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A review by richincolor
Where Was Goodbye? by Janice Lynn Mather
“Where Was Goodbye” is the first novel I’ve read by Janice Lynn Mather and based on how much I enjoyed this novel, I want to go back and read her first two novels. Where Was Goodbye is a rich story that is full of so many meaningful themes as we journey with Karmen who is trying to make sense of her brother’s suicide. What I feel like this novel does best is show how the variety of ways people respond to grief and how relationships can grow and change based on that grief.
The bulk of the story takes over a short span of time, about a week and a half, and boy does Karmen go through a lot. Her family is still deeply grieving her brother Julian’s death, but her father has decided that with her senior year of school starting, the family should be working towards normal. Unfortunately Karmen is clearly not ready and on her second day of school has an incident that sends her home. This sends Karmen on a journey to attempt to get into her brother’s head and figure out why he chose to end his life. I actually felt for Karmen because she was clearly feeling guilty about not figuring out something was wrong with her brother, and this guilt was displayed by decisions that were probably not very healthy. Her relationship with her best friend, Layla, becomes strained as Karmen desperately wants to be treated normally but Layla is that “well-meaning” person whose attempts at comfort actually hurt more. She’s at odds with her father because he thinks she should be back to normal, not realizing how Karmen is forever changed by the death. Karmen’s mother is so mired in her own grief that she is missing the grief of her daughter. All of the usual supports that Karmen would have had fail her and she is left to find her own, and her idea is to learn more about her brother’s inner thoughts. I actually liked this part of the story as I understand how sometimes what you need to heal is answers and even though you may never get the answer you need, the journey itself is healing. Through looking for her brother she learns how much he was loved at the History department he belong to at his university; she learned he had written an article and was published; and learned about who he was to his friends. This search for her brother, knowing him, and accepting the secret parts of him that she didn’t know helped her find her voice to ask for the help she really needed.
In addition to traveling with Karmen in her journey to find her brother, Mather includes flashbacks throughout the story to moments with Karmen and her brother. I absolutely loved most of those moments because it fleshed out Karmen’s relationship with her brother for the reader, rather than the relationship being told to us. They little jokes they had, the way they mischievously worked together at times, really showed how much Karmen is hurting and made me really connect with her.
“Where Was Goodbye” is a beautiful novel that is all about relationships and how one act can change everything. It deals with the ones who are left behind and how they move to heal.
The bulk of the story takes over a short span of time, about a week and a half, and boy does Karmen go through a lot. Her family is still deeply grieving her brother Julian’s death, but her father has decided that with her senior year of school starting, the family should be working towards normal. Unfortunately Karmen is clearly not ready and on her second day of school has an incident that sends her home. This sends Karmen on a journey to attempt to get into her brother’s head and figure out why he chose to end his life. I actually felt for Karmen because she was clearly feeling guilty about not figuring out something was wrong with her brother, and this guilt was displayed by decisions that were probably not very healthy. Her relationship with her best friend, Layla, becomes strained as Karmen desperately wants to be treated normally but Layla is that “well-meaning” person whose attempts at comfort actually hurt more. She’s at odds with her father because he thinks she should be back to normal, not realizing how Karmen is forever changed by the death. Karmen’s mother is so mired in her own grief that she is missing the grief of her daughter. All of the usual supports that Karmen would have had fail her and she is left to find her own, and her idea is to learn more about her brother’s inner thoughts. I actually liked this part of the story as I understand how sometimes what you need to heal is answers and even though you may never get the answer you need, the journey itself is healing. Through looking for her brother she learns how much he was loved at the History department he belong to at his university; she learned he had written an article and was published; and learned about who he was to his friends. This search for her brother, knowing him, and accepting the secret parts of him that she didn’t know helped her find her voice to ask for the help she really needed.
In addition to traveling with Karmen in her journey to find her brother, Mather includes flashbacks throughout the story to moments with Karmen and her brother. I absolutely loved most of those moments because it fleshed out Karmen’s relationship with her brother for the reader, rather than the relationship being told to us. They little jokes they had, the way they mischievously worked together at times, really showed how much Karmen is hurting and made me really connect with her.
“Where Was Goodbye” is a beautiful novel that is all about relationships and how one act can change everything. It deals with the ones who are left behind and how they move to heal.