Three generations. Seven days. One big secret. The author of The Coincidence of Coconut Cake unfolds a mother-daughter story told by three women whose time to reckon with a life-altering secret is running out. Gina Zoberski wants to make it through one day without her fastidious mother, Lorraine, cataloguing all her faults, and her sullen teenage daughter, May, snubbing her. Too bad there’s no … her. Too bad there’s no chance of that. Her relentlessly sunny disposition annoys them both, no matter how hard she tries. Instead, Gina finds order and comfort in obsessive list-making and her work at Grilled G’s, the gourmet grilled cheese food truck built by her late husband.
But when Lorraine suffers a sudden stroke, Gina stumbles upon a family secret Lorraine’s kept hidden for forty years. In the face of her mother’s failing health and her daughter’s rebellion, this optimist might find that piecing together the truth is the push she needs to let go…
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If there is comfort food then this is what I call a comfort book. I read this book in a little over twenty-four hours. I have read all of Amy E. Reichert’s books and this latest one did not disappoint. I loved the foodie theme of the book that featured grilled cheese and brownies. Gina owns a food truck called Grilled G’s while her increasingly distant and somewhat difficult daughter May is obsessed with making all kinds of brownies that sound fabulous. Gina has been recently widowed and that just completely devastated their once close knit family. Gina’s mother Lorraine is a critical force to be reckoned with, unfortunately Lorraine has her reasons for being this way and her own secrets and tale to tell. Gina just cannot get past the sudden death of her husband but an unfortunate turn of events forces Gina , her sister , May and Lorraine to face truths and deal with a long buried family secret.
What a wonderful tale of mother’s , daughters and the choices that they make for appearances or to keep their family safe and secure . This was a heartwarming story, like I said I call this one a “Comfort Book”.
I love books about the relationship between mothers and daughters so this book has the extra treat of a grandmother – mother – daughter. There are misunderstandings between the mothers and daughters in both generations and the question is whether love will solve all of their misunderstandings with each other
Regina’s husband Drew has been dead for two years. Instead of grieving with her daughter, May, it has added to the normal problems mom’s have with their teenage daughters. Regina’s mom, Lorraine, never approved of Drew and was always quick to criticize her daughter, so there are problems there too. Gina who runs a food truck that specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches uses her work and the lists that she obsessively makes to help her deal with the problems in her life. When Lorainne has a stroke and secrets come to light, it will either strengthen the bonds between mothers and daughters or make them impossible to repair.
This is a lovely book full of love and problems within a family and how love is really an unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters. To make it even better, there are food descriptions that will make you want to go make a grilled cheese sandwich to eat while you are reading it.
The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go
Disclosure: I won an ARC of this book from Goodreads. Since so much time has passed since that win, for the purpose of this review, I listened to a purchased Audible version.
This is not an optimistic book. The story is told from the point of view of three women—three generations of a dysfunctional family. The grandmother (Lorraine) is overbearing, critical, uses coconut oil for everything, and has spent her adult life living a lie. The mom (Gina, supposedly the optimist) runs a food truck that specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches. She suffers from panic attacks and compulsively makes lists because she’s still grieving the loss of her husband after 2 plus years. The teenager (May) is predictably rebellious, sulky, and also grieving the loss of her father. She has some good ideas for brownie recipes. There’s also a former nanny/BFF to Lorraine named Rosa who has assisted Lorraine in lying to her daughters, and Lorraine’s youngest daughter (Vickie) who has four children. Vickie is bossy, self-centered, has no filter when she speaks, and lugs a bottle of wine around in her purse.
Lorraine suffers a stroke, so the secret/lie is discovered. The story is told in flashback after flashback after flashback—from Lorraine’s, Gina’s, and May’s perspectives.
When the story is in flashback mode, it drags. When the story is told in the present, each character is selfishly wrapped up in her own world. The men (all the ones who have died) have shed all faults in the memories of the three main characters. No one is particularly likable, not even Rosa.
