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Goodbye Without Leaving
One of the most beloved novels from the critically acclaimed novelist Laurie Colwin, Goodbye Without Leaving explores a woman’s attempts to reconcile her rock-and-roll past with her significantly more sedate family life as a wife and mother.
As a bored graduate student, Geraldine Coleshares is plucked from her too-tame existence when she is invited to tour as the only white backup singer for Vernon and Ruby Shakely and the Shakettes. The exciting years she spends as a Shakette are a mixed blessing, however, because when she ultimately submits to a conventional life of marriage and children, she finds herself stuck in bittersweet recollections of life on the road. As she grudgingly searches for a path toward happiness that doesn't involve a Day-Glo neon minidress, readers will be enchanted by Geraldine’s attempts to grow up, even though she’s already an adult.
Employing her usual dry wit and candor, Goodbye Without Leaving is a classic novel from Laurie Colwin.
This edition features cover art by Olivia McGiff.
As a bored graduate student, Geraldine Coleshares is plucked from her too-tame existence when she is invited to tour as the only white backup singer for Vernon and Ruby Shakely and the Shakettes. The exciting years she spends as a Shakette are a mixed blessing, however, because when she ultimately submits to a conventional life of marriage and children, she finds herself stuck in bittersweet recollections of life on the road. As she grudgingly searches for a path toward happiness that doesn't involve a Day-Glo neon minidress, readers will be enchanted by Geraldine’s attempts to grow up, even though she’s already an adult.
Employing her usual dry wit and candor, Goodbye Without Leaving is a classic novel from Laurie Colwin.
This edition features cover art by Olivia McGiff.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
About the author
Laurie Colwin
33 books434 followersLaurie Colwin is the author of five novels: Happy All the Time, Family Happiness, Goodbye Without Leaving, Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object, and A Big Storm Knocked It Over; three collections of short stories: Passion and Affect, Another Marvelous Thing, and The Lone Pilgrim; and two collections of essays: Home Cooking and More Home Cooking. She died in 1992.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 152 reviews
May 14, 2024
like a reverse irish exit?
anyway.
the important thing to know about this is it's a bad book written by a good writer. the characters: flimsy. their relationships: inexplicable. the plot: filled with years-long gaps to the point of being incomprehensible.
but the writing itself? the dialogue? the little jokes? excellent.
the other thing to know is that it is very weird. it's a white woman who was once a backup singer in a Black group and can't get over it. that's not much to carry us through 250 pages and it never feels any more normal.
maybe it was a different time.
bottom line: sometimes books are forgotten for a reason.
2.5
anyway.
the important thing to know about this is it's a bad book written by a good writer. the characters: flimsy. their relationships: inexplicable. the plot: filled with years-long gaps to the point of being incomprehensible.
but the writing itself? the dialogue? the little jokes? excellent.
the other thing to know is that it is very weird. it's a white woman who was once a backup singer in a Black group and can't get over it. that's not much to carry us through 250 pages and it never feels any more normal.
maybe it was a different time.
bottom line: sometimes books are forgotten for a reason.
2.5
November 23, 2022
This was Laurie Colwin's penultimate novel, and the last one she saw published before she died, unexpectedly, of an aneurysm, at the age of 48.
It's an unusual book, with a title that has nothing to do with the story, and a boring cover, to boot. I can also accuse it of meandering. Meaning: it lacks a central focus. But, although Ms. Colwin meanders in her storytelling, she manages to do what two other favorite writers of mine, Ray Bradbury and Boris Pasternak, do when they meander: stumble upon greatness.
This novel has a clumsy beginning, and a clumsy protagonist, Geraldine Coleshares, a grad student who is suffering from a “failure to launch” (or so her parents say).
Geraldine doesn't really want to do anything but sing and dance, and, it turns out, she's good at it. She manages to land a gig as the only white backup singer and dancer to a famous Black duo (think: Ike and Tina Turner).
Gerry's life, from that point on, is one of spontaneity and non-traditional roles. She knows how to “wail and boogie,” but family, friends and romantic partners want something different from her. Her struggle, throughout the 1970s, is a common one: what should she do, and what does she need to give up?
