In The Optimist's Guide to Letting Go by Amy E. Reichert, Gina is just trying to get through each day. She desperately misses her late husband, dead only two years, and is struggling to know how to care for her heartbroken teenage daughter, May. Meanwhile May is frustrated that her mother doesn't seem to show any sadness at all or any attention to her. On top of all this, Gina's difficult mother, Lorraine, has had a stroke and Gina must figure out what she needs. When an earth-shifting secret is revealed and a whole lot of together time is required, everyone's perspective gets just a little bit wider.
Gina's struggles with widowhood are heartbreaking and feel very real. Add to that the perplexities of parenting a teenage daughter and it becomes so much more complicated.
..she wanted more than anything to be a good mother. She wanted to be a mommy, or a ma, or a mama. Not the cold "Regina" May had taken to using the last year...when she deigned to address her at all. Gina missed the unconditional love of a baby.
Gina then strives to know how to care for an ailing mother that she never felt cared that much for her. A lifetime of biting criticism and harsh judgement has left Lorraine and Gina unknown to one another.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a quick, easy read about characters who were easy to like, or at least understand. Everyone has secrets- from each other or from themselves. This book explores a bit about what happens when they are finally revealed.
Add this one to your summer reading list.
Gina's struggles with widowhood are heartbreaking and feel very real. Add to that the perplexities of parenting a teenage daughter and it becomes so much more complicated.
..she wanted more than anything to be a good mother. She wanted to be a mommy, or a ma, or a mama. Not the cold "Regina" May had taken to using the last year...when she deigned to address her at all. Gina missed the unconditional love of a baby.
Gina then strives to know how to care for an ailing mother that she never felt cared that much for her. A lifetime of biting criticism and harsh judgement has left Lorraine and Gina unknown to one another.
I really enjoyed reading this book. It was a quick, easy read about characters who were easy to like, or at least understand. Everyone has secrets- from each other or from themselves. This book explores a bit about what happens when they are finally revealed.
Add this one to your summer reading list.
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