susan coll
Beach Week
Ah, “beach week”: a time-honored tradition in which the D.C. suburbs’ latest herd of high school grads flocks to Chelsea Beach for seven whole days of debauched celebration. In this dark comedy, ten teenage girls plan an unhinged blowout the likes of which their young lives have never seen. They smuggle vodka in water bottles and horde prescription drugs by the dozen. Meanwhile, their misguided, affluent parents are too busy worrying about legal liabilities to fret over some missing pills or random hookups.
Susan Coll satirizes a new teenage rite of passage, in the process dismantling the lives of families in transition. Beach Week is a hilarious, well-observed look at the end of childhood and the human need to commemorate it—expensively.
reviews
washingtonpost.com: Beach Week is back in the news! Read the article at the washingtonpost.com
NPR.org: "It might seem odd to describe a novel that involves barfing in cars, stalking boys and a drunk dad playing beer pong in his underpants as heartwarming, but Beach Week author Susan Coll is a master at finding wisdom in the unexpected...the hilarious and witty Beach Week is actually a reminder to parents and children alike to chill." read more
Kirkus Reviews: "Hysterically funny."
washingtonpost.com: Beach Week is back in the news! Read the article at the washingtonpost.com
The Boston Globe: "She knows the emotional minefield that separates parents and teenagers, a space fraught with conflicting feelings. She also knows the details of upscale suburban life and homes in on the excesses and absurdities...Mayhem ensues, inevitably, or this story wouldn't be as funny as it is."
The Miami Herald: "A warm and funny family story disguised as a beach read."
Marilyn Johnson, author of This Book Is Overdue!: “Susan Coll could make hell fun—and she does."
Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand: “Like a rogue ocean wave or a deer through your windshield on a lonely shore road, Beach Week packs a punch. There’s hilarious hypocrisy and satire as sharp as a glass shard on the boardwalk—Susan Coll is very funny as she lightly barbeques a suburban summer tradition. Yes, that’s vodka in the water bottles, and yes, that’s an Ivy League–bound teen in a steamy bathroom clinch: it’s time to swap the rose-colored glasses for sunglasses and a pitcher of blue Kool-Aid margaritas.”
Larry Doyle, author of I Love You, Beth Cooper: “A taut, terrifying thriller that will greatly amuse anyone who doesn’t have children. Beach Week is a must-read for any parent whose teenager wants to go on a senior trip, or even out of the house.”
