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Gone So Long
Andre Dubus III’s first novel in a decade is a masterpiece of thrilling tension and heartrending empathy.
Few writers can enter their characters so completely or evoke their lives as viscerally as Andre Dubus III. In this deeply compelling new novel, a father, estranged for the worst of reasons, is driven to seek out the daughter he has not seen in decades.
Daniel Ahearn lives a quiet, solitary existence in a seaside New England town. Forty years ago, following a shocking act of impulsive violence on his part, his daughter, Susan, was ripped from his arms by police. Now in her forties, Susan still suffers from the trauma of a night she doesn’t remember, as she struggles to feel settled, to love a man and create something that lasts. Lois, her maternal grandmother who raised her, tries to find peace in her antique shop in a quaint Florida town but cannot escape her own anger, bitterness, and fear.
Cathartic, affirming, and steeped in the empathy and precise observations of character for which Dubus is celebrated, Gone So Long explores how the wounds of the past afflict the people we become, and probes the limits of recovery and absolution.
Few writers can enter their characters so completely or evoke their lives as viscerally as Andre Dubus III. In this deeply compelling new novel, a father, estranged for the worst of reasons, is driven to seek out the daughter he has not seen in decades.
Daniel Ahearn lives a quiet, solitary existence in a seaside New England town. Forty years ago, following a shocking act of impulsive violence on his part, his daughter, Susan, was ripped from his arms by police. Now in her forties, Susan still suffers from the trauma of a night she doesn’t remember, as she struggles to feel settled, to love a man and create something that lasts. Lois, her maternal grandmother who raised her, tries to find peace in her antique shop in a quaint Florida town but cannot escape her own anger, bitterness, and fear.
Cathartic, affirming, and steeped in the empathy and precise observations of character for which Dubus is celebrated, Gone So Long explores how the wounds of the past afflict the people we become, and probes the limits of recovery and absolution.
480 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2019
851 people are currently reading
6054 people want to read
About the author
Andre Dubus III
39 books1,135 followersAndre Dubus III is the author of The Garden of Last Days, House of Sand and Fog (a #1 New York Times bestseller, Oprah’s Book Club pick, and finalist for the National Book Award) and Townie, winner of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His writing has received many honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Magazine Award, and two Pushcart Prizes. He lives with his family north of Boston.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 494 reviews
September 21, 2018
Redemption and forgiveness. Shoukd one spend the rest of their lives atoning for a horrific act, a moment of madness, a moment that is unlikely it ever occur again? My emotions were all over the place while reading this book. The words, the insights were just so real. Well, real to me, though I admit I never was in this particular situation. Thankfully. A daughter left behind, a mother in law, who raises the daughter. Over protective, not wanting to make again what she sees as mistakes. Consumed by hatred. We learn some of the daughters back story, by the book she is trying to write.
By books end, we know these three people, inside out. Their mistakes, their wantings, their wishes. How this act of violence affected each of them. Runs the emotional gsmbit. We feel the authors empathy, I felt it too. I loved the beginning of the book, was immediately drawn in, but felt the middle stalled a bit. This was a long book, I felt some of it could have been shortened. The last part, truly excellent. Heartfelt, very realistic, I could feel their pain, their regrets, their determination to at last move forward. Ten long years since his last published fiction, I hope it won't be as long again. He is a true talent, knows people as portrays them as real.
ARC from Edelweiss.
By books end, we know these three people, inside out. Their mistakes, their wantings, their wishes. How this act of violence affected each of them. Runs the emotional gsmbit. We feel the authors empathy, I felt it too. I loved the beginning of the book, was immediately drawn in, but felt the middle stalled a bit. This was a long book, I felt some of it could have been shortened. The last part, truly excellent. Heartfelt, very realistic, I could feel their pain, their regrets, their determination to at last move forward. Ten long years since his last published fiction, I hope it won't be as long again. He is a true talent, knows people as portrays them as real.
ARC from Edelweiss.
October 6, 2025
IL PASSATO NON È NEANCHE PASSATO
Purtroppo la scintilla non è scoccata.
Eppure mi ci sono messo d’impegno perché si trattava del mio primo contatto con Andre Dubus III, perché sono un fan di suo padre, perché questo scrittore figlio di scrittore è diventato quasi una star, almeno nell’urbe dove il suo incontro a 'Libri Come' di quest’anno era gremito.
La scrittura si fa apprezzare, c’è mestiere. C’è forse un eccesso di frequentazione di scuole di scrittura creativa, probabilmente in veste d’insegnante più che allievo, visto che il III è ormai scrittore affermato: una certa aria di temi e toni per me un po' abusati. Ma comunque, è scrittura solida, concreta.
Io ci ho provato, per settanta e rotte pagine mi sono impegnato: ma la scintilla non è scoccata, la noia ha vinto.
Mi fermo e lo abbandono: non perché sia brutto, tutt’altro – ma perché, per essere una storia che mi sembra d’aver già sentito raccontata in un modo che mi sembra di conoscere più che bene, oltre la sufficienza non riesco ad andare. Che non basta, per impegnarmi a leggere quattrocentoquaranta pagine.
Senza guizzi, sorprese, picchi, cambi di toni: martellio costante e mono-tono, come quello di una campana a morto piuttosto che quello di una campana domenicale.
I soliti personaggi piegati e ancor più piagati dalla vita, famiglie più o meno disfunzionali, tanti ricordi, tanti parenti, tanti nomi.
Tutto raccontato a micro flashback come le serie tv che stanno ormai segnando il passo se non s’inventano qualcos’altro.
Quante volte mi son detto, ma caro Andre the Third, quanto sarebbe stato meglio se tu avessi iniziato così: la sera in cui Daniel uccise la madre di sua figlia non sapeva che non avrebbe più rivisto Susan per quarant’anni.
Via, sgombrato il campo dal cuore della back story con un solo rigo, libero di immergerti e dedicarti a quello che succederà nel momento del grande incontro dopo quaranta anni.
E invece, hai scelto l’ovvio, tutto sommato la banalità: disseminare le tue pagine di micro indizi, sforzandoti di infittire il mistero, hai solo esaurito la mia voglia di attenzione.
Il titolo è una citazione da Faulkner che lo stesso Dubus III riporta in alcune interviste. Dove aggiunge:
Amo moltissimo la parola remember, ricordare, perché il suo contrario non è dimenticare, ma dismember, cioè disintegrare. Quindi remember significa rimettere insieme i pezzi.
Anche per dichiarazioni di questo tipo mi si era acceso desiderio di leggerlo. Peccato, rammarico.
Purtroppo la scintilla non è scoccata.
Eppure mi ci sono messo d’impegno perché si trattava del mio primo contatto con Andre Dubus III, perché sono un fan di suo padre, perché questo scrittore figlio di scrittore è diventato quasi una star, almeno nell’urbe dove il suo incontro a 'Libri Come' di quest’anno era gremito.
La scrittura si fa apprezzare, c’è mestiere. C’è forse un eccesso di frequentazione di scuole di scrittura creativa, probabilmente in veste d’insegnante più che allievo, visto che il III è ormai scrittore affermato: una certa aria di temi e toni per me un po' abusati. Ma comunque, è scrittura solida, concreta.
Io ci ho provato, per settanta e rotte pagine mi sono impegnato: ma la scintilla non è scoccata, la noia ha vinto.
Mi fermo e lo abbandono: non perché sia brutto, tutt’altro – ma perché, per essere una storia che mi sembra d’aver già sentito raccontata in un modo che mi sembra di conoscere più che bene, oltre la sufficienza non riesco ad andare. Che non basta, per impegnarmi a leggere quattrocentoquaranta pagine.
Senza guizzi, sorprese, picchi, cambi di toni: martellio costante e mono-tono, come quello di una campana a morto piuttosto che quello di una campana domenicale.
I soliti personaggi piegati e ancor più piagati dalla vita, famiglie più o meno disfunzionali, tanti ricordi, tanti parenti, tanti nomi.
Tutto raccontato a micro flashback come le serie tv che stanno ormai segnando il passo se non s’inventano qualcos’altro.