Her life goes from interesting to fascinating when she takes up with a foundation that is comprised of Holocaust survivors and she faces her own cultural identity as an “assimilated Jew.”
It's a quirky story, and I can imagine that some readers could find it too random, or a bit clumsy in parts but, to be honest, I cried on my front porch yesterday, as I closed the back cover.
I feel like Ms. Colwin sat down and started writing this, and she didn't stop until a dynamic story formed. Isn't that how some of our best stories are shared?
Sometimes we get so swept up in dotting our “i's” and crossing our “t's,” we lose the juicy bits.
There's a scene in this novel that I might think about for the rest of my life, when the now-married Geraldine meets a man that she senses she must know intimately:
When we connected, I felt a deep, inward shiver. This was not like having sex for having fun or having children. It did not seem to be about falling in love, or even about having a sexual encounter, but about some ancient, primitive longing desperate to be fulfilled. [He] was more like a destination than a person. Being near him gave me access to something I needed to know.
Frankly, I found this a riveting concept. We have placed so many legal and religious ideals on the institution of marriage for several centuries now, and, though I understand some of them (and have benefitted from several of them myself), I also wonder if we haven't also been shortsighted in the way we assume marriage should be. Do we stagnate? Do we limit ourselves too much?
Ms. Colwin never seemed to shy away from complicated subjects like these, and her writing works a little magic on you, too.
Oh, my heart! I want to read everything she wrote, but I never want the list to end.
It's an unusual book, with a title that has nothing to do with the story, and a boring cover, to boot. I can also accuse it of meandering. Meaning: it lacks a central focus. But, although Ms. Colwin meanders in her storytelling, she manages to do what two other favorite writers of mine, Ray Bradbury and Boris Pasternak, do when they meander: stumble upon greatness.
This novel has a clumsy beginning, and a clumsy protagonist, Geraldine Coleshares, a grad student who is suffering from a “failure to launch” (or so her parents say).
Geraldine doesn't really want to do anything but sing and dance, and, it turns out, she's good at it. She manages to land a gig as the only white backup singer and dancer to a famous Black duo (think: Ike and Tina Turner).
Gerry's life, from that point on, is one of spontaneity and non-traditional roles. She knows how to “wail and boogie,” but family, friends and romantic partners want something different from her. Her struggle, throughout the 1970s, is a common one: what should she do, and what does she need to give up?
Her life goes from interesting to fascinating when she takes up with a foundation that is comprised of Holocaust survivors and she faces her own cultural identity as an “assimilated Jew.”
It's a quirky story, and I can imagine that some readers could find it too random, or a bit clumsy in parts but, to be honest, I cried on my front porch yesterday, as I closed the back cover.
I feel like Ms. Colwin sat down and started writing this, and she didn't stop until a dynamic story formed. Isn't that how some of our best stories are shared?
Sometimes we get so swept up in dotting our “i's” and crossing our “t's,” we lose the juicy bits.
There's a scene in this novel that I might think about for the rest of my life, when the now-married Geraldine meets a man that she senses she must know intimately:
When we connected, I felt a deep, inward shiver. This was not like having sex for having fun or having children. It did not seem to be about falling in love, or even about having a sexual encounter, but about some ancient, primitive longing desperate to be fulfilled. [He] was more like a destination than a person. Being near him gave me access to something I needed to know.
Frankly, I found this a riveting concept. We have placed so many legal and religious ideals on the institution of marriage for several centuries now, and, though I understand some of them (and have benefitted from several of them myself), I also wonder if we haven't also been shortsighted in the way we assume marriage should be. Do we stagnate? Do we limit ourselves too much?
Ms. Colwin never seemed to shy away from complicated subjects like these, and her writing works a little magic on you, too.
Oh, my heart! I want to read everything she wrote, but I never want the list to end.
September 21, 2023
Thank you, Laurie Colwin for getting me out of my reading rut and to my husband for suggesting her. I see a pattern in Colwin's female characters; there's always a prickly woman who's not comfortable in her own skin, and here she is front and center. Geraldine Colshares wends her way through life, first as a graduate student who abandons her studies to become the only white back-up singer in a black act (think Ike and Tina Turner Revue before Tina made it big). She then meanders from one interesting (to me) thing to another, questioning everything, trying to figure out who she is and fighting with the same. What kept me engaged was curiosity about where life would take her next and how this would affect her and all those in her sphere. Colwin is the rare author who can make me cry, laugh and think all in the same passage, as in the last few pages of this book. How can I not give five stars to a book that I just had to hug when I finished? I bought this book in 1991 right after it was first released in paperback. How did it sit unread all these years?!!
