Perhaps I should start by explaining why I read this book in the first place. Well, my daughter is getting married, and I read How I Planned Your Wedding, which is written by Susan Wiggs and her daughter, Elizabeth. It was hilarious, and I wanted to read something by Susan -- she's a romance writer.
The Goodbye Quilt isn't a romance. It's a "niche" book, and I fill the niche.
Molly is going to college across the country, and she and her mother, Linda, are going on a road trip to deliver Molly. Linda is also making a memory quilt for Molly, using fabrics from all sorts of places from her childhood. As Molly drives, Linda works on the quilt. The story is told by Linda, and she regales us with stories of Molly's childhood as we go along.
I'm a quilter. I have a daughter who went away to college, and will soon be married and moving out of my house. So you can see why I could very much relate to the story. It's well written, and was well-narrated. The pace was a bit slow at times, especially when Linda was taking us back in time, but I liked the meandering pace. Some might not.
The Goodbye Quilt is a short book -- only 224 pages, and that was also a plus. I don't know if I could listen to much more than four disks of this story. It's a story about a woman finding herself after her only child leaves home. There are many episodes of inner struggles to figure out what she's going to be, now that she doesn't need to be a mother any more. The ending was predicted, but still satisfying.
I still want to read one of Susan Wiggs' romances, but I am not sorry I read The Goodbye Quilt. Recommended to adult women, probably mothers, whose children are growing up.
Published by Mira, 2011
Audiobook obtained from the library
224 pages
Rating: 3/5
Sounds like a sweet read. Thankfully, my kids are all little (oldest will turn 10 this summer), and I have a long way before I have to say goodbye to them and send them off to college. But all the same, I think I might like this book.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the upcoming wedding. Children's milestones are bittersweet. We've got college coming up in the next couple of years and I know these next few years will go by too fast.
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