A Great big thank you to Jesse at Random House for sending out this book for review!!!!
TITLE: Camp Nurse
AUTHOR: Tilda Shalof
GENRE: Memoir
RATING; 3 Stars
I have to admit right now that I am a city girl. I have never been to summer camp because basically, in my youth, I tried very hard to stay away from the woods, crummy bathrooms and snakes. While I now enjoy the woods, I still have an aversion to crummy bathrooms and snakes!
So, I was immediately drawn to Camp Nurse. Here was an adult woman, deliberately choosing to spend her summer at a camp as its nurse. Author Tilda Shalof explains early on in her story that she always had a vision of what summer camp was and that she wanted to get the opportunity of living her "dream" and at the same time, give her boys the opportunity of enjoying summer camp with her nearby to watch them.
Shalof's first choice of "summer camp" was questionnable at best. Although they billed themselves as "the socially responsible camp", this, according to Shalof, translated more into a camp run by teenagers who like to party, with crumbling buildings and very little "social" responsibility. There is actually a quite disgusting story about tainted meat that still leaves me a little green.
This book was two-sided for me. It does deliver what it promises - Shalof describes many of her experiences and exploits while being camp nurse at this camp as well as others in her summer career as a camp nurse and these were at the same time, fun, disgusting and interesting to read about.
I think what was missing for me, was the warmth and a more in-depth look at the situations that Shalof was experiencing, living and seeing. For example, in the first part of the book, she constantly tells us how much she wants to leave and how unhappy she is, but does not really get into any emotion or detail about it. What makes it ever harder for me is that she will tell us she is unhappy in one sentence then immediately move on to a situation that she has to deal with two days later. The time line was a little off for me, but more importantly, I was missing something in this read.
Still, if you want to read about summer camp, this is definitely a great book to pick up.
2 comments:
Hmmm, it is too bad it wasn't better for you. I think I might actually try to read this one.
Years ago I was real good friends with a "camp nurse"! I actually went and became her asst. It was fun and I loved it.
Thanks!
I love the premise of this book. Like you, I would never want to be a camp nurse, but I'd love to read about it. Too bad the warmth is missing from this one.
Post a Comment