There were a couple timeline problems for me. In certain flashbacks, the Vietnam conflict is mentioned. To avoid a spoiler, I’ll just say that there’s a problem with a date mentioned regarding this topic given that U.S. troops were withdrawn from Vietnam in 1973.
Rosa is said to be a grandmother at the time she first knows/works for Lorraine. Lorraine (contemporary setting) is said to be 69, and Rosa claims to be 15 years older. That would necessitate Rosa marrying and giving birth to her children at a very young age. Rosa’s children would also need to produce their children at a very young age, so that Rosa’s grandchildren could be old enough to be outside playing in the yard in a certain flashback. I just didn’t buy that. I also don’t believe that Rosa at age 84, would still have the stamina to herd four rambunctious little ones (all under the ages of 10) plus the sulky middle-schooler, while Gina and Vickie were at the hospital taking care of Lorraine post-stroke.
When I add those two timeline issues together, it REALLY doesn’t work for me. Having cared for a few stroke victims in my lifetime, there’s a great deal of suspension of belief required to make this story work for me. The ending was just too HEA, given the level of self-centeredness each of these characters possessed. No one can change that much in so little an amount of time. It would require YEARS of self-discipline, especially if those characters do not seek help from above.
Overall, this book was a disappointing read after enjoying the author’s delightful debut novel. The narration is ok.
This is the second of Amy’s books I’ve read. She is a great at developing her characters. I love that she adds in funny or odd things about each one that make them endearing. In this story, each of the 4 main women has a secret or a struggle. Together, they work out many of them. I was avidly turning pages until the end, trying to figure out what was what, and who was who. This was real life, and real people working out their lives. A great read!
The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go is a lovely book about four women and their strengths, their secrets, and their grief. The book is narrated by Gina, her daughter, May, and Gina’s Mom, Lorraine, and also features Gina’s younger sister, Victoria, and Lorraine’s best friend, Roza. It centers on Gina, who operates a grilled cheese sandwich lunch truck (Grilled G’s) and her relationships with her daughter, sister, and mother. Widowed for two years, she is still grieving the loss of her husband and finds solace in creating incredible and unexpected combinations of grilled cheese sandwiches. Unfortunately, she is still so wrapped up in her grief that she doesn’t notice how much her fourteen-year-old daughter suffering. Then Gina’s mother has a stroke, and the world as she and her family knew it is turned upside down, and secrets that were never supposed to be told are revealed.
This book is so well-written that I was immediately drawn into the midst of this family and able to relate to each woman’s situation and feelings. I laughed, cried and ached for all the characters and finished the book with a smile on my face. I highly recommend this book and also recommend that you have the fixings for grilled cheese sandwiches nearby when you read it.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are soley my own.
THE OPTIMIST’S GUIDE TO LETTING GO by Amy E. Reichert is a moving and heartwarming look at the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters. This touching story covers just one week in the lives of three generations of women who are often at odds with one another, yet they share an unbreakable bond of love that helps them heal from events in each of their pasts that have been completely misunderstood by the others. The characters are wonderfully portrayed and completely relatable. The unfolding story tackles family secrets, loss, grief, forgiveness, and healing. I truly enjoyed this emotional and captivating book and now look forward to reading all of Amy E. Reichert’s earlier books.
I do not have the words to describe how much I loved this book! The plot was designed in such an exceptional way. The relationships between characters were so realistic. The story flowed in such an easy and unforced way, which shows the wonderful work of the author in the story line. I recommend this book to every woman out there. The book is about so many relationships. Mother/Daughters, Sisters, Grandmother/Granddaughter, like long Female Friends. Then also the relationships that still exit with spouses that are deceased. (Yes, relationships can still continue, even if it is one-sided. This relationship can rule your life.)
The author describes some emotional scenes so heart breaking, I was close to tears many times. She also wrote some very light-hearted scenes that had me gasping and laughing.
The book has a theme I often think about of life. A person is the sum of all that went on in their lives. Is up to the person how to react to the events and decide who they want to be.
