Jul 11, 2017 i dont know how she did it, but rachel khong has breathed fresh life into the slacker comedy, the family drama, and the campus novel. Told in a diary format over the year that ruth spends at home, goodbye, vitamin is a quietly brilliant disquisition on family, relationships and adulthood, told in prose that is so startling in. Tonight a man found dads pants in a tree lit with christmas lights. Goodbye, vitamin is a wryly funny story about ruth, a young woman smarting from an unexpected dumping by her fiance. Constance wu is set to star in and executive produce the universal feature adaption of rachel khong s awardwinning novel goodbye, vitamin, variety reports goodbye, vitamin follows a young. Rachel khong, goodbye, vitamin just like the book, ill keep my thoughts short and sweet. I have enormous admiration for goodbye, vitamin, but more than that, i enjoyed the hell out of reading it. One could look at their preoccupation with food as a means of maintaining a sense of normalcy. After a rough breakup with her fiance, ruth reluctantly accepts her mothers request to return home and help care for her father, howard, who is suffering from alzheimers disease. Told in a diary format over the year that ruth spends at home, goodbye, vitamin is a quietly brilliant disquisition on family, relationships and.
Told in captivating glimpses and drawn from a deep well of insight, humor, and unexpected tenderness, goodbye, vitamin pilots through the loss, love, and absurdity of finding ones footing in this life. Part diary, part letter, part enthralling lecture, rachel khongs debut novel goodbye, vitamin invites us into a year of ruth youngs life as she searches for beauty, humor, and absurdity in unexpected situations. Rachel khong s goodbye, vitamin begins perhaps exactly the way you might expect a novel about alzheimers disease to begin. Free shipping and pickup in store on eligible orders. Rachel khong s goodbye, vitamin is the best of these debuts, conversational and light in tone, but heartbreakingly cleareyed as well khong manages to imbue seemingly mundane topics with charm and pathos through her attentive, humorous and personable writing, spectator. A former editor at lucky peach has written a novel about memory that you wont soon forget. Goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong i picked this up at the big bad wolf book sale in dubai and i think we can all guess why i picked it up such an eye catching cover.
Rachel khong s first novel sneaks up on you just like life. In 20, she was named one of refinery29s 30 under 30. Everything we know about the worlds most important. While abandoned orphans fight and starve in darfur, rachel khong offers goodbye, vitamin, the story of how her firstworld life could actually be a lot better, all the while taking minimal responsibility for her own errors in judgement. A darkly comic novel about turning 30 without growing up. The only possible answer is this, that khong is a magician.
Constance wu to star in goodbye vitamin adaptation for. A slim but powerful volume, goodbye, vitamin is written in journallike dispatches as ruth watches her father, howard, slide down the tunnel of alzheimers disease. Stop by changing hands phoenix or tempe or order online by clicking add to cart below to get your copy of goodbye, vitamin for 20% off. The novel goodbye, vitamin builds with humor, with gusto and with such deceptive lightness that the reader wonders, at its devastating end, how in the world the debut author rachel khong managed to pull it off so beautifully. In previous generations, the age of 30 was practically.
Goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong overdrive rakuten. The novel goodbye vitamin builds with humor, with gusto and with such deceptive lightness that the reader wonders, at its devastating end, how in the world. Howard develops a routine of taking a handful of pills every night, hello, water. Ruth and howard become mesmerized by a ronco rotisserie. The book is far from primarily about food thoughit tells the story. But id also like to reassure you that rachel khong knows what shes doing, and that i am deeply in love with this book, and hope you will be, too.