I love how this NY Times review from May, 1990, starts off: "Laurie Colwin's writing has a bright, metallic sound, with minimal hissing and static." A lovely description of her writing.
Why I'm reading this: I've mentioned in other posts that I'm abandoning books, right and left! Nothing is holding my attention. When I told my husband about this, he said "You need to read a Laurie Colwin."! I agreed wholeheartedly, and since this was on my bookshelf, it was easy to pick up. Let's hope it does the trick.
I love how this NY Times review from May, 1990, starts off: "Laurie Colwin's writing has a bright, metallic sound, with minimal hissing and static." A lovely description of her writing.
Why I'm reading this: I've mentioned in other posts that I'm abandoning books, right and left! Nothing is holding my attention. When I told my husband about this, he said "You need to read a Laurie Colwin."! I agreed wholeheartedly, and since this was on my bookshelf, it was easy to pick up. Let's hope it does the trick.
June 23, 2023
An entertaining, amusing novel with some very funny lines, but it meandered around without ever really going anywhere. A nice interim read between other books, but not something I'll remember for long.
November 15, 2008
Really hated the main character and all of her whining, ungratefulness, unfaithful, selfish bitching. I have an extreme hard time with people who choose not to be happy. Life's too short ... CHEER THE HELL UP.
January 17, 2015
The book, like so much good fiction, is narrowly focused--New York, middle class, Jewish families, set loosely (I think) in the 70's. The main character was a white back up dancer for an black band. Once she leaves that life, she can't or won't define herself going forward. Since she can't settle she interacts with all kinds of people, her reactions saying more about her than them.
The book explores what it means to grow up, have an identity, have a shared history, and the sniping of women defending their positions on decisions about children and work. The emotional line of the story doesn't seem dated, but it also provides a window into a very specific time and place.
I picked up this book based on a radio retrospective of Laurie Colwin's work. She died too young and it seems that her books have been a bit lost in the intervening years. I assumed that it was, at least partly, because she was a woman. I'm pleased to say that my presumption of sexism was correct.
I have a feeling this is not her best novel. There were bits and pieces that seemed a bit too loose, like they needed a critical editor to draw them in. And some parts are a bit sappy. It's kind of light. But this is a good novel. And I'm glad I read it.
The book explores what it means to grow up, have an identity, have a shared history, and the sniping of women defending their positions on decisions about children and work. The emotional line of the story doesn't seem dated, but it also provides a window into a very specific time and place.
I picked up this book based on a radio retrospective of Laurie Colwin's work. She died too young and it seems that her books have been a bit lost in the intervening years. I assumed that it was, at least partly, because she was a woman. I'm pleased to say that my presumption of sexism was correct.
I have a feeling this is not her best novel. There were bits and pieces that seemed a bit too loose, like they needed a critical editor to draw them in. And some parts are a bit sappy. It's kind of light. But this is a good novel. And I'm glad I read it.
March 13, 2021
My mom always asks me for book club suggestions and what she wants is a happy book. Happy books are few and far between. Sometimes I think novelists concoct crazy situations to torture characters for the sake of a plot. Laurie Colwin knows how to write a book that makes you think, smile, laugh, lose yourself, and fall hard for her characters. I had always loved her food writing and feared her novels, worrying somehow that they would live up to the love I have for her essays on cooking and food. Oh dear. Why do I do this? I want to live in this book a bit longer, but instead, I need to dig up the rest of Laurie Colwin's novels and mail this one to my mom. Finally, I have a happy book to pass her way.
October 7, 2008
Perhaps my favorite book of all time. I can't say enough about this wonderful writer who died far too soon. Laurie had the ability to make you think that everything was going to be ok and that everything in this world was more good than bad. Her descriptions are absolutely amazing. Every word she uses is dead perfect. In Laurie's world, people are eccentric rather than dysfunctional -- nice perspective. This novel, her posthumously-published A Big Storm Knocked It Over, and her collections of food writing are her finest work, I believe. LOVE Laurie Colwin -- a truly delightful writer.
