The Starlite Drive-In by Marjorie Reynolds

[gilda_elise]

A mystery, a coming of age novel, a tragic love story, a rich evocation of a memorable time and place in America, The Starlite Drive-In by Marjorie Reynolds is all of these things and more. The author returns readers to the summer of 1956 in this riveting story that reviewers have enthusiastically compared to the Harper Lee classic, To Kill a Mockingbird—as the arrival of a handsome drifter at a rundown drive-in movie theater inflames dangerous passions and jealousies, and changes a young girl’s life forever.

An interest coming of age story, set in the more innocent time of the 1950s. But was it more innocent, or just more blind to human nature? Callie Anne, the young girl who narrates the story, knows little of that nature. Not yet thirteen, she still believes in handsome princes. When one shows up, she’s instantly smitten.

It’s hard to totally believe that even a girl of that age could change her mind about people as often as she does. But perhaps it’s the changes in her body that create the changes in her mind. In any event, it’s a good story and a compelling read. And I love that it’s set at a drive-in theatre. What more could set the mood of that wonderful lost time? Could bring back that distant era?

My only quibble is of Callie Anne’s thoughts as an adult. I guess everyone wants to think well of their parents, but a woman of forty-nine must have learned something. One thing that she seems to have never learned is that her father was not a good man.




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