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A review by mishale1
The Good Part by Sophie Cousens
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
My grandmother used to say to never wish away days. She said you have to live through the bad days because as life goes on you really wouldn’t ever want to give up any time.
I thought of that when reading this book.
My god I found this book so sad for so much of the story.
Lucy is in her mid twenties. Life is rough. She shares an apartment with three other people, only one of which is a true friend and the others and their partners are kind of strange.
She’s not where she wants to be at work.
Dating sucks.
The only good part is her friends really. The author definitely managed to convince me that Lucy was pretty unhappy with the state of her life at this time.
After one particularly bad day, Lucy finds herself making a wish on a wishing machine to “get to the good part” of her life. She wakes up and suddenly she’s in her early forties. She’s married to a wonderful man (that she doesn’t know). She has kids who are strangers to her. She’s incredibly successful at work. She has a beautiful home. And she has the wardrobe and shoe closet of her dreams. Life looks pretty good. But she can’t remember getting there because she basically jumped forward 16 years!
As Lucy tries to figure out her circumstances she starts to wonder if maybe she didn’t time travel. Maybe she had amnesia or something of the like. And things keep popping into her mind that she feels like she shouldn’t remember.
But then there’s little Felix. He’s her son. He truly believes her and wants to help her find the washing machine so he can get his real mom back.
I was shocked that little Felix wound up being one of my favorite characters.
As Lucy starts to debate whether she can go back, and whether she wants to go back, she is confronted with something shocking and bad that happened during the past 16 years. This result of this event is likely to determine whether Lucy will go home if she can.
Like I said, I found so much of this book to be sad. I was sad for twenty-something Lucy. Then I was sad for forty-something Lucy. I was sad for the things she couldn’t remember and then I was sad when she started to remember.
I think the overall message would be that there are always going to be good things and bad things happening in your life simultaneously. And being twenty-something is fun sometimes even when it sucks. And being forty-something is still fun too. It’s not about getting to the good part, it’s about enjoying the good parts whenever they happen.
I thought of that when reading this book.
My god I found this book so sad for so much of the story.
Lucy is in her mid twenties. Life is rough. She shares an apartment with three other people, only one of which is a true friend and the others and their partners are kind of strange.
She’s not where she wants to be at work.
Dating sucks.
The only good part is her friends really. The author definitely managed to convince me that Lucy was pretty unhappy with the state of her life at this time.
After one particularly bad day, Lucy finds herself making a wish on a wishing machine to “get to the good part” of her life. She wakes up and suddenly she’s in her early forties. She’s married to a wonderful man (that she doesn’t know). She has kids who are strangers to her. She’s incredibly successful at work. She has a beautiful home. And she has the wardrobe and shoe closet of her dreams. Life looks pretty good. But she can’t remember getting there because she basically jumped forward 16 years!
As Lucy tries to figure out her circumstances she starts to wonder if maybe she didn’t time travel. Maybe she had amnesia or something of the like. And things keep popping into her mind that she feels like she shouldn’t remember.
But then there’s little Felix. He’s her son. He truly believes her and wants to help her find the washing machine so he can get his real mom back.
I was shocked that little Felix wound up being one of my favorite characters.
As Lucy starts to debate whether she can go back, and whether she wants to go back, she is confronted with something shocking and bad that happened during the past 16 years. This result of this event is likely to determine whether Lucy will go home if she can.
Like I said, I found so much of this book to be sad. I was sad for twenty-something Lucy. Then I was sad for forty-something Lucy. I was sad for the things she couldn’t remember and then I was sad when she started to remember.
I think the overall message would be that there are always going to be good things and bad things happening in your life simultaneously. And being twenty-something is fun sometimes even when it sucks. And being forty-something is still fun too. It’s not about getting to the good part, it’s about enjoying the good parts whenever they happen.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death and Death