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295th out of 297 books
—
495 voters
The Art of Saying Goodbye: A Novel
by
Ellyn Bache (Goodreads Author)
She was the thread that wove their tapestry together.
With a group of women as diverse as the ladies from Brightwood Trace, you might not think them to be close. There's Julianne, a nurse with an unsettling psychic ability that allows her to literally feel what her patients feel, Andrea, a strong fortress sheltering a faltering core, Ginger, a mother torn between being a st...more
With a group of women as diverse as the ladies from Brightwood Trace, you might not think them to be close. There's Julianne, a nurse with an unsettling psychic ability that allows her to literally feel what her patients feel, Andrea, a strong fortress sheltering a faltering core, Ginger, a mother torn between being a st...more
Paperback, 352 pages
Published
June 7th 2011
by William Morrow Paperbacks
(first published May 19th 2011)
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Jun 13, 2011
Cate
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
book clubs made up of women
Shelves:
first-reads,
2011-reads
A Reading Good Books @ Wordpress review.
* In compliance with FTC guidelines, it should be noted that I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I won this book during the 30 May 2011 drawing of GoodReads First Reads. I had been playing for just a week. Lucky! I was one of 18 winners of this book. In the past, I have read only one similar book, a book about a bevy of women bonding together, and that was The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. Although I do not have much exp...more
* In compliance with FTC guidelines, it should be noted that I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
I won this book during the 30 May 2011 drawing of GoodReads First Reads. I had been playing for just a week. Lucky! I was one of 18 winners of this book. In the past, I have read only one similar book, a book about a bevy of women bonding together, and that was The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler. Although I do not have much exp...more
A close-knit neighborhood is rocked by the news that Paisley, the most charismatic and kind woman on the block, has pancreatic cancer that has already traveled to her liver. Each person responds to this news differently. The novel describes the layers of friendship that exist between and among these women. We learn about their mixed loyalties, their indebtedness, their betrayals, their secrets and their saviors. The men and children in their lives are affected not only by Paisley's ill health bu...more
I will start by telling you that this is another one of those books where the readers voice changes between characters. Each woman is friens with Paisley is different ways and not necessarily with each other. Some characters I felt were stronger than others and some are the kind that you just get annoyed with because you know someone like them in real life. Mostly, they are the kind of people who aren't able to move on in a positive direction from anything. Everything in their life after a parti...more
Originally Reviewed at Novel Escapes
The Art of Saying Goodbye has a Desperate Housewives element to it, with five neighbourhood friends, their lives and children intertwined as one of the women receives tragic news. I love reading about the friendships between women and was looking forward to this novel, but unfortunately I was disappointed and couldn’t really get into it.
The characters seemed disjointed and not genuinely interested in each other. Maybe this is where the novel should be interes...more
The Art of Saying Goodbye has a Desperate Housewives element to it, with five neighbourhood friends, their lives and children intertwined as one of the women receives tragic news. I love reading about the friendships between women and was looking forward to this novel, but unfortunately I was disappointed and couldn’t really get into it.
The characters seemed disjointed and not genuinely interested in each other. Maybe this is where the novel should be interes...more
I have had this book since last June. For some reason it took until now to get to it(likely those other 1,000 books on my shelf have something to do with it.). Paisley is a carefree housewife living in Brightwood Trace. She is, no doubt, the life of the party and the neighborhood. The one who is always there for everyone in the neighborhood, no matter what they're going through. She goes in for a pre-op exam and her friend Julianne(another member of the neighborhood)finds something. That somethi...more
As I mentioned in my initial thoughts post, I didn’t really like how this book began. I continued to read a bit more, but I never connected with any of the characters and ended up putting it aside to read something else, intending to come back to it. I never have. It’s a bit of a let down, too, because I enjoy books that explore friendships between women and this one looks like a winner from the outside. The execution just didn’t jive with my style, unfortunately.
The book starts with a jerky nar...more
The book starts with a jerky nar...more
4 likes · like · see review
I really enjoyed this book- so much so that I read it in one sitting. I don't normally read books like this, but every now and then it's good to read a little chick-lit (like a chick-flick, but for books). I thought this book was a little bit of Steel Magnolias, Now and Then, and Stepmom all rolled together. I enjoyed the characters and their development throughout the book. I thought they would be a little closer as friends, but some seemed more acquaintances than friends. However, all of their...more
This is the story of five women, very close women, who struggle to exist when one of them, the strong one who held the group together, gets cancer. Who is going to help HER??