Quante volte mi son detto, ma caro Andre the Third, quanto sarebbe stato meglio se tu avessi iniziato così: la sera in cui Daniel uccise la madre di sua figlia non sapeva che non avrebbe più rivisto Susan per quarant’anni.
Via, sgombrato il campo dal cuore della back story con un solo rigo, libero di immergerti e dedicarti a quello che succederà nel momento del grande incontro dopo quaranta anni.
E invece, hai scelto l’ovvio, tutto sommato la banalità: disseminare le tue pagine di micro indizi, sforzandoti di infittire il mistero, hai solo esaurito la mia voglia di attenzione.
Il titolo è una citazione da Faulkner che lo stesso Dubus III riporta in alcune interviste. Dove aggiunge:
Amo moltissimo la parola remember, ricordare, perché il suo contrario non è dimenticare, ma dismember, cioè disintegrare. Quindi remember significa rimettere insieme i pezzi.
Anche per dichiarazioni di questo tipo mi si era acceso desiderio di leggerlo. Peccato, rammarico.
November 2, 2018
Marvelous....nothing dainty about it....this is a meaty novel! Beautiful subtle greatness. I loved it immensely!!!
Andre Dubus III deftly interlaces the past and present. He sees things that waver just below the surface.....achieving a luminous portrait of every day life: the choices made, the regrets suffered...the grief, anger, loneliness, and longing desires that remain within. The cracks in the foundation linger: cracks we either choose to confront or avoid.
For the past 40 years Daniel Ahearn has lived his life alone. He’s gotten used to it in the way that a one-legged man gets used to his cane and hopping from one resting place to the next. But now he wants to see his adult daughter - Susan - whom he hasn’t seen since she was 3 years of age since the horrific act of violence on his part, which sent him to prison for 15 years.
Daniel’s ‘wanting’ to see his daughter after all these years has become a burning obsessive desire. Daniel begins creating a plan to see her.
Susan is 43 years of age. She’s married to Bobby Dunn. Bobby loves Susan. He’s ten years older than her - a great cook - tries to appease Susan’s wants and needs.
She’s been an English teacher at a college. Susan was recently fired; circumstances might have you pulling out your hair.
I started to wonder just how much domestic realism between she and men in her life did the poor girl need to have?
So - even though Bobby Dunn is perhaps the best man Susan has ever had in her life - dedicated to her - there is much concern about Susan sabotaging their relationship. When Susan wants to leave Bobby for awhile to go stay with her grandmother - Lois- Bobby worries that she won’t come back. We/ the readers wonder too. Susan’s purpose - in part- for going alone ( she says)- is to be back home with the woman she lived with during her growing impressionable years - to work on writing a memoir. Her mother - Linda - died when she was little. And with a father in prison - Grandma Lois ( Noni) - was in charge.
I loved all the characters in the novel - but if you asked me who my very very favorite is.... it’s:
LOIS......She’s Susan’s maternal grandmother. She’s one heck of a feisty antique dealer. By nature, she’s a die-hard authoritarian, judgemental tyrant, a non-negotiable enforcer-zealot.
And ....I LOVE HER CHARACTER! ..... oh, she owns a handgun too! Don’t all granny’s? :)
To get a little taste of how *Lois*- (her bite) - thinks on the spot....
Here’s an excerpt that shows her personality (A little rough, but reasonable ruthless compassion from experience)....
“A woman in a camo vest and wet shorts stood near her tent smiling down at her two children squatting on the riverbank. There was so much unguarded love in her face that Lois despised her, and she stepped on the gas and put the camp ground behind her”.
Lois hated that mother and knew she would feel guilty about it later. It wasn’t really the mother she hated, per say, it was her young ignorance of joy. Lois wondered, “how long did she think it would last?”.
Added things to marvel......
.....Each of the characters - their difficulties- traumas - their personalities- are each distinct. Kudos to Dubus skillful writing.
......This is an emotional remorseful story - driven by tragedy.
.....It’s always enjoyable when visiting Saint Petersburg, Florida, Pinnellas County.....
“St.Pete”, “ Florida’s Sunshine City”.
..... there were moments of nostalgia: VW bug — oldies but goodies music:
“Build Me Up ButterCup”, by the Foundation’s - and “Sugar Sugar, by the Archie’s
..... there is psychological insights and a little symbolism throughout.
.....Dubus portrayal of humanity is honest-to-goodness genuine unleashing within universal forces: love, desire, guilt, regret, loyalty, jealousy, amends, and salvation.
Andre Dubus III deftly interlaces the past and present. He sees things that waver just below the surface.....achieving a luminous portrait of every day life: the choices made, the regrets suffered...the grief, anger, loneliness, and longing desires that remain within. The cracks in the foundation linger: cracks we either choose to confront or avoid.
For the past 40 years Daniel Ahearn has lived his life alone. He’s gotten used to it in the way that a one-legged man gets used to his cane and hopping from one resting place to the next. But now he wants to see his adult daughter - Susan - whom he hasn’t seen since she was 3 years of age since the horrific act of violence on his part, which sent him to prison for 15 years.
Daniel’s ‘wanting’ to see his daughter after all these years has become a burning obsessive desire. Daniel begins creating a plan to see her.
Susan is 43 years of age. She’s married to Bobby Dunn. Bobby loves Susan. He’s ten years older than her - a great cook - tries to appease Susan’s wants and needs.
She’s been an English teacher at a college. Susan was recently fired; circumstances might have you pulling out your hair.
I started to wonder just how much domestic realism between she and men in her life did the poor girl need to have?
So - even though Bobby Dunn is perhaps the best man Susan has ever had in her life - dedicated to her - there is much concern about Susan sabotaging their relationship. When Susan wants to leave Bobby for awhile to go stay with her grandmother - Lois- Bobby worries that she won’t come back. We/ the readers wonder too. Susan’s purpose - in part- for going alone ( she says)- is to be back home with the woman she lived with during her growing impressionable years - to work on writing a memoir. Her mother - Linda - died when she was little. And with a father in prison - Grandma Lois ( Noni) - was in charge.
I loved all the characters in the novel - but if you asked me who my very very favorite is.... it’s:
LOIS......She’s Susan’s maternal grandmother. She’s one heck of a feisty antique dealer. By nature, she’s a die-hard authoritarian, judgemental tyrant, a non-negotiable enforcer-zealot.
And ....I LOVE HER CHARACTER! ..... oh, she owns a handgun too! Don’t all granny’s? :)
To get a little taste of how *Lois*- (her bite) - thinks on the spot....
Here’s an excerpt that shows her personality (A little rough, but reasonable ruthless compassion from experience)....
“A woman in a camo vest and wet shorts stood near her tent smiling down at her two children squatting on the riverbank. There was so much unguarded love in her face that Lois despised her, and she stepped on the gas and put the camp ground behind her”.
Lois hated that mother and knew she would feel guilty about it later. It wasn’t really the mother she hated, per say, it was her young ignorance of joy. Lois wondered, “how long did she think it would last?”.
Added things to marvel......
.....Each of the characters - their difficulties- traumas - their personalities- are each distinct. Kudos to Dubus skillful writing.
......This is an emotional remorseful story - driven by tragedy.
.....It’s always enjoyable when visiting Saint Petersburg, Florida, Pinnellas County.....
“St.Pete”, “ Florida’s Sunshine City”.
..... there were moments of nostalgia: VW bug — oldies but goodies music:
“Build Me Up ButterCup”, by the Foundation’s - and “Sugar Sugar, by the Archie’s
..... there is psychological insights and a little symbolism throughout.
.....Dubus portrayal of humanity is honest-to-goodness genuine unleashing within universal forces: love, desire, guilt, regret, loyalty, jealousy, amends, and salvation.
October 8, 2018
The first time Danny Ahearn read to his daughter Susie was forty years ago when she was three and it’s the last time that he saw her. Now all these years later after serving time in prison and after years have passed, he wants to see her at least once before he dies. To do what? Say he’s sorry, he was a different person then, to ask for her forgiveness, to tell her he loves her ? Now Daniel, not Danny anymore, painstakingly composers a letter to Susan before he leaves on his journey to find her. This is not an easy book to read - so much sadness and grief and anger, destructive jealousy. Is it possible to redeem oneself for an egregious act? Is it possible to forgive? Dubus explores these possibilities in this heartbreaking novel.
