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Goldengrove

by Francine Prose

3.24 · rating details · 1,391 ratings · 386 reviews

After the sudden death of her beloved older sister, thirteen-year-old Nico finds her life on New England's idyllic Mirror Lake irrevocably altered. Left alone to grope toward understanding, she falls into a seductive, dangerous relationship with her sister's boyfriend. Over one haunted summer, Nico faces that life-changing moment when children realize their parents can no

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Paperback, 275 pages

Published September 8th 2009 by Harper Perennial (first published January 1st 2008)

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Jan 18, 2012

karen rated it

and here is a perfect example of why readers' advisory is so, so tricky, and why i am devoting my life to perfecting the process.

i first came across this book when i was doing an assignment for my readers' advisory class a couple of years ago. my goal was to find a read-alike for The God of Animals, which i had just read and unexpectedly loved.

for the assignment, i used many different readers' advisory resources in order to come up with suitable read-alikes. after using ...more

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Nov 05, 2008

Lara rated it

Shelves: for-harper-collins

If you've looked at this book (or the picture of it), you will likely agree with me that this is a book that begs you to read it. That is, if you’re the type (as I am) to judge a book by its cover. It’s fascinating to me how intriguing a picture of a boat and a lake can be.

I’m sure you’re wondering, then, if it lives up to its cover. After a bit of internal debate, I think it does. Why the debate? Because the book is so damn sad, it’s hard to admit that it was a lovely read.

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Apr 18, 2009

Yang Liu rated it

After reading two other reviews on Goldengrove, one a five star review, the other a two star review, I was surprised to find both reviews shared much of the same sentiments and echoed many of my opinions regarding the book. I really had mixed feelings about the novel. On one hand, I felt a bit disappointed that the book's storyline did nothing to distance itself from the countless other novels about death and tragedy. On the other hand, Francine Prose's powerful writing style was able to draw in...moreAfter reading two other reviews on Goldengrove, one a five star review, the other a two star review, I was surprised to find both reviews shared much of the same sentiments and echoed many of my opinions regarding the book. I really had mixed feelings about the novel. On one hand, I felt a bit disappointed that the book's storyline did nothing to distance itself from the countless other novels about death and tragedy. On the other hand, Francine Prose's powerful writing style was able to draw in my interest and effectively compensated for her painstakingly slow plot development. It seems that the other two reviews also agreed with my ideas.

To start off on a positive note, I felt that Goldengrove was truly exquisitely written. The author had an uncanny ability to evoke emotions and create dazzling descriptions. An example of this is:

“Margaret’s death had shaken us, like three dice in a cup, and spilled us out with new faces in unrecognizable combinations...We could have been sea creatures stranded on the beach, puzzling over an empty shell that reminded us of the ocean.”

Another aspect of the novel I particularly enjoyed was the fact that even though the book does center around how the main character Nico, deals with her sister’s death, it wasn’t thoroughly depressing and dark in any sense. In fact, Francine Prose seems to have a knack for incorporating hilarious dry humor into otherwise bland or sorrowful topics. For instance:

“Every Middle Eastern country we invade, the cost of oil skyrockets, which jacks up the price of your pecans and whatever carcinogenic shit they put in that pistachio. Plus every bomb we drop shortens the time until the next dirty-bomb attack. I figure the human race has got about another fifteen minutes, max. That’s why I like selling frozen dessert. Enjoy it before it melts-along with the polar ice caps. Ha ha.”

Despite being very well written, one gaping flaw in the novel is the plot development. Throughout the book, and in the beginning especially, there is a huge whole where excitement or build up to the climax usually lie. It seemed as if the author took the introduction in most books and pulled at it until the descriptions of nothing but character and setting filled up half the book. Thankfully, she was able to redeem herself through her writing style.

What I learned from evaluating both reviews is how much one enjoys reading Goldengrove will be greatly dependent on how much they value quality of writing versus plot development that contains a lot of action and excitement. I would say Goldengrove is suitable for those who like luscious insightful descriptions of simple situations, elegant writing styles, and a little bit of dry humor. Though the storyline of the novel is very typical, for people looking for a slightly different take on grief, I would recommend them to Goldengrove a try.
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Jan 29, 2009

Susanburton rated it

This is a novel of coming to terms with grief told by a thirteen year old named Nico. One afternoon her older sister and she were floating in their boat on the lake which they did often. Her sister dove in and due to a congenital heart failure drowned. Her parents were so grief stricken as was Aaron, her sister’s boyfriend that she had to navigate through her mourning alone.
Her struggles, decisions, indecisions, hopes, and fears are all explicitly told in this touching and healing story...more

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Feb 10, 2010

Amelia rated it

Sometimes I read books with really poetic language and it irritates me, because I feel like the author's trying too hard (example: Echo by Francesca Lia Block). Although Prose's language in this book was indeed poetic, it wasn't overly so, and that's what pulled me in.

