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Goodbye to All That
Being the middle child is never easy, but thirty-six-year-old Jill Bendel is about to find out just how hard that job is when her mother throws away her sensible pumps, packs up her collection of classical music and runs away from home.
Longtime wife and mother Ruth Bendel loves her family but hates her life. Husband Richard doesn't even know how the steam iron works, let a...more
Longtime wife and mother Ruth Bendel loves her family but hates her life. Husband Richard doesn't even know how the steam iron works, let a...more
Paperback, 268 pages
Published
March 29th 2012
by Bell Bridge Books
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This story, written by a romance writer, was a pleasant surprise. What happens when a good jewish wife and mother decides it is now 'her time' and walks away?
Jill is the main character, the 'good daughter' who is usually the solver of the family. However, all of the various family members get the writers time and attention and you come to know and care about them all…. and they are all thrown for a loop by Ruth's decision to get her own apartment and job, walking away from her privileged life...more
Jill is the main character, the 'good daughter' who is usually the solver of the family. However, all of the various family members get the writers time and attention and you come to know and care about them all…. and they are all thrown for a loop by Ruth's decision to get her own apartment and job, walking away from her privileged life...more
For forty-two years, Ruth Bendel has been Dr. Richard Bendel’s wife. For more than thirty of those years, she’s been mother to Doug, Jill, and Melissa. She has spent the greater part of her life taking care of her family and being taken for granted. She’s weary of her husband’s whiskers in the sink, of the annoying click of the remote control as he channel surfs, of eating the food and seeing the movies and listening to the music someone else likes. What Ruth wants now is freedom to find out wha...more
What happens when a wife decides, after 42 years of marriage, that she's had enough and wants a change? That is the focus of Judith Arnold's Good-bye to All That.
Ruth Bendel is over it. She is tired of her husband Richard leaving his beard shavings in the sink, tired of him channel surfing, and tired of taking care of other people. Her three grown children - Doug, an eye doctor married to a hot blonde wife; Jill, a work-from-home mother whose husband is a school teacher and who writes catalog co...more
Ruth Bendel is over it. She is tired of her husband Richard leaving his beard shavings in the sink, tired of him channel surfing, and tired of taking care of other people. Her three grown children - Doug, an eye doctor married to a hot blonde wife; Jill, a work-from-home mother whose husband is a school teacher and who writes catalog co...more
Goodbye To All That was an entertaining book that kept my attention from cover to cover. I felt a connection to the characters, and enjoyed the storyline. I will be looking for more by this author.
After forty year of marriage, Ruth Bendel moves out of the family home she shares with her husband, Richard, finds her own apartment, and obtains a job. The three grown Bendel children have felt that their parents' marriage was rock solid, so their worlds are rocked by change. As Jill, Doug, and Meliss...more
After forty year of marriage, Ruth Bendel moves out of the family home she shares with her husband, Richard, finds her own apartment, and obtains a job. The three grown Bendel children have felt that their parents' marriage was rock solid, so their worlds are rocked by change. As Jill, Doug, and Meliss...more
Novels which depict women leaving home to find independence from their husbands and families have been particularly prevalent since the 1970s, so much so, that one could be forgiven for feeling that this subject has been done to death. So it has by many, but not Ms Arnold!
Ruth Bendel, fed up with forty-two years of catering to her cardiologist husband and raising children without any recognition, calls a family gathering to announce that she and Richard are separating. Her astonished adult child...more
Ruth Bendel, fed up with forty-two years of catering to her cardiologist husband and raising children without any recognition, calls a family gathering to announce that she and Richard are separating. Her astonished adult child...more
Ruth wanted to do something for herself.
She moved out of her nice home with Richard, her husband, to a one bedroom, very small apartment.
She felt she had done things for her family all of her life and now she wanted to do things differently.
I liked how she did that and then her children started worrying about their lives and how the separation of 42 years of their parents had effected them.
The middle child, Jill, started helping everyone try to stay on track.
Even Thanksgiving was a great affair...more
She moved out of her nice home with Richard, her husband, to a one bedroom, very small apartment.
She felt she had done things for her family all of her life and now she wanted to do things differently.
I liked how she did that and then her children started worrying about their lives and how the separation of 42 years of their parents had effected them.
The middle child, Jill, started helping everyone try to stay on track.
