I just love this author. She gets to the ache and heart of interior lives. ( )

'Sad and funny', I'm sure most reviewers would say....but for me it was just plain sad. I guess I identified (too much?) with the father in this family who suicides and leaves his two young children to (unsuccessfully) sort out their lives. The story is narrated by the daughter, Frankie, who reminds me of my own daughter in some ways. . . .well, actually, there are many parallels with my own life and family, such that behaviour which might otherwise be seen as bizarre has a familiar but scary ring of truth. ( )

This novel is equal parts funny and sad and just beautifully written. The main character, Frankie (Frances) Hawthorne, has had an incredibly close bond with her father since she was a newborn. She was a fussy baby who was driving her mother crazy with her crying and wailing. One day, Frankie's mother shoved the new baby at Frankie's father and said, "Take it, take it," and she went back to work, and Randall Hawthorne raised Frankie and her little brother, Teddy. But Randall was a Vietnam vet with one leg who came out of the jungle with a lot of baggage. Not surprisingly, tragedy does strike the Hawthorne family. The main theme of the story is handling grief, not necessarily healing because I don't think that ever happened for any of the characters. Just becoming stronger and carrying on. The only quibble I had was with the disappearance of Uncle Harpo. I wish the author would have thrown out a clue about what happened to him. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. ( )

A heartwarming tale about dealing with the after affects of suicide that seeps into the heart and slowly wins the reader over. While the base of this story is about loss the heart is about what happens next. The story is told through the eyes of 9 year old Frankie as she and her family each deal with her father's suicide in their own way. Its a slow moving novel, in that its about the little events in a person's life rather then the momentous ones. I found the writing to be beautiful and I really look forward to checking out other works by Christie Hodgen.

My full review can be found here:
http://tickettoanywhere.blogspot.com/2008/04/hello-i-must-be-going-by-christie.h... ( )