I liked this, although it was quite different from the satire I'm used to from Prose. Didn't know what I'd think of it; picked this up on sale at a bookstore that was going out of business. It had this creepy effect ...more

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Oct 09, 2008

Susan rated it

Recommends it for: people interested in loss

Recommended to Susan by: EW

Shelves: 2008read, writing_art_inspiration, wanted

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 09, 2008

Jeanne rated it

Recommends it for: readers who have lost a sibling; young adults

Recommended to Jeanne by: Booklist

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?

For those of you familiar with the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins, you know that this novel is not going to be a happy one. But please don’t let that stop you from reading Prose’s latest; it is certainly worth your time.

Thirteen-year-old Nico is devastated when her older sister, Margaret, drowns in the lake by their home. Margaret was her best friend; Margaret was her world.

Like many others in the s...more

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Nov 11, 2008

Pam rated it

Shelves: fiction

For some readers, the saddest part of this tale would be the parents & 13yr old sister floating along in grief after the accidental death of their 17yr old daughter/sister. And yes, the details of how survivors manage to get through each day following a stunning loss were sometimes excruciating to read. The book concludes years later when the impact of Margaret's death is long diminished -- life DOES goes on. As it should, but it was still very poignant that her impact on her loved ones' liv...more

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Jun 26, 2008

Jud rated it

There were lots of good things about this book, in which (mostly) a 13-14 year old girl has to come to grips with the loss of her older sister and the boyfriend she left behind. I even copied out one passage--about how omnipresent someone can be, even when he/she is absent, how we carry on an internal dialogue with that person. But somehow the dead sister's boyfriend's weirdness--even though he was *supposed) to be weird--came across as a not-so-compelling weirdness.

My first book by ...more

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Feb 21, 2011

Florinda rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, review, copy, 2009review

13-year-old Nico was literally the last person to see her older sister Margaret alive. Margaret was a gifted singer and actress about to graduate from high school, and the girls were spending a lazy Sunday afternoon out on the lake in their family's rowboat. Margaret decided to dive from the boat into the lake and swim to shore, but she never came back up.[return][return][return]The shock of Margaret's sudden loss pushes the remaining members of the family in separate directions, rather than pu...more13-year-old Nico was literally the last person to see her older sister Margaret alive. Margaret was a gifted singer and actress about to graduate from high school, and the girls were spending a lazy Sunday afternoon out on the lake in their family's rowboat. Margaret decided to dive from the boat into the lake and swim to shore, but she never came back up.[return][return][return]The shock of Margaret's sudden loss pushes the remaining members of the family in separate directions, rather than pulling them closer together. While her mother seeks to escape with prescription drugs and her father retreats to his bookstore, Goldengrove, and the book he's been writing for years, Nico seeks to connect with her sister's spirit; that leads her to the company of Margaret's artist boyfriend Aaron, who may be even more haunted than Nico is.[return][return][return]Francine Prose writes Goldengrove in Nico's voice, which keeps the focus squarely on her, and I thought that was a particularly appropriate narrative choice. Nico is 13, a particularly self-focused age; parents start to recede in importance, peers matter more, and everything is filtered through self-reference. The parental characters in Goldengrove seemed underdeveloped to me, but that also seemed correct; they've both pulled back in response to their elder child's death, while at the same time, Nico has reached an age where she's naturally beginning to grow in her own direction, and her own development matters more to her than anyone else's. I don't mean that to sound negative; it's a normal part of adolescence, and the crisis that Nico and her family are experiencing just makes it more pronounced. There is growth and development over the course of the summer and the story - for both Nico and her parents - and while I thought the ending was perhaps a little too neat, it was credible. Sometimes "moving on" happens so gradually that we don't realize we've done it until some time later, but sometimes it takes a conscious decision.[return][return][return]While reading Goldengrove, I kept returning to a recent discussion of YA literature. While this has been published and marketed as an adult novel, I think one could make a convincing case for it as young-adult literature. It's thoughtful and beautifully written, and while its themes of grief, loss and developing maturity are serious ones, they're not inappropriate for older high-school students. But if the distinguishing characteristic of YA is "a teenage protagonist," both its narrator and its perspective would seem to make this novel fit within that genre.(less)

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Feb 05, 2009

Shawna rated it

I liked this in that it was informative. I kept reading because I genuinely wanted to know what happened. It did pull me along, but I felt that nearly every critical plot point was reached and then sort of passed over. There was no satisfaction from the story's climax. I was greatly disappointed repeatedly . . . But I couldn't not finish.

