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Rules for Saying Goodbye Audiobook
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(2.94) - 269 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
Kate is having a hard time. Lucas, the journalist she moved to Rome to marry, seems to be breaking up with her. In actual fact, he doesn’t want to feel responsible for making her happy. “You were never responsible for that,” she answers, confused. “Happiness simply happened between us.” In Kate’s world, pleasure and melancholy are close neighbors. RULES FOR SAYING GOODBYE follows Kate as she makes the unlikely migration from suburban California to a New England prep school, and then to Manhattan. Here she will enjoy a dissipated life of bartending and writing novels, falling in love with the wrong boys, and discussing these boys while smoking borrowed cigarettes on the sofa with her best friend, Clarissa. Her devotedly neurotic mother is desperate for Kate to marry someone, anyone, so she can be sure that someone else will love her daughter after she dies. But Kate has other ideas. In this witty and affecting debut novel, fiction winks at real life: Katherine Taylor is its muddled heroine, and also its author. Fizzing with intelligence and charm, RULES FOR SAYING GOODBYE chronicles that heart-grabbing moment when you stop waiting for things to happen to you and go in search of them yourself.
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"I read this for my book club, and due to time constraints, ended up having to read it in one sitting. I think if I had been able to put it down and pick it up, I might have enjoyed it more, since the book has a sort of meandering, episodic tone. There's also an undercurrent of anxiety, which would be better served by reading in parts. That said, Taylor is a very entertaining and talented writer. I especially enjoyed the scenes with her mother."
— Suzanne (4 out of 5 stars)
Rules for Saying Goodbye Listener Reviews
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" The book had great dialogue but you never really had a good sense of the main character. This is even worse because the character was the author (even down to the first name). The last half was enjoyable but I don't really understand how this was published. I ended the book feeling like I had read something with no point. "
— Jenny, 2/15/2014 -
" eh, it was ok. thought it would be better "
— Natalie, 2/13/2014 -
" I thought this book was going to be chick lit. It's not. The characters are kind of one dimensional and unlikable and there really isn't a much of a plot. Thumbs down. "
— Anne, 2/7/2014 -
" I am currently listening to it. I find it inspirational in weird personal ways. I hate listening to books though because I feel like I don't absorb the whole thing. I liked the NYT review. "
— K, 1/31/2014 -
" Diverting, a little bit more chewy than the usual chick-lit. "
— Yfct, 1/25/2014 -
" The description sounded great, but the book just read like a big disorganized diary. "
— Christy, 1/23/2014 -
" The book engaged me in the first few chapters and I was eager to learn of what would happen of the girl who left home behind so quickly and her crazy mother. It lost its luster though by the time she was a grown up and I was happily awaiting the end of the book. "
— Raechel, 1/17/2014 -
" self-indulgent. gossipy. bitchy. but i like that sometimes. but only in books. . . "
— Jessica, 1/9/2014 -
" A well written story of the relationships of young woman from ge 13 to almost 30. I heard my 14 yr old granddaughter; my 39 yr old daughter. "
— Barbara, 12/21/2013 -
" not what i thought it would be but not bad. "
— Es, 12/17/2013 -
" Waste of time -- I slogged through it hoping that there would be something redeeming (I heard about it through NPR so thought there might be something redeeming) -- but the plot never picked up or got interesting. I never got emotionally involved with the main character. "
— Jennifer, 12/12/2013 -
" Laughed out loud at parts - smart enjoyable read! "
— Jennifer, 12/8/2013 -
" DNF; I can't care about the characters "
— Cherie, 11/30/2013 -
" DIdn't find the main character likeable, so didn't really care what happened. "
— Teri, 11/13/2013 -
" i didnt realize this wasnt a real story until about haof way thru. i also didnt realize that the main person and her mom battled depression. "
— beth, 11/6/2013 -
" It felt like a memoir, which was was a bit odd, and I kind of liked it at first. But then, the last half off the book she spent drinking and cruising through multiple (read: many) relationships, all which failed. The ending -- which was supposed to be happy, I guess -- fell flat. Blech. "
— Melissa, 8/16/2013 -
" This book started out really well. About halfway through, it began to drag on. Still a pretty good read. "
— Ruth, 3/7/2013 -
" This is the average chick lit book. It is okay, funny in parts. "
— Marcia, 11/8/2012 -
" Anyone who will throw down with Benjamin Kunkel is A-OK in my book. "
— Ami, 6/14/2012 -
" I loved the handwritten chapter titles. "
— Josie, 5/18/2012 -
" I enjoyed and was annoyed by the author/protagonist's voice in equal measure. "
— Hannah, 5/13/2012 -
" This book was just eh. There were times where I felt like the main character was just blah. no depth to any of the other characters. as the plot developed it just seemed very predictable and sort of uninteresting. "
— Stephanie, 3/28/2012 -
" Pages of whining from a rich girl. Boohoo. "
— Stacy, 8/12/2011 -
" I keep hoping there will be some redeeming value to this novel, but am ready to give up on it. The main character's mother reminds me of my younger brother and the annoyance may get the better of me. "
— Carla, 3/27/2011 -
" I enjoyed and was annoyed by the author/protagonist's voice in equal measure. "
— Hannah, 1/5/2011 -
" I loved the handwritten chapter titles. "
— Josie, 12/8/2010 -
" not what i thought it would be but not bad. "
— Krista, 7/27/2010 -
" i didnt realize this wasnt a real story until about haof way thru. i also didnt realize that the main person and her mom battled depression. "
— beth, 5/26/2009 -
" I thought this book was going to be chick lit. It's not. The characters are kind of one dimensional and unlikable and there really isn't a much of a plot. Thumbs down. "
— Anne, 1/8/2009 -
" love, love loved this book! "
— Laurie, 10/10/2008 -
" DIdn't find the main character likeable, so didn't really care what happened. "
— Teri, 8/25/2008
About Katherine Taylor
Katherine Taylor has won a Pushcart Prize, and her work has appeared in such journals as Ploughshares. Much like her fictional alter ego, she has burned bridges in London, Rome, and Brussels, but now lives in Los Angeles.