Catherine Ryan Hyde

Bestselling author Catherine Ryan Hyde hails from Buffalo, New York, the setting of her latest book, So Long, Chester Wheeler. She describes her family as “full of well-meaning individuals,” as well as “heartache and chaos.” She says hers was an “unhappy childhood. Everybody seemed quite busy with the problems at hand (I was the third of three), so I became the disappearing child. I amused myself by making up stories in my head, and tried not to need anything from the people around show more me.” Which, of course, did not work out very well.

Hyde published her first book when she was in her mid-thirties. She held many jobs over the years, but at that juncture was working as a baker and pastry chef in a restaurant situated in a tourist town. The business closed in January, and she knew that the cliché about writing a novel when she had the time “was either true in that moment or it never would be.” Her goal was to simply make enough money to keep writing. She has never looked back. So Long, Chester Wheeler is her forty-third published book.

In her writing, Hyde often explores what she refers to as “found families.” She explains, “When I was thirty-three, I got involved in twelve-step recovery, and now that’s my found family. I think the reason I like to write about redemption is because of my background as a practicing addict and alcoholic. In a society of throw-away people, I would have been thrown away.” Leading a clean and sober life in the ensuring years has inspired her to “tirelessly defend the idea that no one is beyond redemption.”

And redemption is yet another theme that she examines frequently in her novels, including So Long, Chester Wheeler. The story opens with Lewis having the worst day of his life. A twenty-four-year-old software developer in Buffalo, Lewis has been promised a significant raise that will take his income into the six-figure range. And when he opens the envelope containing his first paycheck reflecting his new salary, he is initially pleased. Then he notices something pink inside the envelope. It is the proverbial "pink slip." Economic conditions have forced the company to lay off Lewis, as well as several of his colleagues. And those economic conditions make it a very bad time to re-enter the job market.

Making matters worse, when Lewis gets home, he finds his live-in boyfriend, Tim, loading boxes into his car. Tim has decided to move to California alone, instead of with Lewis, as they had planned. Lewis is flabbergasted -- he had no idea Tim was unhappy in their relationship. He soon also learns that Tim emptied the jointly titled bank account in which they were pooling their savings to make the move.

Chester Wheeler, Lewis’s next-door neighbor, watches the break-up play out from his front porch. And can’t resist commenting. Chester is about 70 years old and in poor health, although Lewis does not yet know the extent of Chester’s medical issues. His home health aid announces it is her last day on the job. “The agency has no one left to send. He drove every last one of us away. . . . They can’t pay me enough to make it worth it. I’d rather starve.”

Chester’s daughter, Ellie, arrives when another health-care worker cannot be enlisted. She learns that Lewis has just become unemployed and tries to convince him to take the job. She assures Lewis that experience is not necessary. “At this point any sentient human being will do,” she sighs. Although Lewis’s proximity is a distinct advantage, he is adamant that “life is too short for Chester Wheeler.” But Ellie needs to get back home to be present for the birth of her first grandchild. And her two brothers refuse to help in any way. By generously offering Lewis nearly the same amount of money he was making as a software developer, she convinces him to fill in for just a week. He reluctantly agrees so that he will be able to pay his rent while he continues looking for suitable employment. And because agreeing makes him feel that he has Ellie very happy, even if he has made himself quite miserable in the bargain.

So Chester and Lewis begin settling into a tenuous, never-wanted partnership. Lewis learns that Chester is suffering from cancer that began in his lungs but has metastasized. Chester has refused further treatment and will be lucky to live another three months. He is largely immobile and dependent upon Lewis to assist him with his needs, including toileting, which causes them both consternation and embarrassment. The situation is only made worse when Chester flings crude and hurtful homophobic remarks at Lewis, who quickly realizes that he must set boundaries in order to survive a week of caring for Chester.

Ellie has an intercom installed that functions like a baby monitor. At night, both men can sleep in their own home, but Lewis can hear if Chester needs assistance and respond. As he adjusts to the new arrangement, Lewis is shocked to hear Chester talking in his sleep. But he doesn’t sound like Chester. Rather, his voice exudes kindness and concern, as though he is talking with his wife about their child. At one point, he hears Chester say, “I found the letters he wrote you,” which stirs Lewis's curiosity.