It was OK. Not as good as I thought it could be, too much 'chick-lit' and not enough depth to the relationships.
Favorite Quotes:
"How old do you have to be before you understand that the burst of energy that guides us through the world turns into the exhaustion that makes us loosen our hold, and finally the pain that teaches...more
It was OK. Not as good as I thought it could be, too much 'chick-lit' and not enough depth to the relationships.
Favorite Quotes:
"How old do you have to be before you understand that the burst of energy that guides us through the world turns into the exhaustion that makes us loosen our hold, and finally the pain that teaches...more
“Odd, how in the afterglow of someone else’s life, your own looks so much brighter.”
This line from Ellyn Bache’s new novel The Art of Saying Goodbye (William Morrow, 2011), gives you a sense of the glowing feel you will gather from this artful novel.
In the novel, golden girl Paisley suddenly learns she has a late stage cancer. It is unthinkable, and throughout the course of the novel, we see the women who know Paisley re-examining their own lives, revealing secrets and shames, and finding new fo...more
This line from Ellyn Bache’s new novel The Art of Saying Goodbye (William Morrow, 2011), gives you a sense of the glowing feel you will gather from this artful novel.
In the novel, golden girl Paisley suddenly learns she has a late stage cancer. It is unthinkable, and throughout the course of the novel, we see the women who know Paisley re-examining their own lives, revealing secrets and shames, and finding new fo...more
We meet 5 women off the bat, and then we go back and forth between all of them, finding out about them and what each one might be struggling with. Iona was my favorite. Seems like a hard lady on the outside but really is a loving lady and could be a wonderful friend. All these ladies I yearned to really like. Could like them on the surface, but there was no real depth. Even Paisley, as much as I was like, yea I think I might like her, after all the stuff I read, not really sure I do!
Each woman,...more
Each woman,...more
The Art of Saying Goodbye
Ellyn Bache
Stars 4 out of 5
The story lets you know about a neighbor who is dying of cancer and the friendship she has with her neighbors. (I have family dealing with this right now, don't know why I chose it), however, I did enjoy this book and believe it or not, did not shed a tear!
It alternates back and forth from current times and years before. You learn how the neighbors came to be friends.
There are many characters in this book besides Paisley (the woman with cancer...more
Ellyn Bache
Stars 4 out of 5
The story lets you know about a neighbor who is dying of cancer and the friendship she has with her neighbors. (I have family dealing with this right now, don't know why I chose it), however, I did enjoy this book and believe it or not, did not shed a tear!
It alternates back and forth from current times and years before. You learn how the neighbors came to be friends.
There are many characters in this book besides Paisley (the woman with cancer...more
The story of five women brought together by one feisty, fiery "hot mama". Desperate to bring some life to the neighborhood, Paisley hand delivers invitations to all the women neighboring her house to a "Happy Hour for Hot Moms" claiming they all deserve it. What begins for many as a nervous meeting in Paisley's backyard, blossoms over the next ten years in to various degrees of friendship between the five women, the rock and guiding force is always Paisley.
Until Paisley's terminal cancer diagnos...more
Until Paisley's terminal cancer diagnos...more
Sometimes I hit a wave of books that I just don't connect with. Perhaps it's me and the circumstances of my life at the time, perhaps it's the books. The Art of Saying Goodbye was another disappointment to me.
I normally enjoy books that explore the friendships of women. I thought the author did a good job capturing some of the intricacies and feelings of each of these women as Paisley's cancer diagnosis causes them to evaluate their lives and relationships. The book's point of view/narration mo...more
I normally enjoy books that explore the friendships of women. I thought the author did a good job capturing some of the intricacies and feelings of each of these women as Paisley's cancer diagnosis causes them to evaluate their lives and relationships. The book's point of view/narration mo...more
3.5 stars.
This book felt like it should have been a 4 star book, but it never quite lived up to the potential for me.
There wasn't anything really wrong with it, as such. There was quite a bit right with it.
Still, I clearly enjoyed it, and am glad I read it.
What was most interesting to me was the picture of the neighborhood, and the links between the women there, even more so than the women themselves.