Jul 10, 2017 the mechanics and metaphysics of recollection are also an obsessive preoccupation for ruth, the narrator of khongs wonderful first novel, goodbye, vitamin. Goodbye, vitamin named a best book of the year by npr, o, the oprah magazine, vogue, san francisco chronicle, esquire, huffington post, nylon, entertainment weekly, buzzfeed, booklist, and the independentwinner of the california book award for first fictionlos angeles times book prize finalist for first fictiona quietly brilliant disquisition. Rachel khongs goodbye, vitamin tempers sadness with. Ruth narrated a really short story of mine, and then i realized that i love writing in her voice. Jun 01, 2017 buy goodbye, vitamin second impression by khong, rachel isbn. Goodbye vitamin by rachel khong rachel khongs first novel is a heartwarming account of family devotion and dementia which sounds sickly, but her offbeat sensibility and flair. Jul 11, 2017 a violent surfacing of adolescence which has little in common with tarkingtons earlier, broadly comic, seventeen has a compulsive impact. Rachel khong s debut novel, goodbye, vitamin, is a story about subtraction. This was a book i hadnt heard of before so i was interested to find out more about what this was about. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. Jun 09, 2017 goodbye, vitamin, by rachel khong, scribner, rrp. Ruth youngs life is falling apart, her fiance just left her for another woman, and her career is going absolutely nowhere. Goodbye, vitamin is the wry, beautifully observed story of a woman at a crossroads, as ruth and her friends attempt to shore up her fathers career. Rachel khong s poignant debut is an expertly written story, both heartbreaking and heartwarming.
Miranda july the novel goodbye,vitamin builds with humor, with gusto and with such deceptive lightness that the reader wonders, at its devastating end, how in the world the debut author rachel khong managed to pull it off so beautifully. While the story presents itself as the unbreakable power of family over the failures and betrayals of reality, khong appears blissfully unaware that. With her debut novel, goodbye, vitamin, rachel khong urges readers to realize the importance of food beyond its mere necessity. The financial times and its journalism are subject to a selfregulation regime under the ft editorial code of practice.
Her first novel, goodbye, vitamin, received best book of the year honors from npr, o, the oprah magazine, the san francisco chronicle, and vogue. Jul 11, 2017 a slim but powerful volume, goodbye, vitamin is written in journallike dispatches as ruth watches her father, howard, slide down the tunnel of alzheimers disease. Join us at first draft book bar the wine and beer bar inside changing hands phoenix for a discussion of this months pick, rachel khong s moving debut goodbye, vitamin. Constance wu to star in goodbye, vitamin adaptation paste. In rachel kongs goodbye, vitamin, a 30yearolds engagement collapses, prompting her to move home to help care for her father in. Jul, 2017 rachel khongs debut novel, goodbye, vitamin, is a story about subtraction. Firsttime novelist rachel khong writes about family, love, and loss in her book goodbye, vitamin. Goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong is a touching gem of a novel about family, friendship, and alzheimers disease with an added touch of laughter, sadness, and love.
Goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong book of the month. Named a best book of the year by npr, o, the oprah magazine, vogue, san francisco chronicle. I had the voice of the narrator, ruth, in my head long before i ever thought this could be a novel, khong told spine. Alzheimers, fast food, turning thirty, marriage, southern california, the digestive habits of jelly fish, the invention of the intermittent windshield wiper. Rachel khong finds the humor in loss in her debut novel. Fiction literature humor fiction publication details. Everything we know about the worlds most important food, 2017 whisks up a heartfelt family dramedy in a debut novel that. With such a unique writing style and sense of humor, im not sure all readers will agree with goodbye, vitamin, but i got along with it splendidly. Rachel khong reveals how fear is like a bratwurst nylon. Ruth, a 30yearold sonographer whose own path was derailed by an unexpected breakup, moves home for a year to help care for howard.
Sep 05, 2017 though howard doesnt seem any different to her at first, the clues stack up. Ive always been a fan of a certain kind of summer readthe book you take to the beach, expecting only fun and laughter, when it blindsides you with emotion and devastating insights until youre both laughing and crying, tears and sand on your cheeks combining into an abrasive paste that would feel painful if you werent completely immersed in an incredible book. Jul, 2017 goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong debut publisher. Rachel khong studied at yale and the university of florida.
