Read Cape May A Novel edition by Chip Cheek Literature Fiction eBooks

Product details File Size 3433 KB Print Length 251 pages Page Numbers Source ISBN 1250231108 Publisher Celadon Books (April 30, 2019) Publication Date April 30, 2019 Sold by Macmillan Language English ASIN B07FM7X6BY

Cape May A Novel edition by Chip Cheek Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

• I loved getting pulled into this story. Everything seems so innocent with these young newlyweds and yet Cheek manages to thread an insidious force of nature tempting them from every angle and threatening everything from the sanctity of their union to their own morals.
  Tons of twists and turns. I raced through the end. Looking forward to seeing more from this very talented author.
• 1950s Henry and Effie are newlyweds honeymooning during the off-season in Cape May, New Jersey, in Effie’s uncle’s beach house. They don’t really know each other very well, they’re sexually inexperienced, and are having some difficulty with the awkwardness of being around each other all day. Bored and restless, they decide to leave early and go home.
  
  BUT! They see lights on at a nearby house . . . neighbors! They get excited, thinking maybe meeting some new people will liven things up. They have no idea just how much.
  
  Their new neighbors, Clara and Max, are not completely unfamiliar to Effie. Clara was a friend of the family while she was growing up during the summers at Cape May, and Clara often teased the younger Effie to the point of bullying. Effie is reluctant to spend any time with her, but they can’t escape Clara’s constant invitations to parties, and soon they’re captivated by Clara’s carefree bohemian lifestyle with her lover, Max.
  
  Clara throws wild parties that quickly get out of hand, replete with gin and casual sex. She brings in cosmopolitan friends from New York, and the bumpkin Georgia newlyweds are swept away with the hedonism. This decadence, however fun at first, quickly devolves into dangerous flirtations and destruction.
  
  The drunken sex parties got somewhat repetitive, and the story takes a while to get going, but nevertheless, it maintained my interest. Just about every character is loathsome, but even though these people are self-centered and repugnant, I couldn’t help but keep reading to see what they would do. The focus on Henry’s experience offered some specific insights, but the lack of attention to other characters, specifically Effie, were detrimental to rounding out the story’s perspective. There is a strange leap forward in time in a rushed epilogue, but at least it serves to answer the curiosity of “So, what happened to them?”
  
  It’s a fun book with a psychological bent of what superficially milquetoast people are capable of when shown a wilder side of life.
  
  Many thanks to Celadon Books, Netgalley, and BookishFirst for the advance copy in exchange for my review.
• Having been to Cape May, NJ many times, I was excited to get my hands on Chip Cheek’s debut novel, Cape May! This novel is set in 1957 and centers around Henry and Effie, who have just graduated high school and gotten married. The young couple decides to honeymoon at Effie’s uncle’s beach house in Cape May, New Jersey. Being that it was September, the usually bustling summer destination was empty. Then the newlyweds meet several “friends” and from that point, Effie and Henry are introduced to a fast and glamorous world that will forever alter their relationship...and the rest of their lives.
  
  I devoured this novel in record time! The storyline was super original, full of debauchery, and extremely salacious—hence the reason I started and finished this book in the same day! I enjoyed Chip Cheek’s writing style, I was on the hook the entire way through. I really thought he did a great job with the last chapter- it was an epilogue of sorts and I LOVED that I didn’t feel the like ending left me hanging! I am looking forward to seeing what Chip Cheeks comes out with next! I would like to thank the publisher for providing me this book in exchange for an honest review.
• It is Autumn 1957 and Henry and Effie, two young newlyweds from Georgia, arrive in Cape May for their honeymoon. Effie has known Cape May since childhood and remembers glorious summers there but this is the off season and Cape May is mostly deserted. The couple try to make the best of things, enjoying discovering each other physically, but the weather is disappointing and there is nothing to do.
  
  After barely a week, they decide it might be best to head home, cutting their honeymoon short, when they spot lights in one of the neighbouring houses and decide to call in. And so, they meet Clara, a beautiful and dangerous socialite, her lover Max, a wealthy playboy, and Max’s beautiful and mysterious sister, Alma. Max and Clara, bored with their own company, are delighted to befriend the young newlyweds who, at first, regard Max and Clara’s risqué behaviour with disapproval. However, Effie and Henry soon find themselves sucked into this lifestyle, indulging in behaviour that they would never have contemplated back in conservative Georgia. They walk naked through the deserted streets, make love in the open air, break into the empty neighbouring houses and drink copious amounts of alcohol and, almost inevitably, Henry finds himself increasingly drawn to Alma, with disastrous consequences.
  
  Cape May is a startlingly good debut novel, not least for its wonderful evocation of 1950’s America and specifically out-of-season seaside towns. Chip Cheek describes in detail the grand Victorian seaside houses with their slate gables, towers, porches and trellises. He allows the reader to walk with Henry and Effie and to feel the emptiness and desolation of the town with its boarded-up shops and restaurants sporting depressing signs that say “Closed for the season. See you in May!” The end of season feeling is also powerfully evoked in the description of the deserted beach and empty pier with the backdrop of stormy sea and dark sky.
  
  All in all, this novel leaves nothing to be desired. The characterisation is brilliant, particularly Henry, through whose eyes we view the events of the tale. Engagingly innocent and hopeful at the beginning, we witness his gradual change as he falls into behaviour that inevitably teaches him that life is often about loss and compromise. Cape May is also very sexy. The many sex scenes are pretty graphic but exceptionally well written – something of a rarity. This is a sensitive portrayal of the social and sexual mores of 1950’s America but it is also really seductive storytelling – a wonderfully exciting read – one of those novels that you’ve just got to read in one sitting.