The women each had her own story, and they all included Paisley at some point, at some time, to...more
This book felt like it should have been a 4 star book, but it never quite lived up to the potential for me.
There wasn't anything really wrong with it, as such. There was quite a bit right with it.
Still, I clearly enjoyed it, and am glad I read it.
What was most interesting to me was the picture of the neighborhood, and the links between the women there, even more so than the women themselves.
The women each had her own story, and they all included Paisley at some point, at some time, to...more
I have not read any of this author's other books, but received an advanced copy of The Art of Saying Goodbye at a conference and decided to give it a try. Each of the characters, and the story as a whole, felt very real and true to me. Grief, friendship, love, uncertainty - all the feelings that make up a life, or several lives - were portrayed quietly and convincingly, without being over done. It was not extremely sappy, it did not try to be a tear-jerker, the book simply felt as though I was g...more
All I can say is "not bad." This had so much potential, but I just could not get into the characters. The story was all over the place and I had a really hard time keeping track of who was who. It was written in a way where half a story was told and then the rest would be told later. Now, I'm great with this - shake it up a bit - but it happened with every character for every story. I found myself reading a paragraph, realizing I didn't understand it, and then not caring enough to go back and fi...more
I am a sucker for books like this--female friends and their group dynamic. In this case, how friends deal with the coming death of one in their circle, and how the ailing friend, in turn, determines what her legacy will be, amd how to make her own peace with those she will leave behind. There were several subplots dealing with husbands, careers, and children, or lack of. I particularly liked Iona, an older, somewhat acerbic character who uncertainly awaits the birth of her step-grandchild and is...more
I'm still not a fan of goodreads' star system. I give this book a three out of five not because I liked it, but because it was a book of about 60% goodness. That doesn't make much sense, does it? The book is about a neighborhood saying good-bye to a popular resident who is dying from cancer.
I didn't particularly like any of the women, but I did understand them. And when the "main" character dies, I was moved by their thoughts and expressions, but I didn't once think, "Oh, I could be friends wit...more
I didn't particularly like any of the women, but I did understand them. And when the "main" character dies, I was moved by their thoughts and expressions, but I didn't once think, "Oh, I could be friends wit...more
Twenty years ago I lost a friend to breast cancer. By the time it was diagnosed she had only 2 months to live. She left a husband and 3 children under the age of 15. In 2007 my big sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had a single mastectomy and chemo. Not long after 1/3 of a kidney was removed due to cancer. More chemo. She is a survivor.
I was ambivalent about entering the giveaway for this book but I did enter. I was hoping for something uplifting.
That wasn't quite what I got. The book...more
I was ambivalent about entering the giveaway for this book but I did enter. I was hoping for something uplifting.
That wasn't quite what I got. The book...more
"What is the measure of a person's life? How will she be remembered?" These questions weave themselves in and out of the lives of friends, family and neighbors while they helplessly watch Paisley battle pancreatic cancer. The natural outcome of this struggle is to look inward and evaluate one's own life. Each of the individuals living on the cul-de-sac, including the children, finds a way to understand and cope. Each makes personal decisions based on what they observe and how they feel and what...more
I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads.
“The Art of Saying Goodbye” by Ellyn Bache is a heartfelt novel of a group of diverse women; Iona, Julianne, Andrea, Ginger and Paisley, friends living in a close knit neighborhood. But this group is shocked when the liveliest and friendliest of the group, Paisley, is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
This book isn’t just a story about a woman going through her battle with cancer. It is the story of five individuals. Ellyn Bache takes u...more
“The Art of Saying Goodbye” by Ellyn Bache is a heartfelt novel of a group of diverse women; Iona, Julianne, Andrea, Ginger and Paisley, friends living in a close knit neighborhood. But this group is shocked when the liveliest and friendliest of the group, Paisley, is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.
This book isn’t just a story about a woman going through her battle with cancer. It is the story of five individuals. Ellyn Bache takes u...more
I began reading this book yesterday and finished it today. Perhaps, because I have had a really bad year and have lost and am in the process of losing people that I love, this book resonated with me regarding how you can relate to those we care about and how we affect each other's lives and treat each other when in the throes of a serious disease. While the main character is terminally ill, we also see her as she lived her life before her illness--the good and the bad--and how she wanted (and de...more
This story was very good. I loved it. It made me cry in many places. It was hard to read when you know how the story is going to end. I found it to be very interesting to find out that the writer had really gone through this herself. It made the story more real than it already was.