What I learned from this was how young people internalize loss, and how wrong things can go when they're left to deal with it on their own. I'm not...more

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Fans of Francine Prose's biting satires may find themselves in unfamiliar territory at first, but Goldengrove will generously reward their efforts as they adapt to Prose's new style. A poignant coming-of-age story as well as a subtle and thoughtful exploration of grief, Prose's novel brings to light the fragile connections between characters under terrible emotional stress and their hesitant first steps toward healing while sidestepping clich��s and sentimentality. Nico narrates the novel as a

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Jan 10, 2009

Liz rated it

I have to say this was one powerful book. Spanning the months after a beloved older sister's death, this novel focusses on the reactions of Nico and her parents to the unimaginable--life without Margaret. I found the characterization rich, the language and style sophisticated and I felt, quite palpably, the presentation and handling of grief. Having lost a parent less than a year ago, this book, and the characters' struggles to carry on, really moved me. For some reason, everything that happened...more

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Nov 20, 2008

1morechapter rated it

"to a young child”

Margaret, are you grieving
Over Goldengrove unleaving?
Leaves, like the things of man, you
With your fresh thoughts care for, can you?
Ah! as the heart grows older
It will come to such sights colder
By & by, nor spare a sigh
Though worlds of wanwood leafmeal lie;
And yet you will weep & know why.
Now no matter, child, the name:
Sorrow’s springs are the same.
Nor mouth had, no nor mind, expressed
What h...more

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Nov 15, 2011

Chelsea rated it

Goldengrove, a novel by Francine Prose. HarperCollins, New York, 2008.

Goldengrove is as equally heartbreaking as it is beautiful. This novel tells the story of Nico, a teenage girl left in the dark after the sudden and unexpected death of her sister and idol, Margaret. Whether you have been through this situation before or not, Nico’s smart and innocent voice is touching and instantly relatable. After her sister dies in the lake Nico’s family lives on, her family crumbles under the w...moreGoldengrove, a novel by Francine Prose. HarperCollins, New York, 2008.

Goldengrove is as equally heartbreaking as it is beautiful. This novel tells the story of Nico, a teenage girl left in the dark after the sudden and unexpected death of her sister and idol, Margaret. Whether you have been through this situation before or not, Nico’s smart and innocent voice is touching and instantly relatable. After her sister dies in the lake Nico’s family lives on, her family crumbles under the weight of the sadness rather than coming together. This leaves Nico not just in her sister’s shadow, but also in a strange place. She doesn’t know who she can turn to when her best friend is gone and her parents have gone off on their own deep ends—her dad becomes ever more engrossed in his book about the dead, and her mother becomes heavily dependent on pills to keep her functioning throughout the day. With her lack of support system, Nico turns to the closet person there is: Margaret’s former boyfriend, Aaron.
While I was a little disappointed in the fact that this novel climaxed so early—her sister died within the first few pages, leaving us with just Nico and her memories and thoughts—her budding and taboo relationship with Aaron kept me turning the page. Francine Prose has a poetic way with words that gave us such great insight into Nico’s head and makes the story unfold in an elegant way, only becoming slow at a few times. Prose has Nico repeatedly think about something called “the staircase spirit” throughout the novel—this being a French term Nico learned about that sticks with her. Its definition is the feelings you get when you finish a conversation, or want to have one, and your mind tells you all the things you should’ve said, either too late or too early. A great example of this would be about halfway through the book when Nico is working in her dad’s bookstore, Goldengrove. She thinks she sees Aaron, and these are her thoughts: “The boy, if it was Aaron, glanced my way and kept going. I wanted to run after him but I didn’t know what to say. All you had to do, whispered the staircase spirit, was say hello and ask how he was.” The fact that Prose has elements such as these repeated throughout the book rounded out her characters and gave them something different and unique to enjoy. She writes about her characters in honest, at times depressing, ways. At one point, Nico is comparing her addict mother to what she always thought an addict was—an unshaven guy in dirty clothes, falling asleep with needles in his arm—not her elegant, sad mother playing Bach on the piano. These characters have their faults and still Prose writes in a way that makes you root for them.
Watching Nico figure herself out, as well as her relationship with Aaron, in the aftermath of her personal tragedy was extremely touching; I enjoyed watching her develop and grow. Without revealing much about Nico’s relationship with Adam, the only complaint I’d have was that this book focused mainly on this aspect, while I thought more focus on Margaret and Nico’s relationship before the death would’ve brought more substance to the work, and not much developed otherwise. It doesn’t take away from the fact that Prose is a brilliant author, writing about an intimate and sad topic with her own twist, adding thoughtful metaphors, crushing emotions, and great character development.
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Nov 10, 2011

son pham rated it

The novel begins peacefully on a lake with two sisters but one will not make it back home. This is by far Prose's most emotional novel. It is the older and stronger sister, Margaret that dies and with her death, it fractures the remaining family members into pieces. Thus, begins the journey of each of the family member's resurrection back to the kingdom of living. The tragic lost of innocence in here is the younger sister, Nico who didn't know at the time, witnessed her sister's death as she jum...more

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Oct 28, 2011

Chrissy Oropeza added it

Chrissy Oropeza
CRW3053
Goodreads Paper 1

Goldengrove is a fictional novel written by Francine Prose in 2008. The book was published by HarperCollings Publishers in New York, NY. Prose prologues this story with a poem written by Gerald Manley Hopkins entitled, "Spring and Fall: To a Young Child." From this piece of poetry, Prose gets the name of one of the main characters, Margaret; also, the name of the family bookstore, Goldengrove. The poem opens the novel with ...moreChrissy Oropeza
CRW3053
Goodreads Paper 1

Goldengrove is a fictional novel written by Francine Prose in 2008. The book was published by HarperCollings Publishers in New York, NY. Prose prologues this story with a poem written by Gerald Manley Hopkins entitled, "Spring and Fall: To a Young Child." From this piece of poetry, Prose gets the name of one of the main characters, Margaret; also, the name of the family bookstore, Goldengrove. The poem opens the novel with a sense of grief and mortality.

