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WORK TITLE: Perennials
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: http://www.mandyberman.com/
CITY: Brooklyn
STATE:
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
http://www.mandyberman.com/mandy/
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born Nyack, NY.
EDUCATION:Franklin & Marshall College, bachelor’s degree; Columbia University, M.F.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer and educator. College of Staten Island, City University of New York, Staten Island, NY, writing instructor.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Mandy Berman grew up in Nyack, New York. In her debut novel, Perennials, Berman sets her story in a summer camp with two protagonists who were once campers together at Camp Marigold. Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin loved their time together each summer at Camp Marigold. Now, in their first year of college, the two best friends are spending another summer at the camp, only this time as counselors. Their friendship is being tested as both have undergone many changes since they first started attending Camp Marigold.
The idea for Perennials began during Berman’s graduate studies for a master of fine arts degree. Berman began writing short stories about summer camp, the first focusing on a counselor named Mo, who was a virgin. Rachel and another character in Perennials, Nell, also were in this initial short story. “I began to feel that I wanted to explore them more in depth, too,” Berman told Deborah Kalb for Kalb’s website Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb that “camp is … a perfect breeding ground for fiction. So much happens there in a contained period of time—characters develop rapidly and so the plot, too, unfolds quickly,” noting that the changes “adolescent girls in particular” can undergo “over the course of one summer can be dramatic.” Eventually, Berman developed nine major characters for her novel.
Perennials opens with two chapters that take place in 2000. These introductory chapters introduce Rachel and Fiona when they are thirteen years old. Readers learn that the two girls are from very different backgrounds. Rachel’s single mom gave birth to her after she had a long affair with a married man. Although her father has little to do with Rachel, he does pay for her summers at Camp Marigold. Fiona comes from a wealthier and more stable family; her parents first met when they were nine-year-old campers at Camp Marigold. Still, not everything in Fiona’s home is going smoothly.
The following chapters take place in the summer of 2006. “From there, the narrative fans out to incorporate nine different viewpoints, ranging from campers in middle school to the 44-year-old man who serves as camp director,” noted New York Times Online contributor J. Courtney Sullivan. Nevertheless, the story revolves primarily around new camp counselors Rachel and Fiona. “The lens of the story jumps from viewpoint to viewpoint, and slowly we see their childhood mythicizing of camp-life melting uncomfortably in to the imperfections and tragedies of adulthood,” wrote Popdust website contributor Thomas Burns Scully.
Fiona has been attending a college in Connecticut and is upset over the weight she has gained during her first year of college. Rachel, meanwhile, attends the University of Michigan and looks fantastic with newly developed D-cup breasts. “Perennials is a sharp meditation on the changing female body, and the ways in which such changes are often involuntary and unwanted,” noted New York Times Online contributor Sullivan. More has changed than just their physical makeup. Although happy to be back together, things are not the same between Rachel and Fiona. Rachel has always been the tough, street-smart kid raised in the city and who is becoming increasingly aggrieved by Fiona’s insecurities. Fiona is a suburban girl who is envious of Rachel, especially Rachel’s popularity at camp with both her fellow counselors and the campers.
Things at the camp take a turn from the happy, restful, vacation setting when Sheera, one of the few nonwhite campers at Camp Marigold, has an accident that requires her to return home. The aftermath of the accident dampens camp spirits, especially those of Rachel and Fiona and their fellow counselors Mo and Nell. Meanwhile, for once in her life, Rachel is keeping secrets from Fiona, which furthers casts a cloud over their relationship.
“Berman’s debut recalls the beloved teen and adult novels of Judy Blume, both in topic and prose style: simple, powerful, unafraid to confront serious issues,” wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Erinn Black Salge, writing in School Library Journal, remarked: “This compelling, immersive look at summer camp life will appeal to anyone who appreciates tales of friendship.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 2017, review of Perennials.
Publishers Weekly, April 10, 2017, review of Perennials, p. 49.
School Library Journal, October, 2017, Erinn Black Salge, review of Perennials, p. 116.
ONLINE
Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, http://deborahkalbbooks.blogspot.com/ (July 27, 2017), Deborah Kalb, “Q&A with Mandy Berman.”
Mandy Berman Website, http://www.mandyberman.com (January 12, 2017).
New York Times Online, https://www.nytimes.com/ (June 2, 2017), J. Courtney Sullivan, “A Summer Camp Offers Lessons in Love, Life and Friendship,” review of Perennials.
Popdust, https://www.popdust.com/ (May 31, 2017), Thomas Burns Scully, review of Perennials.
