Where Was Goodbye? by Janice Lynn Mather (review)

Reviewed by: Where Was Goodbye? by Janice Lynn Mather April Spisak Mather, Janice Lynn Where Was Goodbye? Simon, 2024 304p Trade ed. ISBN 9781665903950 19. 99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781665903974 10. 99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 8-10 Karmen's return to school less than two months after her brother Julian died by suicide goes poorly—she feels under a microscope, far too raw for the usual high school carelessness and taunts, and also pressured by her father who thinks behaving normally will restore normalcy. When she is suspended after a fight, the time off gives her breathing room to try to find people who knew her brother, certain that End Page 329 if she just finds the right person and asks the right questions, then she'll finally get answers. She finds, however, nothing but unraveled threads, more questions, and the realization that she must learn to live without ever actually learning why her brother took his life. There is a world waiting for her—a new girl who could be a friend, a long-time crush who is interested back, parents who both want to help her and need her help, and plans for what to do after high school—Karmen can make peace with embracing life even though her brother could not. Set in the Bahamas, this wrenching novel is absolutely compelling, with a vulnerable, sympathetic narrator whose journey toward healing is tenderly conveyed. The reader's helplessness of watching Karmen stumble toward danger mirrors her own powerlessness in realizing that her brother had been hurting for years, and she couldn't have helped him. It is a significant relief that she is able to find her core again, and her slow, not always linear, steps through grief are both realistic and reassuring. Copyright © 2024 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois