Alice Hung

Words are never enough for me to express my feelings about this immaculate book. As a lover of books in series, and keen of the idea of a Vivaldi seasonal quartet alike compilation, this book, the finale to a grandiose one, was an isolate read which I had not come across of any other books in the series before. Being titled Summer, the theme of that radiant energy emitted from the sun, hoping for a everlasting primal time, warmth, the optimal season in the year, as written in the book "how we overload summer most out of all the seasons, I mean with our expectations of it"...all come together to formulate an exceedingly outstanding novel on which summer is the chief theme with the bringing up of several current topics, COVID-19, Black Lives Matters, Brexit, lives of the immigrants, etc. The strong sense in its catching up with the trends, on the globe, things that are seemingly local but global, worrying and devastating in their development, which somehow give the brightest season of all a new definition—the light in the darkness, grieving but with possibilities around, bringing about changes. Yet, if this book only revolves around the cheerfulness of the summer days, the best weather guaranteed in the year, it would turn out to be rather a disappointment given that the dreamy features of summer does not get into accordance with the reality, especially a world full of turmoils that we are in now. To my surprise, it didn't, and was instead bonding in a close proximity to the vast arrays of emotions we are all feeling now: thinking that 2020, start of a new decade would have done us good; thinking that Brexit might bring the country up to an independent economic force, competitive enough for the US and China; thinking that COVID-19 was nothing prevalent and till the summer it would all be normal and at ease again... Let's not forget about these thoughts we had had during these last 18 months and yet, what did happened was that none of the good things seemed to sway its way into our lives, and everything was in recession—the equal to that of summer. The extent of relatability of the events and emotions are as surreal as it is now happening to us. Speaking only of how resonating the book is would already urge me to give a perfect score to it. And time, the other dominant element in this novel. From the world war 2 to midsummer in 2020, which exhibits as a parallel of timeline, regarding the changing atmosphere, panic, all sorts of negativity. Yet this is never going to ruin summer, the eternal season withholding all sorts of expectations. "Because summer isn't just a merry tale. Because there's no merry tale without darkness." This hopeful emotion, persisting from the very beginning of the book towards the end, in changing times we can still find laughter around our family and loved ones; in separations things can still be done without much ado; in hard times help can be brought to make a change in someone else's life... I am completely awed by such a message being put forth in this book, being some sort of an identity for us to grip onto, so we will not fall apart and being beaten because of how the world is now. In memories, past would be the exact experience we want to relive again, but does a slightly off, less merry summer fail our expectations as to what summer should have been? Is that so in the season we are living in that carries no meaning at all? Or is that once the good old days are gone and they will never be lived again? As summer never changes, this would be the one that reminds me of the times even if they are desperately in need of a promising future.

Immediately after reading Summer, I went straight to my local bookshop and purchased Spring as it was the only one being available out of the Seasonal Quartet series. Spring, a lovely season, full of life springing back from death, revival, hopeful, in midst of a drastic change, a transition between winter and summer, right in the middle... Perhaps it is that fervid yet depressing Summer that pumps my expectations too high to give Spring a five, or it is out of personal prejudice in which my favourite season remains Summer all along. This is a much hopeful novel in comparison to our status quo which Summer has summed it up in a very satisfying and hit-on way. Having known that this novel will still revolve around some current issues (back in 2019), the portrayal of that influence Internet has on us-what's to be known of and what's not, climate change-how much the mother earth has endured of human's devastation in rapid urbanisation and development, Brexit, that old voting system and oh also the phenomenon that people just want to know your stance, but never it is about your opinions that matter to them. In spite of this, we have also caught a glimpse on the story of Richard and Paddy, a seemingly desolate one, yet is it death that stops us from getting to know and be with that person we have in mind? Is it really worrisome to live in your memories to savour the times you have spent with that particular someone so it would carry on eternally beyond death? Or is it death merely a transitional period as spring itself is, that it allows the entrance of us into another world which provides us a more promising and brighter future? How are we to know of all this? Yet, it is, to live through spring, to carry ourselves onward, to meet each other at the ends of these ongoing turmoils. Spring, it is, spring forward and onward, until the light of summer shines on you, to drag yourself out of the abyss of winter.