In the opening chapter, a relationship is presented between two sisters: Nico and Margaret. There is instant foreshadowing of loss as the narrator, Nico, explains, "Our years of bad luck begin" (1). Nico describes the differences between them: "[She] wished [she] could have been like [Margaret] instead of the kind of person who said, 'Don't you ever worry about the polar ice caps melting?'" (3). Nico is a very cynical and scientific; her and her dad were the "thinkers" in the family (6). However, Margaret and her dad were the "beauties" (6). Margaret loved and collected old things-"films, jazz songs, vintage postcards, and clothes" (6); she also had a boyfriend: "Margaret was the singer, Aaron the artist. They were the glamour couple…" (10). Despite their differences, there is an apparent love and friendship between the sisters. Nico idolizes her sister. They spend time together throughout the first chapter and the reader adores their relationship.

The second chapter opens with the hook- Margaret's disappearance. She jumped into the lake from the boat that she had been in with Nico and after that no one could find her. The remainder of the story follows Nico, her parents, and Aaron as they deal with their grief over the loss of Margaret. Not much is said; it is rare that the three of them talk. They dictate with action. Nico's father cooked well and often, but "everything tasted like styrofoam" (29). The grief had stolen their appetite. It had also stolen their rest; Nico claims that "insomnia was [their] language" (36). They suffer from disorientation: Nico "finds [herself] pointing the mobile phone at the TV" and avoided hanging out with her friends (38). The chapters following Margaret's death are filled with sadness; the family remains in a continual state of grief.

Nico eventually takes a job at her dad's bookstore, Goldengrove and begins spending time with Margaret's boyfriend, Aaron, and things escalade to what Nico explains should be called "ordinary love" (135). With her lack of appetite, Nico had lost weight, and looked more like Margaret than she had thought possible; she "looked in the mirror and saw Margaret" (58). There are continual parallels between her relationship with Aaron and her sisters. Later in the chapters, Aaron offers her perfume that smells like her sister, explaining, "it's the kind your sister used" (151). Elaine-a girl who worked for Nico's father and becomes a friend to Nico- points out the relationship between Aaron and Nico. She says that Aaron is "way out of line" ( 229). Nico acknowledges that, "what he really wanted was for me to be margaret" " (229). This relationship ends as expected.

The novel, in my opinion, drags a bit. The story leaves the reader with a sense of overwhelming grief and depression. The plot seems to never pick up pace; it carries a steady rate. The characters are well developed though; through backstory and action, they are easy to relate to.

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Oct 03, 2011

Wendy Schauben rated it

Goldengrove by Francine Prose HarperCollins Publishers, 2008

Goldengrove is a moving novel filled to the brim with lessons about fear, loss, and death. Told in the eyes of thirteen-year-old Nico, the story is an innocent account of the summer where she lost her sister, Margaret. The novel follows Nico and her families’ journey through the despair and acceptance that comes with death. Mirror Lake is the stories central image, where Margaret dies, and Goldengrove, the families’...moreGoldengrove by Francine Prose HarperCollins Publishers, 2008

Goldengrove is a moving novel filled to the brim with lessons about fear, loss, and death. Told in the eyes of thirteen-year-old Nico, the story is an innocent account of the summer where she lost her sister, Margaret. The novel follows Nico and her families’ journey through the despair and acceptance that comes with death. Mirror Lake is the stories central image, where Margaret dies, and Goldengrove, the families’ bookstore, is where a lot of the healing and understanding comes from.
The story opens up with Margaret and Nico floating on the lake. The reader can see from their interactions on the first pages that Nico idolizes her older sister, a girl who sings “My Funny Valentine” in a way that makes it look seductive rather than rude. Margaret talks to Nico about her boyfriend, Aaron, who she is in love with. In her usual dramatic manner Margaret dives gracefully away into the water. Due to an untreated heart condition, she drowns under the water as Nico falls asleep in the rowboat.
The story then follows Nico’s summer as she discovers more about herself, her family, Margaret, and Aaron. She realizes that no one is as perfect as they seem, and through a few terrifying interactions with Aaron, she begins to see that she does not want to be her sister; she wants to be her own person.
Prose’s major strength in this novel is her diction. Each word, each sentence is so carefully constructed and all relates back to the central theme. For example, when Nico has a nightmare involving her sister she says “when I awoke, seasick, drenched, and shipwrecked, as if the knotted sheets were a sail on which I’d washed ashore.” The imagery in her sentences is immaculate; often it felt like reading one long, beautiful poem. I learned through reading her novel that you can make all of the metaphors and symbols relate by putting them under a blanket idea, in her case the lake in which Margaret drowned in.
Another strength Prose used is her character development. Using Nico as her narrator for this story makes it even more chilling and painful, though she is very mature for her age, she still was learning and mostly from Margaret. I think using this method in my writing could illustrate a different type of mindset, especially when the novel is marketed to adults. Every character was full of description and I felt like I could predict their behavior by the end of the novel. You could see how grief swept each character a little differently in the book and it was very well constructed. For example Nico’s father would spend hours working on his novel at Goldengrove that he typically would only work on every Sunday, Nico’s mother would overdose on painkillers and zone out, and Aaron burned all of his paintings of the lake.
Though not common in novels, one of my favorite things Prose did was a wrap up. The last chapter told the reader about Nico’s future. As a reader, and as a woman, I want to know how Nico grows up, and how Margaret’s death still affects her. As a writer, I hope to give the satisfaction that Prose did at the end of a story. In conclusion, this story was chilling for readers as well as constructive for writers. I’m giving it a 4!