There are three points of view in three distinct, alternating narratives - Daniel, Susan and Lois, her maternal grandmother who raised her. We get an intimate look at their thoughts and feelings and what their lives have been like for these years. Dubus allows you feel for these characters in spite of their flaws, in spite of things they’ve done. Amazing, in depth character studies that tell us not just where they are today but how the past tragedy has affected them over the last forty years. Susan, struggling to write what was going to be a novel, but now a memoir, seems to resent her grandmother at times yet loves her. Writing seems to help her come to terms with her past. Lois who is in her eighties, is also resentful of Susan for giving her a difficult time when she was growing up yet loves her, carrying her anger and grief of loss all these years, and fear of losing Susan. Daniel is not the only one on a journey to move forward.
It’s a little long, maybe too long, but you definitely come away after each chapter knowing more about the characters. In spite of that, the writing is so good, it flowed, even with excerpts from Susan’s book interspersed. I was always interested in how this would end. I have only read one other book by Dubus, House of Sand and Fog: A Novel and that was a number of years ago. I have not forgotten that book and I think this will be a memorable one as well.
I received an advanced copy of this book from W.W. Norton & Company through Edelweiss.
There are three points of view in three distinct, alternating narratives - Daniel, Susan and Lois, her maternal grandmother who raised her. We get an intimate look at their thoughts and feelings and what their lives have been like for these years. Dubus allows you feel for these characters in spite of their flaws, in spite of things they’ve done. Amazing, in depth character studies that tell us not just where they are today but how the past tragedy has affected them over the last forty years. Susan, struggling to write what was going to be a novel, but now a memoir, seems to resent her grandmother at times yet loves her. Writing seems to help her come to terms with her past. Lois who is in her eighties, is also resentful of Susan for giving her a difficult time when she was growing up yet loves her, carrying her anger and grief of loss all these years, and fear of losing Susan. Daniel is not the only one on a journey to move forward.
It’s a little long, maybe too long, but you definitely come away after each chapter knowing more about the characters. In spite of that, the writing is so good, it flowed, even with excerpts from Susan’s book interspersed. I was always interested in how this would end. I have only read one other book by Dubus, House of Sand and Fog: A Novel and that was a number of years ago. I have not forgotten that book and I think this will be a memorable one as well.
I received an advanced copy of this book from W.W. Norton & Company through Edelweiss.
March 3, 2023
“I've been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
But everything changes
And my friends seem to scatter
But I think it's about forgiveness
Forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore”
-- The Heart of the Matter, Don Henley, Songwriters: Mike Campbell / Don Henley / John David Souther
The last time Daniel saw her, in 1973, she was just three years old, his little girl, their Suzie Woo Woo, Danny and Linda’s baby girl. It was also the last time he would ever see Linda, one jealous rage too many. For years, all he will see is the small cell where he lives and the others that live there, as well.
Susan’s grandmother, Lois, moves to Florida after selling the arcade they’d owned in that small beach town north of Boston, leaving the bad things that had happened behind. Lois wants to shelter Suzie from the memories of that night, and keep her as far from her father as possible. Lois becomes an antique dealer, and for a time things are relatively normal, Suzie becomes a typically rebellious teenager, and eventually matures.
Suzie, now Susan, a woman who is married to Bobby Dunn, now in her forties, and she teaches college level English not too far from where her grandmother lives. In addition to that, she is also struggling with writing her own memoir, snippets of which are woven through this book.
Danny lives in this seaside city, where a handful of the older brick buildings still remain. In his sixties now, his health in decline, he makes a living recaning chairs, revisiting the past in his mind, frequently. He hasn’t talked to, seen, or heard from his daughter Susan in any sense through these years. His Suzie Woo Woo. He feels every year of his life, and then some, and seeks a way to make some kind of amends before his chance is gone. He’s trying to put his affairs in order, and plans to leave everything he might have to Susan, but he feels a need to make an explanation of this gesture, so that it is not rejected outright.
This is the first novel of Andrew Dubus III that I have read. While this was not an easy read, I found it to be very compelling and worthwhile. It is occasionally dark, and it is not a book one can skim through or allow your thoughts to wander about while reading. It is beautifully written, raw and gritty, and heartbreaking.
In Gone So Long Dubus manages to reveal a little about each character at a time, leisurely, allowing time to follow a natural course, allowing the course of events to unfold gradually, naturally. I felt mesmerized into following him on this journey, despite this ever-present feeling that all would not necessarily end well, but that, in the end, it would feel… true. True to the characters and, despite it seeming desperately dismal, this felt as natural a course of events for these characters. They are all flawed and imperfect, needing mercy and absolution. There is, after all, beauty to be found through forgiveness, as imperfect as it may be.
Pub Date: 02 OCT 2018
Many thanks for the ARC provided by W.W. Norton & Company
October 19, 2018
This was a long novel, and a dark, emotional, and tense one.
There is Daniel, a dying man who once murdered his young wife out of jealousy, is currently out of jail after a fifteen year sentence...his adult daughter Susan, who he hasn’t seen in forty years and he needs to see her before he runs out of time..and his ex mother-in-law Lois, who had raised the daughter for all of her coming up years.
An in depth character study of all three of these people and the feelings and reactions of each were just so real!
I was on pins and needles throughout the ending!
I read this author’s The House of Sand and Fog many years ago and loved it. This one is very different but very good also! I will read whatever Mr. Dubus writes! Such a talent!
There is Daniel, a dying man who once murdered his young wife out of jealousy, is currently out of jail after a fifteen year sentence...his adult daughter Susan, who he hasn’t seen in forty years and he needs to see her before he runs out of time..and his ex mother-in-law Lois, who had raised the daughter for all of her coming up years.
An in depth character study of all three of these people and the feelings and reactions of each were just so real!
I was on pins and needles throughout the ending!
I read this author’s The House of Sand and Fog many years ago and loved it. This one is very different but very good also! I will read whatever Mr. Dubus writes! Such a talent!
November 17, 2018
***NOW AVAILABLE***
I went into this book with the knowledge that this would not be a light read. Having read ‘House of Sand and Fog” years ago I know how detailed Mr. Dubuis novels can be. I can also understand why this book took so long to write, it is as if the author was living inside each of these characters heads. There is a lot of detail including a novel being written by one of the characters, almost a book within a book.
This story is told from three points of view, Daniel, Susan and her grandmother Lois.
Daniel is now a man who knows he probably doesn’t have long to live. The last time he saw his only daughter, whom he recalls fondly as his “Suzy Woo Woo” was more than 40 years ago. He was incarcerated for killing her mother, Linda, in a rage of jealousy. He has had to live with this torment his entire life, through the 15 years of his incarceration and now into his 60’s. He knows that he really has no right to see her again but he yearns to explain himself to her, that he is no longer that young “Danny” that killed Linda and how he has continued to punish himself all of the while still loving her. He has a rather successful job repairing antique furniture and has set aside a bit of money, he wants to see her one last time and leave her all that he has. He writes a long letter to Susan and tracks down her address at the college where she teaches English. He then sets off to see her before waiting for a response.
Susan was only 3 years old but she was present when her mother was killed. She had many volatile years while living and being brought up by her grandmother. Now in her 40’s she is married but still not sure if she really loves Bobby, the only man who has ever really known her and her family history. She decides to take some time to revisit and stay with her grandmother while attempting to finish a novel that she has been working on for quite some time. Her husband is always behind her and understands and supports her reasons for leaving for a time. Susan and Lois had been doing well living together for weeks until Bobby brings her the letter written by her father. She is beside herself with the idea of seeing him and wants no part of it, yet there is a small part of her that still remember some of their short years together. She really doesn’t know what to do.
Lois, Susan’s grandmother, is one of the most interesting characters I’ve come across in a long time. She raised Susan with a strict hand, never forgetting what happened to her daughter Linda and at such a young age. She was determined that the same would not be the story for Susan. She was successful and Susan went on to graduate from college and become a professor. Susan now, however, is struggling and is coming to see her and stay while she works on her book. This 40’s age Susan is a totally different person from the young woman who fled to college and then only visited infrequently the years following. They are enjoying each other’s company. Lois owns an antique store in Florida and has done quite well for herself. She is often brash, quick to anger and speaks her mind, but has a soft spot when it comes to her granddaughter. All is going well until Susan tells her about the letter from her father. Lois is furious.She tries to forbid Susan from seeing him, even threatening to kill him if she finds him.