Even Thanksgiving was a great affair...more
I found this to be an intriguing book. Readers' opinions will reflect where they are in life and how they got there. Husband and wife of 40+ years announce to the family that they are separating. Everyone wants an explanation; no one understands. As life goes on, we are shown how earth-shattering this news is to some of the family. First (and second) reactions tend to be of the "oh, no! Who's going to take care of me now?" sort.
We see the characters look around and begin to question themselves,...more
We see the characters look around and begin to question themselves,...more
This is a clever look at the disintergration and re-building of an all American family. When Ruth, the matriach of the family, leaves her husband, Richard, each family member is impacted. I particularly enjoyed seeing past the surface of Brooke and Doug's marriage, and reading about the growth experienced by Jill and Melissa. Ulimately, I wasn't sure if Ruth really loved Richard underneath it all, but nonetheless, it was an enjoyable and well-written story.
Please note that I received an advance...more
Please note that I received an advance...more
I should say right up front that I do not read what is called “chicklit.” I just don’t get into stories about women and all their relationships as a general rule. I don’t care about all the family drama people put up with and I don’t believe in happy endings and lovely reconciliations. Maybe these books are great and I’m missing a lot of wonderful literature, but I just don’t pick them up. That said, I have to recommend that Goodbye to All That by Judith Arnold be read by all AARPers, particular...more
I think the story is very relatable, from the perspective of a married couple. You've been married so long, living your life for everyone else that you just need a change. You are under-appreciated as a mom, as a wife, and you are relied on to make everyone else happy and after the kids are grown and gone, with families of their own, you want to say, "know what? Screw it. I'm doing this for ME now." I can sympathize with the characters for sure.
Amazon daily special...
Amazon daily special...
Ruth is unhappy with her life - the children are grown and her husband is stodgy. So she leaves and starts a new life - a job, an apartment, new friends and new experiences. Jill, the middle child, feels like everyone epects her to fix the situation. Everyone in the family has to learn that it is okay to move on in life without anger or blame. Compareable to Three Weissman's of Westport.
This is my first novel by Judith Arnold and it won't be my last.
Her realistic portrayal of each member of a family and how they handle crisis and change was very touching and at times funny. Ms. Arnold took an all too common issue we experience today and turned it into a delightful novel.
I highly recommend Goodbye To All That.
Her realistic portrayal of each member of a family and how they handle crisis and change was very touching and at times funny. Ms. Arnold took an all too common issue we experience today and turned it into a delightful novel.
I highly recommend Goodbye To All That.
More than just another fluffy romantic comedy, Goodbye to All That is a charming and thoughtful read, complete with an unexpected plot and plenty of likable characters.
Read the full review at http://www.nightsandweekends.com/arti...
Read the full review at http://www.nightsandweekends.com/arti...
This is one of those books that is just a good story. There's no great plot, no suspense or mystery, no crime or even love story. It's just good character developmentnt that makes you want to keep reading and find out what happens to them.
This story reminded me of the old Meat Loaf song, "All Revved Up and No Place to Go." Tons of buildup among a cast of selfish, egocentric characters and then, just as each of them begins to experience some growth, the book abruptly ends.
Well written with interesting characters, but I feel like you need to be in a certain mood to read it. It's not an up-lifting romance, it's more about independence.
It was a great & realistic book! It's about a mother who decides to assert her independence and a daughter who is inspired to do so herself.
A well-written book that really had some good character development--both male & female. This book was a nice surprise.
This book could not keep my attention...and I tried twice. I quit.
I liked this book. It was light but not silly. It had a good ending
Decent enough book but the ending sucked!
This was a great book - had an ending I didn't quite expect. Very thought provoking!
It's worth reading you guys.
Really enjoyed this!!!
Quite good family oriented novel. A little slow, but very enjoyable.
Jun 07, 2013
Kim Fox
marked it as to-read
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Barbara Keiler
aka Ariel Berk, Thea Frederick, Judith Arnold
Barbara Keiler was born on April 7th. She started telling stories before shecould write. She was four when her sister, Carolyn, stuffed a crayon intoher hand and taught her the alphabet, and she's been writing ever since.
Barbara is a graduate of Smith College, where she learned to aim for thestars, and she received a master's degree in cre...more
More about Judith Arnold...
aka Ariel Berk, Thea Frederick, Judith Arnold
Barbara Keiler was born on April 7th. She started telling stories before shecould write. She was four when her sister, Carolyn, stuffed a crayon intoher hand and taught her the alphabet, and she's been writing ever since.
Barbara is a graduate of Smith College, where she learned to aim for thestars, and she received a master's degree in cre...more
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