Previous
Chapter 26
Themes
Key
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Summer I Turned Pretty, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Time and Change
Coming of Age and Selfishness
Puberty, Body Image, and Anxiety
Family, Romance, and Rules
Summary
Analysis
Mom comments one morning that Belly has been spending so much time with Cam that she misses seeing Belly. Such a thing is only okay if Susannah says it—it’s just annoying when Mom does it. Susannah asks Belly to invite Cam for dinner, and to Belly’s dismay, Cam accepts. Though Susannah cooks a vegetarian stir-fry to accommodate Cam, Jeremiah insists on cooking burgers for himself and then pesters Cam about letting Belly kiss him after eating dead animals. Cam kisses Belly to show he doesn’t care, and Mom insists that Belly can’t do more than kiss. Belly is mortified and insists that Cam join her on the porch, but he tells Belly to let it go. Belly feels awful, but when everyone laughs again, she feels like maybe this summer will be okay.
Belly continues to idolize Susannah, even as Susannah pushes Belly to do things she doesn’t want to do—like begin to integrate Cam into the beach house group. Inviting Cam is difficult for Belly in part because Mom and Jeremiah are extremely embarrassing, but also because Belly has to integrate who she is around her family and friends with who she is around Cam. This is extremely uncomfortable for her, but this is, the novel suggests, part of coming of age.
Themes
Cam and Belly walk on the beach after dinner, and Cam asks which boy was Belly’s first kiss. He guesses Conrad, but Belly reveals that it was Jeremiah.
Themes