Dollycas’s Thoughts
Gina Zoberski is trying to adjust to life without her husband, May misses her dad like crazy and thinks her mom doesn’t miss her dad enough. Gina’s mom, Lorraine continues to find fault in everything Gina says and does. When Lorraine has a debilitating stroke her real story comes to light and it is surprising.
I know all too well that dealing with the loss of a loved one is hard. You need to find that balance of grieving in public and in private. My heart ached for Gina and May. Gina put on a brave face and a smile every day as she tried to move forward. Lorraine still took her to task about everything. May had closed herself off from her friends, even those willing to be there for her no matter what.
Amy Reichert has penned an emotional story but it is filled with light moments too. Gina owns a food truck, Grilled G’s, that sells gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. She is always coming up with new recipes and she has a customer that brings her unusual ingredients to try. May also has culinary skills, she excels at baking brownies with some unique twists of her own. This author’s stories always have a food element and I love that!
The author handles the family dynamic very well. I enjoyed how the story unfolded. A big secret is revealed that shines everything that has happened in an entirely new light. I became invested in these characters and that made me very emotional and even had me reaching for a tissue at the end of the story.
Set not far from where I live, Milwaukee and Wauwatosa, I loved all the references to places I knew. She mentions just one of the many Milwaukee festivals, Polish Fest too, but you don’t have to be from Wisconsin to enjoy the book. Her words create the imagery to bring you right here.
This is a wonderful story about mothers and their daughters. Moving and genuine with strong female characters. An absolutely “perfect escape”.
I am so glad I found this Wisconsin author. I have enjoyed her previous books, Love, Life and Lemon Pie, and The Simplicity of Cider. In fact, The Simplicity of Cider was one of my Best Reads of 2017. The Coincidence of Coconut Cake is waiting not so patiently on my Kindle.
This was a very enjoyable read for me. Three generations of women, two with their struggle of getting on and coping after the loss of a husband/dad, one with a not-so-perfect marriage, and one with a family secret that comes to light after suffering a stroke. Can they learn to forgive and trust each other again? A heartfelt and beautiful story with a dose of delicious food descriptions. Another wonderful book by Amy Reichert.
After losing her husband (Drew) two years ago, woman (Gina) grieves while also caring for her sick mother (Lorraine). Occurring in just one week, this story tackled grief, a secret revealed, and the very complicated relationship between a mother, her daughter, and her granddaughter.
Gina, grieving the loss of her amazing husband, Drew, is now a single parent to their daughter, May. At 14 years old, May was a typical, sulky, self-centered teenager, missing her dad fiercely, yet pushing her mom away when she should have been leaning on her for support. Gina spent her days making to do lists and running her gourmet food truck, Grilled G’s (because it sounds like grilled cheese hehe), Drew’s last gift to her before he died.
As if that weren’t enough to deal with, when Gina’s overbearing, perfectionist mother, Lorraine, suffered a stroke, Gina discovered a secret her mom had been hiding from her and her sister, Vicky, for over 40 years. How will they react when they find out the truth? Was her mom ready for them to know, or would she have kept it buried forever?
Having lost my mom in December, the theme of this book was especially poignant for me. Oh, how I wish I could have sent her a Once Upon a Book Club: Mother’s Day 2018 box as well so that we could have read it together! She would have loved the story, and I know that because, luckily, she shared some of her own personal secrets with me. I wasn’t able to ask her the questions sprinkled throughout the book, but since my youngest son asked me the ones included in the box, it created a special moment for us.
“The more a daughter knows about the details of her mother’s life–without flinching or whining–the stronger the daughter.” – Anita Diamont, The Red Tent
This was my first book by this author, and since I’ve already purchased the rest of her books, it’s obvious that I’d totally recommend this one!
“Just saying it’s okay to not always be happy. Life might be like a box of chocolates, but sometimes all the chocolates are filled with that crappy orange cream filling.” – Vicky to Gina
Location: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Gina is the optimist in Amy E. Reichert’s The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go. She maintains her optimism even though she has lost the love of her life, her mother is unapproachable, and her daughter treats her with nothing but disdain. She finds solace in her food truck business. The business was the brainchild of her late husband, who creatively named Gina’s grilled cheese restaurant on wheels, Grilled G’s!