December 10, 2023
I had not read Laurie Domain while she was alive. I received this book from the publisher, not exactly as an ARC, but as a reissue, having no idea what it was about. I was pleased to find many parallels between the main character Geraldine and myself. I really identified with her, although she was a rock and roll singer and I was a classical vocalist. We both gave it up, married wonderful men, had babies, and wondered what to do with the rest of our lives. Although Geraldine didn't realize it she had adventures without venturing far from home.
This was a wonderful, lighthearted read that had me thinking about how great an ordinary life can be.
This was a wonderful, lighthearted read that had me thinking about how great an ordinary life can be.
November 25, 2012
I LOVED A Big Storm Knocked It Over and Happy All the Time, so I thought I would love this. But I didn't feel as excited about this one. Colwin's books aren't really plot oriented, but while I enjoyed languishing in the environment created in the other two books, this one felt really slow. I was kind of jealous of the main character for having such a charmed life, but she was always unhappy and I was ever so slightly annoyed by that. I appreciated the sense of feeling lost, and enjoyed the Colwin-esque observations about motherhood and domesticity very much as always— but ultimately I didn't love this book as much as Colwin's earlier work. I learned that she died before the book was finished, so maybe if she had lived to continue editing it would have been as great as the other two books I loved.
March 1, 2022
3.5 rounded down - still marinating
definitely want to read others by her as I loved the writing
definitely want to read others by her as I loved the writing
June 14, 2009
Geraldine doesn't know what she wants to be when she grows up. She chucks her dissertation to go tour as the only white backup singer for Vernon and Ruby Shakely and the Shakettes. Settling down as a wife and mother seems kind of tame after her years as a Shakette.
This book is a first-person account of Geraldine's story. How much you like it will depend on how you react to Geraldine's voice. It worked for me - though the navel-gazing is extensive, there's enough humor to make it tolerable.
There was nothing profound in this relatively short novel, but it was sufficiently engaging to make me want to read more of Colwin's work.
This book is a first-person account of Geraldine's story. How much you like it will depend on how you react to Geraldine's voice. It worked for me - though the navel-gazing is extensive, there's enough humor to make it tolerable.
There was nothing profound in this relatively short novel, but it was sufficiently engaging to make me want to read more of Colwin's work.
January 31, 2023
I loved this-- sweet, sad and hopeful- about trying to understand where you find yourself.
December 14, 2013
About a woman, Geraldine, trying to find out where she belongs. (M)others try and tell her but she rejects what they say. Sometimes her very rejection looks like a place to belong. While we enjoy searching with her, rooting for her to succeed, we understand that her search is misguided.
Her friend Mary appears to know where she herself belongs (and eventually goes there). Her husband finds that Geraldine is where he belongs--paradoxical since Geraldine thinks she's nowhere at all. She understands that her son will need a heritage or share her fate and attempts to learn one for him while we and the others just shrug our shoulders at this.
Her best bet, those closest to her often tell her, is to accept her role of rock singer. She is (sort of) convinced that to do so would at best be to co-opt Black music, and yet, maybe this dishonorable role (though her Black colleagues are only encouraging) is what she needs to embrace.
The reader himself should not have to feel lost in the end, even if the main character doesn't succeed in finding herself. Or should he? Is that need for closure nothing but a lie that other novels pander to their readers to supply?
Her friend Mary appears to know where she herself belongs (and eventually goes there). Her husband finds that Geraldine is where he belongs--paradoxical since Geraldine thinks she's nowhere at all. She understands that her son will need a heritage or share her fate and attempts to learn one for him while we and the others just shrug our shoulders at this.
Her best bet, those closest to her often tell her, is to accept her role of rock singer. She is (sort of) convinced that to do so would at best be to co-opt Black music, and yet, maybe this dishonorable role (though her Black colleagues are only encouraging) is what she needs to embrace.
The reader himself should not have to feel lost in the end, even if the main character doesn't succeed in finding herself. Or should he? Is that need for closure nothing but a lie that other novels pander to their readers to supply?
