Going to Bend: A Novel [Hardcover]

Diane Hammond (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 20, 2004

In the small coastal town of Hubbard, Oregon, your man may let you down, your boss may let you down, life may let you down . . . but your best friend never will.

Welcome to Hubbard, where Petie Coolbaugh and Rose Bundy have been best friends since childhood. Now in their early thirties, both are grappling to come to terms with their age and station in life. As they struggle to make ends meet and provide for their children and the good-hearted but unreliable men in their lives, they take jobs cooking for a brand-new upscale restaurant, Souperior's Cafe, starting from scratch every morning to produce gallons of fresh soup from local recipes. The proprietors of the cafe, Nadine and Gordon, are fraternal twins from Los Angeles with adjustments of their own to make, but Rose’s warmth and the quality of the women’s soups quickly make them indispensable despite Petie’s abrupt manner and prickly ways.

The strains of daily life are never far, however, and the past takes its toll on the women. Petie’s childhood as the daughter of the town drunk—a subject she won't talk about—keeps her at a distance from even her best friend, until an unexpected romance threatens to crack her tough exterior. And despite Rose's loving personality, the only man in her life is a loner fisherman who spends only a few months of the year in town.

In this fishing village, friends are for life and love comes in the most unexpected ways. As the novel draws together lovers, husbands, employers, friends, and family, each woman finds possibilities for love and even grace that she had never imagined.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lifelong friends Petie Coolbaugh and Rose Bundy laugh, love and try to make ends meet in the "no-account" Oregon coastal fishing town of Hubbard in Hammond's shining first novel. Petie, the mother of two boys, is "small and hard and tight and flammable, like the wick of a candle," while Rose, the single mom of a teenage girl, is "a big soft woman of calm purpose and measurable serenity." They've just started supplying homemade soup for the new cafe in town, Souperior, owned by Nadine and Gordon Erickson, fraternal twins fresh from Southern California. Petie, a scrappy survivor of poverty and an abusive father, is given to spot-on observations: Nadine, is "all nerves, snip and anxiety" and "living proof that some people shouldn't give up smoking." Rose, with her gentle heart and tranquil solidity, has compassion for Nadine and especially for Gordon, who is dying of AIDS. When Gordon gives Rose the opportunity to write a cookbook-which she insists Petie illustrate-the women's lives radically change, as they give expression to their hidden talents and the future seems full of hope and promise. But life is never uncomplicated, and Hammond shines an unwavering light on a group of people who struggle to make do, yet who live their lives and cope with hardship with grace and dignity. Her clean, sharp prose, idiosyncratic dialogue and deep insight into relationships embellish this heartfelt debut.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Hammond's debut novel about two thirtysomethings struggling to get by in an isolated Oregon beach town feels at first like a working-class weeper, the sort of female buddy story that Oprah's fans would love. Lurking between the Kleenex, though, is something considerably more subtle. As she follows the constricted lives of Rose and Petie, soup makers for a cafe called Souperiors, Hammond offers a nuanced look at the strains of daily life in a world of diminished possibilities. Rose and Petie live on a different planet from their employers, twins from California who can't understand why their trendy eatery holds no allure for the hard-bitten locals. The common ground is pain, and gradually these very different characters unlock for one another a kind of hard-won courage. What makes the novel work is the details: Petie and Rose "picking crabs" ("the only sounds were the cracking of shells and cartilage and the sucking, wet sound of meat being extracted"). Yes, the novel ends with the possibility of new lives, but what lingers here is the unflinching look at dailiness. Bill Ott
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st edition (January 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 038550943X
• ISBN-13: 978-0385509435
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,907,241 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A native New Yorker, Diane Hammond spent the majority of her school years in Upper Nyack, NY. After graduating from Nyack High School, she attended and earned a BA from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont.

Hammond first began writing in Washington, DC, cutting her teeth on short stories and attending classes at the Glen Echo Writers Center in Glen Echo, Maryland, and joining a number of ad hoc writing groups. Her first short story was published in Woman's World, followed by others in Mademoiselle, Yankee Magazine, the Washington Review, and other periodicals.