In the story I found the way each woman reacted to the diagnosis of their friend with pancreatic and liver cancer to be interesting. Each one reacted differently, but still I felt that they all wanted to help her get t...more
In the story I found the way each woman reacted to the diagnosis of their friend with pancreatic and liver cancer to be interesting. Each one reacted differently, but still I felt that they all wanted to help her get t...more
I received this book from Librarything and loved the idea of the storyline. After reading it, I found that the author wrote this story after going through a similiar situation several years ago in her own neighborhood. That made it even more touching for me.
The story takes place over 1 1/2 months in the lives of Paisley, the woman with cancer, and her neighborhood friends. The story mostly takes place in current time with a few flashback chapters to give you the backstory. The storyline flows e...more
The story takes place over 1 1/2 months in the lives of Paisley, the woman with cancer, and her neighborhood friends. The story mostly takes place in current time with a few flashback chapters to give you the backstory. The storyline flows e...more
First, I love this cover. I just adored it, the colors are vibrant and it's just a really pretty hard cover book. Second, the writing style is just my type. I love the voices that Ellen Bache gives these women. Each one distinct and personal, yet distant as well. The reason I didn't go up in stars is because I find it hard to read about women I dislike. Besides Paisley and Julianne, I dislike all the other women. Their petty personalities, while realistic, just drove me nuts and made the book di...more
Beautifully written book. I think everyone has a Paisley in their lives. And when, if that Paisley passes or even moves away, the loss is felt deeply by all. The characters in this book were not deeply explored but enough to understand each person's feelings. Sad to think that Paisley's friends, as a whole, were unable to really give her the emotional support that she needed during her time of dying. That her declining health acutally helped her friends.
The Art of Saying Goodbye is a lovely story about four women and each woman's relationship with the central character and with each other, their children, their husbands and friends. Ellyn Bache has the ability to go under the surface of each character, so efficiently. It's a relatively short book, but she gets so much accomplished.
Set in the South, the story could have taken place anywhere, at any time. It will make a great book discussion group read.
Set in the South, the story could have taken place anywhere, at any time. It will make a great book discussion group read.
I truly enjoyed it. I kept thinking, How well Bache is capturing the subtler aspects of female relationships, the sharp-edged thoughts and strange, blurry lines of love and hate between women. I felt Julianne's rage and panic in the episode imagining murder and Iona's cynicism and reluctance to bond. I wondered at Andrea's boundless love and yet understood it because I have that kind of a giving mother. Every character is powerfully drawn.
Just received the book in the mail! Thank you Goodreads,Ellyn Bache, and Megan, who hosted the giveaway! Can't wait to read it! I liked the ribbon you put on it too :) (June 4)
Update: (June 21)
First off, I really like the cover. It's pretty!! Next, after reading the book I get why there was a white ribbon tied around. Liked it even better!! Thirdly, I really enjoyed the book.If it wasn't for good reads I probably would have never come across this book in the book store, since it is not the type...more
Update: (June 21)
First off, I really like the cover. It's pretty!! Next, after reading the book I get why there was a white ribbon tied around. Liked it even better!! Thirdly, I really enjoyed the book.If it wasn't for good reads I probably would have never come across this book in the book store, since it is not the type...more
I'm very conflicted about this book. On the one hand, it was full of exquisite wording and emotional depth, but on the other hand, it stretched nearly every scene far too long. I didn't really feel a connection to Paisley as a real person, because she seemed too perfect to be real.
That being said, some of the chapters offered a beautiful look at death and saying goodbye to someone you love.
That being said, some of the chapters offered a beautiful look at death and saying goodbye to someone you love.
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Back when I was about eight and my mom worked full-time in an era when most moms stayed home, I rebelled by reading all the short stories in her women's magazines. There were lots of them in those days, most of them marvelous glimpses into a grown-up world I could barely imagine, but that felt glamorous and forbidden and appealing. So I grew up writing women's fiction instead of becoming the docto...more
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“When you're down, remember your triumphs. [...] Sometimes you get in trouble and crash. Other times: just a bumpy landing.”
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“But some climbs you have to make alone.”
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