jennyshank's review against another edition
https://www.dallasnews.com/arts/books/2018/09/28/andre-dubus-iii-dallas-gone-long-review
Dallas Morning News, September 28, 2018
Andre Dubus III excels at getting inside the skin of bad men. In his last novel, The Garden of Last Days, he probed the psyche of a 9/11 attacker. Gone So Long tells the story of Daniel Ahearn, a man in his 60s who, in a fit of jealous rage, killed his wife, Linda, when they were in their early 20s, leaving his 3-year-old daughter, Susan, behind as he went to prison.
Ahearn has been free for decades and longs to see Susan. Aided by scant clues and the internet, he sets out from Massachusetts to find her in Florida, where she's an adjunct at a university.
Gone So Long alternates in perspective between Daniel, who has lived out of prison as a celibate penitent, volunteering to help the elderly; Susan, who has stopped work on her novel to try to write a memoir of her tumultuous past and break free from her difficulty in relationships; and Lois, Linda's mother, who raised Susan. Lois is an unforgettable character — a cranky, profane, cigarette-smoking, hard-driving, 82-year-old antiques dealer who is the embodiment of tough love, and Dubus reveals every shard of her broken heart.
Dubus vividly evokes the faded midway in Salisbury Beach, Mass. — where Linda's parents owned a penny arcade and Daniel worked as a DJ on a carnival ride — in all its grandeur and seediness, peopled with colorful characters, such as Jimmy Squeeze, who "could hold a pencil between his chest muscles."
Gone So Long is chilling in its relentless evaluation of women's beauty. Virtually every time female characters appear, they are framed in terms of how attractive they are. Some are obese or suffer "swollen and purple" legs so horrible even a convicted killer must look away, while men relentlessly peruse and pursue the beautiful, especially Susan and her doomed mother Linda. Susan, in her love for reading and her dream of writing a book, and as the first of her family to graduate college, has tried to build for herself a life of the mind, but in the haunting world of Gone So Long, women's bodies dictate their fate.
In the end, as in all of his novels, Dubus brings the storylines together, causing multiple pots to boil over at once in a climax that surprises and satisfies.
Jenny Shank's first novel, "The Ringer," won the High Plains Book Award.
Dallas Morning News, September 28, 2018
Andre Dubus III excels at getting inside the skin of bad men. In his last novel, The Garden of Last Days, he probed the psyche of a 9/11 attacker. Gone So Long tells the story of Daniel Ahearn, a man in his 60s who, in a fit of jealous rage, killed his wife, Linda, when they were in their early 20s, leaving his 3-year-old daughter, Susan, behind as he went to prison.
Ahearn has been free for decades and longs to see Susan. Aided by scant clues and the internet, he sets out from Massachusetts to find her in Florida, where she's an adjunct at a university.
Gone So Long alternates in perspective between Daniel, who has lived out of prison as a celibate penitent, volunteering to help the elderly; Susan, who has stopped work on her novel to try to write a memoir of her tumultuous past and break free from her difficulty in relationships; and Lois, Linda's mother, who raised Susan. Lois is an unforgettable character — a cranky, profane, cigarette-smoking, hard-driving, 82-year-old antiques dealer who is the embodiment of tough love, and Dubus reveals every shard of her broken heart.
Dubus vividly evokes the faded midway in Salisbury Beach, Mass. — where Linda's parents owned a penny arcade and Daniel worked as a DJ on a carnival ride — in all its grandeur and seediness, peopled with colorful characters, such as Jimmy Squeeze, who "could hold a pencil between his chest muscles."
Gone So Long is chilling in its relentless evaluation of women's beauty. Virtually every time female characters appear, they are framed in terms of how attractive they are. Some are obese or suffer "swollen and purple" legs so horrible even a convicted killer must look away, while men relentlessly peruse and pursue the beautiful, especially Susan and her doomed mother Linda. Susan, in her love for reading and her dream of writing a book, and as the first of her family to graduate college, has tried to build for herself a life of the mind, but in the haunting world of Gone So Long, women's bodies dictate their fate.
In the end, as in all of his novels, Dubus brings the storylines together, causing multiple pots to boil over at once in a climax that surprises and satisfies.
Jenny Shank's first novel, "The Ringer," won the High Plains Book Award.
soliteyah's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
catladyjenna1's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
nikkihayes's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
susannepari's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
tpanik's review against another edition
3.0
A complete and utter downer, as these broken characters never truly find, embrace, or welcome redemption.
yetanothersusan's review against another edition
4.0
I was not prepared for the long emotional journey this book would be. The story is told through the eyes of daughter, father, and grandmother, all who are dealing with the aftermath of the father killing his wife (who is the mother and daughter of the other two). I loved how well Mr. Dubus etched out his characters, detail by detail and painstakingly pieced the story together. I did get a little turned around with the jumps between narrators but more so from the jumps in time. Having three characters doing it, and sometimes getting multiple memories of the same event, was a bit confusing. But I do not know how else Mr. Dubus could have created the story he did without doing just that. This is not a light and easy beach read. This is a get yourself lost in another world and eat ice cream because you are feeling the characters angst kind of read.
A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and W. W. Norton and Company in exchange for an honest review.
A copy of this book was provided by NetGalley and W. W. Norton and Company in exchange for an honest review.
brookepalmer796's review against another edition
1.0
75 pages in and I'm so bored. The writing is so disjointed and filled with meaningless details.
abookishtype's review against another edition
5.0
Some actions are unforgivable. Though our Western culture is steeped in a religion that exhorts us to forgive those who trespass against us, there’s not a whole lot of guidance on how to do that or how we should live if we can’t forgive someone. In Andre Dubus’s shattering new novel, Gone So Long, we follow a daughter and her grandmother who cannot forgive a man for murdering the girl’s mother. The novel builds and builds to the moment when daughter and father meet again after 40 years…but to get there we have to hear the whole story and its aftermath first...
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and Edelweiss, for review consideration.
Read the rest of my review at A Bookish Type. I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley and Edelweiss, for review consideration.
evherold's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Such a lovely book. Beautiful writing. One of my favorite authors. He has such way of developing his characters that they stay with you for a long time. If I could give this 10 stars I would. Could you still love someone that did such a terrible thing imaginable to someone else that you love. What does it take to forgive someone and what effect does this have on your life. Deep deep book.
I highly recommend house of sand and fog by this same author.
I highly recommend house of sand and fog by this same author.