Judy Blume's Summer Sisters is ably brought to life through a spirited reading by Annabeth Gish (Mystic Pizza, Shag.) Her fresh, youthful voice captures the essence of Vix and Caitlin, two preadolescent classmates who forge a powerful friendship while summering together on Martha's Vineyard. As their summers together continue, they discover boys, establish crushes, then move on to the more serious business of love and sex. With each new season their relationship becomes more complicated, sometimes verging on destructive.
This abridgement leaves Vix and Caitlin's story fully intact, but family backgrounds and some minor players are glossed over. Gish presents a fairly straightforward reading, with no attempt to take on male characters, accents, or otherwise assign unique voices to each person. Instead, she chooses to change inflection, intonation, and attitude to reflect their words and thoughts.
