Synopsis:
What happens when you fall for the girl everyone hates?
Summer 1987: Mark Prewitt’s only priority is to avoid his dad’s new wife and waste time with his friends, but idle nights are the devil’s playground. When his friends decide to pull a cruel prank on the reclusive and strange Farrow sisters, Mark regrets caving in to peer pressure.
Wanting to make amends, Mark is drawn into the mysterious world of the Farrow girls, finding a kindred spirit in the middle sister, George. She is unlike anyone he’s ever known; a practicing witch who uses folk magic to protect her family. They bond over books, loneliness, and homemade spells. She even invites Mark to join a séance to contact her dead sister, who died under mysterious circumstances.
Keeping their relationship secret, Mark learns that living a double life in a town this small is impossible. When the secret is exposed, and his friends plot to punish the witch sisters for stealing one of their own, Mark is forced to choose between these two worlds.
My Edition:
Paperback provided by the Publisher.
My Thoughts:
Wasps in the Ice Cream is a coming of age story sort of in the vein of Stephen King’s Stand by Me, but with a sprinkle of We Have Always Lived in the Castle. I really felt for both Mark and the entire Farrow family. Although having once been a kid, I also found Mark’s friends incredibly familiar. We all knew kids whose minds were closed to the suffering of others – the kids who were mean, but adults hesitated to label bullies – they’re just kids being kids, right? Well, in case you didn’t pick up on my tone, I’m not really buying that. If the last few years of being an American living through the Worst Possible Timeline, I’ve decided that it is NEVER too early to start teaching kids about the power of empathy.
It’s also worth noting that there are some elements of the supernatural in Wasps in the Ice Cream. George Farrow gets up to some (perceived) spooky stuff. The way the town treats this family is abhorrent. You’re going to hate it. They experienced a terrible tragedy, and became reclusive because of it. And in typical small-town fashion (in my experience, because I’ve never lived in a small town that was not like this), instead of supporting the Farrows, the town decides to ostracize them. You know, because they’re weird. They even refer to the two daughters as “The Witch Sisters.” I mean, get a fucking grip, small town America. Be nice.
Suffice to say, the town deciding these poor people are freaks makes them awfully easy targets for some teenagers looking to engage in some light, “low stakes” bullying. So they decide to light off fireworks directly at the sisters as they’re carrying groceries up to their house. Like, right at them. Freakin’ jerks. And then they run away like bratty little dorks. But Mark feels bad. The others, not so much. But at least Mark has an empathetic bone somewhere in his pubescent skeleton. And then he gets to talking to George Farrow (the middle sister), and finds out that *shocker* she’s a real person. And he likes her. A lot. Which of course is, like, Taboo Number One in this stupid little town. Can’t get tangled up with a Witch Sister, amirite?? So he keeps their budding relationship a secret. But we all know what happens to secrets in small towns, don’t we? Needless to say, it’s not great for anybody involved.
I don’t think that Mark’s friends are “bad,” per se. I just think that they could use a good course-correct before they turn into Bad Kids. Which I like to think they got somewhere after the story ends. They’re just kids, but they could benefit from a bit of empathy, is all I’m saying.
Wasps in the Ice Cream doesn’t have a happy ending. Nothing that happens is really very happy – it’s just like life: a lot of crappy stuff happens with little moments of brightness sprinkled throughout. But it’s a really good book. A really compelling story that focuses heavily on character building. There are a lot of comparisons I could make to extremely popular stories, but I won’t because this story deserves to stand on its own. It’s part of a well defined genre with established tropes that it doesn’t really stray from, but what it does, it does extremely well. This book will break your heart a little at a time, over and over again.
Rating:
Wasps in the Ice Cream is a beautifully written coming of age tale. It covers themes of loss, trauma, bullying, isolation, and ostracism.
Wasps in the Ice Cream
By Tim McGregor
Raw Dog Screaming Press
ISBN: 9781947879539
Hardcover, Paperback, E-book, Audio
192 Pages