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Jun 25, 2011

Sarah rated it

Goldengrove is the thirteenth novel by Francine Prose.

Thirteen-year old Nico and her beautiful, talented, enigmatic and older teenage sister Margaret are incredibly close. Living with their free-spirited, Bohemian parents, they share inside jokes and hang out together constantly. One day, when Nico and Margaret are spending a lazy summer afternoon boating in a nearby lake, Margaret dies unexpectedly from a heart failure while swimming underwater. Suddenly, Nico and her parents' worlds ...more

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Apr 06, 2011

Ashley Anderson rated it

Francine Prose’s twelfth novel, Goldengrove, is an emotionally twisted story about a girl dealing with her older sister’s sudden death. The novel begins with Nico, a thirteen year old girl, who is hurrying to spend every last second of spring and summer with her older sister who is leaving for college in the coming fall. Margaret, the older sister, played a big role in Nico’s life. She acted as a guide to Nico when it came to dealing with their hippy parents, school life, boys, and more. Nico of...moreFrancine Prose’s twelfth novel, Goldengrove, is an emotionally twisted story about a girl dealing with her older sister’s sudden death. The novel begins with Nico, a thirteen year old girl, who is hurrying to spend every last second of spring and summer with her older sister who is leaving for college in the coming fall. Margaret, the older sister, played a big role in Nico’s life. She acted as a guide to Nico when it came to dealing with their hippy parents, school life, boys, and more. Nico often dreamed of growing up to be as beautiful as her older sister, but was sure that she wouldn’t. Margaret is the typically perfect older sibling; beautiful, talented, ambitious, and loved by all. There was nothing that Margaret had that Nico didn’t want with the exception of one thing. She had been recently diagnosed with a minor, or so it seemed, heart condition. The family wasn’t too concerned with this however, Nico seemed anxious about the fact that her sister continued to smoke with this condition. The first scene takes place on the lake behind their house where the two sisters lay lazily in a boat enjoying the fresh air. Nico begins to harass her sister for smoking only to be ignored. Margaret is last seen diving into the lake. A search begins shortly after Nico’s arrival home where there is no sign of her older sister; eventually, the body is found in the lake. Thus the story begins.

Within the first chapter of this book you fall in love with, Margaret’s character only to be cruelly ripped away from her with her death. This is a beautiful technique in my opinion because it causes you to feel a great amount of remorse alongside Nico and creates a curiosity about how Nico’s life was going to play out without her big sister present as a guide. The rest of the story is filled with a psychological battle where Nico struggles to fit into a world without Margaret. There are many dilemma’s such as losing friends over time away grieving, deep soul-searching where she discovers who she really is, trying to rekindle old friendships only to grow bored with their now immature ties, and of course a love triangle to beat all love triangles. Nico soon begins to spend time with her late sister’s boyfriend, Aaron. Her parent’s never approved of Aaron as Margaret’s boyfriend so of course they would never approve of Nico’s new hobby; enjoying all the things she used to do with Margaret, now with Aaron. At first it seems like an innocent friendship between two mourners, but it quickly becomes much more. Aaron, who is five years older than Nico becomes entranced by her likeness to her late sister. The relationship grows and grows until finally Aaron attempts to seduce Nico into sleeping with him. At this point she cracks and realizes how wrong the situation is. The story begins to fall from there and ends with a jump to the future where Nico is now, not to Aaron, and is able to live without her sister.

There are so many techniques used in this book it amazes me. Most of all I love the constant struggle in Nico’s mind of how to deal with her seemingly empty life. As you read her story you watch Nico’s mind grow from an immature and naïve thirteen year old to a wise and troubled adult. This creates such a realistic character and plot that when the book ends you feel as though the character is still living in the world with you. This is what I hope to someday be able to create with a character of my own.