September 20, 2018
Another great Laurie Colwin... I enjoyed Family Happiness more, but I still liked this one. I am appreciating how she conveys the complexity of human emotions and states of being without getting preachy. Two books with affairs and neither person gets "caught" and the marriages stay together and everyone is complex and interesting and working from a standpoint of an individual human being, not a "wife, who should know better" or "the other man, who should be a cad" or the "cuckolded husband, who should either be a saint or at fault somehow." No, instead, these affairs are presented as complex relationships, relationships within their own right, that don't necessarily reflect upon the state or suitability of the marriage. I heartily applaud this original presentation of literary affairs. And, complex women characters with more than two thoughts in their heads. Bravo!
May 3, 2023
3.5, perhaps. identical preoccupations to colwin’s “a big storm knocked it over” … feeling like an alien but eventually finding a workable relationship, having a child even though you don’t feel ready, new england-y summer towns, culture-adjacent jobs in nyc, female friendship, affairs. this one was slightly less “heavenly warm bath” and sorta showed its age at various points. nonetheless i remain a proud Colwin Head and will immediately order another 🫡
unrelated to content: i have been ordering books exclusively from thrift books lately and this was the first dud…gorgeous 80s-ish cover but pages smelled strongly (distractingly) of mold/mildew.
unrelated to content: i have been ordering books exclusively from thrift books lately and this was the first dud…gorgeous 80s-ish cover but pages smelled strongly (distractingly) of mold/mildew.
November 13, 2020
Oh, how I loved this book. It was impossible to know that ... a decade .... after being recommended it by a friend that I would finally get it and that *right now* was the perfect time for me to read it.
November 22, 2023
Still good but the other ones I read by Colwin are just better. 3.5
Read
January 13, 2024Hmmm, this was enjoyable and charming, but was that the whole point?
And I liked the main character but also found her annoying.
It is a coming of age novel so I should have loved it because I love those, but I’m kind of “meh” on the whole book.
And I liked the main character but also found her annoying.
It is a coming of age novel so I should have loved it because I love those, but I’m kind of “meh” on the whole book.
April 7, 2018
First book read by Colwin. Liked it a lot. Felt Geraldine's constant wondering aout her place in life both real and sad, because she had such genuinely loving and/or appreciative people in her life and work (other than her parents). She had so many positive qualities that I wanted her to believe in. Her feelings about parenting and all the rest of her social circles'(read parents and husband's work friends) opposite opinions really resonated with me as I am watching my own son and his wife struggling with the same issues now as they raise their daughter. This book has been nsitting on my bookshelf for many years after rescuing it from a pulp bin at my library. Will definitely read more Colwin. But I have to say I do not consider this domestic humor. Too touching and real for that.
May 16, 2023
“I followed my boy, whose coppery hair flopped into his eyes. I thought of what he would be, what I had been, of the old man he would turn into whom I would never know. The journey seemed impossibly strange, amazingly long, and over in a flash.”
One of the things that I absolutely adore about Laurie Colwin’s writing is how she gets right to the heart of the human experience. In this novel, we follow Geraldine from her time as a back up singer on tour with Vernon and Ruby Shakely and the Shakettes to her difficult transition to wife and mother. All along, Geraldine questions herself, who she is, her history, and where she belongs. On this reading, my heart aches for her. I wanted to give her a hug and tell her to settle in. That her life is all the parts of her, good and bad, her history, her present, and even her future.
Colwin’s novels often sneak up on me with their insightfulness. Her humor, her self-deprecation, and her ability to get inside the minds of her characters is unparalleled. Some of her writing is dated and of it’s time but I think everything she’s written still has much to say to readers in our present day. She is a treasure and an author I will never tire of reading.
One of the things that I absolutely adore about Laurie Colwin’s writing is how she gets right to the heart of the human experience. In this novel, we follow Geraldine from her time as a back up singer on tour with Vernon and Ruby Shakely and the Shakettes to her difficult transition to wife and mother. All along, Geraldine questions herself, who she is, her history, and where she belongs. On this reading, my heart aches for her. I wanted to give her a hug and tell her to settle in. That her life is all the parts of her, good and bad, her history, her present, and even her future.