Mandy Berman was born and raised in Nyack, NY. She received an undergraduate degree from Franklin and Marshall College and an MFA in Writing from Columbia University. She lives in Brooklyn, where she is working on her second novel.
Mandy Berman is a writer from Nyack, New York. Perennials is her debut novel. She holds an MFA in fiction from Columbia University. She lives and writes in Brooklyn.
Mandy Berman was born and raised in Nyack, NY. She received an undergraduate degree from Franklin & Marshall College and an MFA in Writing from Columbia University. Her first novel, Perennials, was published by Random House in June 2017. She teaches writing at the College of Staten Island and lives in Brooklyn, where she is working on her second novel.
Twitter: @mandyberman
Instagram: @mandykate
Goodreads
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Q&A with Mandy Berman
Mandy Berman, photo by Martin Bentsen
Mandy Berman is the author of the new novel Perennials. She lives in Brooklyn.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Perennials, and why did you choose to set it at a summer camp?
A: Perennials began as an idea during the first year of my MFA program. The first workshop piece I wrote in the program was a short story about a 30-year-old camp counselor, Mo, who also happened to be a virgin. Characters like Rachel and Nell showed in Mo’s story, and I began to feel that I wanted to explore them more in depth, too.
Eventually, the project became about a whole cast of characters at Camp Marigold, a fictional sleepaway camp in the Berkshires, over the course of one summer. By the time I had written nine characters, the overarching narrative of the whole project began to feel much more connected and novelistic than if they were stand-alone stories.
I really liked the idea of writing a novel that took place at a summer camp because camp is such a perfect breeding ground for fiction. So much happens there in a contained period of time – characters develop rapidly and so the plot, too, unfolds quickly. With adolescent girls in particular, the changes that happen to them over the course of one summer can be dramatic.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I didn’t know the novel was going to end the way it did until about halfway through the writing process.
Once I figured out the ending, I realized this was no longer a collection of stories, because it said something bigger about girlhood, adolescence, and the loss of innocence in a way that applied to every single one of these characters. Plus, it was such a major event that the ending felt much more novelistic than the ending to a single character’s story.
Q: How was the title selected, and what does it signify for you?
A: I wanted a title that would both reflect the natural and summer-like aspects and also say something bigger about the nature of girlhood and adolescence. The campers at Marigold return year after year because nothing ever changes; it’s a time capsule for their youth.
But the title is tongue-in-cheek, and bittersweet in a way, because of course things do change – these girls develop, and grow up, and we learn by the end of the novel that nothing about their camp experience, or their youth, can last forever.
Q: Who are some of your favorite writers?
A: Top 5: Virginia Woolf, J.D. Salinger, Flannery O’Connor, Michael Cunningham, and Jeffrey Eugenides.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m working on a companion novel to Perennials. It follows Fiona two years after Perennials ends, during her senior year at college, and focuses on her development into adulthood after that fateful summer.
We also get a glimpse into the lives of Fiona’s best friend at college, a visiting professor, and his wife, whose stories eventually intersect with Fiona’s in unusual and surprising ways.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: I wrote Perennials largely because I wanted another book about the complicated inner lives of women and girls to be out in the world. I’m always looking for books like these; as far as I’m concerned, there are never enough. So I hope my novel makes women of all walks of life feel recognized, and I hope they may even see a glimmer of themselves in some of these characters.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
Berman, Mandy: PERENNIALS
(Apr. 15, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Berman, Mandy PERENNIALS Random House (Adult Fiction) $27.00 6, 6 ISBN: 978-0-399-58931-7
Stormy emotional weather and unforeseen events rock a summer camp in the Berkshires.In a pair of chapters set in 2000 that form a prelude to this novel, we meet Rachel and Fiona at 13. Rachel is the daughter of a struggling single mom, born as the result of her mother's longtime affair with a married man; summers at Camp Marigold are one of the few benefits her largely absent father offers to his secret second family. Fiona, from a much wealthier background (her parents met at Marigold when they were 9), has been Rachel's best friend since she started there. The rest of the book takes place in 2006, and its 12 chapters rotate among these characters and other counselors and campers. First up is Fiona's younger sister, Helen, who makes and loses a good friend in the latter part of seventh grade. Fortunately, she has camp to look forward to. Fiona, now at college in Connecticut and miserable about gaining the freshman 15, and Rachel, who goes to the University of Michigan and looks better than ever, are both back as counselors. Yonatan from Israel and Chad from the U.K. are among those who go to a Super-8 motel to party with them on their day off. Sheera, one of the only nonwhite campers, is at camp on scholarship and will never quite blend in...and then a shocking accident causes her to go home before summer's end. The fallout from that event casts a shadow over the rest of the summer, deeply affecting British counselors Mo and Nell as well as Rachel and Fiona. Meanwhile, the camp director, Jack, divorced and lonely, will find that partying with the counselors isn't such a great idea. Despite the escalating problems, neither the characters nor the reader will be prepared for what happens on the last day of the season. Berman's debut recalls the beloved teen and adult novels of Judy Blume, both in topic and prose style: simple, powerful, unafraid to confront serious issues.