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Apr 06, 2011

Leslie Khouri rated it

Goldengrove by Francine Prose
First Harper Perennial Edition 2009

“Goldengrove” by Francine Prose was a well written story about character growth and self exploration. The novel explores how the main character Nico copes with the death of her talented older sister, Margaret. Margaret’s future seemed bright, before her life ended unexpectedly when she drowned in a lake. Nico’s parents have a hard time dealing with the loss of their daughter and the family seems to grow apart becau...moreGoldengrove by Francine Prose
First Harper Perennial Edition 2009

“Goldengrove” by Francine Prose was a well written story about character growth and self exploration. The novel explores how the main character Nico copes with the death of her talented older sister, Margaret. Margaret’s future seemed bright, before her life ended unexpectedly when she drowned in a lake. Nico’s parents have a hard time dealing with the loss of their daughter and the family seems to grow apart because of it. The novel explores the complexities surrounding coping with the loss of a loved one including the way a family learns to live again after their loss, and the things characters do in order to heal.
Each character deals with the death of Margaret differently. Maragaret’s boyfriend Aaron took all the paintings he made of the lake that Margaret drowned in and set them on fire. He said, “I couldn’t look at them. It was like living with the portrait of a serial killer who murdered your whole family. I mean, my whole family” (Prose 26). Nico’s father submerges himself in his work, spending all his free time working on his book, to distract him from the sadness of his reality. I found these character’s reactions to death very relatable. It is very common for people to lash out in some tangible symbolic way to purge themselves of their grief just as Aaron did. I also could relate to how the father focused all his time on his work in order to escape his pain.
While Margaret is the “golden child,’ who can sing and loves old music and movies, Nico describes herself as the more logical one who is good at math and working out problems. Nico’s rationality is one of the things that make it hardest for her to cope with the loss of her sister. “I knew kids who went to church and believed that after death you and your family sprouted wings and played instruments, like some eternal band picnic. I envied them. I wished I believed that some day I would be able to tell Margaret everything that had happened since that last afternoon on the lake” ( Prose 47). Nico desperately wishes she could have her sister to help her and guide her, but she battles her own disbeliefs in life after death.
I found this book was written a bit simplistically, which was not entirely a bad thing. I breezed through the pages. It was an easy read, and it definitely had a good message behind it. The story explored how a family can be torn apart or come together after a tragedy. However, my main problem with the story was that a good chunk of it consisted of reminiscing about past memories of Margaret. While I understand this was necessary for this book in order to show how the character’s were mourning the loss of their loved one, I would have liked the story to consist less of memories and go more into depth of the living characters. For me, the book only touched on the surface of all the characters except for Margaret. Overall, the book was well written and it got the point across, but it was a story that has been done before.
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Dec 05, 2010

Jenni Lou rated it

Goldengrove by Francine Prose is a story set amid the landscape of immeasurable loss and grief. Its thirteen year old protagonist, Nico, attempts to comes to terms with the loss of her older sister, Margaret, as her parents fold into themselves as they, too, seek solace from the pain.

I had never heard of Francine Prose before. But she’s written something like 15 books. I have no idea why she has eluded me. Especially because she is quite simply, amazing. Her prose is so fluid and haunt...moreGoldengrove by Francine Prose is a story set amid the landscape of immeasurable loss and grief. Its thirteen year old protagonist, Nico, attempts to comes to terms with the loss of her older sister, Margaret, as her parents fold into themselves as they, too, seek solace from the pain.

I had never heard of Francine Prose before. But she’s written something like 15 books. I have no idea why she has eluded me. Especially because she is quite simply, amazing. Her prose is so fluid and haunting with a subtle poeticism about it. Just thoughtful. With stunning and beautiful metaphors, with lovely details passages. In fact, the opening lines give you a good idea of the quality of the writing:

We lived on the shore of Mirror Lake, and for many years our lives were as calm and transparent as its waters. Our old house followed the curve of the bank, in segments, like a train, each room and screened porch added on, one by one, decade by decade.

When I think of that time, I picture the four of us wading in the shallows, admiring our reflections in the glassy, motionless lake. Then something–a pebble, a raindrop–breaks the surface and shatters the mirror. A ripple reaches the distant bank. Our years of bad luck begin.

Most of the novel is spent on the introspective musings of Nico. There is action and dialogue, certainly, but the bulk of the story is Nico thinking. She has a wisdom about her and an uncanny ability to understand those around her, despite the confusion she feels. Her desperation–or more appropriately, her desire–to reclaim a piece of her sister is what drives this book. She falls into a peculiar and somewhat perverse relationship with her dead sister’s boyfriend. And these sessions with Aaron are one of the driving forces of the novel. For me, at least. The two of them share only one commonality and that is that they miss Margaret. In each other they find a way to remember her as they recount conversations and songs and films they shared with her when she was alive. It is because of these scenes that we, as readers, discover who Margaret is as a character. Ironically, she comes alive in spite of her death. In fact, Margaret is almost a ghost throughout this book. I don’t mean that literally, it’s just that her memory lingers over every moment. You sense her–and her absence–all the time.

