Going to Bend: A Novel Review

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(More customer reviews)"I know these people." That was the thought that stayed at the forefront of my mind as I read Diane Hammond's remarkable first novel, "Going To Bend." Sure, it's a work of fiction, set in two Oregon coast towns that don't exist, Sawyer and Hubbard. The characters are not based on real people. But I know them, nevertheless, and I'm sure you do, too.
The central characters are two natives of the area, Petie Coolbaugh and Rose Bundy. These women, so different in personality and temperament, are united by a bond of friendship going back to their grade school days, and by the fact that they, like so many others, are struggling to build meaningful lives in the face of poverty, illness and the thousand other challenges that make daily life a struggle for so many.
At the beginning of the story, Petie and Rose are brought together by a new job they will share, preparing soup on a daily basis for a new restaurant that's built its menu around soup and is called--what else? Souperior's. The cafe has been opened by Nadine and Gordon, a brother and sister who, like so many, have fled the craziness of Southern California for the peace and beauty of the Oregon coast. But like so many of the refugees, they find that it's not always possible to escape life's slings, arrows and outrageous fortune. As their stories unfold, we learn that bad--sometimes terrible--things have happened to Rosie, Petie and the other good people that inhabit these pages. But perservering, sometimes just having the courage to get out of bed and face each new day, is a key element to how they live their lives with sometimes surprising grace.
Along the way, we get to know the spouses (current and ex), children, and townspeople who inhabit Rose and Petie's world. My one fear is that this book may get pigeonholed as "chick lit," because the central characters are two wonderful, complex women who will quickly win your heart. This isn't just a book about women, though; it's a book about (and for) all of us who make up the human race.
Hammond has done a wonderful job of capturing the beauty, joy, misery, humor and pain that all comes together to make up this puzzle we call life. This book is going to stay with me for a long time. I think it will do the same thing for you.--William C. Hall

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