell explained, "I really want to get Something Like Summer into schools and into the hands of young people, but the explicit content has always made that difficult". Additional changes were also made to alter the story's pacing. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Chasing Amy</i> 1997 film by Kevin Smith

Chasing Amy is a 1997 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Kevin Smith and starring Ben Affleck, Joey Lauren Adams and Jason Lee. The third film in Smith's View Askewniverse series, the film is about a male comic artist (Affleck) who falls in love with a lesbian (Adams), to the displeasure of his best friend (Lee).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay and Silent Bob</span> Fictional characters

Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by American actors Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively. They appear in the View Askewniverse, a fictional universe used in most of the films, comics, and television programs written and produced by Smith.

<i>It</i> (novel) 1986 novel by Stephen King

It is a 1986 horror novel by American author Stephen King. It was King's 22nd book and the 17th novel written under his own name. The story follows the experiences of seven children as they are terrorized by an evil entity that exploits the fears of its victims to disguise itself while hunting its prey. "It" primarily appears in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown to attract its preferred prey of young children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ariel Schrag</span> American cartoonist and television writer

Ariel Schrag is an American cartoonist and television writer who achieved critical recognition at an early age for her autobiographical comics. Her novel Adam provoked controversy with its theme of a heterosexual teenage boy becoming drawn into the LGBTQ community of New York. Schrag accepts the label of ‘dyke comic book artist’.

<i>Boy Meets Boy</i> (novel) 2003 novel by David Levithan

Boy Meets Boy is a young adult novel by David Levithan, published in 2003. Set in a gay-friendly small town in America, it describes a few weeks in the lives of a group of high school students. The story follows the standard romantic trope usually known as "boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl" except that the main characters are both boys, the narrator Paul and newcomer Noah. The novel won a Lambda Literary Award in 2003.

Bluntman and Chronic are characters appearing in a fictional eponymous comic book series seen in the movies Chasing Amy,Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, and Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. Actual Bluntman and Chronic comic books based on the fictional movie comic book series were published after the release of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Both the movies and the comic books were created by writer and actor Kevin Smith. Comics creator Mike Allred designed the costumes for the characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Robert Baker</span> American author (1947–1997)

James Robert Baker was an American author of sharply satirical, predominantly gay-themed transgressional fiction. A native Californian, his work is set almost entirely in Southern California. After graduating from UCLA, he began his career as a screenwriter, but became disillusioned and started writing novels instead. Though he garnered fame for his books Fuel-Injected Dreams and Boy Wonder, after the controversy surrounding publication of his novel, Tim and Pete, he faced increasing difficulty having his work published. According to his life partner, this was a contributing factor in his suicide.

<i>Rainbow Boys</i> 2001 book by Alex Sánchez

Rainbow Boys is the first novel in a trilogy by Alex Sánchez, focusing on the issues gay and questioning youth face as they come of age. This book is followed by Rainbow High and Rainbow Road.

<i>City of Bones</i> (Clare novel) 2007 fantasy novel by Cassandra Clare

City of Bones is the first urban fantasy book in author Cassandra Clare's New York Times bestselling series The Mortal Instruments. The novel, first published in 2007, is set in modern-day New York City and has been released in several languages, including Bulgarian, Hebrew, Polish and Japanese. It is the first book in the first trilogy of The Mortal Instruments which includes the books City of Ashes and City of Glass.

<i>City of Ashes</i> 2008 urban fantasy novel by Cassandra Clare

City of Ashes is the second installment in The Mortal Instruments series, an urban fantasy series set in New York written by Cassandra Clare. The novel was one of YALSA's top ten teen books for 2009.

<i>A Push and a Shove</i> 2007 thriller novel by Christopher Kelly

A Push and a Shove: A Novel is a 2007 novel in the thriller genre by Christopher Kelly. Kelly, an openly gay man, is a film critic and journalist for Fort Worth Star-Telegram and Texas Monthly. Kelly developed the story over four years and it is "slightly autobiographical [...] with elements of me in both the main characters." Publishers Weekly recommended it as a "combination of revenge and coming-of-age story".

<i>The Mortal Instruments</i> Series of fantasy novels by Cassandra Clare

The Mortal Instruments is a series of six young adult fantasy novels written by American author Cassandra Clare, the last of which was published on May 27, 2014. The Mortal Instruments is chronologically the third series of a planned six in The Shadowhunter Chronicles but was the first one published. It follows Clary Fray, whose chance encounter with a group of elite angelic superhuman beings -- known as Nephilim or Shadowhunters -- leads her to make life-changing discoveries about herself and her family history. The mission of the Shadowhunters is protect the world of human people, also called mundanes or "mundies," from dark forces beyond their world. A recurring theme throughout all Shadowhunters Chronicles books is that "all the stories are true" -- and as a result, many creatures popularized in fantasy writing play a role in the books. The book series falls under the young adult genre, specifically that of the paranormal romance/urban fantasy and supernatural genres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tim Federle</span> American author, actor, director and screenwriter

Timothy Michael Federle is an American author, theater librettist, director and screenwriter whose best-known works include the novel Better Nate Than Ever, the cocktail recipe book Tequila Mockingbird, the Golden Globe Award and Academy Awards nominee Ferdinand, and Disney's High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.

<i>The Vast Fields of Ordinary</i> 2009 young adult gay novel by Nick Burd

The Vast Fields of Ordinary is a young adult gay novel by American author Nick Burd first published in 2009. The novel depicts the summer after high school graduation for a closeted suburban teenage boy, his openly lesbian new best friend, and the two boys he is interested in dating. The Vast Fields of Ordinary is Burd's debut novel.

Jay Bell is an American writer and the author of the Something Like... series. The first novel in the series, Something like Summer, was adapted into a feature film by Blue Seraph Productions under the direction of David Berry and screenwriter Carlos Pedraza.

The Something Like… series is a collection of books by Jay Bell, each written from a different character’s perspective that began in 2011. The plots intertwine at key points while also venturing off in new directions. The series has won a number of awards, with the first book Something Like Summer being given a film adaptation. The series ended with Something Like Stories which was released in 2020.

Something Like Summer is a 2017 drama musical film based upon the 2011 Young Adult novel Something Like Summer by Jay Bell and the first entry in the Something Like... series.

<i>Like Water</i> (novel) 2017 novel by Rebecca Podos

Like Water is a young adult novel written by Rebecca Podos and published in 2017 by Balzer + Bray. The story, which was the recipient of a Lambda Literary Award, centers on Savannah Espinoza, a teenager from New Mexico who begins discovering more about her sexuality when she becomes enamored with a genderqueer teenager, called Leigh.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bell, Jay (8 January 2011). "Something Like Summer" . Retrieved 22 November 2017.
  2. Reese, Jenn (2012-04-16). "24th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists And Winners". Lambda Literary. Archived from the original on 2012-07-01. Retrieved 2017-08-10.
  3. Lee, Steve (2017-07-12). "Feature film adaptation of award-winning novelist Jay Bell's 'Something Like Summer' to screen at Outfest LA 35 (VIDEO)". LGBT Weekly. Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  4. "Something Like Summer (2017) Release Info". imdb.com. 25 February 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
  5. "JAY BELL RELEASES 'SCHOOL EDITION' OF SOMETHING LIKE SUMMER BOOK". somethinglikesummer.com. 29 August 2017. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2017.