What Matters Most

By Nicole Bokat

Georgia Merkin-a magazine writer and self-sufficient divorcA(c)e with a young son-always adored her father, who was her buffer against her cold, fiercely ambitious mother, Dr. Estelle Merkin. When he dies of cancer, secret histories wash up in sorrow's wake-and Georgie must finally find the courage to confront her mother and their years of detachment and misunderstanding. And as her world seems to collapse around her, Georgie may just rediscover an unexpected love and the depth of the roots that define her.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451219481
• ISBN13: 9780451219480
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: NAL Trade
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.7" x 5.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Great friend of a book - it comforts and entertains!

Bokat delves into the behaviors of grief and family dynamics in this page-turner. When Georgie loses her father, she is left to confront her mother and ultimately to face herself. She is divorced and lonely, living on the edge of New York City, struggling to maintain her career in glamour journalism. Likeable and laid back, Georgie becomes a friend in this novel and entertains us with the diversions she finds from her grief, but writer Bokat dazzles us more with her psychological exploration of the reactions to a family secret revealed shortly after her father's death. WHAT MATTERS MOST draws us into Georgie's story with succulent details, sex and intrigue, yet this woman's novel goes beyond the plot and makes us question the core meaning behind the drama of our own life and love.

Family!

Reading this novel makes one realize how complex all of our families really are in everyday life. Georgie drew me in immediately by her honesty and simplicity. Her journey is one that many of us have taken. This was a wonderfully comforting and enjoyable read. I highly recommend it.

wonderful moving read

What Matters Most is the sort of book that you don't put down. It pulls you through the lives of a family grieving for the loss of a beloved parent. Bokat writes movingly and believably about the aftermath; the fragmentation that occurs when a father (and husband) dies. This is a finely wrought novel that is both poignant and uplifting.

brilliant, poignant, beautifully written

WHAT MATTERS MOST by Nicole Bokat is one of the best-written, honest, most emotinally wise novels I've read in years. The friction in the mother-daughter relationship is believable and psychologically astute and I couldn't help but root for the funny, smart, semi-bitter Georgie, a fabulous albeit flawed feminst heroine.

Hard to put down

I loved Nicole Bokat's book, and found it hard to put down. From the beginning scene at Georgia's father's funeral, I was hooked by the characters, especially Georgia. She is quirky, funny, maternal, slightly neurotic and just like someone you know. As Georgia juggled her flighty ex-husband, her serious son, her demanding mother, her sweet new boyfriend and her own grief, I got totally caught up in the story. Georgia has to face some hard decisions, and I was impressed by her (and the author's) bravery in confronting them head-on. It's a great story, and a real window into the grieving process. There are no easy answers. This is a terrific book, and great for book groups! There's plenty to talk about.