Goodbye, Forever

By Barbara Conklin

Kari Langtree is afraid to give her heart away; it seems that every time she loves someone, she has to say goodbye. Her father died two years ago, and now her favorite sister has gotten married. The... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 055324356X
• ISBN13: 9780553243567
• Release Date: January 1984
• Publisher: Bantam Books
• Length: 135 Pages
• Weight: 0.20 lbs.
• Age Range: 12 to 17 years
• Grade Range: Grades 7 to 12

Customer Reviews

They don't write them like this anymore.....

From now on I will be sad every time I hear "Heart Like A Wheel" by Linda Ronstadt. I normally don't like reading books where there isn't a definite happy ending for the couple, but I enjoy Conklin's writing and wisdom to her stories so I still wanted to read it. That was before I ended up loving Kari and Noah and wishing so much they could have a happier end. The happy endearing Sweet Dreams books always leave me a little sad so it's safe to say this one actually left me in tears lol. I don't know if it's because I'm getting older but I cry easier now, since I never got to be alive during the times I read about and everything I've ever wanted in life existed in those times and doesn't anymore, so I just get emotional reading these books, and longing for everything. Speaking of longing for what doesn't exist anymore, the S.S Norway is long gone now....making Conklin's messages at the beginning of the book saddening. This was a beautiful book and while I understand the whole point was learning to let go, accept what can't be changed and say goodbye to those you love, I am still tragic over the ending. I wish this Conklin book had a sequel where Noah shows up at her door a year later with the trophy in his hand like he promised, that would have been great. I shall believe that Noah and Kari will find their way back to each other.

Touching teen romance on the high seas

Barbara Conklin masterfully scripts yet another bittersweet teen tale in "Goodbye Forever", a gentle, slow-developing story that still manages to affect the reader with its low key characterizations and life-affirming conclusion. The first person narration by melancholy teen Kari Langtree strikes a perfect balance of genuine fears, loneliness, and eventual acceptance, as she grieves for the death of her father and another loss, in the form of her sister's marriage and leaving home. Despite her dramatic insistence that she will never find someone to love, Kari does just that when she and her mother are whisked away on a Caribbean cruise as a post-wedding gift from Kari's aunt and uncle. Anyone who has been on a Caribbean cruise can attest to the authenticity of Conklin's lively descriptions and nautical lingo; the novel is aided heftily by its exotic tropical settings and entertaining on-ship sequences. Although the novel is really about Kari's personal growth, it beautifully weaves in an intertwining story line in which she falls for fellow passenger, kind but troubled Noah Walters, and together the two help each other to overcome their fears and learn to accept what cannot be changed. Barbara Conklin conjures her usual magic with this sensitive and sweet novel.