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Berman, Mandy: PERENNIALS." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A489268650/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=7a9009bb. Accessed 9 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A489268650
Perennials
264.15 (Apr. 10, 2017): p49.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Perennials
Mandy Berman. Random House, $27 (288p)
ISBN 978-0-399-58931-7
Berman entices readers with this coming-of-age tale of two girls. Rachel Rivkin and Fiona Larkin have been friends ever since they met at Camp Marigold, a summer camp in Connecticut. They come from very different backgrounds: Rachel, the product of her mother's affair with a married man, lives in New York City, while Fiona and her siblings live a life of plenty in Westchester--though their parents seem to be drifting apart. But Camp Marigold is the one place that never seems to change as the girls enjoy freedom from their everyday lives and the ability to make their own decisions. When they return to the camp as counselors during their college years, Rachel keeps secrets from Fiona, something she has not done before. Rachel's reluctance to share those secrets with Fiona is a blow to their friendship, especially when Fiona's family suffers a devastating loss. This story of facing life's difficulties is most memorable because of Berman's excellently crafted, multifaceted characters. (June)
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Perennials." Publishers Weekly, 10 Apr. 2017, p. 49. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A490319231/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=b2f43c43. Accessed 9 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A490319231
Berman, Mandy. Perennials
Erinn Black Salge
63.10 (Oct. 2017): p116.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Library Journals, LLC. A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
BERMAN, Mandy. Perennials. 288p. Random. Jun. 2017. Tr $27. ISBN 9780399589317.
Rachel and Fiona are as different as friends can be. Rachel, the result of an affair, is a city girl, scrappy, self-possessed, and confident. Fiona struggles in her suburban life, unsure of her place in her family and among her friends. Yet when the two spend summers at Camp Marigold, they fall into an easy rhythm. Several years later, the young women return to Marigold as counselors. Rachel and Fiona grow apart as the rest of the camp changes around them. But when tragedy strikes, they are thrown together once more. This coming-of-age narrative touches on themes of body image and fitting in. The book is rich with detail, bringing to life the daily rhythms of the camp from lakeside to stable, all the way to the lurid after-hours activities of the staff. Debut author Berman successfully incorporates a varied supporting cast that includes the protagonists' parents and siblings as well as camp directors, horseback instructors, and others. VERDICT This compelling, immersive look at summer camp life will appeal to anyone who appreciates tales of friendship.--Erinn Black Salge, Morristown-Beard School, Morristown, NJ
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Salge, Erinn Black. "Berman, Mandy. Perennials." School Library Journal, Oct. 2017, p. 116. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A507950850/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=c235f176. Accessed 9 Dec. 2017.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A507950850
A Summer Camp Offers Lessons in Love, Life and Friendship
By J. COURTNEY SULLIVANJUNE 2, 2017
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Mandy Berman Credit Martin Bentsen
PERENNIALS
By Mandy Berman
273 pp. Random House. $27.
In the opening pages of Mandy Berman’s captivating debut novel, we meet Rachel: Thirteen years old and trying to persuade her hung-over single mother to wake up and drive her to summer camp. Fresh off a late-night date, her mother groans, but eventually obliges, and the two travel from their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment to Connecticut, singing Pat Benatar as they sail up the Taconic Parkway.
Once Rachel arrives at Camp Marigold, we’re introduced to Fiona, her “best camp friend,” who lives in a big house in the suburbs, with a brother, a sister, a yellow Lab and two parents — a family so seemingly sitcom-perfect that Fiona’s mother actually keeps warm brownies on the counter and wears an apron to chop vegetables. The only thing the girls have in common is four summers of intense friendship, forged over horseback riding and late-night chats in the top bunks.
At first, it seems as if “Perennials” will be a novel about Rachel and Fiona’s complicated bond, or Rachel’s equally complex relationship with her mother. To an extent, it is both. But 40 pages in, the book skips ahead six years to the summer Rachel and Fiona return to camp for the final time, as college-age counselors. From there, the narrative fans out to incorporate nine different viewpoints, ranging from campers in middle school to the 44-year-old man who serves as camp director.
