What Happened to Goodbye – Sarah Dessen

Original title: What Happened to Goodbye (2011)

Earlier my favourite Sarah Dessen-novel was The Truth About Forever. Now, I’m not sure about that.

I like the plot in this novel; to find yourself. Mclean’s father works with reforming restaurants. That means moving around. To every place they move Mclean is someone new. She gets the chance to get a new start. Who is she this time?

I have been wanting to read this book for a long time. I was a bit surprised to find it at my local library. Of course I had to take it with me home.

At first, I was not sure if I would like the person Mclean was changing into. It was mostly based on the glass of beer she held in the beginning. I do not like the “it is normal for teenagers to drink, every teenager does that” that a lot of book seems to have and I was afraid that this was going to another novel like that. But I liked the person that Mclean changed into.

It is not a fast-going novel. Things does not happen fast. But I think it is just as it should be. Finding yourself is not something you do over a night.

I think the characters are believable and it has a good language. As a non-native English-speaker I did not found it hard to understand the language.

If there is something I disliked (or liked a little less, it was not really bad) about this book, it was the relationship between Mclean and her mother. Fine, Mclean wanted to be left alone to figure things out between them. But she did not have to be mean. I guess her mother should have listened more to Mclean, but I think Mclean could have handled the situation better. Or what do you think?

What Happened to Goodbye is a novel about finding yourself. I really liked this novel and I recommend it. If you like Sarah Dessen’s other novels, I think you will like this one too.