Hi friends, happy Wednesday! I hope you’re all having a good week so far. Today I’m posting my review of Rachel Khong’s novel Goodbye, Vitamin.

Goodbye, Vitamin by: Rachel Khong: Ruth’s life hasn’t gone the way she had hoped. Recently single, she finds herself back at home where her father is slowly suffering from Alzheimer’s. Her mother begs her to stay for a year where she reconnects with her family, learns how to navigate love and loss and learns to find her place in the world. This was a fast-paced novel that packed a bit of a punch. The reader was dropped into the main character’s life right as things seemed to be imploding around her. Usually, this reader doesn’t care for literary fiction, but this one struck a chord with them and they found it really moving. The topics were relatable in an adjacent sort of way to the reader’s life and it felt validating to read about. Aside from that, this story was told in a chronological order which made it easy to follow along; as it neared the end the detailed dates faded and the way the story was told shifted in an interesting and impactful way. In the beginning we learn how the main character’s father used to write about her as a child, and now as he has gotten older, she has begun to write the same way about him and it was this beautiful, come full circle sort of moment. The reader really liked that. The writing was also amusing in a good way; the author threw in jokes here and there between all the harder topics which definitely lightened the mood, and felt very true to real life. The characters felt real and raw; not only were they very relatable but they had a lot of depth to them and they went through a lot of growth. Even the side characters felt whole and present in the main character’s life; they helped her grow and become a better version of herself and even she helped them too so it was nice to see and read. Overall, this was a touching novel that felt like a slice of life that wasn’t too long and was told well.