The end result sometimes feels more like a collection of connected stories than a novel you can sink your teeth into. A few moments of high drama pack less of an emotional punch than they might, since we’re never with any character long enough to get attached. The one exception is Rachel, whom we come to understand more and more as we see her through the eyes of others.
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Ultimately, plot isn’t really the point. Berman is at her most insightful when exploring the awkward unfurling of female adolescence. By revealing the back stories of Rachel’s and Fiona’s mothers, she rather ingeniously highlights that, within every girl, are the seeds of the woman she will become.
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“Perennials” is a sharp meditation on the changing female body, and the ways in which such changes are often involuntary and unwanted. “Sarah, with her newly D-cup breasts, had attention lavished on her by the more confident boys without much of a choice on her part,” Berman writes of one camper. And of Fiona, who has gained the Freshman 15: “What she would have given to get back the body she’d once hated.”
Beneath the wholesome veneer of camp dances and bland dining hall food pulses the energy of young people discovering their sexuality. For the girls and women in the book, sex is a constant source of curiosity, confusion, power and pain. Nearly everyone loses her virginity while at Camp Marigold — even Fiona’s apron-wearing mother, when she herself was a camper of 14.
Toward the end of the book, Fiona explains why she likes being a counselor to 9-year-olds: “I can talk about real things with them: their lives at home and their friends and the things they like to do — ride horses or swim or dance or draw. Rachel says her girls only talk about boys.” The inner lives of Berman’s adult characters suggest that this preoccupation with the opposite sex, once unleashed, persists unabated.
Berman skillfully captures the details and rituals of camp. It’s a place where freedom from the roles young people play at home lets them become who they are. And where, for those who return year after year, a girl can retrace her steps, see all the parts of herself past and present, with the occasional glimpse into the future.
J. Courtney Sullivan is the author of four novels, including, most recently, “Saints for All Occasions.”
05/31/17
REVIEW | 'Perennials': Mandy Berman's stunning debut novel
LITERATURE | New author Mandy Berman tells a touching tale of childhood's end against the backdrop of an American Summer Camp
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Thomas Burns Scully
American Summer camp seems to have acquired a mythical status. At some indeterminate point in recent history, the logistical convenience of sending children away to supervised camp grounds transcended its evolution out of necessity, and became a cultural touchstone. Best friends, first kisses, emotional awakenings, early sexual encounters… for so many, this is what Summer camp means. In Perennials, the debut novel of author Mandy Berman, this version of camp is explored in intimate detail. Through the eyes of campers, counselors, parents and managers, the reader experiences the lives of two girls, as defined by their Summer Camp experience.
Rachel and Fiona grew up seeing each other every summer at Camp Marigold. Fiona is an awkward and anxietous child of modest suburban privilege, and Rachel is the more daring, city-raised daughter of a single-mother. Now they return to Marigold as counselors on the verge of their twenties. Their relationship has grown more complicated since their youth, and they have difficulty reconciling their childhood friendship with the college age women they are now. The lens of the story jumps from viewpoint to viewpoint, and slowly we see their childhood mythicizing of camp-life melting uncomfortably in to the imperfections and tragedies of adulthood.
Author Mandy Berman
Berman's command of prose is astounding. The more you read, the more difficult it is to believe that this is a debut novel. As she writes she appears to actively play with readers' expectations. Her work lulls you into a false sense of complacency with a conventional lexicon and linear sentence structure, only to then rip the carpet out from underneath with a phrase or paragraph so devastatingly shaped and stylized that it demands to be read again and again for its sheer emotional purity.
"Perennials is a novel that simultaneously basks in the sunshine of its own glorious nostalgia and fumbles in the boat-shed with its seamier underside"
What is perhaps most striking is her use of perspective. Berman writes the novel in the empathic third person, allowing us a look into the minds and lives of somewhere in the range of ten different characters. Each of them is so wonderfully detailed, realized, and full of the aches and pains of life that, on first meeting them, you spend several pages convinced that you have finally stumbled upon the author-insert character. Only then do you remember that you have felt this way about every person this book has introduced you to. It is quite astonishing.
Clearly borne of real-world camp experience, Perennials is a novel that simultaneously basks in the sunshine of its own glorious nostalgia and fumbles in the boat-shed with its seamier underside. It alternately fills you with a youthful joy of life, and a wistful, all-too-present melancholy. Whether you remember your camp days, or are a stranger to the experience, this book will leave you believing that you too were once a thirteen year-old girl at Camp Marigold. Charged with hope, longing, an unexpected sensuality, and a bruised tenderness, Perennials is a book you should most definitely put near the top of your reading list.
'Perennials' will be in stores June 6th