Goodbye Without Leaving: Amazon.ca: Laurie Colwin: Books

Product Description

--Los Angeles Times Book Review

"[Colwin's] eloquence is zany and startling at the same time...Exhilarating and very funny." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

--Self

"One of this year's funniest and most charming heroines." --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Inside This Book (Learn More)
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First Sentence
During my career as a backup singer with Vernon and Ruby Shakely and the Shakettes, it often occurred to me that this was not a lifetime occupation and that someday I could have to figure out my rightful place in society. Read the first page

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Concordance

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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

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Customer Reviews

7 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.3 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)

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Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars I love this book, Jan 3 2010

By	B. A. Scharf (BC, Canada) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Goodbye Without Leaving (Paperback)

First read it years ago when rather bemusedly trying to make a new life for myself as a stay-at-home mom with a very new baby. Must have been just the right time in my life for this - the story just SPOKE to me, LOL!

Creative, funny, poignant fiction.

In her other life, Colwin wrote articles for Gourmet magazine. Invariably clever and funny, and her recipes were pretty fine, too.

This writer deserves a look if you're not already familiar with her.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Laurie loved music, Dec 24 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Goodbye Without Leaving (Paperback)

I came here to buy this book, and realized I've never reviewed it.
I find the first paragraph a stumbling block-- Laurie Colwin is growing up?- but after that almost everything about this novel (the writing especially) leaves me speechless. The notion that she is the white Shakette, the images of dancing and hanging out with the band-- or buying the record, "I've Got What it Takes, But it Breaks my hear to give it away," it's all skillfully done.
I almost feel as if we share the same soul. Laurie loved cooking and food, and dancing and R&B.

And she knew how to put it all down on paper.
Goodbye Without Leaving: perhaps the title says it all. Still, I miss her.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Dreamy fun and witty contempt, Sep 20 2003

By	Peggy Vincent "author and reader" (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Goodbye Without Leaving (Paperback)

I first discovered Laurie Colwin within the pages of Gourmet magazine about 15 years ago. With pleasure, I awaited each issue to see if another of her wonderful columns would appear. Then, in 1992 came the sad announcement of her untimely death at age 48. It was then that I discovered she wasn't only a food writer of incomparable wit and wisdom; she was also a novelist. So I began reading everything she'd written. My favorites are A Big Storm Knocked It Over and this one, Goodbye Without Leaving.
Geraldine Coleshares gives up grad school at the Univ of Chicago to become the only white backup singer for a R&B group, the Shakettes. Her days with the band, life on the bus and on the road, make everything that comes after (marriage, kids, a job) pale by comparison. Told mostly in retrospect, Geraldine's story is a never-boring exploration of such potential clich�s as family, friendship, career, parenthood, and love.
Terrific. Read it, and then read her other ones.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A loving portrayal of modern womanhood.
Though a Laurie Colwin devotee, it took me three or four tries to get into "Goodbye without Leaving. Read more

Published on April 18 2003 by thurberanne

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
The Rock Group episodes were intriguing and quirky. Held my interest. But once the protagonist conceives and goes through the pregnancy and motherhood cycle the book becomes a... Read more

Published on Aug 2 2001

4.0 out of 5 stars Real life
I read this book the first time 10 years ago. It is neither the best-written nor most important novel I have read during that time but it sticks with me more than any other and I... Read more

Published on Feb 14 2001 by Carol Copeland