Goodbye Emily

Goodbye Emily by Michael  Murphy

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Technically I was born a year too soon to be called a Baby Boomer.  I was not part of the Woodstock generation; I grew up on Motown. I'll trade Purple Haze for Purple Rain, my children's generation.  Because I appreciate whatever music defines a generation, I loved this book.

As a BoomerLit novel it delves into the struggles of Professor Walter ("Sparky") Ellington, after the death of his wife, Emily, and the subsequent loss of his job.  He suffers from depression, alcoholism and his doctor fears he will die from a broken heart if he doesn't address the major stressors in his life.  He has lost touch with his best friends, thinking Buck has let him down, and is unable to deal with Josh's decent into Alzheimer's.

Music is important for the ties that connect us through family, friends, sickness, death, and all of life's changes.  I enjoyed the adventures of Sparky, Buck, and Josh as told through Sparky's dreams, and the roadtrip they promised each other back to Woodstock, even though it took until they were senior citizens to get there, reuniting their "Buck Naked Band," from high school.  "We might be old, but we could still rock."

I give it four stars.




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