What Happened to Goodbye

Classic Sarah Dessen. I was glued to the book for the last two-thirds. What more can you ask for? ( )

High school girl, Mclean Sweet, and her dad have moved into a new town. Dad's job is to work in restaurants, leaving them better off
than he found them and then he and Mclean move on to the next place. Mclean reinvents herself when she moves to a new place,
wanting to fit in. She's unhappy with her Mom who is happily remarried with 2 small children. Mclean makes a lot of friends, and her
friends become friends with one another. Nice story. ( )

McLean Sweet has moved four times in two years. Living with her dad means that they never put down roots. He fixes up restaurants, and when he’s done with a job, they’re done with the town. McLean likes being on the move, and she creates a different persona for herself in each new town. But when she and her dad move to Lakeview, she finds herself answering to her real name–and maybe acting like her real self, too. As she and her dad both get more invested in the town and in the restaurant, McLean starts to wonder if she can run forever.

Dessen is arguably the most well-known and well-respected YA author writing today. She has legions of devoted fans, and her success in creating memorable, realistic characters is unmatched. In her tenth novel, Dessen works within the confines of her own Dessen Formula, creating a cast of characters that are three-dimensional, interesting, and entertaining. Instead of focusing on a romance, though, Dessen deviates–ever so slightly–from her previous books and chooses instead to focus on McLean’s family problems. The result is mostly successful.

As usual, Dessen manages to create an authentic protagonist in McLean. She’s complex, and her relationships echo that. She loves her father, and despite her deep anger at her mother, she loves her, too. The exploration of McLean’s relationship with both of her parents–her estranged mother, desperate to reconnect, and her loving but distracted father–is well-drawn and compelling on its own. The secondary characters are, for the most part, well-drawn as well, though characters like Deb (where is her book?) pop more than others.

In fact, that might be one of the few problems with Dessen’s novel. There are so many secondary characters that it was sometimes hard to keep them straight. While the ones who are given some decent page time are distinct and entertaining, others sort of blended into the background. Dessen has always cast her novels with a wide array of characters (and they are often characters in every sense of the word) with quirks and needs and distinct speech patterns, but something about the sheer number of characters in this book didn’t quite mesh.

The other problem with Dessen’s novel is the pacing. Because McLean’s dilemma is largely a personal one, there is very little rising action. Though she clashes with her mother, this conflict doesn’t serve as a large enough impetus to build a satisfying amount of tension. Although it isn’t glaringly obvious, I couldn’t help but feel that the pacing lagged in the second half of the book as a result.

Despite my minor issues with the book, it’s still a novel written by Sarah Dessen. She’s an incredibly capable writer who infuses her characters with life. Reading a Dessen book, even if it isn’t my favorite one, is still a largely enjoyable experience.

Highly recommended.

What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen. Penguin Young Readers: 2011. Purchased copy. ( )

My first Sarah Dessen book, and certainly not my last... I understand now why she's so popular with teen girls. Engaging and believable characters fresh dialogue a fair amount of angst with an ultimately happy ending = a solid choice for contemporary fiction fans. ( )

as always spot on characters, plot, voice, perfect summer or anytime read ( )