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3.85 AVERAGE
3.85 AVERAGE
It captures the true meaning of change.
McLean, is a senior going through her parents divorce, and had been moving from school to school with her father for that last two years. The characters McLean meets in her new school bring the change she needed most. Sarah truly captured the perfect feeling of a girl who's lost and searching for who she really is. The other characters each play an important role, and all have such strong, realistic personalities. It's a good summer book. I'd suggest this book to any.
McLean, is a senior going through her parents divorce, and had been moving from school to school with her father for that last two years. The characters McLean meets in her new school bring the change she needed most. Sarah truly captured the perfect feeling of a girl who's lost and searching for who she really is. The other characters each play an important role, and all have such strong, realistic personalities. It's a good summer book. I'd suggest this book to any.
I have only read two other books of hers, Just Listen and Lock and Key, AND SHE REFERENCES THEM BOTH IN THIS BOOK. She should have a warning before each reference because I seriously flipped out when I read them. I love her referencing them but at the same times it brings so many feels and it's just so cool that that happens.
Genre
YA Fiction
Synopsis
Mclean has changed her identity every time she has to move, following her father around for his job. In fact, she's changed so many times she starting to forget what she was really like. Can the new town and the kids in it help her discover who she really is?
Why Should You Read It?
It's a feel-good story.
What Can You Learn From the Author's Writing?
Sarah Dessen does a good job of giving us the inner dialogue of a teenager without seeming fake.
Overall Rating
3 smiles
http://tabreviewd.blogspot.com/2017/07/what-happened-to-goodbye-by-sarah-dessen.html
YA Fiction
Synopsis
Mclean has changed her identity every time she has to move, following her father around for his job. In fact, she's changed so many times she starting to forget what she was really like. Can the new town and the kids in it help her discover who she really is?
Why Should You Read It?
It's a feel-good story.
What Can You Learn From the Author's Writing?
Sarah Dessen does a good job of giving us the inner dialogue of a teenager without seeming fake.
Overall Rating
3 smiles
http://tabreviewd.blogspot.com/2017/07/what-happened-to-goodbye-by-sarah-dessen.html
I always love Sarah Dessen. Her books are simple yet powerful, easily accessible for teenage girls. This story was moving as we see the outcome of a child of divorce. The main character Mclean goes through phases of stability and instability, all the while literally trying to find herself in the aftermath of the divorce. It is fascinating to watch Mclean's progress, to sympathize with her, to root for her, to laugh with her. I only wish that there had been more that occurred between her and Dave.
The book was a little slow in the beginning, but it got better after I was 100 pages in. I loved how McLean's dad was almost like Gordon Ramsay, coming in to fix struggling restaurants and cleaning up their acts (though with a bit more tact and a lot less expletives). The mom was hard to read, for personal reasons I'll somewhat explain later.
The content of the book was a little slow, but it felt very realistic. Life isn't always so fast-paced and extraordinary. It can drag on and on and on before something interesting finally happens. This book felt very true to life, especially coming from someone who had been a teenager stuck in the middle of a rather nasty divorce. Those details really hit home and brought up a lot of memories, not all of them good.
I have been meaning to read this book for quite some time now. The Sweet's divorce reminding me of the toxicity of my own parents' divorce prevented me from doing so for quite some time. It was still a struggle to read, especially when the things the mom said were practically things my own father had said verbatim. There were times I had to put the book down and walk away to deal with everything that was running through my mind.
You know a book is good when you have to walk away to deal with the feelings it gives you, good or bad.
The content of the book was a little slow, but it felt very realistic. Life isn't always so fast-paced and extraordinary. It can drag on and on and on before something interesting finally happens. This book felt very true to life, especially coming from someone who had been a teenager stuck in the middle of a rather nasty divorce. Those details really hit home and brought up a lot of memories, not all of them good.
I have been meaning to read this book for quite some time now. The Sweet's divorce reminding me of the toxicity of my own parents' divorce prevented me from doing so for quite some time. It was still a struggle to read, especially when the things the mom said were practically things my own father had said verbatim. There were times I had to put the book down and walk away to deal with everything that was running through my mind.
You know a book is good when you have to walk away to deal with the feelings it gives you, good or bad.
3 1/2 stars - After reading so much supernatural stuff, its really fun to read a well-written, realistic fiction with great characters having pretty much normal lives. A few places were a bit too convenient, but the plot was for the most part very believable. The kids were realistic and the dialog is quite funny in places. This is a great read!
It didn’t give me the same feeling as a Sarah Dessen book I would usually read. I feel like writing about kids while they are in school is much different than writing about them in summer.
Sarah Dessen has once again put out a book filled the amazing characters and a plot. The lead girl has spent the last few years moving around because of her dad's job (I know how that feels, because of my dad's job when growing up we did a lot of moving around.) So, I could easily understand McLean (I just adore her name) even though I never became a new 'person's each time moved, I do understand the starting over part.
Basketball was and then becomes a huge part of McLean's life. I understand the sport part of her life but one of the parts I enjoyed about this book was the use of basketball words. And how the sport play a big part in the story. I don't come for a sport family, it's basically just my mom and I for football and WWE. So, reading about sports being a big part of a family and a town was a part I enjoyed; I liked reading about how much sports play in life.
In every Sarah Dessen book there are great lessons to be learned. For me the main lesson in this book is being yourself. The characters are great in the book. Dave, the guy next door. What isn't there to say about him. He's easily my favorite character in the story. There was just something about him and McLean that melted my heart. They are different but the so alike in the same way.
While reading I'm always thinking of the end and this one ended in the way I was hoping/thinking it would.
I wanted to quote a line that, one I love and two wraps up this whole story into a bow. “Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you.”
There wasn't really any twist in this story but that wasn't a down side, I like that is was a simple story that taught lessons. I enjoyed the simpleness charm and witty of this book.
Basketball was and then becomes a huge part of McLean's life. I understand the sport part of her life but one of the parts I enjoyed about this book was the use of basketball words. And how the sport play a big part in the story. I don't come for a sport family, it's basically just my mom and I for football and WWE. So, reading about sports being a big part of a family and a town was a part I enjoyed; I liked reading about how much sports play in life.
In every Sarah Dessen book there are great lessons to be learned. For me the main lesson in this book is being yourself. The characters are great in the book. Dave, the guy next door. What isn't there to say about him. He's easily my favorite character in the story. There was just something about him and McLean that melted my heart. They are different but the so alike in the same way.
While reading I'm always thinking of the end and this one ended in the way I was hoping/thinking it would.
I wanted to quote a line that, one I love and two wraps up this whole story into a bow. “Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you.”
There wasn't really any twist in this story but that wasn't a down side, I like that is was a simple story that taught lessons. I enjoyed the simpleness charm and witty of this book.