Goodbye Perfect Book Review + Q&A with Sara Barnard!
Hello everyone! Today I'm going to be sharing with you a no spoiler book review of Goodbye Perfect by Sara Barnard as well as a Q and A with the author! You can read my review of her previous book A Quiet Kind Of Thunder here!
Goodbye Perfect is the third book by UK writer Sara Barnard.
The story follows Eden and her best friend Bonnie. Eden and Bonnie have been
best friends for a very long time and despite being polar opposites, they are
super tight, the types of besties that tell each other everything. Until one
day when Bonnie decides to run away with her boyfriend without telling Eden.
Things get worse when the police show up at Eden’s doorstep and she finds out
her best friend’s boyfriend is also their school teacher. Sworn to secrecy and
bound by loyalty, only Eden knows Bonnie’s location and that’s the way it has
to stay. There is no way she can betray her best friend, not even when the
police are questioning her, not even when Bonnie’s disappearance ends up on the
front pages of every newspaper and not even when she has her own suspicious
growing doubts.
{ writing }
The writing, as per usual, was AMAZING. I have noticed over
the course of reading Barnard’s other books, that she has this incredible
ability to capture emotions really, really well, both of the characters and of
the reader. She is so matter of fact in her writing that it becomes incredibly relatable.
Barnard’s work revolves around the central theme of love.
This is familial and romantic love and friendships. This book involved them
all, although romantic love was less of an aspect compared to the other two. I
love the way Barnard captures love, and the different types of love that exist
between people.
Her writing can also be so philosophical at times which I
love! I think she blends it into her book incredibly well, which means the
message isn’t so heavy but it still gets across.
Overall, her writing is so amazing, and if the quotes I have
read don’t convince you, then I don’t know what can
{ ideas + plot }
Having read all of her previous works, and being an avid
reader of contemporary, I can confidently say that not are each of Barnard’s
works unique from other contemporary, they are unique from each other. Each of
her characters, and the situations they are in, stand out so much.
I love that she focuses on female friendships in her work,
as well as the importance of family. It’s so refreshing and such a breath of
fresh air. I liked that romance wasn’t such a huge part of this, it left more
room to concentrate on the actual plot. But the romance itself that was present
was great. I love how realistic her romances are and it was sweet. Slightly
unnecessary but sweet.
I liked the plot, very surprisingly. I didn’t know how this
would end, and while I didn’t necessarily love the ending just because of how
anti-climactic it felt, I liked that I couldn’t predict it.
{ characters }
I’ll be real with you, I didn’t really like the main
character. While there were certain aspects I liked about her, like how
fiercely loyal and protective she was, I also didn’t like how stand offish she
could be and she was quite unlikeable. I did like her insight into the adoption experience for her,
as well as the breakdown of adopted children tropes.
HOWEVER I loved the side characters, especially Eden’s
family and boyfriend. They were so well developed and had so much detail. I
loved how caring but flawed they could be and AHA they were just SO good.
Overall, I gave this book a 3.5 star rating. Compared to her
other books, I think this was the one I liked the least. But in saying that, I
don’t think it’s a failure on Barnard’s part as the story was well crafted, it
just didn’t resonate with me, and that’s a personal opinion. This book releases
on the 30th of January. You can purchase the paperback for $17 in
bookstores, or alternatively, ask your library to bring it in.
Thank you to Pan Macmillan for sending me a review copy of this book, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own and this is an honest review.
“I guess you’ll want to
know about me, too. What are a few things about me? Well, my name is Eden. Eden
Rose McKinley, in full. I like plants and flowers and things I can grow with my
hands. I was adopted when I was nine years old. I live in Kent. I have a
boyfriend called Connor. I once got suspended for drawing moustaches on the
portraits of the senior staff in the main entrance hall during a fire drill. My
teachers call me ‘spirited’ when they’re trying to be nice, and ‘disruptive’
when they’re not. One day I’m going to get a tattoo of a dandelion on my
shoulder. I used to have a recurring dream that I was being flown around in the
beak of a pelican. I like cannoli better than anything else in the world. I’m
not always as nice as I’d like to be.”
Thank you to Pan Macmillan for sending me a review copy of this book, however, all thoughts and opinions are my own and this is an honest review.
OVERALL RATING:
★★★½
QUESTION AND ANSWER!
1. Who are some of your
favourite fictional friendships?
I love Verity and
Queenie in Elizabeth Wein’s Code Name Verity, and also the female friendships
in the follow-up book, Rose Under Fire. I also recently read an American
contemporary YA by Emory Lord called Open Road Summer which had a rich female
friendship at its centre between Reagan and Dee.
2. Goodbye, Perfect
deals with some big social themes such as boundaries between figures of authority and teenagers.
What made you choose this topic to base the story on?
For me those themes came
hand-in-hand with the story I wanted to tell, which was what happens to Eden
when her best friend runs away with their teacher. I couldn’t tell that story
without properly exploring issues with boundaries and power dynamics, because
that’s so important. I didn’t want the story to be about Bonnie and Mr Cohn’s
relationship, but I also didn’t want to wuss out of addressing all of the
problems that went along with it.
3. The relationships
between Eden and her siblings played an important part in Goodbye, Perfect as well. Why do you
think it was important to show this?
For me any story starts
with a character and builds around them. With Eden, her relationships with her
biological sister Daisy and her adoptive older sister Valerie have had a huge
impact on who she is as a person, and how she sees herself. So they end up
playing an important part in the story, because they’re important to Eden.
4. In the book, Eden
takes a road trip with her sister and boyfriend. What would be on your essential road trip
playlist?
Probably some old, old
favourites. In the past I’ve spent some great roads trips with the company of
the Stereophonics, Snow Patrol and the Killers. I know playlists are the usual
way to go for road trip music, but I actually love listening to full albums
from favourite bands when there’s a long road ahead.
5. What are some of
your favourite lines from Goodbye, Perfect?
“I think that's what
love is. It's caring about the person’s entire life, not just the bit with the
two of you in it.”
I also like Eden’s
introduction to herself:
3 happy thoughts
I haven't heard of this book before but I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I always love asking authors what their favorite lines are from their books, I find it so interesting!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
~Brittany @ Brittany's Book Rambles
This sounds really interesting, though I think I'd have to be in the right mindframe to read it. I have enjoyed Barnard's other books, though, especially A Quiet Kind of Thunder
ReplyDeleteShanti@Virtually Read
I'm glad you liked this one, Anisha! I read the author's first book and wasn't the hugest fan, but I did love the focus on friendship and family over romantic relationships. Even though I love my ships as much as anything, I so like books that show how friendships can be just as important and life changing and heartbreaking as romantic relationships. I'm glad that this book had that element in it, as well! I think it's especially important for YA books to shine a light on. My friendships were definitely #1 to me as a teen, and they were just as tumultuous and dramatic as anything, haha.
ReplyDeleteLovely review, dear! <3
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