Customer Reviews

The Goodbye Summer CD

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This book was such a nice read. The main character is Caddie, a 32 year old music teacher who has always lived with her grandmother (since Caddie's mother died when Caddie was very young). Caddie's grandmother decides to go live at the local pseudo nursing home while she heals a broken leg. The home is called Wake House and the inhabitants all are quite distinctive! This story is written through Caddie's eyes. Since she is no longer living with her grandmother, she starts to get out more and eventually falls in love. In addition, she visits often with the Wake House folks and gets to learn a lot about them as she write their bios for a Wake House project.

There are not many books that have so many "elder" characters written with such flair! You want to know more about them and their sometimes boring, sometimes exciting, but always REAL experiences. Just a nice, feel good book that will make you cry and laugh. I can't wait to read another by this author!

I agree with the reviewer who said Gaffney could write about a trip to the grocery store and she'd read it and love it. I feel the same way. I, too, love Gaffney's wry sense of humor and her ability to show me the world in a different way. That said, it doesn't really surprise me that some readers were bored, because this IS a quiet, character-driven story that develops slowly, and some readers just don't have the patience for that. One last comment: I liked this book so much I used it as an example of great writing at a talk I recently gave to a group of writers here in the Houston area. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for anyone who loves women's fiction or who aspires to write women's fiction.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this the Goodbye Summer. It was different than the other chick lit books that i've read with somewhat of a surprising ending. The relationships were unique in that the main character did not seem to have best friends, just the ones she befriended at the home where her grandmother was. I will definitely look into Patricia Gaffney's other books after reading this one.

In a quirky story full of highly unusual people a la Anne Tyler, Patricia Gaffney has created a moving and simple tale of people who bond together because they have risen above the need to judge. And so they find glorious treasure in the most unlikely of fellow human beings.

That may sound corny, it may sound pat--but the message here is if you look beyond the surface, you just might find gold. And, like Anne Tyler before her, Gaffney takes the most seemingly ordinary people and graces their lives with beauty, showing us that every human being is an angel--no matter how deep you have to dig!

This is the story of Caddie Winger, a music teacher in her early 30s who has no notion of herself at all. She considers herself blah and invisible when she is quite the opposite. She lives an invisible existence, though, in an old house with the woman who raised her, her grandmother Nana.

As the book opens, Nana, an eclectic, very "out there" "performance artist" given to creating obscene sculptures out of mud and plants in the front yard, suddenly and without warning asks Caddie to take her to a local residence for the elderly. It is not a nursing home, but one step from it. Caddie is appalled and upset--this is totally unlike Nana. But she complies, and at the home itself, Caddie, a young and attractive woman, gets drawn in to the various lives, large and small, of Nana's residential neighbors.

In the process of listening to, and at times recording, the interesting life histories of the residents, Caddie begins to come out of her shell and put together the clues of her own self as well. It's a slow and painful process, and there is no "eureka!" suddenly on page 300. More, it is like real life is, a surprise, good or bad, around every corner.

This is simply a wonderful book. I recommend it highly.

I love how my hairstylist has this book exchange going on at her salon ~~ otherwise, I'd never pick up some of these books simply because I have too many at home to read! I picked this one up in hopes it'd be a fun lighthearted read. And while it's not lighthearted ~~ it is definitely entertaining and enjoyable!

Caddie Winger, 32 years old and never married, has been raised by her grandmother after her mother died. She has to send her grandmother to a boardinghouse for the elders after Frances broke her leg ~~ and that was just the beginning of an extraordinary summer that Caddie had ever experienced in her life. She falls in love with the guy she thought was of her dreams, made new friends and found her own self-worth and independence.

It is a wonderful story of a young woman who finds herself assailed by life's crazy moments ~~ all the highs and downs of life ~~ and love ~~ and the friends she has made along the way. It explores the nuances of friendships, failed romances and how life sometimes throws a curve ball which ends up bringing a wonderful blessing and life's great sorrow.

This is a wonderful book to read during these long winter nights ~~ and perfect for a beach read. I have read all of the others of Gaffney's books ~~ and this one is right there next to Saving Grace, which is my favorite of her books.

11-21-05

When I first started reading The Goodbye Summer by Patricia Gaffney, I thought it was a typical chick book, and not a very good one at that. About one third of the way through, I realized this story had some substance and I was pleasantly surprised at how the plot developed.

Caddie Winger is a 32 year old music teacher, whose life pretty much revolves around her job and caring for her ailing grandmother in the small Maryland town of Michaelstown. When grandmother Frances breaks her leg, she insists on recovering at Wake House, a small geriatric and convalescent home. Wake House occupies one of the beautiful mansions in town, and houses twelve patients. Caddie finds herself being drawn into the group dynamics of these twelve individuals. While it's Caddie who seems to be the one offering assistance to this eclectic group, in reality, they're helping Caddie as well. They help to pull Caddie out of her protective shell, get her to start taking risks, and help her enjoy more of life. In the process, she also makes some startling discoveries about herself and her past. When Caddie goes through some rough patches, this new surrogate family is there for her.

Gaffney provides us with a host of colorful characters and an interesting plot. Every time I was sure what would happen next, Gaffney headed in a totally unexpected direction. Gaffney also writes in a very observant, homey style. When Caddie meets a handsome and dynamic man, Gaffney muses "People fall into classes, and you were allowed to pick who you wanted to be with from certain categories but not from others. Men like Christian Fox were not in Caddie's selection range." I'm sure many readers will identify with lines like this.

The Goodbye Summer is a charming and entertaining book and I'm very glad that I didn't give up on it early on.