Colwin’s novels often sneak up on me with their insightfulness. Her humor, her self-deprecation, and her ability to get inside the minds of her characters is unparalleled. Some of her writing is dated and of it’s time but I think everything she’s written still has much to say to readers in our present day. She is a treasure and an author I will never tire of reading.
October 9, 2008
I like Laurie Colwin. She writes about music and food and has a healthy sense of humor. However, it is not my favorite thing to read about how women get married, then have babies, then get old, and turn into withered shells of their former vibrant selves. I'm not saying that this is what marriage and kids necessarily do to people, but that's how this character (who whined a lot) seemed to feel about it. Domesticity is starting to sound less and less appealing.
Waaaaaaaaah can Southwest Airlines fly me to a world without gender
Waaaaaaaaah can Southwest Airlines fly me to a world without gender
July 11, 2014
I just loved this. I didn't think the premise sounded that interesting but it ended up being wonderful and just a launching point for a story about someone finding themselves as an adult. I loved Geraldine and I love how Laurie Colwin writes such realistic, wonderful, loveable characters who are flawed but fantastic and never judged.
December 4, 2016
Seems like it would stray from Colwin's well-worn territory, but I was happy to find another entertaining heroine. Thoughtful dialogue, smart characters, dreamy New York setting. Set in the 70s I think? But written in the 80s. Hard to get a sense of the timing and state of civil rights, specifically, but the theme of racial identity through music is timeless.
August 6, 2007
This is one of my old favorites. I want to be friends with the protagonist.
October 1, 2018
I found Laurie Colwin a year or two b/4 she passed away (with cancer I think?). Loved her foody articles in Gourmet and her witty views on life in general.
Read
March 3, 2013She’s a wonderful writer, and it’s tragic that she died so young.
December 19, 2022
This was such a pleasant surprise. Like a lot of people, I came to Laurie Colwin's fiction through her food writing. I was a little apprehensive about the subject matter of Goodbye Without Leaving; a novel published in 1990 and set in the 70s/80s about the one white backup singer in an otherwise all black rock and roll band sounded like it could have some, ah... sensitivity issues. But except for some slightly outdated language, I thought the topic was handled well, and the book ends up being less about Geraldine's music career and more about her struggle to find a purpose in life and process her experience as a touring musician. (A lovely line about this: "When I decided to go on tour with Ruby, which I felt was the most focused decision I had ever made, Mary rightly pointed out that this was a stopgap, a charm on the bracelet of experience but not the bracelet itself.")
I also didn't realize that so much of the story would be about Geraldine's decision to have a child and her experience raising that child, but fortunately that is the kind of thing I'm very interested in at the moment. It was wild to read about all the pressures her mother and mother-in-law put on her as she parented her son, mainly because they were just about the polar opposite of the pressures modern moms feel. Imagine your relatives judging you for breastfeeding, or spending too much time with the baby when you could be out socializing, or delaying your return to work after the birth!
There were also some really lovely reflections in here about friendship, finding faith as an adult, and the difficulty of creating community. This is definitely a book that is less focused on plot and more about spending time in the protagonist's thoughts, but luckily for me, I love that sort of thing.
I also didn't realize that so much of the story would be about Geraldine's decision to have a child and her experience raising that child, but fortunately that is the kind of thing I'm very interested in at the moment. It was wild to read about all the pressures her mother and mother-in-law put on her as she parented her son, mainly because they were just about the polar opposite of the pressures modern moms feel. Imagine your relatives judging you for breastfeeding, or spending too much time with the baby when you could be out socializing, or delaying your return to work after the birth!
There were also some really lovely reflections in here about friendship, finding faith as an adult, and the difficulty of creating community. This is definitely a book that is less focused on plot and more about spending time in the protagonist's thoughts, but luckily for me, I love that sort of thing.
March 25, 2018
Being wistful is a burden. Having one stellar, unique experience- particularly in the flush of youth- will haunt you, or at the very least follow you around like a shadow for the rest of your life. It doesn't have to be dramatic; Geraldine Coleshares is introduced to us as a humdrum graduate student uninterested in completing her dissertation and decides to join a rock and roll troupe as the token white backup singer, a Shakette, and tours for two years.