One morning Chester announces that he wants Lewis to do him a favor. He wants him to drive him somewhere. Arizona, to be exact. He owns an old Winnebago into which he had a new engine installed just before being diagnosed with cancer. Lewis initially dismisses the idea, but Chester knows exactly which buttons to push with Lewis, announcing, “It sucks that I don’t even get a last wish.” It seems he wants to surprise his ex-wife, Sue, and have a final conversation with her. One they should have had thirty-two years earlier. When Ellie agrees to cover the cost of the trip, Lewis relents because he fears that when Chester is gone, he will feel guilty for having denied a dying man his last wish.

As Lewis and Chester embark on their journey to Arizona, they must find inventive ways to tolerate each other and co-exist in the motor home. Lewis has to devise safe ways to transport Lewis in and out of the Winnebago, and take care of his hygiene requirements. All without losing his own sanity. Not to mention the matter of how they will approach Sue once they arrive, unannounced, at her home.

The tale is related through Lewis’s first-person narrative and entirely from his perspective. It is at times hilarious, and often heartbreakingly thought-provoking, as Lewis relates cringe-worthy but realistic details of how he figures out the best ways to provide Chester the care he needs while compassionately protecting the older man’s remaining dignity. He candidly admits there are moments when he finds it “disturbing to be so completely in tune with the likes of Chester Wheeler.”

Hyde is a master at creating believable, credible dialogue and the story is given life and meaning through the men’s conversations, as well as the things they do not say to each other. She employs her deceptively straight-forward storytelling style to relate the deep emotional issues with which Lewis grapples and, through his observations and perceptions of Chester, pulls readers along into his consideration of the older man’s internal life and the disappointments, disillusionments, and pain that have resulted in his current predicament. He is facing certain death but, over the years, has somehow managed to push away the very people who should be surrounding him and easing his transition. Tragically, those people aren’t just absent. They don’t care about Chester or his impending demise.

With Chester unabashedly mean-spirited and surly, Lewis finds his own strength and voice as he works to balance his self-respect and dedication to the job he has promised to perform against his need to be treated respectfully by Chester. He concludes that he cannot be a monster who hates an embittered old man who is dying, but must confront Chester's cruelty, harsh criticisms, and homophobia. Chester insists that he and Lewis are very much the same – hateful – which strikes a nerve with Lewis. “Even if we do both hate, you hate me for what I am. I hate you for the things you say and do. Huge difference.” Hyde challenges readers to ponder if that is true as they come to know both Lewis and Chester better, and understand their fears and motivations.

As in many of her other novels, Hyde explores both the fragility and strength of familial bonds, as well as the importance of communication. She illustrates how unexpected revelations disrupt long-held assumptions and create emotional disequilibrium. And there’s that matter of redemption, and whether Chester will find it. Hyde keeps the character-drive story interesting with Lewis’s discovery of shocking details about Chester’s relationships not just with his children and ex-wife, but also his beloved friend, Mike, with whom he served in Vietnam. Chester has also been estranged for more than thirty years from the man that everybody loved. Will bringing closure to their fractured friendship also help Chester find peace? Hyde’s restrained approach to that aspect of the saga, particularly with respect to the choices Lewis makes, enhance its poignancy and emotional resonance, again revealing her to be one of America’s most gifted contemporary storytellers.

So Long, Chester Wheeler is about two men who journey together toward different destinations. Chester’s final days are spent with Lewis in pursuit of resolution of old hurts and resentments that will lead, hopefully, to a peaceful death for him and lessen the regrets and, perhaps, guilt felt by those he leaves behind.

But Lewis is on the brink of new beginnings and wondering why he is so committed to helping Chester find closure when he barely understands his own past or why his relationship with Tim failed. As he heads home, he recognizes that he is not “exactly the same person I’d been when I first drove that land boat out of Buffalo.” Spending time in the presence of Chester Wheeler turns out to be a profoundly life-changing experience for him, and reading about what he learns is a moving experience for readers.

Once again, Hyde delivers a slyly insightful and wise meditation on finding human connection in the most unexpected places and ways, and how we carry the spirits of those we encounter with us, in various ways and degrees, for the rest of our lives.

