Groovy. ~ Sheila
It’s 1969, and Suzannah is home from college but counting the days to fall when she can return to school. Her childhood home has vivid memories of her strict father not allowing music in the home and forcing her brother to enlist in the Vietnam War to make him a man.
Not much has changed in her home. Having not heard from her brother in two months, Suzannah fears the worst for him, and hates her father for making him go to war.
But things take a turn when her once best friend shows up. Livy is adventurous, free-spirited, and beautiful. Everything that Suzannah is not. When Livy invites Suzannah to come with her to attend a three-day concert upstate New York, Suzannah is hesitant, knowing her father woudl never approve – but the anger she holds for her brother being forced into the war gives her the fight she needs to say yes, and she leaves with Livy with not a word to her parents as to where she is going.
Woodstock is way outside Suzannah’s comfort zone, but her love for music, the overall friendliness of starngers, the insane amount of people gathered together soon melts away Suzannah’s reserved nature. Meeting a cute boy, struggling with Livy’s self-centered nature – all leads to a long overdue growth and memories that will last a lifetime.
We chose this book for Book Club (the above photos are of the foods we had) – The semi truck represents the flatbed of granola that was brought to Woodstock to help feed the masses when the food ran out, as does the brown rice and vegetables. The candy cigarettes, Skittles, and tic tacs- well, you know what they represent, and that was just fun 🙂
For myself, I adored this book. The storyline goes from the present time; Suzannah is a Grandma at the 50th Anniversary of the Woodstock Festival, attending with her teenage granddaughter.
Told by Suzannah to her granddaughter, the book goes from the present time to Suzannah’s memories. Well put together.
I learned a lot about Woodstock and of course, wanted to deep dive into learning more after having read this book. What an incredible event.
Bookies Book Club (for the most part) also gave this book high ratings, with an average of 4.5 out of 5. We had a great discussion about the music and even had a little sing-along to Blowin’ in the Wind by Bob Dylan thanks to one of our talented Book Club members.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
Rated: 5 out of 5 (me) 4.5 out of 5 Bookies
Read Author Before: no
Read Author Again: Yes!
Where Read: Audio – home, traveling…
Bookclub Worthy: YES Please! This is a great book for a book club – so many opportunities to dress the occasion ( some of us did), food such as the granola, the hot dogs, no-name cola, drugs (candy!), Brown Rice with Veggies…
There is so much to unpack with this book – talking about the music – do you know someone who attended – would you have attended – musicians making their debut, the storyline, Suzannah’s character as well as Livy’s.
Book Journey 