THE GOODBYE SUMMER by Patricia Gaffney

I read THE SAVING GRACES a few years ago, but THE GOODBYE SUMMER, Patricia Gaffney's fourth book, is so much better. I did not love THE SAVING GRACES; it was not the perfect book. Something about the way the author put that book together did not make it flow at all. She had four central characters, and although some authors are very good at writing books like this (Maeve Binchy comes to mind), Gaffney is not. However, THE GOODBYE SUMMER was such a good book, that I am going to rate this one five stars.

THE GOODBYE SUMMER is the story of Caddie Winger, thirty-five years old and is living with her grandmother, "Nana", who raised her because her mother was never home due to a singing career. Caddie never knew her father. In this book, Caddie is struggling to become someone, and when she meets the man of her dreams, she finds that she is coming out of her shell and is no longer the timid, shy, music teacher she has been all her adult life.

Caddie's other inspiration are the friends she makes at "The Wake House", where her grandmother insists on living at while she recuperates from an injury. It is here that Caddie starts to come alive, especially after she meets a new member of the House, Thea, who becomes the mother and best friend Caddie has always yearned for.

The words to describe this book are "charming" and "wonderful". THE GOODBYE SUMMER is filled with so many interesting characters, yet they do not overwhelm the main point of the book, which is to tell Caddie's story. I did not want this book to end. If Gaffney's future novels are as good as this, she has won a new fan in me.

I have to begin by admitting I'm an unabashed Patricia Gaffney fan, and have been since devouring The Saving Graces. I love the way she illuminates ordinary life, finding the extraordinariness in everyday experiences. Her characters exist in my imagination as if they were real people, people I've known and loved.

In addition to the warmth and wisdom she brings to her stories, I also completely adore the deceptively easy, relaxed quality of her prose. She writes in a conversational style that seems as if it might be the easiest thing on earth to do...but it isn't.

Anything by Patricia Gaffney is an auto-buy for me--if you're looking for a warm, true, satisfying read, check this one out.

THE GOODBYE SUMMER, Patricia Gaffney's fourth novel, centers on 32-year-old Caddie Winger, a somewhat naive and inexperienced woman who has lived with her grandmother for most of her life. Her mother, Jane (Chelsea), was too busy to be there for Caddie, and entrusted her daughter's care into her mother's hands. Without any hint of complaint, Nana took Caddie under her wing and raised her as her own daughter.

The book opens with Nana alluding to a home where she would like to live while recuperating from a fall. Caddie finally figures out that the home her grandmother is talking about is Wake House, whose residents are mostly elderly people needing some help to get by but do not need a nurse or companion to see to their everyday needs. The one exception is Magill, a young man closer to Caddie's age than Nana's, who Caddie later discovers is living there while recuperating from an accident that took the life of his girlfriend.

Caddie's history could be considered tragic. She worshipped her mother from afar, a woman who was caught up in the hippie movement and who thought of herself as a singer first, a mother second. Jane's life ends at the young age of 31, and Caddie does not know much more about her mother --- not until much later in the book when Caddie makes an effort to track down the man she thinks is her father, a musician who played in her mother's band.

Caddie lives the life of a modern-day spinster. However, early on in the story, Caddie meets an animal trainer named Chris. While it takes Caddie a while to figure out that Chris is interested in her romantically, she is on cloud nine once she realizes his intentions. Caddie blossoms before everyone's eyes, and life takes on new meaning. When her romance with Chris takes a turn for the worst, it is her friends at Wake House who help her through her darkest moments and teach her that there is more to life than romance and love between a man and a woman.

There isn't any real strong plot line to THE GOODBYE SUMMER. What makes this novel work is the characters who fill its pages. Caddie goes through life not really living it, spending her days teaching young people how to play the violin or the piano. She slowly comes out of her shell, finds out who she really is underneath the facade of being a very proper and somewhat dull person, and learns about friendship and love through the residents of Wake House.

Caddie also watches as her grandmother slowly ages before her eyes. The woman she had always looked to as her mother begins to lose the ability to function normally in society. Through the friendships she builds with Magill and others at Wake House, Caddie finally connects with people other than her grandmother, and learns to be independent emotionally rather than rely solely on Nana for every basic social need.

Although Caddie is the central figure in THE GOODBYE SUMMER, it is the residents of Wake House who give this book its charm and substance --- Magill, the shy and rather strange young man who finds himself drawn to Caddie; Thea, the woman who becomes Caddie's close friend and mentor, the mother she never had; Cornel, an old curmudgeon who is filled with love for Thea, but is unable to show how he feels about Thea (or anything else for that matter); and even Finny, Nana's Jack Russell Terrier, makes an impact on the reader as he goes about his doggy duties and creates havoc wherever he goes. There are a half-dozen more characters who populate this book, and they all fit perfectly. All have their slight eccentricities and quirks, which makes them all the more interesting to meet and get to know.

This reviewer gives THE GOODBYE SUMMER a very hearty recommendation of five stars. While Patricia Gaffney's first novel THE SAVING GRACES fell short in terms of lovable characters and a good story structure, THE GOODBYE SUMMER, her fourth novel, shows that she has come a long way. Not only is it written well, it is also a joy to read. This reviewer will be sure to pick up her next book.

--- Reviewed by Marie Hashima Lofton

Nobody writes better about community than Patricia Gaffney. I read this book in 2 sittings and, a week later, I'm mourning the fact that I've finished it. I miss the characters so much. If you're into murder and mayhem, heaving bosoms and hot sex, this isn't the read for you. If you love books with richly developed characters, stylish prose that goes straight to the heart, and themes that touch all of us, then don't miss The Goodbye Summer.
Thanks, Patricia Gaffney for a lovely read.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips