Good Riddance
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Average rating3.5
In a delightful new romantic comedy from Elinor Lipman, one woman’s trash becomes another woman’s treasure, with deliriously entertaining results. Daphne Maritch doesn't quite know what to make of the heavily annotated high school yearbook she inherits from her mother, who held this relic dear. Too dear. The late June Winter Maritch was the teacher to whom the class of '68 had dedicated its yearbook, and in turn she went on to attend every reunion, scribbling notes and observations after each one—not always charitably—and noting who overstepped boundaries of many kinds. In a fit of decluttering (the yearbook did not, Daphne concluded, "spark joy"), she discards it when she moves to a small New York City apartment. But when it's found in the recycling bin by a busybody neighbor/documentary filmmaker, the yearbook's mysteries—not to mention her own family's—take on a whole new urgency, and Daphne finds herself entangled in a series of events both poignant and absurd. Good Riddance is a pitch-perfect, whip-smart new novel from an "enchanting, infinitely witty yet serious, exceptionally intelligent, wholly original, and Austen-like stylist" (Washington Post).
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The yearbook might be the best character in this book. It's definitely the best character that never says a word.
Daphne inherits a high school yearbook from her mother. It turns out to be the yearbook on which her mother served as an advisor early in her teaching career. The annual didn't seem overly precious to Daphne, who followed the Marie Condo advice of tossing out what doesn't give you joy when you MUST downsize. A downsize demanded by her divorce to a man who married her to get an inheritance, then dropped her flat.
However, it turned out that yearbook held secrets. No one knew quite what they were. Daphne's mother attended every class reunion of the Pickering High School, Class of ‘68 and made notes in the yearbook about the senior class members. Successful. Fat. Happy. Bald. Divorced.
However, it seemed at least one student, who later became a State Senator, was particularly close to Daphne's mother. Close enough to be a relative to Daphne.
Daphne's life increases in difficulty when her neighbor, Geneva, fishes the old yearbook out of the recycle bin and explores its contents with more scrutiny than Daphne ever gave it. Geneva begins to loosely assemble the puzzle, determined to make a documentary out of the yearbook. In a “finders keepers/losers weepers” enforcement of the law, Daphne is unable to regain possession of the yearbook.
Daphne's across-the-hall neighbors learns of Daphne's plight. Jeremy's an understanding, sympathetic, good lucking minor star in a TV series. (This is probably the most unbelievable aspect of the story. Who gets that kind of neighbor?) Still, he and Daphne become friends with benefits.
I was all in on this story until the very end. I didn't understand why the yearbook ended up the way it did. But the dialogue is so witty and spot on, I'll let that go. Great book.
Quick, fun read with Lipman's trademark quirky characters. Reminded me a little of my absolute favorite Lipman, [b:Then She Found Me 483369 Then She Found Me Elinor Lipman https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1348466722s/483369.jpg 902699] (avoid the movie at all costs), with a loud, brash woman barging into the life of the heroine and upending it, but Geneva was nowhere as endearing as the formidable Bernice Graverman. Also the love story was much less charming.Lipman writes a type of East Coast heroine who may not be very likable to a lot of people. Daphne has a certain air of entitlement to her (who still gets alimony these days, much less bargains to get an increase?) and a lack of direction, but she has a lovely relationship with her widowed father and her attempts to have a modern “friends with benefits” relationship with her neighbor are obviously hiding a the soul of a romantic.The plot has more action than Lipman's most recent book, [b:On Turpentine Lane 28114543 On Turpentine Lane Elinor Lipman https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1460104825s/28114543.jpg 48123847] although as always nothing seems to have serious dramatic stakes, or at least nothing that can't be cured with a witty remark and a fancy cocktail. Lipman is completely out of touch with modern literature and that's fine with me. There's no politics, no poverty, no really seriously bad people in her books, just human foibles, bon mots and bonbons.
