I recently read a novel, based on friendships that began at summer camp. Like most of you interested in working at camp this summer, a book that references camp gives me good vibes in the middle of the winter.
The book is titled, “The Interestings” by Meg Wolitzer, a New York Times best selling author.
What I really wanted to know about the book is where did the author go to camp? So I googled it. Turns out she went to a camp in Stockbridge, MA, which is right in the Berkshire Mountains, the same setting as the camp in her novel. In an interview with NPR, she says, “I made wonderful friends and that, actually, is as much a part of it as anything else. My closest friend is someone I met that summer in 1974. And my closest friend sort of talked about the world in a way that, you know, none of my friends back in my suburb did. And I began to be a little different and to sort of think of myself differently. And at the end of the summer, you know, going back home, as in my novel, it was like a tragic thing. My parents showed up in their Rambler and took me away and I felt like I was being kidnapped. Like, ‘Why are you making me live in that house?’ Of course, I had great parents who had a house full of books, but something had been lit in me that never got unlit again.”
If you are interested in really feeling (or re-living) the connections you make at camp, I’d recommend giving it a go. While the book received all sorts of fabulous reviews from actual book review experts, I’ll let you know that this camp expert gives it a thumbs up, too!
Campstaff Compass 