Never Ending Summer is a comic written by one Allison Cole, and published by Alternative Comics. "Alternative Comics" is a wide ranging label, and this particular one is autobiographical and in black and white. It tells of the events in the life of the author over a summer of her late adolescence. The drawing style is minimalistic to the point of being unrealistic (for example, characters are drawn without mouths), and the writing style is also minmalistic, with most of the dialogue being short and prosaic.
The facts being briefly described, I must say that in my opinion, the entire work is terrible. I hate to be so cruel to what may be someone's life work, but I can't see why someone would choose to produce something that is both so uninspired, and so poorly done. The literary technique that is attempting to be used is slice of life. Personally, I think that slice of life works best when it allows something unusual or unique to appear. Throughout most of the book, the author/protagonist interacts only with people of her own age and social group, so that most of what is portrayed in the book is romantic relationships (or lack of them), listening to records, and going to bars. For example, late in the book there is a three or four page section where the protagonist goes to the beach. A trip to the beach might involve seeing some interesting natural phenomena, or meet some interesting people. That would be an interesting slice of life. But instead, what we have is three pages of thinking about romance.
Another thing that is lacking is any type of explanation or demonstration of why the important figures in the book are at all important, or even unique. Various people pop up in the book, but because of the minimalism of the writing and drawing, we have no reason to know why, for example, some of the men may be attractive or interesting. Nothing and no one in the book sticks out as either dramatic, special or unique.
This book shows two things to me, one of which I already know, and one of which I have just recently realized. The thing I already knew was that "alternative comics" are not neccesarily more thought provoking than superhero comics. At no point did this book challenge me with new ideas or feelings. Second, this book made me realize that hipsters (I don't know how else to describe young adults whose life revolves around cheap beer, parties and records), rather than being a temporary deviation from my culture, are actually a culture totally at odds with mine. I just can't understand the appeal of either the lifestyle portrayed, or with the minimalistic, disaffected way it is portrayed. | 