If you want to get technical, I love Prose’s use of grammar and punctuation. She inserts commas and em dashes at all the right beats and sometimes uses short sentences, so the prose flows out as if you were reciting a poem. It’s just lovely, lovely, lovely. Anyway, once again, this is a lovely piece of work. I soared right through this book in little more than a day. There’s a crisp and deliberate quality to the language and you can sense that the author thought carefully about her words. So, I recommend!(less)

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Nov 03, 2009

Adrianne rated it

I'm the type of person to judge a book by its cover - and this one called out to me. A simple boat docked by a lake, this book was as beautiful and stunning as its cover.

Following the life of thirteen year old Nico, Goldengrove is beautifully written and wonderfully told. The plot may not be relatable to the most of us - Nico's older sister Margaret tragically drowns a lake - but the pain and grief her family goes through is something we can all relate to. As you're reading through t...moreI'm the type of person to judge a book by its cover - and this one called out to me. A simple boat docked by a lake, this book was as beautiful and stunning as its cover.

Following the life of thirteen year old Nico, Goldengrove is beautifully written and wonderfully told. The plot may not be relatable to the most of us - Nico's older sister Margaret tragically drowns a lake - but the pain and grief her family goes through is something we can all relate to. As you're reading through the beautiful metaphors and the stunning images Francine Prose creates, you feel the pain the characters feel, you laugh when they are happy, you become part of the mesmerizing world painted in this novel.

Goldengrove is rare in the sense that it is a story about pain, loss and grief, and yet the darker elements weaved through its plot is not overbearing, not enough to overpower its beauty. Lines like these -

"The mystery of death, the riddle of how you could speak to someone and see them every day and then never again, was so impossible to fathom that of course we kept trying to figure it out, even when we were unconscious."

- fill the pages of the book, makee the readers think and realize just how fragile the balance of our lives really are.

This novel is a story about death and loss, but is still able to maintain a sense of life and beauty, something many novels about grief fail to bring to the table. And although this novel is at times dark and rather depressing, I still found myself smiling and laughing throughout its pages, able to find a sense of happiness and joy in its engaging and interesting characters.

The one problem I had with this novel was its ending - a little too rushed and quick, something not constant throughout the book. The one thing I really love about this author is that she finds time to take the plot slowly, but still moving quick enough to keep you interested. When the ending finally rolled around, it was too quick, too sudden and left me a little disappointed.

This novel is a must-read for those who enjoy simple, lovely and beautifully written books, with real, likable characters, and is definitely not the last novel I will be reading from Francine Prose.

(less)

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May 24, 2009

Sara rated it

Recommended to Sara by: Books a Million

Shelves: 2009, adult-fiction

Despite the fact that this book's plot had a fairly slow pace, and I wasn't the biggest fan of the last chapter (in which the narrator skips ahead decades), I did enjoy the novel quite a bit overall. Nico, the narrator, is thirteen when her sister drowns in the lake by the family's house, and after her death, the family begins to fall apart; the plot reminded me a lot of The Lovely Bones, except it's the younger (and alive) sister narrating the subsequent fallout. Nico begins to secretly meet ...more

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Dec 31, 2008

Margot rated it

Shelves: fiction

This novel is a study in grief. Nico naps in the canoe while her older sister Margaret, who has a heart condition, drowns in the lake. Margaret (a graduating high school senior) was of course the glowing star of the family, and each individual member slowly disintegrates over the course of the summer into their own private method of coping. Nico's mother takes to prescription pain medication, her father works on his book about the apocalypse, and Nico secretly spends time with Aaron, Margaret's ...more

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Apr 13, 2011

Tiffany rated it

Shelves: 2011, american-literature

Goldengrove begins with a conversation between two sisters: Margaret, the beautiful singer who just graduated high school, and thirteen-year-old Nico, the younger sibling who worships her older sister. They're sitting in a boat on a lake in their backyard, talking about some pretty ordinary adolescent things like weight, boys, and smoking. All the while we're getting to know Margaret and how cool she is in the eyes of her younger sister (also the narrator): Margaret has a thing for old movies, v...moreGoldengrove begins with a conversation between two sisters: Margaret, the beautiful singer who just graduated high school, and thirteen-year-old Nico, the younger sibling who worships her older sister. They're sitting in a boat on a lake in their backyard, talking about some pretty ordinary adolescent things like weight, boys, and smoking. All the while we're getting to know Margaret and how cool she is in the eyes of her younger sister (also the narrator): Margaret has a thing for old movies, vintage clothes and furniture, and she sings "My Funny Valentine" like it's sex on a stick. Her parents don't approve of her boyfriend Aaron, so she sees him in secret and probably has sex with him in his creepy soccer mom minivan. He's an artist, and Margaret's father thinks he has "a few screws loose".

