Going to Bend: A Novel (Paperback)

~ Diane Hammond (Author) "HUBBARD WAS one of the oldest no-account towns on the coast of Oregon..." (more)
Key Phrases: camp trailer, Eddie Coolbaugh, Jim Christie, Sea View (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Diane Hammond is a fabulous storyteller. Her portrait of small town life is full of humor and detail, and in her characters Petie and Rose, a relationship so original and real, you root for them from page one. I loved this heartfelt story and I am sure you will too."
-Adriana Trigiani, author of the Big Stone Gap trilogy and Lucia, Lucia


"In this remarkable first novel, Diane Hammond brilliantly captures the subtle nuances of everyday life in a small Oregon town and the friendship between two extraordinary women. Funny, heartbreaking and wise."
-Fannie Flagg, author of Fried Green Tomatoes


From the Hardcover edition.

Product Description

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345460987
• ISBN-13: 978-0345460981
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #713,224 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book for women searching for meaning, September 3, 2007

By	Finally Have Time to Read Again "Lucy" (St Louis, MO USA) - See all my reviews

This was one of my favorite books since reading Adriana Trigiani's "Big Stone Gap" trilogy. Very similar-small town setting, characters struggling with finding meaning in their lives. Hammond does an excellent job interlacing the past into the present which gives insight into each of the characters. My heart ached as I began to understand Petie and her struggles. The story starts off a little slow, but by the middle of the book, I just couldn't put it down! I realized that the "simple" life can be just as complicated as the hustle and bustle of life in the big city-same challenges trying to find happiness, but it's all in your willingness to find it. I can't wait to read another of Hammond's novels!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Story of Two Women's Friendship, Loves, and Quest for Joy, October 25, 2005

By	L. Kelly (Lakewood, CO) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Going to Bend" is a bittersweet tale of "friends-for-life", Petie Coolbaugh and Rose Bundy. The two thirty-something women have lived most of their lives in the tiny coastal fishing town of Hubbard, Oregon, where scraping out a living is a challenge for all.

As the story opens, Petie and Rose have started a new job together, being the soup cooks for a new restaurant in town called Souperiors. The restaurant is struggling from the start, mostly because the menu is so different from the burgers and fries that the town is used to. But the struggles at the restuarant only mirror the constant turmoils in Rose and Petie's lives, as we share their struggles with husbands and boyfriends, difficulties with children, and the challenges of Petie's husband to find a job. Through flashbacks, the reader learns of Petie's difficult childhood, with her mother dying of cancer when Petie was ten, and then her subsequent life with her abusive father.

Author Hammond does a fabulous job of breathing life into the characters of the book. I felt like I knew the main characters so well, and felt for every difficulty they encountered along the way. "Going to Bend" is a wonderful tribute to the power of friendship, and also a testament to the power of searching for happiness in a difficult life. Diane Hammond has just written a second novel called "Homesick Creek" and I have high hopes that it will be a great read too.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A FIRST NOVEL OF NOTE, December 15, 2005

By	Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

Conceived with heart, mind, and pen, Diane Hammond's debut novel takes place in small town Hubbard, Oregon. It is "...one of the oldest no-account towns on the coast of Oregon. Men there fished commercially or helped others deep-sea fish for sport.....They lived hard, bore scars, coveted danger and died either young and violently or unnecessarily old. The women worked, or not. The children belonged to them."
The story focuses on two women; they're best friends, have been for as long as they can remember. Both are now in their thirties. Rose is a Mother Earth type, warm, nurturing. Petie is "small and hard and tight and flammable, like the wick of a candle."

In order to augment their almost nonexistent incomes the two begin working together as soup cooks in a newly opened restaurant, Superior's Café. It's a strain rising at dawn's first light to make soup from scratch, but their efforts are well received.

Nadine and Gordon are the restaurant's owners. They're fraternal twins and an unlikely pair to make their home in Hubbard, but they fled stress city, L.A., for a quieter place so Gordon, who is terminally ill, might find some peace.

As the lives of Rose and Petie unfold we meet a host of characters including Jim Christie, a commercial fisherman; Ryan, the youngest of Petie's boys who is quiet and a bit of a bookworm. His father has a harsh description of him, while Petie concedes that he's a bit "odd" - at least for Hubbard, Oregon.

Life is not easy for any of these folks yet we are reminded through them that there is happiness to be found in the most unexpected places and even in inauspicious events. We are also reminded of the strengths of an enduring friendship - "...your mom may let you down, your boss may let you down, life may let you down...but your best friend never will."

With her first novel Diane Hammond shows herself to be a writer of note. She has served as a spokesperson for the Oregon Coast Aquarium and, yes, she has lived in Bend, Oregon.

- Gail Cooke