Madeleine Reiss

"Before We Say Goodbye "was a tender, heartwarming story of love and letting go. I loved that Josie and her nineteen-year-old dying son, Scott, both had a voice. It made me connect with them more deeply and they felt real. Scott was wise beyond his years and accepting of the fact that he only had limited time left on earth while Josie’s love, desperation and anguish tore at my heart.

The bond Josie and Scott shared was magical. It wasn’t perfect, they annoyed and frustrated each other, but it was deep and strong and enduring.

At times funny, poignant, painful and uplifting, "Before We Say Goodbye" was moving read.… (mais)

“Two sisters. One road trip. What could possibly go wrong?” Well, a bizarre sub plot involving a Diana Spencer obsessed truck driver, for a start.

Safe, sensible Lottie is planning her wedding to her long-term boyfriend. Her sister, wild, carefree Tina, wants to take her on a road trip to show her that there’s more to life than settling down. Along the way, the sisters learn more about themselves, and about each-other.

There are some nice moments in this book, and some thought-provoking moments, touching as it does on domestic violence, but the ending is very predictable, and feels a little rushed. The afore-mentioned Diana fan bit seems rather forced, in order to create a specific situation. A good idea that needed a bit more polish.
… (mais)

Lottie and Tina are sisters who, now living in different countries, have drifted apart since the death of their older sister Mia three years earlier. Each of them is struggling with unresolved feelings about her death and they’ve never shared anything about their feelings of guilt that they could, and probably should, have done more to support her. Lottie is a calm, reliable person, apparently content with her comfortable, predictable life and her vision of the future. She’s been in a long-term relationship with history teacher Dean and is shortly due to marry him. Tina, who prides herself on being “foot-loose and fancy-free”, on always being open to new adventures, is concerned that her sister is about to make a huge mistake and suggests that Lottie should join her for a two-week road trip through some of the western states of the USA. As a child Mia had been a huge fan of cowboy films and had always expressed the wish that, following her death, she wanted her ashes to be scattered at a very specific location which had featured in her favourite film. Using the search for this location as the focus of the trip, as well as the hope that it would enable them to become closer again, Tina manages to persuade Lottie to cancel her arrangements for a more traditional hen-do and join her to fulfil Mia’s wish. However, what Lottie doesn’t realise until she arrives in America is her sister’s determination to make her question her love for Dean and, according to Tina, the staid, boring future which awaits her. To shake up what she regards as her sister’s settled complacency, her unwillingness to take risks, Tina makes Lottie promise that she must say agree to every challenge she sets her, no matter how uncomfortable any of them makes her feel.
I’m one of three sisters and a major strength of this story for me was the way in which the author captured so convincingly not only the complex mix of fierce rivalry, loyalty and love which permeates relationships between sisters, but also the powerful and unexpected ways in which old patterns of behaviour are likely to be resurrected whenever siblings get together! There were moments when I thought that some of the interactions between Lottie and Tina stretched my credulity, with many of their “out of character” decisions feeling far too exaggerated, However, I think that many of her reflections on how, at times of crisis, people can reassess their relationships and make changes which will strengthen their bonds, were very acutely observed. Initially I did find myself feeling very irritated by Tina’s manipulative, and at times childish, behaviour in relation to Lottie but, as the story progressed and it became clearer that Tina was far more vulnerable than she at first appeared, this feeling lessened – although it didn’t completely disappear!
In an unexpected and unplanned way, the sisters are joined on their journey by an ex-boyfriend of Tina and, whilst he becomes a useful conduit for some of the plot development and the insights into what makes each of the sisters tick, I found his presence, and several scenarios which resulted, just a bit too contrived. Some of the other characters the trio met during their journey did add an enjoyable dimension to the developing story – even if some of them did seem rather clichéd!
When the author rediscovered the very detailed journal she had kept many years ago, when she and her sister had embarked on a road trip in America, she realised she wanted to reflect on sisterly bonds by writing a novel based on those experiences. As the road trip in her story followed almost exactly the same route as the one she and her sister had undertaken, her lyrical descriptions of the places Lottie and Tina visited, as well as the changing scenery they encountered, felt evocatively authentic, adding an important depth and enjoyment to my reading experience. I think that without this I would probably have found the story rather too insubstantial. However, on balance I found this an entertaining, enjoyable and, at times, thought-provoking read, although I think its appeal as a choice for reading groups would probably be rather limited.
With thanks to Readers First and Zaffre for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.… (mais)

Scott does not have a lot of time left. His heart is failing and there really is nothing the doctor’s can do to save his life. When Scott was seven years old he contracted a virus that weakened his heart which led to him getting a heart transplant. Scott knew it wouldn’t last forever and that there would be complications down the road, but he didn’t think it would happen twelve years later when he was only nineteen years old.

Scott does not want his mother to be alone and lonely when he is gone, so he hatches Project Boyfriend, a plan to find his mother, Josie, a man. This is not an easy task and it is not something Scott can just come right out and tell his mother. So, he records a video of his mother and places it up on social media. The video goes viral and the emails come pouring in. Can Scott find someone in time for Josie before it is too late?

Josie loves her son dearly. She would and has done everything in her power to keep her son alive and happy. She thought Scott would have many years with his new heart and down the road maybe another transplant. Nothing could have prepared her for Scott’s earlier than anticipated diagnosis of heart failure at such a young age. Josie has lived her entire life for her son. He was her world and her rock. Josie would go to the ends of the earth to find a doctor that can save her son, but is it what Scott wants?

Before We Say Goodbye is an emotional and often times heartbreaking tale of a son’s love for his mother. Scott is wise beyond his years and really does not act like your typical college student. He cares for his mother’s happiness and only wants what is best for her when he is gone. Scott has accepted that his death is near and he wants to ensure his mother has someone to lean on and someone to support her when he is gone.

You can really feel the love and the bond that Scott and Josie have. Scott is Josie’s entire world and you can feel the heartbreak and anguish jumping off of the pages and you can’t help but sympathize with Josie over her son. A mother is never supposed to outlive her children. You can see how Josie fights for her son willing to do whatever it takes to keep him alive.

Madeleine Reiss writes with such love and compassion. But, through all of the sadness comes a story filled with heart and hope. There are moments where you can’t help but chuckle over especially when it comes to the emails Scott receives from potential men looking to date his mother. Reiss takes a a tragedy that not only shows the harrowing side of death, but also shows the light that comes forth in times of adversity. I highly recommend Before We Say Goodbye. It is a poignant story about love and death and written in such a way that will evoke every emotion out of you. Have some tissues handy because you will definitely need them.… (mais)