As these three characters evolve we really get to know them with all of their flaws but believable story lines. This is a slow moving book that you will have to have patience with but it is well worth reading. The ending is a believable one and in many ways hopeful. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great fiction.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss.
I went into this book with the knowledge that this would not be a light read. Having read ‘House of Sand and Fog” years ago I know how detailed Mr. Dubuis novels can be. I can also understand why this book took so long to write, it is as if the author was living inside each of these characters heads. There is a lot of detail including a novel being written by one of the characters, almost a book within a book.
This story is told from three points of view, Daniel, Susan and her grandmother Lois.
Daniel is now a man who knows he probably doesn’t have long to live. The last time he saw his only daughter, whom he recalls fondly as his “Suzy Woo Woo” was more than 40 years ago. He was incarcerated for killing her mother, Linda, in a rage of jealousy. He has had to live with this torment his entire life, through the 15 years of his incarceration and now into his 60’s. He knows that he really has no right to see her again but he yearns to explain himself to her, that he is no longer that young “Danny” that killed Linda and how he has continued to punish himself all of the while still loving her. He has a rather successful job repairing antique furniture and has set aside a bit of money, he wants to see her one last time and leave her all that he has. He writes a long letter to Susan and tracks down her address at the college where she teaches English. He then sets off to see her before waiting for a response.
Susan was only 3 years old but she was present when her mother was killed. She had many volatile years while living and being brought up by her grandmother. Now in her 40’s she is married but still not sure if she really loves Bobby, the only man who has ever really known her and her family history. She decides to take some time to revisit and stay with her grandmother while attempting to finish a novel that she has been working on for quite some time. Her husband is always behind her and understands and supports her reasons for leaving for a time. Susan and Lois had been doing well living together for weeks until Bobby brings her the letter written by her father. She is beside herself with the idea of seeing him and wants no part of it, yet there is a small part of her that still remember some of their short years together. She really doesn’t know what to do.
Lois, Susan’s grandmother, is one of the most interesting characters I’ve come across in a long time. She raised Susan with a strict hand, never forgetting what happened to her daughter Linda and at such a young age. She was determined that the same would not be the story for Susan. She was successful and Susan went on to graduate from college and become a professor. Susan now, however, is struggling and is coming to see her and stay while she works on her book. This 40’s age Susan is a totally different person from the young woman who fled to college and then only visited infrequently the years following. They are enjoying each other’s company. Lois owns an antique store in Florida and has done quite well for herself. She is often brash, quick to anger and speaks her mind, but has a soft spot when it comes to her granddaughter. All is going well until Susan tells her about the letter from her father. Lois is furious.She tries to forbid Susan from seeing him, even threatening to kill him if she finds him.
As these three characters evolve we really get to know them with all of their flaws but believable story lines. This is a slow moving book that you will have to have patience with but it is well worth reading. The ending is a believable one and in many ways hopeful. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys great fiction.
I received a copy of this novel from the publisher through Edelweiss.
January 22, 2019
Memories are brought to the fore as a letter from an estranged father reaches his daughter. Forty years have passed since there was any connection between them, and this tenuous attempt to resurrect a relationship brings back recollections to those who will be affected. The feel of a beating heart, even as another's heart has been stilled. A heart filled with rage and bitterness, and another heart filled with nothing but love. Events etched into the mind from long ago, the stories of life that never end. Coming to the realization that simple things are not automatically easy.
I remember the haunting quality of this author's House of Sand and Fog hanging over me long after closing the covers of that book. With Gone So Long, prepare to let Daniel, Susan, Lois, and Bobby under your skin. Debus has a way with character development that is absolutely arresting.
I remember the haunting quality of this author's House of Sand and Fog hanging over me long after closing the covers of that book. With Gone So Long, prepare to let Daniel, Susan, Lois, and Bobby under your skin. Debus has a way with character development that is absolutely arresting.
November 21, 2018
4.5 stars
This story is narrated by three people: daughter, father, and grandmother. Daniel is the father who killed his wife in a jealous rage 40 years ago, Susan is the daughter who was 3 when her mother died, and the maternal grandmother is Lisa (Noni), who raised Susan after her daughter’s death. Daniel paid for his crime but has been out of prison for 25 years. He is now dying and wants to see his daughter. He painstakingly writes her a letter and sets off on a road trip to find her.
This is a character study as the author dives deep into the psyches of all involved. It is a dark but poignant journey for the reader. We are privy to their innermost thoughts as the past is explored in flashbacks and excerpts of the memoir Susan is writing. There is always more than one victim of a violent crime, and Dubas makes that clear as we explore the aftermath of Susan’s death.
At 480 pages, perhaps some bits could have been trimmed, but the book reads very fast. The characters are so well-developed that by the end I felt as if I knew them as intimately as if they were real people. It is beautifully written, a powerful story written with empathy and sensitivity. Susan and Lois can be difficult to like but because of Dubas’s skill as an author, we can begin to at least understand them. And isn’t that what great fiction does? It allows us the opportunity to step into the shoes of someone and walk the walk with them.
This would be a perfect book for fans of After the Eclipse: A Mother's Murder, a Daughter's Search by Sarah Perry
**Many thanks to Netgalley, for a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review
This story is narrated by three people: daughter, father, and grandmother. Daniel is the father who killed his wife in a jealous rage 40 years ago, Susan is the daughter who was 3 when her mother died, and the maternal grandmother is Lisa (Noni), who raised Susan after her daughter’s death. Daniel paid for his crime but has been out of prison for 25 years. He is now dying and wants to see his daughter. He painstakingly writes her a letter and sets off on a road trip to find her.
This is a character study as the author dives deep into the psyches of all involved. It is a dark but poignant journey for the reader. We are privy to their innermost thoughts as the past is explored in flashbacks and excerpts of the memoir Susan is writing. There is always more than one victim of a violent crime, and Dubas makes that clear as we explore the aftermath of Susan’s death.
At 480 pages, perhaps some bits could have been trimmed, but the book reads very fast. The characters are so well-developed that by the end I felt as if I knew them as intimately as if they were real people. It is beautifully written, a powerful story written with empathy and sensitivity. Susan and Lois can be difficult to like but because of Dubas’s skill as an author, we can begin to at least understand them. And isn’t that what great fiction does? It allows us the opportunity to step into the shoes of someone and walk the walk with them.
This would be a perfect book for fans of After the Eclipse: A Mother's Murder, a Daughter's Search by Sarah Perry
**Many thanks to Netgalley, for a digital copy of the book in exchange for an honest review
May 21, 2019
I know few novelists who write sentences as consistently and remarkably beautiful as Andre Dubus III. "Gone So Long" is a gem: rich with people so real and so flawed you want to embrace them all, and awash in the heartbreak that threatens sometimes to swamp us. I savored this masterful book.
December 14, 2018
I really admire this writer. I’d go as far as to say that a couple of his books are amongst my all time favourites: Dirty Love and Townie. But I just couldn’t get on with this one. Yes, it’s lyrical and gritty and the characters are interesting – what more could you want, I hear you ask. Well something that doesn’t read like a long monologue for starters. Take a breath, Andre! Give me some dialogue, I love dialogue. And what about a change of mood every now and then – this book is just so remorselessly depressing.
I listened to this on audio, read by the author. His decision to read it himself was probably not the best, he has a dreary and somewhat monotone delivery. I’d already given it ten hours but I just couldn’t face it any more (there’s something like nine hours left). I gave up. I might go back to it but I doubt it.
Biggest disappointment of the year. I was so looking forward to this one.
I listened to this on audio, read by the author. His decision to read it himself was probably not the best, he has a dreary and somewhat monotone delivery. I’d already given it ten hours but I just couldn’t face it any more (there’s something like nine hours left). I gave up. I might go back to it but I doubt it.
Biggest disappointment of the year. I was so looking forward to this one.
