Goodbye, Vitamin in Around the Year in 52 Books

Nov 17, 2024 Karen rated it really liked it

I just finished the book last night after struggling with it for over a week. I use the word “struggling” because, although the writing is beautiful and sharp and the characters well drawn and relatable, the plot was presented in a very choppy way. 30-year-old Ruth who has been dumped by her fiance, quits her job and goes home to her parents to help out with her father, a brilliant history professor, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and whose behavior has become increasingly unman I just finished the book last night after struggling with it for over a week. I use the word “struggling” because, although the writing is beautiful and sharp and the characters well drawn and relatable, the plot was presented in a very choppy way. 30-year-old Ruth who has been dumped by her fiance, quits her job and goes home to her parents to help out with her father, a brilliant history professor, who has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and whose behavior has become increasingly unmanageable. The background of Ruth and her family-the parents’ troubled marriage, brother Linus’s alienation from his parents, Ruth’s close childhood bond with her father, Ruth’s friendships and her relationship with her fiancé, are told through short anecdotes, diary entries, and observations and bits of trivia that some critics describe as funny but I found only mildly amusing, if that. It goes back and forth through time on a way that kept me from getting deeply involved allowed me to put it down and not read for a day or two…very unlike my usual reading behavior. I almost considered dropping it altogether, but I am so, SO glad that I didn’t. At about 3/4 of the way through this relatively short book (less than 200 pages) all the disparate pieces began to fit together to form a magnificent portrait of how a family finds its footing in this seemingly hopeless situation and how a 30-year-old slacker/child finds her inner strength and takes charge of her own, and her family’s life. I would even say that in retrospect, the choppiness and chaos of the first three quarters of the book are necessary; they reflect both the increasing disorganization of her father’s mind as well as Ruth’s own struggle to make sense of her own life. The reader is right there with her to see her blossom like a flower. I realize that I love the book, but I gave it only four out of five stars as a warning to prospective readers; It’s going to be a bumpy ride, but the rewards of the final destination make it well worth the journey. ...more

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