In 1984, she moved to tiny Newport, Oregon (pop. 9,000), on the central Oregon coast, a writer's paradise with its relative isolation, constant winter storms and harsh beauty. She began maturing artistically there, discovering themes and settings that have resonated in her writing ever since.

Hammond's first novel, GOING TO BEND, was published by Random House/Doubleday in 2003, with particular acclaim in the Pacific Northwest, where the book was set. HOMESICK CREEK, her second novel, followed in 2006. Her third novel, HANNAH'S DREAM, was released by Harper Perennial in 2008 and has become a bestseller; her fourth novel, SEEING STARS, was also released by Harper Perennial in 2010.

She currently lives in West St. Paul, Minnesota with her husband Nolan, four cats and two Pembroke Welsh corgis.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Story That Captures Life And All Its Sadness And Joy, February 22, 2004

By 

W. C HALL (Newport, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Going to Bend: A Novel (Hardcover)

"I know these people." That was the thought that stayed at the forefront of my mind as I read Diane Hammond's remarkable first novel, "Going To Bend." Sure, it's a work of fiction, set in two Oregon coast towns that don't exist, Sawyer and Hubbard. The characters are not based on real people. But I know them, nevertheless, and I'm sure you do, too.

The central characters are two natives of the area, Petie Coolbaugh and Rose Bundy. These women, so different in personality and temperament, are united by a bond of friendship going back to their grade school days, and by the fact that they, like so many others, are struggling to build meaningful lives in the face of poverty, illness and the thousand other challenges that make daily life a struggle for so many.

At the beginning of the story, Petie and Rose are brought together by a new job they will share, preparing soup on a daily basis for a new restaurant that's built its menu around soup and is called--what else? Souperior's. The cafe has been opened by Nadine and Gordon, a brother and sister who, like so many, have fled the craziness of Southern California for the peace and beauty of the Oregon coast. But like so many of the refugees, they find that it's not always possible to escape life's slings, arrows and outrageous fortune. As their stories unfold, we learn that bad--sometimes terrible--things have happened to Rosie, Petie and the other good people that inhabit these pages. But perservering, sometimes just having the courage to get out of bed and face each new day, is a key element to how they live their lives with sometimes surprising grace.

Along the way, we get to know the spouses (current and ex), children, and townspeople who inhabit Rose and Petie's world. My one fear is that this book may get pigeonholed as "chick lit," because the central characters are two wonderful, complex women who will quickly win your heart. This isn't just a book about women, though; it's a book about (and for) all of us who make up the human race.

Hammond has done a wonderful job of capturing the beauty, joy, misery, humor and pain that all comes together to make up this puzzle we call life. This book is going to stay with me for a long time. I think it will do the same thing for you.--William C. Hall

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Is One You Will Read More Than Once, March 18, 2004

By 

Douglas Merz (Jubail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going to Bend: A Novel (Hardcover)

I have read many books in my lifetime and I cannot remember reading a novel whose characters were so alive! It was as if I was right there observing them as they struggled to survive. I knew them, they were real to me, as real as people I have known all of my life. I have never read a book that moved me as much as this one. I wanted to jump right into the story and help those poor suffering people.

Diane Hammond has written a masterpiece about the human condition from the purest to the darkest evil of souls. How the main character was able to overcome her terrible childhood and discover she could love has to be one of the most inspirational stories I have ever read.

Never having written a book, I have often wondered where an author gets the inspiration and knowledge to develop the characters in a novel. It is hard to believe that a person could have such intimate knowledge of how such a disparate group of people think and act. Every character is so believeable. This is a book that you will treasure. My hope is that the story of Petie and Rose continues. As great as the ending was, there must be happier days ahead for those two brave and courageous women.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A rare treat from a talented new author!, February 3, 2004

By 

M Brownlee (Bend, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Going to Bend: A Novel (Hardcover)

This first novel by Diane Hammond is a wonderful book full of characters that end up feeling like they are close personal friends. The story is about two women who share a rare and true friendship, understanding and accepting each other in spite of the fact that they are as different as two individuals can be. The author exhibits sensitivity and understanding when dealing with the difficulties that life throws at these two friends. The writing style is charmingly unique, fun, and heartfelt and her descriptions of events, people, and places easily draw you into the life of a small Oregon Coastal town. I will be anxious to read her next book!