Reviews

Goodbye Without Leaving by Laurie Colwin

desirosie's review against another edition

5.0

Oh, how I loved this book. It was impossible to know that ... a decade .... after being recommended it by a friend that I would finally get it and that *right now* was the perfect time for me to read it.

mollybrown's review against another edition

4.0

3.75: A perfectly delightful book about a woman puttering through the afterward of a rock n roll start. At times funny and sad, overall a wonderful semi plotless book about a woman going through marriage, motherhood, and finding jobs. A variety of outdated language and cliches and tropes in characters.

rockinghaims's review against another edition

adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

jolie3467's review

funny reflective relaxing medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

ifelearns's review against another edition

hopeful lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Hmmmm......  I preferred happy all the time but this was still nice to read
Favourite quotes: 

• “I should get the Nobel Prize because I’m pregnant,” I said. “Women are so wonderful. Aren’t you jealous?”

• “We are constantly living the history of our own lives, you dig? You used to be your old self, now you’re a new self, and someday you’ll be some other self and what’s now will be your old self."

• "The days of Little Franklin’s babyhood seemed haloed in fuzzy golden light."

• "It was a cloudy, windy day in early fall. As we walked through Little Italy on the way back to what was now our apartment, it seemed to me that, if I looked back, I would see my unmarried past behind me, gray as a floating cloud. Before me stood the dreaded future: I was now an honest woman."

• "The problem with you is that you don’t want a real relationship. Because your mother never left you alone, you’re afraid that, if someone really loves you, they’ll consume you. Besides, you don’t want to be loved for your real self because your mother doesn’t love you for your real self and you feel your real self isn’t worth it, right?” As usual, I had just sighed."

• “You’re hopeless,” Johnny said. “Life is not about who’s on whose side.”
  
  
• “I Was a White Shakette for the FBI,” I said".

• "Wash the blackface off, kiddo. We’re invited to a dinner party.”

andrealaurion's review against another edition

3.0

Enjoyable, but not as much as the other Colwin books I've read.

mcurry1010's review against another edition

2.0

The characters were quirky and fun- for awhile but then became tedious. I enjoy her essays much more than this work of fiction.

rachelmichelson's review against another edition

3.0

I read this for book club. I found the main character to be a tad whiney, yet I could really relate to her angst. Particularly when she has her child and talks about being a stay-at-home-mom.

I felt like the ending was a bit lame. Nothing was resolved and i'm not so sure the character grew, like you would want her to.

I also was disappointed by the affair. It didn't seem necessary.