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Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Strathcona County Library.
Apr 11, 2015
In Sarah Dessen’s “What Happened to Goodbye” Mclean Sweet has moved four towns in the last two years. Her father works as a consultant for an eatery chain, and his job is to rehab restaurants that have not been performing to standards. Her parents divorced two years ago, when her mother cheated on her dad with the coach of his favourite basketball team, a double betrayal that has left Mclean angry and bitter. In an attempt to escape her past, and her parents' very public divorce, Mclean has taken to reinventing herself at every school she goes to. She's been Beth and Lizbeth and Eliza, but never, Mclean. Somehow, though, this changes when she moves to Lakeview. For some reason, despite her efforts, she can't seem to get away from her real name, and consequently, her real self. Soon she finds herself making friends, and even possibly falling seriously for a boy. As with most Dessen novels, this one is populated by a kooky cast of adorable friends, all of whom I loved. The main reason this book worked so well for me, though, was Mclean. Sarah Dessen's heroines generally tend to be more passive-aggressive than pro-active. Even their rebellions are slow things, a bubbling under the cauldron that finally froths over. Mclean, however, is open about her anger and her conflict from the word go. She doesn't secretly rebel- she fights her mother with everything she's got, for the right to make her own choices. She doesn't mince any words in expressing her anger and disappointment with her mother, and she doesn't let her mom's clingy ways steamroller her. There was never any point where I wanted to shake her and scream "SAY IT ALREADY", which is a thing that happens all too often to me with Sarah Dessen’s main character. The title is slightly cheesy as the premise to this book is Mclean always having to say goodbye but all in all, this was an excellent read, like most of Dessen's books. But there's one thing I've come to realize, and that is that you either like Sarah Dessen's style, or you don't. If you do, the relative sameness of her books is like a comforting security blanket you can always return to. If you don't, well, you might want to give this one a miss.