Like other Laurie Colwin novels I have read, the story is less plot driven and more about establishing a fine-tuned context with a periphery of characters to balance alongside the protagonist. Something Geraldine herself considers: "I longed to slip into a proper place among these normal-looking people- or at least I longed to long to. And on the other hand, I feared it." This is the crux of the novel, Geraldine having created an identity in the idealism of youth has to adjust to the realities of adulthood, and surprisingly makes for a rather poignant read. Her life on the road as a Shakette follows her into marriage, a job at the Race Music Foundation in Harlem and into motherhood.
Published posthumously, this perhaps explains why I found the second half of the book not as sparkling as the beginning of the novel. Certainly Geraldine mellows later in life, loses some of her stubbornness and finds genuine joy married to Johnny and being a mother to Franklin, but the plot seems to stagnant. The first part of the novel is rich and evocative, even something as simple and domestic about purchasing food in her neighbourhood becomes magical - "On Saturdays we slunk around the neighborhood buying Russian jam, Hungarian sausage, Egyptian beans in cans, Latvian bread and Black Forest cake, which we snacked on over the weekend." So idyllic, what does Geraldine have to worry about? Colwin, naturally, hits the nail on the head, in this brief dialogue Geraldine mentally works though watching a recording of her former self: "There I was, frozen in a moment that existed only in history. It was the saddest thing I had ever seen...."What am I doing here? I wondered. What happened to the person on the stage?". The pains of growing up or getting older, however you would like to put it.
Like other Laurie Colwin novels I have read, the story is less plot driven and more about establishing a fine-tuned context with a periphery of characters to balance alongside the protagonist. Something Geraldine herself considers: "I longed to slip into a proper place among these normal-looking people- or at least I longed to long to. And on the other hand, I feared it." This is the crux of the novel, Geraldine having created an identity in the idealism of youth has to adjust to the realities of adulthood, and surprisingly makes for a rather poignant read. Her life on the road as a Shakette follows her into marriage, a job at the Race Music Foundation in Harlem and into motherhood.
Published posthumously, this perhaps explains why I found the second half of the book not as sparkling as the beginning of the novel. Certainly Geraldine mellows later in life, loses some of her stubbornness and finds genuine joy married to Johnny and being a mother to Franklin, but the plot seems to stagnant. The first part of the novel is rich and evocative, even something as simple and domestic about purchasing food in her neighbourhood becomes magical - "On Saturdays we slunk around the neighborhood buying Russian jam, Hungarian sausage, Egyptian beans in cans, Latvian bread and Black Forest cake, which we snacked on over the weekend." So idyllic, what does Geraldine have to worry about? Colwin, naturally, hits the nail on the head, in this brief dialogue Geraldine mentally works though watching a recording of her former self: "There I was, frozen in a moment that existed only in history. It was the saddest thing I had ever seen...."What am I doing here? I wondered. What happened to the person on the stage?". The pains of growing up or getting older, however you would like to put it.
August 22, 2021
I found the main character in this book, Geraldine, to just be a first-class pill. The premise of the book is that Geraldine lucks into a job as a the token white backup singer for the group Vernon and Ruby and the Shakettes (seemingly loosely based on the Ike & Tina Turner Revue). She loves this job so much that she can't seem to get over not doing it any longer. Apparently the group gets so popular that they can no longer afford to have a white singer in the lineup so Geraldine leaves before she can be fired. It is made clear throughout the book that Geraldine sings very well, but she gets angry whenever someone suggests she could continue as a professional singer in some capacity. She only wanted that one particular job, and doesn't ever bother to try to find another one like it. She loved her time as a "Shakette", but doesn't want anyone else mentioning it or asking her questions about it. She doesn't really want to get married, but then she does get married (and I can't help feeling sorry for her husband). She doesn't want to have kids but then she does have one child and becomes obsessed with being his mother to a creepy degree. The character was contrary, stubborn, self-centered, privileged, and never seemed to change or grow. She's just sort of an awful person and her best friend and her husband seem inhumanly patient with her.
It didn't help the book that twice in the earlier chapters the author used an offensive word for Black people; less well-known than the "N" word, but still jarring when I read it.
It didn't help the book that twice in the earlier chapters the author used an offensive word for Black people; less well-known than the "N" word, but still jarring when I read it.
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