Those Summer Girls I Never Met is told in first-person narration with mostly comic, fantastic, and melodramatic action. The comedy arises through situations and dialogue. Most are embarrassing situations that the participants only later see as humorous, such as Drew's getting caught nude in a jacuzzi intended for both sexes. The humor in the dialogue is mostly expressed through puns and verbal situations similar to malaprops—words used incorrectly. Most of the malaprops come through song titles. When Mr. Morthland, for example, tells Drew "Do nothing til you hear from me," and Drew responds with a serious "Okay," Mr. Morthland must explain that he merely said the title of one of Connie's big songs.

The pathos of melodrama is achieved by turning sympathetic innocent characters into victims. Mrs. Wingate is a victim of her husband's divorce, Connie is a victim of cancer, and the Krebs...