The Language of Goodbye

by Maribeth Fischer

Annie and Will have both left marriages behind to be together. Korean born Sungae, one of Annie's students, may have left her country behind, but is still trying to resolve her tragic past. As her story unravels it has consequence for not just her, but Annie, Will and their former spouses.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published April 1, 2001

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very depressing at time but beautifully written. There were many phrases that I underlined and had to stop and ponder for a minute. The author did a good job writing about how love and grief can be intertwined together. How love can have stages similar to grief.

[Geraldine · Rating 3 out of 5]

" For love, like language, is not a thing, but a place-a world to inhibit slowly." Very enjoyable if somewhat bittersweet and painful (due to my own personal story)...I like this quote from the book "You have betrayed me ,Eros. You have sent me My true love." from "The Reproach," in The Triumph of Achille,Louise Gluck.

[Adriana · Rating 2 out of 5]

She definitely got the roller-coaster emotional experience of divorce right.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this novel. I became engrossed in it. But let me say a couple things that bothered me before I explain why I liked it. Though many people wouldn't care about these fine details of the main character's job, I am an ESL teacher at a university, so I care. And I'd like to clear up some misrepresented details.
I feel like this novel romanticized what ESL teachers do. The articles the main character writes are nothing like actual academic ESL articles, which usually focus on models for effective second language acquisition. Fischer has her main character write an article on “Sorrowful Sentences”. You couldn't get that published in any applied linguistics journal that I know of. Not only that, but her students are at a university, which generally means they are from middle-class families who have a fairly good background in English. I don't get war stories or students “escaping their woeful pasts”. They're here to improve their English to get good jobs back home. Something that really ticked me off was the teacher who wrote “Context restrictive, ethnography, and presupposition” on the board. That's ridiculous; it would never happen. That's like a professor telling their students the teaching method they're going to use in a mathematics class. In another language.
Aside from that, I enjoyed the story. The author has an excellent command of dialogue. She made conversations and arguments seem as real as if the reader were accidentally overhearing a stranger's conversation. You wanted to know how the story finished. You felt what they were going through, even if you couldn't sympathize. In fact, I didn't sympathize with the main character, Annie, at all. Now that I've finished and can reflect a little, I think I actually hate her character.
The language in general made the book beautiful. She drew you in and painted the feelings and places and complexities with words so perfectly, that it almost didn't matter what happened so long as she wrote it.

[Cathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. I related to it on so many levels. The main character, Annie, is an ESL instructor (which I have been) at VCU (where my daughter attends) in Richmond (where I used to live and work). It was such familiar territory for me, and I felt at home reading the story. These characters were people I could know and relate to, people whose struggles I could understand.

Annie and Will have left their marriages to be together. Navigating their new and unfamiliar relationship and its complications, along with the attached guilt over abandoning their spouses (and Will's daughter), is difficult. One of Annie's students, Korean-born Sungae, is trying to learn English and in the process put words to her haunting history. Their stories intertwine in ways that deepen the theme of love, loss, language and longing. I adored this book about leaving the past behind, and moving into the future.

I met the author at "Writer's at the Beach" in Dewey Beach, Delaware on March 5, 2005, and my copy of the book, which I bought at that writer's conference, is signed by the Maribeth Fisher.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book really resonated with me, as an ESL teacher interested in other cultures. The main character, Annie, is a married ESL teacher who is in love with another man, Will. They separate from their spouses, Carter and Kayla, who are both devastated. The drama of adultery and the "will they or won't they" became tedious at times, but overall it was a beautifully written book and acknowledged various types of loss in thought-provoking ways. I especially loved the asides about the beliefs of other cultures. I also really enjoyed Sungae's storyline - she's a Korean student in Annie's class, who also works in Kayla's shop.

[Nadiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are many reasons why I give 5 stars to this book. It took my breath away every now and then. It exposes one's feeling in a way that you cannot be more honest about it as it is how it is.

It also mentions Indonesia several times. It even discusses one of Indonesian's best writers, Pramoedya Ananta Toer.

I think the writer must have the same occupation as one of the characters. Things like this make it uneasy to separate writers and their writings.

But, most important, it's beautifully written.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This well written book covers the stories of Annie, Will, and Sarah. Annie and Will cheated on their spouses (and then left them, respectively) with each other. Sarah is Annie's Korean ESL student, but also Will's wife's employee. These stories are so powerfully and emotionally intertwined it was hard to decide who to pull for. Ultimately, there is nothing that you can walk away from entirely if it was once a part of your life in some way. These characters fight very hard to figure that out.

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the begining of this book. Then it kind of dragged on. At tiems i coudl relate to 3 out of the 5 characters but coudl not stand Will. If you read you will see what i mean. I did liek that this book was a blantent reminder that with every decision you make there are conquences (good and bad) and yousay "goodbye" to soemthing.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book about relationships and love. It was a tad sad but really delved into what love is. The story of a woman and her husband who both left their spouses to be with each other and the ramifications of that decision and how it affects their current relationship with each other. Told from alternating points of view of each of the four spouses.

[Ellen Mecholsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this is an unbelievably good book, but the reality is that it's just too sad and draining to be a must-read. It's really heavy. Beautiful and profound and touching, but it made me ache as only real life should.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book about a woman who teaches adults from other countries who are learning to speak English, and the dynamics of the relationships they develop. I recommended to several friends, some of whom are not teachers, and everyone loved it!

[Elizabeth Higginbotham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting novel, many intersecting lives, but I had more sympathy for the students in the language class. Attention to language was very nice, but the lack of attention to race and class was very troubling to me.

[Nia Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

alot of what's portrayed in this book resonates with me intensely. alot of the emotions in this book were my very own at some point in my life & Maribeth Fischer put them into words beautifully and depressingly. I absolutely loved it.

[Kristi Kroeger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book about what we will do for love

[Liza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite possibly one of the top five most depressing books I have ever read.

[Kelly Boyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my all-time favourite books. The language and style draw me in every time. I cannot pick it up and read a little without getting sucked back into the story every time.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked that this book was very realistic. The first half of the book rang very true for me. The ending, though was disappointing and just kind of fell flat.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I have ever read.

[Courtney]

Heartbreaking. I'm sobbing. I don't know why I felt compelled to finish reading it today, climbed into bed at 3ish and just finished.

[Allison · Rating 1 out of 5]

depressing, and not in a good way

[Janice Urbsaitis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting over or saying goodbye to a child, parent or someone you love? The pros and cons. In the end, it's still your own decision.

[Heather Poultney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maribeth Fischer is an amazing person and writer. I am proud to be friends with her.

[Ellen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well written but too depressing.

[B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book stuck with me long after I finished reading it.