Reviewer: Amy Lignor
Title: The Goodbye Cousins
Author: Maggie Leffler
Publisher: Bantam
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-34047-2
Release Date: June 2009
Genre/Sub-genre: Women's Fiction
Year/Setting: Present day, Pittsburgh
Overall Rating: 4.0
Sexual Content Rating: Subtle/Sensual
Language (Profanity/Slang) Content Rating: None/Mild
Violent Content Rating: None
Maggie's Website: www.maggieleffler.com
Dear Readers,
You know me.I love funny. Sarcasm that engages and intrigues is an art form that I wish all other authors could grasp and deliver as well as Ms. Leffler has. Don't get me wrong, she's wrapped the humor and comedy into a wonderful story about love, pain, faith, and a need for a place in this world. But the delivery of the lines is absolutely fabulous and transcends the normal, plethora of books that are out there, begging readers to weep for their characters.
Diotima Linzer was kidnapped by her mother. She was taken from her home in Pittsburgh across the ocean to London. When she was eleven, she left behind a broken-hearted father who did everything in his power to find his little girl and bring her home. But.the FBI never found them.
Di has made her way back. She's a single mother now. Her two-year-old son, Max, is an extremely cute, obnoxious, loveable little man - just like they all are at that age. And Di will do anything to give him the life she wasn't able to have. She also wants with all her heart to search for the father she was ripped from so long ago. She temporarily moves in with her best friend and cousin, Alecia. Alecia has a fiance, Ben, and they're living in an overly-crowded apartment with wedding gifts lying all over the place for Max to break.
Not only putting up with the pain and agony of close-quarters, Di also finds herself flung into a job she doesn't really know how to do, and falls for a rich, stunning, "soon to be divorced" father of a boy who is troubled. The boy's name is Augustus or Gusty. He, by the way, is my favorite part of the whole book. This kid has been placed into a bubble by his parents and he is longing to break free. His disease can be regulated and he CAN live a good life, if his parents would just stop treating him like a china-doll.
The characters will keep you laughing. The story will most-likely pull at your heart-strings, and yes, you'll shed a tear. But that, to me, is what good fiction and good faith is all about. It's fine to have a journey to discovery - but if you can laugh while doing it, the conclusion is always a victory. Bravo Ms. Leffler! I'll look forward to the next one.
Until next time, Amy
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