Thanks to NetGalley for an Advance Reader's Copy of the book. show less

Avevo letto già un libro di questa autrice e non mi aveva impressionato, carino ma nulla più. Questo invece è bello. Una storia delicata, un romanzo di formazione con due ragazzi,un anziano professore, un padre insufficiente, una ex moglie en passant, il fantasma di un figlio e infine un cane. Il tutto ambientati nei principali parchi nazionali degli Usa, letteralmente on the road.
Piuttosto ben scritto, carico di buoni sentimenti anche se a volte un po' intrecciati ed arzigogolati, narra show more di seconde occasioni perse o sfruttate, di lutto, di alcolismo, di figli, di paure... mescola tutto come in un frullatore ma l'insieme intrattiene e fa riflettere in modo piacevole.
Ognuno dei personaggi ha la possibilità di capire i proprio errori e anche cosa vuole davvero dalla vita. Alcuni ci riescono, altri rimangono prigionieri delle proprie schiavitù interiori. Ma la possibilità di cambiare arriva per tutti e va saputa cogliere.
E lo spunto per coglierla resta legato comunque all'essere famiglia, comunità, allo stare insieme. In particolare il cibo, anche banali panini, consumano insieme diviene altro. Il lutto si trasfigura in una nuova paternità, e la figliolanza diventa a sua volta un prendersi cura.
Perché, come di recente commentato a proposito del film gaelico "The Quiet Girl", a volte la svolta sta in pochi settimane o mesi con una persona o una famiglia che ti fa conoscere un modo diverso di vivere, e così facendo ti salva letteralmente lo spirito dall'abbrutimento, dalla semplice animalità del soddisfare i bisogni fisici.
Proprii per questo è un ottimo testo per adolescenti/quasi adulti. show less

August Schroeder is on his way to Yosemite. He is taking a trip he had planned with his son, Philip, but Philip is not along for the trip because he was killed in a traffic accident. When his car breaks down in a town along the way, he is persuaded to take two young boys (12 and 7), Seth and Henry, along with him on his summer trip. It is a fortuitous trip for both August and the boys, and it changes them in ways they cannot anticipate. They all need saving, and they save each other, and it show more is the building of their relationships and the influences they exert upon one another that make this a poignant and meaningful story.

This is my second Hyde book and I liked this one even more than the first. Hyde has a way of telling a story that makes you just relax into it and go along on the journey. You feel that you are always moving toward something important, something that matters not only to the characters but to all of us. I cried and laughed during this read, and I felt at the end that August and Seth and Henry were all made of flesh and blood and that I knew them well. show less

Catherine Hyde Ryan writes beautiful books with relevant and important messages imparted to the reader without seeming preachy in the least. What a fabulous skill to have! As Allie and Bea begins, Bea, a tough woman in her seventies, has been fleeced of her remaining money by a con man. Left with few options, Bea decides to live in her van and make her way up the coast of California to try and find a place to reside. Meanwhile, Allie, a strong-willed teenager, has just been thrown into the show more CPS system because her wealthy parents have been arrested for tax fraud. Escaping from a harrowing ordeal, she and Bea encounter each other and eventually decide to team up and take an adventure up the Pacific Coast.

Initially as I began reading this novel, I was unsure that Bea and Allie were very realistically crafted. As I continued reading, I decided that I was naïve and that sadly there are people are in similar situations to one or both of them; I just do not encounter them much in my life. As a parent of two teens and a pre-teen, the fate of Allie’s character significantly weighed on my mind. The options available to her were few, and I found that so depressing and somewhat scary. Likewise, with elderly parents thankfully still around, I also empathized with Bea as she struggled with her lack of income and resources and how she could make her way in today’s world. After I finished Allie and Bea, I certainly hope that I will be more sympathetic and open to seeing and helping those individuals I encounter day-to-day that may need a helping hand.

My two favorite aspects of the book were Hyde’s focus on the thoughtfulness of humanity when people are given a chance to be kind and helpful and the relationship that Bea and Allie developed with each other. Family is not always those people who are related to each other but instead can be individuals who encounter each other along the path of life and connect. Allie and Bea’s relationship is the perfect example of the latter.

Hyde has written an incredibly thought-provoking novel that will stay with me for a long time, and I definitely recommend Allie and Bea to everyone. Thanks to Lake Union and NetGalley for the chance to read this ARC in exchange for an honest review. show less