At the end of the first chapter, Margaret jumps into the lake and drowns. Turns out she has a heart condition that causes her to occasionally pass out, and her ticker decided to take a little nap at a really awful time. The rest of the book depicts a family immersed in extreme grief, all from Nico's point of view. Goldengrove is ultimately a story about loss and the crazy things people will do to fill the void caused by that loss.

I liked the quiet nature of the story, but I found the writing to be rigid and lacking in fluidity. That being said, I understand how difficult it must be for a writer to pull off grief and mourning without injecting a sort of stiff discomfort into their prose. But add that to the informal voice of a thirteen-year-old girl, and sometimes you get oddly inconsistent pockets of intentional sloppiness mixing with some pretty formal language. There are probably cases wherein this would be a nice contrast that would actually add depth to the writing, but Prose didn't find a way to mesh the two together in a cohesive way. This may be one reason I also thought some of the secondary characters fell flat, such as Nico's hippie parents. It's like Prose was trying so hard to make them unique that they actually became their own little cliches. I still cared about them more than I thought I would, though.

While the concept of the plot didn't strike me as particularly original, Prose succeeded in allowing it to unfold in such a way that I felt disturbed by what I knew was on the horizon. I knew Aaron was a creep to begin with, and I couldn't tear my eyes away from his predatory acts of replacement therapy with Nico: making her wear Margaret's old perfume, insisting she wear Margaret's clothes, feeding her Margaret's favourite ice cream, etc. And of course Nico's going to go ahead and fall weirdly in love with him because she's thirteen and Aaron's one of the only real connections she has left to her sister. This is when the rigid, uncomfortable nature of the writing actually felt appropriate. As I was reading I felt like I was having one of those slow motion moments where you put your hand out and say, "Noooooo!" as the main character lets something really stupid happen. But then it turned out that it wasn't as bad as I thought, and even though Aaron was way creepy and out of line, he really just went temporarily insane because his girlfriend died. Or maybe he was insane to begin with and really did have some screws loose all along.

The end really bothered me. I won't spoil it for those who have yet to read the book, but the ending was way too neat and tidy for my liking. Perhaps I'm just used to Canadian writers who like to end their books in dark and mysterious ways that keep you guessing, but I wasn't impressed by the finality of the family's grief. Because grief isn't final, and a Canadian would never dare to portray it as such. Just sayin'.

Would I recommend this book? I wouldn't say it's a must-read, but I wouldn't kick it off my shelf. (less)

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Feb 28, 2011

Elizabeth rated it

Shelves: fiction

I loved this story, tragic as it was. I feel the ending was sort of rushed, or maybe it just seemed that way since the summer went on for pretty much the whole book and suddenly you were at the end and hearing about Nico's adult life. It was an enjoyable story though. The author is one of those that I find has an amazing way of making you really feel something by the ingenuity of her words.

Some of the lines that stood out to me were:

"They'd been dreaming about her, t...more

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Mar 16, 2010

E rated it

The first two or three chapters were incredibly beautiful. The imagery dazzled, the plot staging complemented those images, and the characters and their relationships were real and believable. This part of the story could stand as a five-star short story.
Then the novel enters a sort of murkiness that takes over for the rest of the story. The depictions of the parents, Aaron, Elaine, cease to be startling fresh characters but rather lapse into typecasts. The plot loses momentum, some detail...more

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Mar 29, 2010

Kristiana rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, at-work, book-club-2

I recommended this for book club, and I am fairly certain most people did not like it. I have always read sad books and I am quite fond of them. There were really great random quotes that made me stop and think.

I'm glad the narrator established firmly at the end that she is an adult looking back at the event, it makes the language and beautiful writing seem more plausible, instead of the statements of a 13 year old. The audio narrator's voice is lovely and soothing and perfectly sui...more

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Jul 11, 2008

Rachel rated it

Wonderful wonderful wonderful book about a family dealing with an unexpected and life-shattering lost.

I picked this galley up at BEA, and it's been sitting unread ever since. The title didn't do it for me, neither did the jacket. What a big mistake on my part because Goldengrove is gorgeous. Writing that's effortless, pacing that's perfect, and characters that make your heart break. Smart, lovely and a little bit brilliant.

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About Francine Prose

Francine Prose (born in 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American novelist. She graduated from Radcliffe College in 1968, and received a Guggenheim fellowship in 1991. She has sat on the board of judges for the PEN/Newman's Own Award, and her novel Blue Angel, a satire about sexual harassment on college campuses, was a finalist for the National Book Award. She is now teaching at Bard College.
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Quotes from Goldengrove

“I waited for dawn, but only because I had forgotten how hard mornings were. For a second I'd be normal. Then came the dim awareness of something off, out of place. Then the truth came crashing down and that was it for the rest of the day. Sunlight was reproof. Shouldn't I feel better than I had in the dead of night.” — 45 people liked it

“The mystery of death, the riddle of how you could speak to someone and see them every day and then never again, was so impossible to fathom that of course we kept trying to figure it out, even when we were unconscious.” — 31 people liked it

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