Good-bye and Amen: A Novel

by Beth Gutcheon

Book Overview

In a summer cottage on the coast of Maine, an unlikely love was nurtured, a marriage endured, and a family survived. Now it is time for the children of that marriage to make peace with the wounds and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060539089
• Release Date: July 2009
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Great memoir-like novel

This novel reads like a memoir and even has family photos in it. The Faithful family gathers at their summer cottage after the death of their parents. Stories are shared and told from different viewpoints--even a dead patriarch throws in a comment on occasion. It's interesting to hear one side of a story and then have more details trickle in from brothers, sisters, wives, husbands and/or friends. Relationships between siblings, parents and children, husbands and wives weave in and out of the story. This book continues the story started in "Leeway Cottage." I really loved this book without having read the first one and highly recommend it to men and women alike.

....drops of nectar......

I adored this book !! For those of us in our 50's, we are now experiencing dealing with parents who are about to pass into spirit. This part is comforting.....we know they'll be loved and in perfect peace. But WE are still here.....and dealing with sisters, brothers and other childhood relationships is a dimension NO ONE wants to enter.... Thus, the story of lives lived, the chaos of interactions with people who must enter our mental sanctuary once again, and the ensuing pleasurable yet disturbing emotions that rise up out of our souls. This saga is told in a delightful manner which brings back memories of our own stories...some are enjoyable and some are shocking. The author taps into a world which we thought was ours alone....only to reveal, that it was their's as well. Absorbing this book has uplifted my spirits and I was very sorry when I reached the last page. I could've continued for months...It is rare when a book reaches us in a way that helps to release all that "stuff" we've pushed down since childhood. It's a right of passage to let it all go.... I highly recommend this read. I plan to purchase it for several people who may find it as warmhearted and cheerful as I did.

Unique and fabulous

I selected this book and then realized it was a sequel to "Leeway Cottage". I immediately purchased "Leeway" and read it to be in a position to read this next book in the saga. After completing both books, I think that was a very fortunate thing to do ..... reading "Good-Bye and Amen" without the first one would not have been nearly as good. As it was, the first part of the book is challenging and I re-read several sections to make sure I understood who all the characters were and what the relationships were. It was well worth the time and effort because this book is a joy! The format is different from anything I have read and each character has a few paragraphs to convey what is happening before the next character weighs in. While a little jarring at first, the technique works and is very fun to read. You actually get to be inside each character's head and see how they perceived the events and what emotions they were experiencing at the time. With this style and generally outstanding writing, I felt like I ended up knowing these charaters as well as my own family. Other reviewers have given a good synopsis of the story line, so I won't spend time on that, but let me say this is fabulous book. The characters are very well drawn and the writing great. One of the best books I have read all year ..... couldn't but it down.

Hello, and Halleluja!

Beth Gutcheon is a compelling writer, and Good-Bye and Amen, is a gutsy book, tightly written, yet rich with character, detail and place. She has tweaked the narrative style to set the reader directly into the middle of a family, like a new friend, getting to know them the way one really does find out about people, a process filled with surprises and turnarounds. Skipping unnecessary "writerly" narrative, Gutcheon trusts readers to find their own way into the personalities, dynamics and history of the remarkable Moss family to whom she introduced us in Leeway Cottage, her longer previous novel. This time, she entices the reader with dialogue, internal and spoken, reminiscences, and characters who cross in and out of the past and present. She subtly works her way toward her essential theme: contrasting self-congratulatory "piety" with natural goodness. It is a pleasure to watch her unwrap her characters, leading to a wonderful last-minute surprise, an unselfconscious gift from an unexpected source. Gutcheon is a master of the nuances of her setting, a multi-generational summer community in Maine. Once the reader picks up her rhythm, it becomes nearly impossible to put the book down. An appendix at the end helps readers tie up the facts, and fits the WASP-y atmosphere cleverly: it reads like the class notes in an Ivy League college magazine. A terrific read; I finished the book, then turned back to the beginning and read the first pages again--this time like an old family friend, not a first-time visitor. There isn't a dull character in the book, including those who have a few words to say from "the other side." Highly recommended.

"Hello and Good-bye"

I have just heard Beth do a reading of her newest book, "Good-bye and Amen". I read Leeway Cottage when it came out, and thought it was quite good, tho I knew nothing prior to reading about the Danish resistance. Beth, at the beginning of her reading, said that tho the characters were continued from the previous book, it was not necessary to have read it to enjoy her latest one. One reviewer mentioned that she was lost as to the characters,l but I discovered in the table of contents a reference to a biography section in the back of the book that covered everyone and their connections to each other. This was helpful. And though quite different in style from her previous novels, I found the first-person narrative very easy once I got used to it. I would recommend this novel.