October 11, 2018
The third paragraph of the GR book description gives prospective readers a good idea of what the book is about. The paragraph follows here:
"Daniel Ahearn lives a quiet, solitary existence in a seaside New England town. Forty years ago, following a shocking act of impulsive violence on his part, his daughter, Susan, was ripped from his arms by police. Now in her forties, Susan still suffers from the trauma of a night she doesn’t remember, as she struggles to feel settled, to love a man and create something that lasts. Lois, her maternal grandmother who raised her, tries to find peace in her antique shop in a quaint Florida town but cannot escape her own anger, bitterness, and fear."
Daniel, Susan and Lois are the three central characters. The book is about their relationships and how that event of traumatic violence that occurred forty years earlier reverberates in the present, 2013, with Lois eighty-two, Daniel sixty-three and Susan forty-three year of age. That event came to change the next forty years of each of their lives. It came to shape the kind of person each would be. The book can best be described as character studies of the three.
The ending is good, and by that I mean realistic. There is no fairy tale ending here; some problems are resolved, others are not.
The writing is for the most part very good. The author understands people—how people of different personality types think and interrelate. How people react emotionally both to everyday, ordinary behavior of others and to those events that are out of the ordinary and life changing are very well captured. The emotions displayed feel genuine and true to life. This is then reflected in what the characters say to each other; dialogs are pitch perfect. The good writing comes to the fore in the description of emotions and dialogs.
Before picking up the book it is extremely important that you understand that the topics covered are emotionally disturbing. Sexual violence against women is a recurring theme. Sex as it is drawn in this book is not tantalizing; it evokes fear. We are told early on that Daniel has prostate cancer. We do not know if he will die, but his prospects are not bright, and the author frighteningly describes what he is physically and emotionally experiencing. This Is by no means easy to read. The GR book description forewarns that both Susan and Lois are in emotional turmoil too.
The good writing makes the three protagonists' emotions feel upsetting, personal and real. This is good, except that it becomes almost too much to bear, particularly because the book is too long and drawn out. Parts are repetitive, these could have been removed. There is no relief thrown in. There is no humor to lighten the load. While I don’t necessarily think humor needs to be added, I do think the story should have been tightened. I find this a serious problem of the book.
The audiobook is narrated by the author. I like very much how he intones the dialogs. He captures emotions well and there is no overload of unpleasant screaming. On the other hand, the lines in between dialogs are spoken in a flat drone. This I dislike. I have given the narration performance three stars. As usual, the narration has not influenced my rating of the book.
The book is depressing. One must be aware of this before picking it up.
*******************
Townie 4 stars
Gone So Long 3 stars
"Daniel Ahearn lives a quiet, solitary existence in a seaside New England town. Forty years ago, following a shocking act of impulsive violence on his part, his daughter, Susan, was ripped from his arms by police. Now in her forties, Susan still suffers from the trauma of a night she doesn’t remember, as she struggles to feel settled, to love a man and create something that lasts. Lois, her maternal grandmother who raised her, tries to find peace in her antique shop in a quaint Florida town but cannot escape her own anger, bitterness, and fear."
Daniel, Susan and Lois are the three central characters. The book is about their relationships and how that event of traumatic violence that occurred forty years earlier reverberates in the present, 2013, with Lois eighty-two, Daniel sixty-three and Susan forty-three year of age. That event came to change the next forty years of each of their lives. It came to shape the kind of person each would be. The book can best be described as character studies of the three.
The ending is good, and by that I mean realistic. There is no fairy tale ending here; some problems are resolved, others are not.
The writing is for the most part very good. The author understands people—how people of different personality types think and interrelate. How people react emotionally both to everyday, ordinary behavior of others and to those events that are out of the ordinary and life changing are very well captured. The emotions displayed feel genuine and true to life. This is then reflected in what the characters say to each other; dialogs are pitch perfect. The good writing comes to the fore in the description of emotions and dialogs.
Before picking up the book it is extremely important that you understand that the topics covered are emotionally disturbing. Sexual violence against women is a recurring theme. Sex as it is drawn in this book is not tantalizing; it evokes fear. We are told early on that Daniel has prostate cancer. We do not know if he will die, but his prospects are not bright, and the author frighteningly describes what he is physically and emotionally experiencing. This Is by no means easy to read. The GR book description forewarns that both Susan and Lois are in emotional turmoil too.
The good writing makes the three protagonists' emotions feel upsetting, personal and real. This is good, except that it becomes almost too much to bear, particularly because the book is too long and drawn out. Parts are repetitive, these could have been removed. There is no relief thrown in. There is no humor to lighten the load. While I don’t necessarily think humor needs to be added, I do think the story should have been tightened. I find this a serious problem of the book.
The audiobook is narrated by the author. I like very much how he intones the dialogs. He captures emotions well and there is no overload of unpleasant screaming. On the other hand, the lines in between dialogs are spoken in a flat drone. This I dislike. I have given the narration performance three stars. As usual, the narration has not influenced my rating of the book.
The book is depressing. One must be aware of this before picking it up.
*******************
Townie 4 stars
Gone So Long 3 stars
December 20, 2021
Gone So Long is the first novel by Andre Dubus, III in the last ten years, and it was well worth the wait. This was a heartbreaking and haunting tale, as well as a beautifully written and visceral portrayal of our humanity, and the ultimate power of forgiveness and redemption. This literally was a book that I could not put down, as I was so immersed in the lives of these characters and how they came to terms with their estrangement and pain, even as they are each struggling with their truth. I loved each of these people as I came to be part of their painful journey. This is a book that will be with me for some time.
"A warm wind kicks up from the east and brings with it beach sounds. . . . the creaking gears of the Ferris wheel and the popping water balloons and the cries of gulls. There's the tinny whine of the carousel organ and the rattling jerk of the rollercoaster cars, the shrieks of women and children hurled out over the hissing surf."
"How is it possible that after all these years--decades--that memory brings the feelings that went with it? It's as if the past is not the past at all but just layers inside us that are no more dead and gone than an old song on the radio."
"And it came to me, in those long broken months after, that only hurting this deeply could reveal the soul, that if there was a soul this must be it, some central integral part of you in love with the world."
"A warm wind kicks up from the east and brings with it beach sounds. . . . the creaking gears of the Ferris wheel and the popping water balloons and the cries of gulls. There's the tinny whine of the carousel organ and the rattling jerk of the rollercoaster cars, the shrieks of women and children hurled out over the hissing surf."
"How is it possible that after all these years--decades--that memory brings the feelings that went with it? It's as if the past is not the past at all but just layers inside us that are no more dead and gone than an old song on the radio."
"And it came to me, in those long broken months after, that only hurting this deeply could reveal the soul, that if there was a soul this must be it, some central integral part of you in love with the world."
October 7, 2018
Daniel. Susan.
Father. Daughter.
Two lost souls.
Daniel, allowed his jealousy to consume him...killing his wife Linda, in a fit of rage.
Susan, his daughter, raised by her maternal grandmother, Lois (Noni) doesn’t know if she has ever felt “love” for anyone.
They have been estranged for forty years as he served his time in jail, but now he is dying and hoping to see her one last time before he does.
Susan is trying to make sense of her life...attempting to write a memoir when her father’s letter arrives, announcing his impending arrival. She isn’t sure if she wants to see him.
The narratives of Susan and Daniel alternate, character studies of a murderer, and his daughter.
Each is reflective of the lives they have led, and the choices they have made, with much attention to detail. The focus is the past for much of the 480 pages, (could’ve been condensed some for a faster pace) until their paths have the potential to cross.
Father . Daughter.
Will either find the closure they so desperately need?
Patience is required for this read, but I did feel their pain in the end.
This title is available NOW for those readers eagerly awaiting this author’s first new book in a decade!!
Thank You To Netgalley, the publisher and author for the ARC received in exchange for my candid review.
Father. Daughter.
Two lost souls.
Daniel, allowed his jealousy to consume him...killing his wife Linda, in a fit of rage.
Susan, his daughter, raised by her maternal grandmother, Lois (Noni) doesn’t know if she has ever felt “love” for anyone.
They have been estranged for forty years as he served his time in jail, but now he is dying and hoping to see her one last time before he does.
