What Happened to Goodbye

Source:  E-Book

Publisher:  Penguin Young Readers Group

Age Group: 12 above

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary/ Stand Alone Novel

Pages: 402

It took me around three hours reading this book. In the end, was I satisfied? No, not really. I cant see the difference between Dessen’s older works and this.

What Happened to Goodbye By Sarah Dessen:

Each new city means a new persona for McLean. Ever since her mom left her dad for a basketball coach Mclean and her dad have been traveling as a restaurant consultant. When they stop at lakeview, everything around McLean seems to change. She becomes friends with Deb, Opal and Heather and most of all with her neighbor Dave. For the first time in her life, McClean becomes herself not some actress or a girl called Liz. She has a sudden desire to live in Lakeview forever and live a normal life.

Writing Style:

Girl is having problems either socially, in school or in her family. She has to solve it, and did well obviously its Sarrah Dessen so there has to be some hot guy with curly hair in it too.

What makes What Happened to Goodbye so different then Just Listen, The Truth about Forever, Along for the ride, Keeping the Moon? Truthfully the answer is nothing. In Just Listen, Annabel was having social issues with her friends, her sister was anorexic and she had a terrible secret she could tell not one. In Along for the ride, it was the same Auden didn’t make friends easily she was too mature and family wise her dad had left her mom for some other women called Heidi. Keeping The Moon was the same, mom is weird, the girl get even weirder and did I mention friendless?  I can go about describing all Sarrah’s novels, but you might have guessed already. So, all in all there is no point in my ranting.

Sarrah Dessen is not what we call a Maureen Johnson in the YA world. I can write like her if I try, though I believe writing is a skill only acquired when practiced. She has the skill, that everyone has within there inner secret self. She uses easy words, phrases and sentences rarely using literary devices so that teens will easily read and can relate easily. That is why I am not going to complain about her writing because Sarah Dessen doesnt write for the sake of writing, she writes so that teenagers can relate to her characters and learn something from them.

What Happened to Goodbye, we saw the usual. Important themes (that also occur frequently in Dessen novels) like dealing with loss, change, solving problems, maintaining friendship and family relationships are also present. McLean has enough problems with her mother who cheated on her dad, it is that loss that makes her vulnerable, she decides to change her self in every place she goes but when she finally does settle down she realizes that friendship is equally important to family and she cannot loose her new friends like the way she lost her family. Which leads us to another theme, rather the most important one self realization or self discovery.

My Opinion:

I was so anxious to read this book and it was my top priority to read it this year. If you follow my blogs regularly I think I have mentioned my distress in not getting it soon enough. I am making this review late, because I know if I had written it before I would have said it was good. But after waiting long enough, I realize (which I knew that I would) that it was not worth it, the wait, that is.

This book captured me from the start to the end even though I knew what was going to happen, the book was so predictable. I couldn’t let go of it. Besides the same type of writing and story I really enjoyed the fact that Dessen made McLean more realistic then her other characters though the situation in which McLean was quite unrealistic. Mclean had her set of friends and she also had Dave, who proved quite worthy of a companion and gave humor into the story. I read Sarah Dessen for the pure sake of fun but it will not disappoint her fans at all that I am sure of, but from my side I would like to read something of Sarrah Dessen that is original and not like her other nine best sellers that are pretty much more or a less the same.

Also, those who are willing to be first time Sarah Dessen readers should try to read The Truth about forever first. I wouldn't really recommend What happened to goodbye.

  

I would recommend it to a person who hasn’t read much of literature, is a girl, enjoys reading chick-lits and likes a fast read. 

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