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A review by bahareads
Where Was Goodbye? by Janice Lynn Mather
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
3.5 stars
(I am a Bahamian book reviewer)
(I am a Bahamian book reviewer)
Julian is nowhere
Julian is everywhere
Julian is not here"
Where was Goodbye? shows the POV of Karmen dealing with the very immediate aftermath of her brother, Julien's suicide. Her family is a mess. The dad wants to stick to a routine to try to overcome the grief, and the mum cannot get out of bed. As an audience to their grief, it can be overwhelming. Karmen is struggling in her own way to figure out why Julien would commit suicide. She cannot comprehend it, that is not the brother she knew. She tries to dig for answers because of the belief there has to be a specific reason. Karmen only finds that sometimes people are just depressed to the point of not being able to go on with living.
The language - I'm speaking to Bahamian Creole with grammar, syntax, and spelling - could have had more depth. I would have liked to see Karmen's inner monologue be less proper English. The sentences that were in Bahamian Creole were like a soft brush of silk on the brain. I would have liked to see more phonetic (?) spelling eg. een/ein for aint. I (of course) want more Bahamian Creole in my Bahamian books in general. My desire is for Bahamian authors to more fully embrace the use of it, especially in fiction works. Now speaking to the actual writing style of Mather - it is honestly not my favorite. It reads easy. However it is not memorable.
It warms my heart to hear familiar names and places spoken in a text. I think about the way fiction can utilize the live reality of the writer. I adored the fact that Julien was a history major and that he wrote about Liberated African communities on New Providence. That is an actual historical fact! It tickled my historian's brain.
The characters mention during a conversation that young girls who are missing are often seen as 'quick' and hiding off with 'big man.' It's true to this day that that is the preconceived notion of most Bahamian people when presented with missing flyers of young girls. It is such a shame that the emphasis of shame is placed on the disadvantaged young women and not the predatory men. I like that Mather is bringing this everyday discourse into literature.
Karmen, and I would say her mother too, were the only fully developed characters in the story. Everyone else played their role to move the plot along. They were just narrative devices. I can't put my finger on how Mather could flesh them out more, I just know they need it. Karmen's mother became more alive in the novel the more Karmen interacted with her.
I enjoyed the romance. I love a good friends-to-lovers trope. I thought it fit well with the plot, especially when we get the flashbacks before the suicide. I'm a fan of Karmen and Issac. I liked Pru as well. I thought she added a lot to the plot and book depth overall. Mather could have built the friendship between Karmen and Layla up more before giving us negative thoughts about Layla. It made me not like Layla at all. I felt sad that their friendship was not the same toward the end of the book. I reflected on my personal experiences with friends.
Grief and loss is a constant theme throughout the book. In one particular scene, I almost cried like a baby; I did tear up. I found it odd (up to a point) that so many people would know about the circumstances of Julien's death. However after it's revealed the method Julien used to die, it made more sense. It would have been all over the news.
Skating being a part of 'counter-culture' in The Bahamas was very very interesting to me. Honestly, I do not know many skateboarders at home so it is a blank in my mind. I need to do more research on it. At the end of the novel, there are suicide and crisis hotlines for the US, Canada, AND The Bahamas. I just love that.
A quick read with a lot of punch in it.
The language - I'm speaking to Bahamian Creole with grammar, syntax, and spelling - could have had more depth. I would have liked to see Karmen's inner monologue be less proper English. The sentences that were in Bahamian Creole were like a soft brush of silk on the brain. I would have liked to see more phonetic (?) spelling eg. een/ein for aint. I (of course) want more Bahamian Creole in my Bahamian books in general. My desire is for Bahamian authors to more fully embrace the use of it, especially in fiction works. Now speaking to the actual writing style of Mather - it is honestly not my favorite. It reads easy. However it is not memorable.
It warms my heart to hear familiar names and places spoken in a text. I think about the way fiction can utilize the live reality of the writer. I adored the fact that Julien was a history major and that he wrote about Liberated African communities on New Providence. That is an actual historical fact! It tickled my historian's brain.
The characters mention during a conversation that young girls who are missing are often seen as 'quick' and hiding off with 'big man.' It's true to this day that that is the preconceived notion of most Bahamian people when presented with missing flyers of young girls. It is such a shame that the emphasis of shame is placed on the disadvantaged young women and not the predatory men. I like that Mather is bringing this everyday discourse into literature.
Karmen, and I would say her mother too, were the only fully developed characters in the story. Everyone else played their role to move the plot along. They were just narrative devices. I can't put my finger on how Mather could flesh them out more, I just know they need it. Karmen's mother became more alive in the novel the more Karmen interacted with her.
I enjoyed the romance. I love a good friends-to-lovers trope. I thought it fit well with the plot, especially when we get the flashbacks before the suicide. I'm a fan of Karmen and Issac. I liked Pru as well. I thought she added a lot to the plot and book depth overall. Mather could have built the friendship between Karmen and Layla up more before giving us negative thoughts about Layla. It made me not like Layla at all. I felt sad that their friendship was not the same toward the end of the book. I reflected on my personal experiences with friends.
Grief and loss is a constant theme throughout the book. In one particular scene, I almost cried like a baby; I did tear up. I found it odd (up to a point) that so many people would know about the circumstances of Julien's death. However after it's revealed the method Julien used to die, it made more sense. It would have been all over the news.
Skating being a part of 'counter-culture' in The Bahamas was very very interesting to me. Honestly, I do not know many skateboarders at home so it is a blank in my mind. I need to do more research on it. At the end of the novel, there are suicide and crisis hotlines for the US, Canada, AND The Bahamas. I just love that.
A quick read with a lot of punch in it.