Goodbye Lemon - Softcover

Davies, Adam

Softcover

ISBN 13: 9791594480712

Publisher: Riverhead Trade, 2006

Synopsis

A piercing and hilarious story about love, family, and redemption by the author of The Frog King.

Jack Tennant is going home. Against his better judgment, he has succumbed to his mother's guilt-laden pleas that he see his estranged father. Jack's do-gooder girlfriend believes that this trip is a chance for Jack to achieve peace with his family, but there's a lot she doesn't know about the Tennants. So Jack finds himself in the uncomfortable position of having to make a decision he's avoided for years. Should he walk away and leave his crazy family to solve their problems without him? Or should he try to mend fences that have been broken for as long as he can remember?

About this title

About the Author

Adam Davies is the author of The Frog King. He lives in New York City.

Reviews

*Starred Review.* When Jack Tennant, a frustrated 32-year-old adjunct lecturer and part-time women's shelter night supervisor, returns to a Baltimore suburb to confront the wealthy WASP clan he cut off contact with 15 years before, we know what to expect: emotions will erupt, secrets will be revealed and some resolution will be found. Yet Davies (The Frog King) makes it all happen in such a fresh, smart way the conventions of this conceit are almost forgotten. Ostensibly visiting to help care for his father following a debilitating stroke (and to satisfy his girlfriend, Hahva, who thinks he needs closure), Jack sees his return as his last chance to confront the old man"who is fully conscious but entirely paralyzed. Jack blames his father, Guilford Tennant, a stern ex-marine and alcoholic industry executive, for Jack's brother Dexter's death at six (Jack was five; Dexter was known as Lemon) and for ending Jack's chance to study piano at Juilliard. Of course, things don't develop as Jack expects, and how Jack gets to the point of wanting to love his father "exactly the way he deserves" is a story that soars on the same jet stream of inspired wordplay and literary tics that made The Frog King a dazzling read. Bitter, smart and soaked in dark humor, Jack and his narrative harbor enormous heart. (Aug. 1)
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Edition details

• Publisher: Riverhead Trade
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 13: 9791594480712
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 289