Susan is trying to make sense of her life...attempting to write a memoir when her father’s letter arrives, announcing his impending arrival. She isn’t sure if she wants to see him.
The narratives of Susan and Daniel alternate, character studies of a murderer, and his daughter.
Each is reflective of the lives they have led, and the choices they have made, with much attention to detail. The focus is the past for much of the 480 pages, (could’ve been condensed some for a faster pace) until their paths have the potential to cross.
Father . Daughter.
Will either find the closure they so desperately need?
Patience is required for this read, but I did feel their pain in the end.
This title is available NOW for those readers eagerly awaiting this author’s first new book in a decade!!
Thank You To Netgalley, the publisher and author for the ARC received in exchange for my candid review.
January 12, 2019
Devastatingly beautiful, “Gone So Long” is a story that wrenches the reader’s heart. In short, it’s a story of a middle-aged woman (Susan) trying to get a grip on her life which has been traumatically influenced by the murder of her mother. The loss of her mother is compounded by the fact that it was her father who killed her mother. At the age of three, her grandmother, who was also damaged by the tragedy, raised her. Susan is attempting to write a novel/semi autobiography. Through her memories, she hopes to discover why she is so messed up.
Meanwhile, her father is writing a letter to Susan, attempting to explain his life, not only who he was but also who he became. It’s been over forty years, and while Susan suffered a difficult life, her father paid for his sins and attempted to become a better man.
What author Andre Dubus does perfectly, is write the human complexities. The reader sees how Susan self destructed, with her grandmother fueling her destruction. Yet, her grandmother had her own private devils. Dubus shows how all of us have our darkness, and tragedy seems to accentuate that darkness. He writes Susan’s father as a man seeking not redemption, but some sort of understanding. Not just understanding, but he wants to impart how he feels for his daughter.
It’s very complicated, much as life. This is a slow burn read where the reader feels the buildup of tragedy. As the reader plows through the story, one feels this will not end well. Dubus is a literary genius.
Meanwhile, her father is writing a letter to Susan, attempting to explain his life, not only who he was but also who he became. It’s been over forty years, and while Susan suffered a difficult life, her father paid for his sins and attempted to become a better man.
What author Andre Dubus does perfectly, is write the human complexities. The reader sees how Susan self destructed, with her grandmother fueling her destruction. Yet, her grandmother had her own private devils. Dubus shows how all of us have our darkness, and tragedy seems to accentuate that darkness. He writes Susan’s father as a man seeking not redemption, but some sort of understanding. Not just understanding, but he wants to impart how he feels for his daughter.
It’s very complicated, much as life. This is a slow burn read where the reader feels the buildup of tragedy. As the reader plows through the story, one feels this will not end well. Dubus is a literary genius.
June 27, 2019
I had the privilege of hearing this author speak at the Tucson Festival of Books last March, which made me even more eager to read the book – because Dubus is a very down-to-earth, funny, inspiring and wise man (he carries a flip-phone by choice to avoid distraction).
His comments about interviewing an incarcerated man as research for this book – and the dichotomy of “likeable guy in interviews” vs. “man who committed a horrific crime” – were riveting.
And so there is much to admire within the pages of this book; it’s heavily character-driven with complex characters who have faced serious tragedy in their lives. As well, one of the main characters, Susan, is writing a novel, to which we are privy as she jots notes about portions of it; these sections are formatted differently, as word-processing notes (which was fun). And then there are moments where you, as reader, are asking How on earth is this going to end? and Wow, how would I feel? What would I do? You’ll be placed firmly in the minds of three characters with complicated histories to one another: grandmother Lois, granddaughter Susan, and father Daniel.
While my 3.5-star rating (rounded up) may be more a reflection of the fact that I am simultaneously reading a mind-blowing, Pulitzer-Prize-winning book (and am perhaps unfairly comparing), the fact remains that this lovely work would have been stronger with substantial editing. There is a lot of repetition and, often, heavy extraneous detail, which – for some readers – may make an already slow-burn story smoke and fizzle. That does not take away, however, from the author’s ability to create such emotionally resonant characters that you will feel for them, really feel for them. And like me, you may actually shed tears.
If you enjoy stories chock full of internalization, lovely turns of phrase and language, and flawed characters, this book may be for you. Ultimately, it’s a story about family, acceptance and regret and how we often have to live with the mistakes we make, large and small.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy in exchange for an unbiased review.
His comments about interviewing an incarcerated man as research for this book – and the dichotomy of “likeable guy in interviews” vs. “man who committed a horrific crime” – were riveting.
And so there is much to admire within the pages of this book; it’s heavily character-driven with complex characters who have faced serious tragedy in their lives. As well, one of the main characters, Susan, is writing a novel, to which we are privy as she jots notes about portions of it; these sections are formatted differently, as word-processing notes (which was fun). And then there are moments where you, as reader, are asking How on earth is this going to end? and Wow, how would I feel? What would I do? You’ll be placed firmly in the minds of three characters with complicated histories to one another: grandmother Lois, granddaughter Susan, and father Daniel.
While my 3.5-star rating (rounded up) may be more a reflection of the fact that I am simultaneously reading a mind-blowing, Pulitzer-Prize-winning book (and am perhaps unfairly comparing), the fact remains that this lovely work would have been stronger with substantial editing. There is a lot of repetition and, often, heavy extraneous detail, which – for some readers – may make an already slow-burn story smoke and fizzle. That does not take away, however, from the author’s ability to create such emotionally resonant characters that you will feel for them, really feel for them. And like me, you may actually shed tears.
If you enjoy stories chock full of internalization, lovely turns of phrase and language, and flawed characters, this book may be for you. Ultimately, it’s a story about family, acceptance and regret and how we often have to live with the mistakes we make, large and small.
My thanks to the publisher for a copy in exchange for an unbiased review.
Read
August 24, 2018I got a copy of “Gone So Long” by André Dubus III at Book Expo in June.
A couple of months later, on page 254, I decided I’m entirely finished reading books about female victims of violence where the story is supposed to be from the woman’s perspective, but the whole thing is authored and choreographed by a man.
Men have been telling the world how women supposedly feel, being raped and hit and even killed for enough generations of literature. I’ve heard that side of the story enough for my lifetime, there’s no benefit to reading it once more. In all the decades I’ve been a reader, shelves of books over decades, all the men telling us what it’s like for a woman, it’s enough. I’ve hit “peak rape”. I’ve had enough of women wistfully fingering broken facial bones, wondering what went wrong. (page 254, but the whole book is the aftermath of spousal murder, so one might ask what took me so long.) Decades of stories getting generations of male writers off, thrilling at the “art” of describing in great detail the domination and violence, the women they’ve imagined hurting, and explaining all the ways that maybe she could have/should have done something differently, if her character was to have a different outcome.
There’s room on my reading list and in a post-#metoo society for new voices and different angles on literature. Men-pretending-to-know-what-it’s-like-for-a-woman seems a timely subset of the industry for extinction. Just think, it used to be culturally acceptable for white actors to play other races onstage and on film, too. Things change. You learn more, and then you do better.
André Dubus III, you’re probably a really nice guy. But I’m going to let you have the distinction of being the last man who’s gonna tell me about hitting, hurting, raping and killing women in the name of “literature”.
A couple of months later, on page 254, I decided I’m entirely finished reading books about female victims of violence where the story is supposed to be from the woman’s perspective, but the whole thing is authored and choreographed by a man.
Men have been telling the world how women supposedly feel, being raped and hit and even killed for enough generations of literature. I’ve heard that side of the story enough for my lifetime, there’s no benefit to reading it once more. In all the decades I’ve been a reader, shelves of books over decades, all the men telling us what it’s like for a woman, it’s enough. I’ve hit “peak rape”. I’ve had enough of women wistfully fingering broken facial bones, wondering what went wrong. (page 254, but the whole book is the aftermath of spousal murder, so one might ask what took me so long.) Decades of stories getting generations of male writers off, thrilling at the “art” of describing in great detail the domination and violence, the women they’ve imagined hurting, and explaining all the ways that maybe she could have/should have done something differently, if her character was to have a different outcome.
There’s room on my reading list and in a post-#metoo society for new voices and different angles on literature. Men-pretending-to-know-what-it’s-like-for-a-woman seems a timely subset of the industry for extinction. Just think, it used to be culturally acceptable for white actors to play other races onstage and on film, too. Things change. You learn more, and then you do better.
