Never coming back

Format:

Book

Title:

Never coming back

Author:

McGhee, Alison, 1960- author

ISBN:

9781328767561

Publication:

Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.

Physical Description:

248 pages ; 24 cm

Summary:

"When Clara Winter left her rural Adirondack Mountain town for college, she never looked back. Her mother, Tamar, a fiercely independent but loving woman who raised Clara on her own, all but pushed her out the door, forcing Clara to build a new life for herself, far from her roots, far from her high school boyfriend, far from the life she has always known. Now more than a decade has passed, and Clara, a successful writer, has been summoned home. Tamar has become increasingly forgetful and can no longer live on her own. But just as her mother's memory is beginning to slip away, Clara's questions are building. Why was Tamar so insistent that Clara leave home all those years ago? Just what secrets was she hiding? If Clara, too, carries inside her the gene for early-onset Alzheimer's, what does that mean for her own future? With great tenderness and humanity, Alison McGhee tells the story of a young woman finding her way in life, determined to know her mother--and by extension herself--before it's too late"-- Provided by publisher.

Subject(s):

Mothers and daughters -- Fiction.

Parent and adult child -- Fiction.

Alzheimer's disease -- Fiction.

Genre:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Woodburn Public Library	McGhee	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Silver Falls Library	FIC MCGHEE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

When Clara Winter left her rural Adirondacks town for college, she never looked back. Her mother, Tamar, a loving but fiercely independent woman who raised Clara on her own, all but pushed her out the door, and so Clara built a new life for herself, far from her roots and the world she had always known.

Now more than a decade has passed, and Clara, a successful writer, has been summoned home. Tamar has become increasingly forgetful, and can no longer live on her own. But just as her mother's memory is declining, Clara's questions are building. Why was Tamar so insistent that Clara leave, all those years ago? Just what secrets was she hiding?

The surprising answers Clara uncovers are rooted in her mother's love for her, and the sacrifices Tamar made to protect her. And in being released from her past--though now surrounded by friends from it--Clara can finally look forward to the future. Never Coming Back is a brilliant and piercing story of a young woman finding her way in life, determined to know her mother--and by extension herself--before it's too late.

Author Notes

Alison McGhee lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

She is the recipient of a Loft-McKnight Fellowship, a Minnesota State Arts Board Fellowship, a 1995 Editor's Fiction Prize from Snake nation, and a Pushcart Prize honorable mention. Her title Bink and Gollie, Two for One with Kate DiCamillo made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012.

(Publisher Provided)

Reviews (4)

Publisher's Weekly Review

In this poignant meditiation on the relationship between a mother and daughter from McGhee (Shadow Baby), Clara Winter is 31 when she first notices that her almost-50-year-old mother, Tamar, seems to be more forgetful than usual. After learning that her mother has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, Clara moves from her home in Florida back to the Adirondacks where she grew up. Clara's fear of facing her mother's deteriorating health is coupled with her own concern that there is a 50-50 chance she has inherited the gene that causes early-onset Alzheimer's. She also wants to find out why her mother so adamantly pushed her to attend college far away but fears that, due to her mother's condition, she may never find out. Though this well-written story will appeal to a broad range of readers for its rich characterization, mothers and daughters will especially find Clara's and Tamar's story moving and memorable. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Kirkus Review

A luminous novel about a daughter who attempts to make peace with her mother, who's been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease; McGhee revisits characters from Shadow Baby (2000).Clara Winter, a preteen in the earlier book, is now in her early 30s, making a meager living writing eulogies or wedding tributes for $100 a pop. When she learns that her mother has been diagnosed with dementia, she moves from Florida back to the Adirondacks, where she grew up. Her mother, meanwhile, has sold her house and all its possessionswith the exception of Clara's childhood booksand moved into a nursing home. Clara wants to say goodbye to her mom, the "fearsome" Tamar, but she is also desperate to solve a mystery from her youth: why did her high school boyfriend break up with her after a conversation with her mother? Despite Clara's age, the book sometimes has the ring of a young-adult novel: Clara's budding romance with a sweet, hunky bartender seems uncomplicated by whatever life she has been living for the past decade, her only friendships are with college friends, and her obsession with high school secrets would make more sense for a younger character. McGhee nimbly structures the novel as a version of Tamar's favorite television show, Jeopardy, and if the answers to Clara's questions aren't as compelling as the hunt to find them, the author's gift for subtly poetic language and her believable dialogue make Clara's journey worth following. McGhee has an almost musical ability to repeat the themes of her novel with enough variation to keep them fresh. Fierce, complicated characters appear to grow out of the severe Adirondack landscape, and McGhee swerves away from sentimentality in addressing the relentlessly changing relationship at the novel's core. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Booklist Review

Clara Winter didn't think she'd ever return to the Adirondacks. Now in her early thirties, Clara moves homeish, squeezing the bare essentials and her beloved book collection into a 250-square-foot cabin in Old Forge. Clara's mother, a ruggedly independent woman named Tamar, has been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, and Clara knows this is her last chance to gain any insight into her mother's mysterious past. Clara and Tamar's relationship has always been fraught, so both parties are skeptical about any true reconciliation. Even so, Clara and Tamar reach a new level of understanding about themselves, each other, and the meaning of family in McGhee's quietly powerful novel. Clara's emotional journey is buoyed by her close friends and a potential romantic interest, injecting some levity into the cathartic story. Fans of Sara Baume, Holly Chamberlin, and Francesca Segal will appreciate McGhee's magnetic prose and her ability to pack a richly detailed story into a slim novel. Atmospheric and introspective, Never Coming Back will resonate with those who have lost a parent to illness or estrangement but still have questions they'd like to be answered.--Turza, Stephanie Copyright 2017 Booklist

Library Journal Review

When 31-year-old writer Clara returns home to help care for her single mother, Tamar, who was recently diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's, she's desperate to learn the answers to two long-troubling questions: What did Tamar say to Clara's now-deceased ex-boyfriend that made him break up with her all those years ago, and why did Tamar secretly arrange for her to leave home to attend college? While racing against time and disease to find the answers, Clara leans on college friends and an attractive local bartender for support and learns more about her mother and herself. McGhee's latest novel (Shadow Baby; Someday) not only tackles the complexities of a mother-daughter relationship and the unresolved conflicts that can have lasting effects on both women, it also informs readers about how Alzheimer's can quickly and cruelly ravage a person. The author's many references to an enduring TV game show and its famous host help lighten the mood while cleverly adding to the novel's realism. Verdict Although Tamar and Clara are stubborn and not always likable, readers will root for them to gain closure and find peace. For fans of realistic fiction about difficult family relationships.-Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.