The New York Times Book Review - Meg Wolitzer
…[a] masterly new novel…The characters in Goodbye Stranger search for ways to feel good, feel powerful and still feel like themselves even during new experiences like romantic attraction…Through this thicket of rapid—practically cellular—growth and change, Stead has managed to clear distinctly articulated paths for her characters. This novel not only sensitively explores togetherness, aloneness, betrayal and love, it also acknowledges something crucial to the business of growing up…
From the Publisher
A New York Times Bestseller
An ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book
An ALA-YALSA Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Named a Best Book of the Year by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, NPR, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, The Horn Book Magazine, Booklist
Named to Multiple State Award Lists
"Winsome, bighearted, and altogether rewarding." —Booklist, Starred review
“…Stead’s writing [is]… filled with humor, delightful coincidences… An immensely satisfying addition for Stead’s many fans.” —School Library Journal, Starred review
"... [Stead] captures the stomach-churning moments of a misstep or an unplanned betrayal and reworks these events with grace, humor, and polish into possibilities for kindness and redemption. Superb.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred review
“This memorable story about female friendships, silly bets, different kinds of love, and bad decisions is authentic in detail and emotion—another Stead hallmark.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred review
“The handing-down of advice and wisdom from older girls and women is a welcome theme throughout the book and far too rare in female coming-of-age stories; it’s just one of many reasons this astonishingly profound novel is not your average middle-school friendship tale.” —The Horn Book, Starred review
“The author as usual deftly interweaves her plot strands into an organic whole, and between the multifocal plot and the exploration on growth and self-recognition…” —Bulletin, Starred review
“Stead can brilliantly summon what it feels like to be a young adolescent ... [Goodbye Stranger] is full of fun and generosity, and ... it is beautifully balanced.” —Wall Street Journal
“This novel not only sensitively explores togetherness, aloneness, betrayal and love, it also acknowledges something crucial to the business of growing up: how anyone’s personal ‘we of me’ might look different a little while from now, and later still, different again.” —Meg Wolitzer for New York Times Book Review
“Absolutely relatable and full of heart.” —Bustle.com
“Beautifully written and perfectly paced ... Stead doesn’t talk down to her intended audience (ages 10 and up) or even to adult readers long past seventh grade who may well be surprised by the flood of real-life memories her fictional world dislodges ... Goodbye Stranger will remind you of who you are.” —Houston Chronicle
“A moving blend of present-day and historic, romantic love and familial love, deep questions and just-for-fun pursuits.” —BookPage
“[Stead] can see into the souls of young people as they begin to grow conscious of how others view them from the outside and how they feel on the inside, and she has the skill to illuminate how they grapple with these gaps and overlaps in perception.” —Shelf-Awareness
“[A]s authentic as it gets ... This is a landmark in literature on the friendships of young women ... Goodbye Stranger packs a wallop of emotion that’s a true pleasure to be leveled by.” —The Brooklyn Rail
“Stead manages to infuse her book with a timeless quality, particularly in the way she so accurately taps into universal feelings of trying to nail down exactly who one is supposed to be. Stead’s humble story is one that is deeply felt, and perhaps one of the strongest children’s novels of 2015 so far.” —National Post
“This marvelous, life-affirming novel, told from three perspectives, explores the unsettling, pivotal changes of adolescence as three best friends start seventh grade.” —Buffalo News
“A school story of substance and literary finesse.”—The Toronto Star
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2015-05-06
Three interwoven narrative strands explore the complicated possibilities of friendship in early adolescence. Bridge (formerly Bridget) finds increasing confidence as she navigates her seventh-grade year, while, in unsent letters to his absent grandfather, classmate Sherm expresses grief and anger over changes in his family. And an unnamed, slightly older child in a second-person narrative spends a single miserable day avoiding school for reasons that are revealed at the turning point. Stead explores communication and how messages—digital or verbal, intentional and inadvertent, delivered or kept private—suffuse the awkward, tentative world of young teens leaping (or sometimes falling) from the nest in search of their new selves. From Bridge's cat-ears, worn daily from September through mid-February, to Sherm's stolid refusal to respond to his grandfather's texts, the protagonists try on their new and changing lives with a mixture of caution and recklessness. Stead adroitly conveys the way things get complicated so quickly and so completely for even fairly ordinary children at the edge of growing up with her cleareyed look at bullies and their appeal (one girl is "truly genius at being awful"), as well as her look at impulsiveness and the lure of easy sharing via text. She captures the stomach-churning moments of a misstep or an unplanned betrayal and reworks these events with grace, humor, and polish into possibilities for kindness and redemption. Superb. (Fiction. 11-14)