André Dubus III, you’re probably a really nice guy. But I’m going to let you have the distinction of being the last man who’s gonna tell me about hitting, hurting, raping and killing women in the name of “literature”.
August 17, 2023
Daniel Ahearn is a convicted murderer. When he was incarcerated, his only child, three-year old, Susan, was put into the custody of her maternal grandmother, Lois, who carries a deep hatred for Daniel. Daniel served 15 years, and 25 years after his release, he desperately wants to reconnect with the now 43-year old Susan after finding where she lives. He writes a long, rambling letter admitting to all the mistakes he has made in his life, and relates that he is en route to see her. Poignant and painful memories abound during his journey from New England to Florida while his physical health declines.
We've waited 10 long years for a book to follow Dubus' memorable novel, The House of Sand and Fog. As with that book, this one is rich in characterization and empathy. The histories of Daniel, Susan and Lois are detailed, and underscore their motives for their life-long decisions. Redemption and forgiveness run through the narratives, which switch from first to third person. I do hope we don't have to wait another 10 years for a novel from this talented, insightful author.
We've waited 10 long years for a book to follow Dubus' memorable novel, The House of Sand and Fog. As with that book, this one is rich in characterization and empathy. The histories of Daniel, Susan and Lois are detailed, and underscore their motives for their life-long decisions. Redemption and forgiveness run through the narratives, which switch from first to third person. I do hope we don't have to wait another 10 years for a novel from this talented, insightful author.
October 17, 2018
I grew up in MA & spent so many years at Salisbury Beach. Reading Andrew Dubus’ heartbreaking novel allowed me to revisit that place. While reading this book, I could smell the fried clams and hear kids shrieking from the rides. The authenticity of the authors words brought me back with a fond nostalgia while the story gut punched me. This was a hard book to read, the people were so real I could have met any of them in my youth.
Daniel Ahearn, an ex con is released from prison after spending over a decade for the murder of his wife. He leaves behind his daughter, an irate mother-in-law and so many memories of the love of his life whom he murdered. Faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis Daniel travels to Florida to try and find his estranged daughter, while his mind lives in the past, we are told in great detail how his life evolved from the kid who ran the Himalaya on the strip, to life in prison and the solitary life of a paroled ex con. The writing is detailed & exquisite, his characters are point on, and the story, one mans sad life and hope for redemption drew me in to the very last page. I truly enjoyed this walk down memory lane, albeit a sad, bleak existence of a desperate sick man trying to find the way to express love and forgiveness to his daughter who was just three years old when she so horrifically saw her mother murdered.
Daniel Ahearn, an ex con is released from prison after spending over a decade for the murder of his wife. He leaves behind his daughter, an irate mother-in-law and so many memories of the love of his life whom he murdered. Faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis Daniel travels to Florida to try and find his estranged daughter, while his mind lives in the past, we are told in great detail how his life evolved from the kid who ran the Himalaya on the strip, to life in prison and the solitary life of a paroled ex con. The writing is detailed & exquisite, his characters are point on, and the story, one mans sad life and hope for redemption drew me in to the very last page. I truly enjoyed this walk down memory lane, albeit a sad, bleak existence of a desperate sick man trying to find the way to express love and forgiveness to his daughter who was just three years old when she so horrifically saw her mother murdered.
unable-to-finish
September 1, 2025Another time, I would probably finish it, the writing is good, but I'm not in the mood for the dark soul searching and slow pace.
August 5, 2018
This book was hard to find a place to stop. It is so intriguing. Linda falls in love with Daniel while at a carnival. Daniel works as a DJ at a carnival. They get married and have a daughter and name her Susan. They are a happy family at first until Daniel becomes very controlling and jealous of Linda. He is a real hothead. He ends up killing his wife Linda while little three year old Susan watches. Daniel goes to prison. Susan is then raised by Linda's mother, Susan's grandmother Lois. Daniel writes his daughter Susan, but her grandmother throws every letter in the thrash. Susan is told that her mother and father were killed in a car crash when their car went over a bridge and both of them drowned. Her grandmother didn't want her to know the truth because she thought Susan might try and visit her dad. Susan learns while in high school from a classmate that her father killed her mom. She is so upset and doesn't believe it. She rushes home and confronts her grandmother and she finally tells her the truth. She is really angry at her grandmother Lois for not telling her the truth. She can never find happiness. She goes from boyfriend to boyfriend throughout high school and college. Susan and her grandmother have a love hate relationship. Susan gets pregnant and has an abortion each time. She becomes a professor and meets another professor and marries him. She doesn't feel like she loves him, but she knows he really loves and cares for her. Something she has always missed in her life. Her father is released from prison after fifteen years and waits about twenty years before he tries to reconnect with his daughter. This starts a real roller coaster ride. A lot of ups and downs for Lois, Susan, Susan's husband and Susan's dad Daniel. The ending is sad and happy at the same time. A must read. Highly recommended.
November 6, 2018
Daniel Ahearn is dying and wants to connect with his daughter he hasn't seen in forty-years. He murdered his wife in a jealous rage. This was seriously thought provoking. Highly emotional. A roller coaster of a read. It has been a long time since Dubus has given us another thought provoking read. I loved it. I highly recommend it. A great book selection.
Dawnny-BookGypsy
Novels N Latte Book Blog
Novels & Latte Book Club
Hudson Valley, NY
Dawnny-BookGypsy
Novels N Latte Book Blog
Novels & Latte Book Club
Hudson Valley, NY
August 29, 2018
An emotionally hard read that was worth every moment. Dubus's prose makes the journey easy, if it could be called that. He offers neither judgement nor forgiveness in this story about unthinkable violence and its repercussions in the lives of victims and perpetrator. As someone passionate about staving off apologists for misogyny and violence against women, I read this keenly aware of the possibilities of finding excuses, fairy-tale endings, or erasure, but none of that happened. In my opinion, this is the story of violence, of the havoc it wreaks, of the cycles it starts and perpetuates, and how we're all more than the sum of our traumas.
August 21, 2018
This book felt underwhelming. I think Dubus does a great job with ratcheting up tension, of putting characters in a situation where by the end you know everything is going to fall apart. To a casual viewer's eye, a somewhat black and white situation that may be girded with sympathy towards the characters once we understand their lives, their histories and motivations, and, man, does the ending of this book deliver. But I also had to question whether or not it really needed 530 pages to get there....it felt very Tolstoy in the way it followed life, written in a detailed, realistic vertical flow that easily moves these characters through space and time and provides us with perceptions of the outside world that give us a better understanding of the state of these character's inner being (another one of Dubus's strength), and there's something visceral about his writing, there's no doubt that these characters have bodies and that the emotions they feel are felt in their very bones or organs...but at the same time, it also felt like it was retreading similar material again. Perhaps it's an unfair to compare Dubus III to his father Dubus I, but they both have similar writing material, are concerned with violence, love, redemption, grace, and the complexities of navigating morally difficult situations that provides no easy answer but only an option between "a rock and a hard place." But more so than subject matter (the book reminds me a lot of Dubus's short story The Pretty Girl), what separates these two authors is a difference in form; novel versus short story. And, until I got to the end, I couldn't help thinking that this would have made a great short story rather than a novel if some of the time could be compressed (again, think Dubus's "Killings"). Again, maybe this is unfair, but I do think there's something to say about the length of this book, and how after a while it felt like I was treading water while reading. I was riveted when I got the ending, but why did I have to read 420 pages to get there?
Also, I'm not convinced that the structure of the book is working. I think one of the difficulties of writing a book about the effects of trauma in later life (the incident in this book happened when the father was a young man, when the daughter was three; the book picks up when the father is in his 60's, the daughter in her 40's) is that the reader cares more about the past than the actual present. The past seemed so much more vivid, like the carousels and game booths that once habited the dock but which, by the end of the book, are rusted, in disrepair. It's an apt metaphor that one sees again in the description of the town in the very first paragraph, and feels true to how we experience life - how sometimes a defining moment of our life can happen in our past, and the rest of it is almost "fallout," an attempt to get away with, to deal with, what happened. Something about the lights, Danny "The Voice" Ahearn and Lydia and their daughter, just felt more interesting to me. I almost wished the book were written about that moment, in which the characters are most filled with passions, rather than the aftermath, in which they are wrecked by those character's passions, in some ways numb, hollowed out, afraid.
