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Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, and literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.
Female Friendships
The Summer I Turned Pretty juxtaposes Belly and Taylor’s youthful, shallow friendship with Laurel and Susannah’s enduring bond. Both pairs have known each other since childhood and call themselves “best friends,” but they are at very different stages of life. As teens Taylor and Belly compete for boys’ attention, they seem more like rivals than friends. On the other hand, Susannah and Laurel support each other through trials and tribulations, from divorce to terminal illness.
During the end of Taylor’s visit to Cousins Beach, Laurel tells her Belly, “Best friends are important. They’re the closest thing to a sister you’ll ever have. Don’t squander it.” The advice is even more poignant considering Taylor and Belly’s friendship dissolves over competition for boys, while Laurel and Susannah’s friendship outlasts both of their marriages.
The Summer Months
Early in the novel, Belly explains that the fall, winter, and spring feel like a holding pattern as she waits for June and her return to the Fishers’ house on Cousins Beach. There, she can escape her parents’ divorce and the expectations of her father. Taylor is the only friend from home who visits Cousins Beach, and her presence causes so much dissonance, Belly never invites her back. For Belly, the summer months evoke a sort of magic and comfort that she can’t find anywhere else.
