Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead

Goodbye Stranger is a book about friendship and betrayal, and criticizing it feels like betraying a friend. However, just as Decius said to Caesar, “Reason to my love is liable,” so I have to tell myself to be honest even while I love Rebecca Stead's writing.

As in all her work, Stead combines playful intelligence with heart as a host of fractured characters navigate several intersecting mysteries. All of the characters are struggling with concepts of love- familial love, friendship, self-love, and romantic love. In all, the book satisfied my need for a new Rebecca Stead novel and filled that Pynchon-meets-DiCamillo niche that only this author seems to find.

That being said, this is still my least favorite Rebecca Stead novel. The mysteries resolved too quickly and easily, and the stakes never felt high enough. Stead did such a thorough job of establishing the loving nature of her characters that I never felt that the outcome was in doubt. This lessened the tension, although I still have to admit that I stayed up three hours past my bedtime so I could finish it.

I hated the epilogue. I think it is the first time that I have seen Rebecca Stead make a clear-cut mistake. It was just wrong, and it undermined the work of the previous 300 pages.

I read this book partly to weigh its viability for the Newbery. I don't think it's a fit. The subject matter is too mature. I think that it is firmly in the YA category, so I would love to see it get a Printz. If it did win the Newbery, it would go alongside Jacob Have I Loved and Julie of the Wolves as a book you really shouldn't give to a fourth grader.

In closing, go read this book. Even a lesser Rebecca Stead novel is worth your time. After you read it, please come back and tell me I'm being too harsh. I'd love to be wrong!