Surprisingly, I really did enjoy the sort of "writers writing in a written story" thing. I found it really interesting the way Susie attempted to deal with her past through memoir, and how this offered a very natural and cool way to get at some of her past and understand her a little better. Even Danny, her father, struggles to write in this story with his letter. Throughout the book, there are instances of characters trying to communicate with each other; characters that love each other, who have made mistakes, who want to do good. And that's where a lot of the heartbreak of the novel seems to center on; the heartbreak of communication. By the end, it's what cannot be said that tells us most about these characters, but, in a heartbreaking landslide, by the end it's also how the reader understands how words can be impossible when one has, as the book is aptly titled, been "gone so long." Dubus does a good job of complicating what, from an outside view, would seem like a black and white situation (think Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood"). His book is complex, because of the way the characters both love and hate each other, and does a fine job of tracing the aftermaths of violence to not what just what happens in the present moment, but how we try and deal and cope with it after, and how that affects our relationships to others and, especially, to our loved ones.
Also, I'm not convinced that the structure of the book is working. I think one of the difficulties of writing a book about the effects of trauma in later life (the incident in this book happened when the father was a young man, when the daughter was three; the book picks up when the father is in his 60's, the daughter in her 40's) is that the reader cares more about the past than the actual present. The past seemed so much more vivid, like the carousels and game booths that once habited the dock but which, by the end of the book, are rusted, in disrepair. It's an apt metaphor that one sees again in the description of the town in the very first paragraph, and feels true to how we experience life - how sometimes a defining moment of our life can happen in our past, and the rest of it is almost "fallout," an attempt to get away with, to deal with, what happened. Something about the lights, Danny "The Voice" Ahearn and Lydia and their daughter, just felt more interesting to me. I almost wished the book were written about that moment, in which the characters are most filled with passions, rather than the aftermath, in which they are wrecked by those character's passions, in some ways numb, hollowed out, afraid.
Surprisingly, I really did enjoy the sort of "writers writing in a written story" thing. I found it really interesting the way Susie attempted to deal with her past through memoir, and how this offered a very natural and cool way to get at some of her past and understand her a little better. Even Danny, her father, struggles to write in this story with his letter. Throughout the book, there are instances of characters trying to communicate with each other; characters that love each other, who have made mistakes, who want to do good. And that's where a lot of the heartbreak of the novel seems to center on; the heartbreak of communication. By the end, it's what cannot be said that tells us most about these characters, but, in a heartbreaking landslide, by the end it's also how the reader understands how words can be impossible when one has, as the book is aptly titled, been "gone so long." Dubus does a good job of complicating what, from an outside view, would seem like a black and white situation (think Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood"). His book is complex, because of the way the characters both love and hate each other, and does a fine job of tracing the aftermaths of violence to not what just what happens in the present moment, but how we try and deal and cope with it after, and how that affects our relationships to others and, especially, to our loved ones.
May 20, 2020
I loved this book. It was long and complex and full of nuance.
If you are someone who dislikes books that alternate between different points of view, this book isn’t for you. This book has three separate protagonists with their own narrative. And there are flashbacks, which not everyone can tolerate.
But it all worked for me. This was one of the best books I’ve read this year.
If you are someone who dislikes books that alternate between different points of view, this book isn’t for you. This book has three separate protagonists with their own narrative. And there are flashbacks, which not everyone can tolerate.
But it all worked for me. This was one of the best books I’ve read this year.
February 15, 2019
It was interesting in the beginning, but it was too long and too repetitive so that by the end, I didn't care what happened.
November 17, 2018
I have loved every book of Andre Dubus III since Oprah selected The House of Sand and Fog for her Bookclub. I wait patiently for a new book and see him at author events in New Hampshire and Massachusetts when I can. Townie is one of my all time favorite books!!!! So when a year or so ago I saw him at the Newburyport, MA Book Festival he read a few chapters of an upcoming book. I sat on the edge of my seat listening intently and wishing I could purchase the book that day!. But sadly I had to wait. Flash forward to October 2018 and Andre was to appear on a panel at the Boston Book Festival talking about his new book A Long Way Gone, I scramble to buy it and read it prior to his panel discussion. I loved this book! Maybe not at much as Townie or The House of Sand and Fog but it was a captivating read. The book centers around an estranged father and daughter who are both damaged human beings. The story starts out with them much older and learn the possibility of them meeting after so many years estranged. There are flash backs along the way and you are constantly wondering if they will actually meet and if they do what will they say to each other. This book made a brief appearance in the Boston Globe top 10 the first week it was published but quickly dropped off. I am perplexed that this book did not get much attention or hype. I hope through word of mouth that it will be read and loved.
May 10, 2018
I received this book as an advanced reader's copy and reading this book hit home for me on many reasons but the most important one of all is the love and bond of a father and daughter no matter if he is convicted of murder or not. The relationship between Susan and Daniel is something in one way or another that we cal all relate to. I can not wait for our readers to embark on the journey Susan undertook to rekindle with her father and unlocking secrets of their past that they thought were gone for good. It is a dramatic read that I could not put down which is why I am honored to give this book 5 stars!
October 21, 2018
Just couldn’t get into it. Gave it 150 pages but the story didn’t progress enough for me and required too much concentration for all the changes in time, speaker and such.
November 19, 2018
Hard to believe that I'm giving Dubus only two stars but this book was such a monumental disappointment to me that I had no choice. Nearly everything about Gone So Long felt "off", beginning, as others have said with the very jarring POV change-up that turn out to be Susan's memoir, the old story-within-a-story technique. It didn't work for me, I was confused after the first couple pages, said out loud to no one but myself: "What the hell is going on here?"
But even worse than the confusion created by the reader never being quite sure if we were reading Susan's memoir or were in the present, was Dubus use of the word "that", rather than "the." He did it all the time, most of the time, way too much of the time and I have no idea why. Instead of writing "She brought the plate to..." he wrote: "She brought that plate to..." Why? I have no idea but it bothered me so much every time I read "that" instead of "the", I felt like writing him a letter to ask him what possessed him to write that way.
It was very difficult for me to work up much empathy for any of the characters either and again, I don't know why because I loved the characters so much in "House of Sand and Fog". Perhaps it's because I found these characters to be cliches somehow and truthfully, reading this book I believed that I was reading a first draft, not a completed, edited, finished manuscript. Such a disappointment.
I hope that Dubus will come back with something in the future that's up to his standards, although I worry that he won't considering that I read that it took him ten years to write "Gone So Long". John Irving had some misses along the way but came back with some beautiful works that while they didn't quite live up to "Garp" or "CiderHouse Rules", "Hotel New Hampshire" or "A Prayer for Owen Meany", were still well worth reading. I hope that Dubus can do the same. He definitely missed the mark with this one, at least in my opinion.
But even worse than the confusion created by the reader never being quite sure if we were reading Susan's memoir or were in the present, was Dubus use of the word "that", rather than "the." He did it all the time, most of the time, way too much of the time and I have no idea why. Instead of writing "She brought the plate to..." he wrote: "She brought that plate to..." Why? I have no idea but it bothered me so much every time I read "that" instead of "the", I felt like writing him a letter to ask him what possessed him to write that way.
It was very difficult for me to work up much empathy for any of the characters either and again, I don't know why because I loved the characters so much in "House of Sand and Fog". Perhaps it's because I found these characters to be cliches somehow and truthfully, reading this book I believed that I was reading a first draft, not a completed, edited, finished manuscript. Such a disappointment.
I hope that Dubus will come back with something in the future that's up to his standards, although I worry that he won't considering that I read that it took him ten years to write "Gone So Long". John Irving had some misses along the way but came back with some beautiful works that while they didn't quite live up to "Garp" or "CiderHouse Rules", "Hotel New Hampshire" or "A Prayer for Owen Meany", were still well worth reading. I hope that Dubus can do the same. He definitely missed the mark with this one, at least in my opinion.
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