Sag Harbor is Perfect...Right?
Everything’s perfect in Sag Harbor. The community, the homes, everything. Except it isn’t. Summer is so idealized in this book, both by Benji and the other perennials of Sag. There’s also another problem: nobody talks about why it’s not perfect in Sag Harbor. The unspoken secrets people harbor just fester, leading to a facade of happiness in the summer, especially in Benji’s family. The names of people who ‘don’t come out anymore’ are whispered shamefully, and people close their windows to shut out the possibility of people seeing what their families are like when they think no one’s watching. Still, people go on pretending that summer heals all wounds, even though it doesn’t, at least not in Sag Harbor. Benji’s familial relationships are a large focus of the novel, especially as the summer comes to an end. Ben tells us more about how his father abuses the rest of his family and everyone who isn’t on the attacking end turns a blind eye to cope. B...