I was really disheartened by the relationship between Gina and her daughter. May, is sullen over the loss of her father, but instead of turning toward her mother for support, she shuns her. In fact, she is nothing but rude and disrespectful to her mother throughout much of the book. Families falling apart after loss are hard books to read.
When Gina’s mother, Lorraine, suffers a major stroke, her long-kept secrets are spilled. The trifecta of medical issues, skeletons in the closet, and badly behaved teenagers, begin the unraveling of life as they know it. However, that might not be a bad thing. This dysfunctional family, made up of individually strong women, needs to be shaken up so that they are forced to regroup and begin again.
Ms. Reichert has written a complex family drama with fragile yet rich relationships. The similarity of Gina and Lorraine’s history juxtaposed to how they responded is a historically interesting social statement. The different choices made by Gina and her sister, Vicky, as well as their parent’s responses to those choices, create further strain on the family dynamics. The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go features food and culture from the state of Wisconsin as well as some seriously lovable lead female characters.
What would you do if everything you knew to be true was turned upside down and you found out the world as you knew it was a façade? That’s what happens to Gina in Amy E. Reichert’s The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go.
Regina Zoberski, a single mom, is running Grilled G’s, a gourmet grilled cheese food truck, while raising her teenage daughter May alone, after losing her husband. Trying to fit the broken pieces of her life together, while staying strong for her daughter, Gina already has her hands full. When her mom becomes ill, she finds herself torn in yet another direction. Her oppressive mother is determined to keep Gina on her toes until a deep-rooted family secret is suddenly revealed.
Gina talks her sister into helping her get to the bottom of their family history and unravel the truths one thread at a time as they question their mother Lorraine, and her lifelong best friend and the girl’s nanny Roza. As they find the truths of their past, their relationships strengthen, both with each other and with their mom.
I really related to Gina’s relationship with her Lorraine. I think they had a similar bond, or lack thereof, as my mom and me, and I understood the vacancy in their kinship. It gave me hope to see how they slowly mended their hearts and built their bond as Lorraine fought to live and Gina fought to understand her mother, realizing their time together was suddenly limited.
One must also at least mention the food aspect of this book. Oh, how my mouth watered for those grilled cheese sandwiches! Sweet, savory, crispy, and gooey. Then, throw in May’s love of all things brownies, and I may have gained 5 pounds reading this book. Delicious!
The title of this book so perfectly summed up Gina’s life perspective. She didn’t have the easiest childhood, then her adulthood provided her with plenty of lemons, and yet she relentlessly produced lemonade for herself and those around her. When life got tough, she got tougher. When she discovered the deeply buried secrets, she did something about it. What a beautiful outlook to have on life. She was a true example of seeing the world as half full, rather than half empty, a message we can all hold onto.
A fantastically food-induced 4 star!
**Review by Amy, Late Night Reviewer for Up All Night with Books**
The Optimist’s Guide to Letting Go by author Amy E. Reichert is a wonderful story with layers and depths of life and drama between mothers and daughters. Lorraine, Regina & Victoria, and May are three generations in one family of women who each have had a disappointment which has been life-changing. Lorraine’s secret comes to light after she has a stroke and her daughter Gina asks Lorraine’s best friend Roza to help her identify some people in some old pictures. A major secret is discovered in Lorraine’s past and she is not able to talk and explain to her daughters about their father.
Gina is still grieving the death of her husband and just tries to get through each day with her teenage daughter May. She has always felt her mother cared more for Vicky and had resented her choice to marry Drew. Now Drew is gone. May thinks her mother Gina, does not understand her grief for her father. She rarely speaks to her mom since her dads funeral. She is having problems adjusting and feels it is her mom’s fault.
Three women, all related, and all misunderstood by each other. Read on to understand how the depth of love and the healing revelations of the secrets can make a change in their relationships with each other.
A heart touching story which leaves the reader with a feeling of hope.
I thought it was cute how they each referred to the coconut oil…now are you more curious?
Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.