2023 book 7

 Laurie Colwin's Goodbye Without Leaving

I was talking to a friend about Colwin yesterday, and I was like, she would be a good palate cleanser, and surely there won’t be any racist slurs in this one! It’s about a young white woman in the 70s who drops out of grad school to be a backup singer in a (black) girl group, and how she has to come to terms with her life/settling down after her singing job is over. But like, did white New York liberals in the 70s just throw around a lot of racist slurs? Because these characters sure do! (And I'm not talking about terms we wouldn’t use today, though those also appear.) This book was released in 1990 so even if people /did/ talk that way in the 70s, surely there is no need for such a faithful recreation. Aside from the gross language, this book has Colwin's trademark charming voice and interesting characters. But also, eye roll that I have to say “aside from the gross language.” Things improve in the second half but *shrug emoji*. B.