Told using the form of diaryjournal entries, goodbye, vitamin is the story of a young woman on the heels of a breakup, who returns home to help care for her father suffering from alzheimers disease. Rachel khongs first novel sneaks up on you just like life. Nobody big except me is the dream world of holden caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab english of the precollegiate. Goodbye, vitamin rachel khong hannah and her books. Goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong and childhood food memories. But this book tugged at my heart strings, and was a beautiful, witty, humorous, uplifting journey. Her mother more or less tells her she has to come home to help with her father. The novel goodbye,vitamin builds with humor, with gusto and with such deceptive lightness that the reader wonders, at its devastating end, how in the world the debut author rachel khong managed to pull it off so beautifully. I was so reluctant to read this, since my mom was diagnosed with alzheimers. Miranda july the novel goodbye, vitamin builds with humor, with gusto and with such deceptive lightness that the reader wonders, at its devastating end, how in the world the debut author rachel khong managed to pull it off so beautifully. In goodbye, vitamin, her outstanding debut novel, rachel khong provides a crisp and affecting look at how earlyonset alzheimers can reshuffle the members of a family. Jul 11, 2017 10 best books of july 2017, according to amazons editors looking for a new title to bring along to the beach.
Goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong discussion questions. Sep 26, 2018 september was the third month of my subscription with the rare birds book club and the chosen book was goodbye, vitamin, the debut novel by rachel khong. As professor howard young begins losing himself to alzheimers, his family must cope with their conflicted feelings of anger, fear, and love. Her mother gives her one oblique nudge to extend her stay, and with that ruth abandons her life in san francisco to return to her childhood home indefinitely. Rachel khong s goodbye vitamin isnt some alzheimers memoir and talking about foods that remind you of childhood. Praise for goodbye, vitamin the novel goodbye vitamin builds with humor, with gusto and with such deceptive lightness that the reader wonders, at its devastating end, how in the world the debut author rachel khong managed to pull it off so beautifully. Jun 01, 2017 goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong is a touching gem of a novel about family, friendship, and alzheimers disease with an added touch of laughter, sadness, and love.
Goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong rare birds book club the. Just enter your email to add this book to your box. Mainly, mysterythriller, contemporary and historical fiction, biographymemoir and true crime, and a little romance, too. Rachel khong starts her narrative here, with a homecoming. Goodbye vitamin by rachel khong rachel khongs first novel is a heartwarming account of family devotion and dementia which sounds sickly, but her offbeat sensibility and flair for. Her fiction and nonfiction has appeared in american short fiction, the believer, pitchfork and village voice. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading goodbye, vitamin. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Jul 28, 2017 goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong 196 pp. The mechanics and metaphysics of recollection are also an obsessive preoccupation for ruth, the narrator of khong s wonderful first novel, goodbye, vitamin. Aug 14, 2017 rachel khongs goodbye vitamin isnt some alzheimers memoir and talking about foods that remind you of childhood. Rachel khongs goodbye, vitamin is one of the funniest elegiac novels i have ever read, and also one of the gutsiest.
Ruth, less a fiance, leaves her job and moves back home to help take care of her father, who is experiencing dementia. The following is from rachel khong s novel, goodbye, vitamin. Other books in books with serious literary recognition. Goodbye, vitamin is the wry, beautifully observed story of a wo.
Universal pictures has optioned the rights to goodbye, vitamin, the 2017 debut novel from rachel khong, with constance wu attached to star, sources tell variety. Goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong and childhood food. Part diary, part letter, part enthralling lecture, rachel khongs debut novel goodbye, vitamin invites us into a year of ruth youngs life as she searches for. Jul 11, 2017 rachel khongs first novel sneaks up on you just like life. Goodbye, vitamin by rachel khong february 20, 2018 after reading the pursuit of memory by joseph jebelli, a nonfiction title about the research and treatment development of alzheimers disease, i wanted to find a good novel to go with it.
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