I Almost Forgot About You

I appreciate a romance that is acerbically funny rather than cloying and this one gets bonus points for a main character and her romantic interests who are middle aged and dealing with all the life issues that go with it. The characters, their relationships, and the events felt real and not too improbable and the dialogue was snappy. I enjoyed it so much that it mostly overcame the usual fatal flaw of having been written in first person, present tense. Normally, I’ll DNF those immediately, but I was actually able to forget the style and fall into the story for the most part.

Audiobook, borrowed from my public library. Audiobooks read by the author tend to be pretty hit/miss, but MacMillan did a terrific reading, especially with the show more dialogue. show less

I Almost Forgot About You is the sassy, funny, sometimes touching story of Dr. Georgia Young, an optometrist with her own practice in San Fransisco. In her mid-50s, Georgia is twice divorced with two daughters. Her current "romantic attachment" is to ogling the TV image of Detective Goren on Law & Order: Criminal Intent. In other words, she is currently single. Georgia decides to take a little stroll down memory lane and reconnect with past lovers. She wants to see where life has taken them and perhaps, for some, to see if there is any spark left between them. The arc of the novel takes her on quite a trip and she learns a lot both about where her beaus are today but also gets to clarify some events that occurred in the past and to lay show more them to rest. I highly recommend this book.

(Review based on complimentary Advance Reader copy.) show less

Received as an Early Reviewer Edition

I almost Forgot About You, is a reminder of the choices we make, or fail to make, haunting us once it is too late to do anything about them. While I applaud Georgia for her determination to reach out to those who impacted her life, I have to wonder why anyone would want to? We cut people out of our lives for a reason. Why would anyone want to go digging into the past we chose to walk away from? The story is fun and interesting, but it really does drag on into things that are just not that interesting. Rather than focus on those in her distant history, why doesn't she focus on those who matter now? She seems to be missing the forest for the trees.

Please note that I gave this book 4.5 stars, but rounded it up to 5 stars on Goodreads.

I liked this one much better than "Getting to Happy". I was so disappointed because that whole book felt like a shallow sequel to some truly memorable characters. In her latest, McMillan does what she does best. She focuses on one character, her family, and where she wants to be in her life now that she is about to be 55 and realizing that the path she chose may not be what she really needs in the end.

Georgia Young is an optometrist living in San Francisco and wondering why is she in a huge house by herself. Twice divorced, and single for a couple of years, Georgia is wondering if now is a good time to pull up stakes and start doing something new. She show more has two adult daughters who don't seem to need her as much, and her mother has a new romance she is fixated on. While talking to one of her best friends, Georgia then starts to reminisce about the men in her past and wondering what became of them. Doing what most people would not dare to do, Georgia decides to revisit her past relationships in the hope that it can show her what she needs to do in order to move on to the next phase of her life.

I loved the character of Georgia a lot. She tried very hard not to stick her nose into her daughters business without being asked. And you could see how much she wanted to say some things too. Also Georgia's two best friends Wanda and Violet were a trip. Getting to follow Georgia as she looks at her past relationships and even looks back at what happened in her two marriages was really interesting too.

I thought that McMillan did a great job with developing most of the secondary characters, except for Violet. I did not get what her deal was and why anyone was even friends with her. Especially when some things about her came to light in the end.

Having Georgia go back to former relationships I thought was great. Even when I thought she should leave well enough and not be bothered by some of them. Heck sometimes people's past should stay there in the past. That said, I liked how if you were paying attention, you could tell that one of these guys (not saying who) was going to be more important than the other ones. I was glad to see that I was right too. And I liked how Terry McMillan flipped what people were thinking the story was going to go.

I thought the writing was really good. I thinks sticking with one character throughout the story really helped and we didn't have to worry about popping in and out of other people's heads. I also laughed a bunch of times while reading this. Probably because some of Georgia's interactions with her family and friends reminded me of how I act when I am with my family and friends. And when we get to Georgia finally taking her long awaited train trip, I laughed a lot. In fact I had to re-read that section like three times. I think McMillan has traveled by train and is not feeling it.

I thought the flow was pretty good throughout, though I thought the whole she must sell her home subplot really dragged sometimes. Sometimes the story would jump ahead weeks or a few months and I would go, wait what just happened.

The setting of San Francisco was utilized really well. I loved San Francisco when I visited years ago, and can't imagine trying to move from there to go anywhere else.

The ending was satisfying, but I wish that the epilogue had been a bit longer to wrap things up even more. It was just enough to tell us what happened to key people. However, I wanted more details. show less

The protagonist, Georgia, is in her mid-fifties and facing what many of us would call a mid-life crisis. After finding out one of her former loves has died, she decides to look up the men she has loved in the past to see what she can learn from them. [As an aside, I think this is a great premise for the plot of a book, but a terrible idea in real life.] Her optometry practice has become routine and she decides to make substantial changes, such as finding an outlet for her creativity, taking a long trip by train, and selling her house. As the story progresses, she determines which changes fit with her new direction.

There are many colorful characters in this book, and I found their voices believable and genuine. Sarcastic humor is show more sprinkled throughout. This book has a very uplifting message of personal empowerment and growth. Having made significant changes in my own life on several occasions, it rang true. My complaints were minor: I don't care for repeated use of the f-bomb and the ending was a bit abrupt. Recommended to readers who enjoy encouraging stories of hope for positive change in life, especially as related to finding love or self-fulfillment at any age. show less

I love the fact that Terry McMillan writes in a legitimate voice for women of her generation. No author can build characters or worlds like Ms. McMillan. I always want to move into her characters' houses, eat their delicious meals, and craft with them while having an big glass of wine. This book is no different. Georgia Young is a great protagonist and her thoughts and issues are real. I love the fact that we see her whole life: her mother, children, friends, neighbors and co-workers. Her deep and long friendships and her work/life angst will resonate with women. She is a character that definitely has flaws, but is real, relatable and fun.

I Almost Forgot About You is the story of a 50-something woman rediscovering who she is. Georgia has been living what would seem to most of us to be an ideal life. She is an optometrist, lives in a gorgeous house in San Francisco, has 2 wonderful daughters; however, she is basically an unhappy person. She decides to do something about her unhappiness – sell her house, reconnect with men from her past, and travel. The book is a journey in itself – of Georgia figuring out what she wants out of life – and then finding the nerve to do it. During her journey, she gets in touch with many people from her past. It is a wonderful story of a woman learning she doesn’t have to do something just because she always has – or be someone she show more has always been. I love the double entendre of the title. Georgia obviously reconnects with many people from her past whom she has almost forgotten about – but it turns out the main person she almost forgot about is herself! (I won this book as part of LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program.) show less