Good Joy, Bad Joy by Mikki Brammer

 

My thoughts

To me, this book was just beautiful. It was sad in places yes. But it was a beautiful friendship story. It was written with heart. I'm so glad I read this one. 

I love a book about older women. This one took my breath away. The two main characters, Joy and Hazel, are such special characters. They have been best friends since they were both eight years old. Both are fixing to turn ninety now. 

This book is about how one friend learns to let go of another. How to live life to the fullest even at eighty-nine years of age. While saying goodbye to her best friend who is dying of cancer. Yes it's heartbreaking but not in the way you think. Saying goodbye is hard but in this story it brings out a side of Joy that she never thought about trying. Doing things she would not have done before. While Hazel was always the outgoing of the two and never married it was Joy who settled into a life and took things that she should not have. Maybe the payoff was worth it. I don't know. I really liked Joy. She made me laugh and cry. Made me see life in a different way. How she befriended a new person in the neighborhood. How she faced up to a woman she knew had an affair with her husband. And finally how things with her daughter came out. I also loved her grandson Finn. He was such a good boy. 

This book is truly written in a way to pull you in and keep you turning the pages. I didn't want to put it down. It was a quick read for me. One I savored from start to finish. The things that Joy ended up doing had me holding my breath and laughing. She was truly a character. And her bestie Hazel was always there for her no matter what. Hazel had gone on many adventures over the years. Participated in protests. Gone to the ends of the world. Been held in a Russian prison. Then got sick and had to stop. Hazel was the kind of friend we all need at times. 

You get to know a few characters in this story. Some very good ones and a couple that you may not like to much. Written in a beautiful prose that had me spellbound. I absolutely loved this book and can't recommend it enough.

Five big stars 

About

From the bestselling author of The Collected Regrets of Clover comes a vibrant, heartfelt novel about friendship over the decades, self-discovery, and what it means to have a life well-lived.

Break the rules. Find your joy.

For over eighty years, Joy Bridport has played by the rules: she's been a devoted wife and mother, contributing to the community in her small Hudson Valley town. But her quiet existence is jolted when she learns that her best friend, Hazel, only has months left to live. Hazel has always been the more adventurous one of their duo, and she seems at peace with all that she’s squeezed out of her long life. Yet Joy realizes she can’t say the same.

Determined to live boldly and make the most of the time that she and Hazel have left together, Joy steps outside of her comfort zone—and into a bit of trouble. But as her foray into rule-breaking escalates into committing petty crime, Joy must consider what kind of legacy she wants to leave behind, and whether there's a way for her to embrace the liberation that "Bad Joy" offers without losing all that she holds dear.

Is it ever too late to become who we're meant to be? With laugh-out-loud hijnks and emotional heft, Good Joy, Bad Joy is a heartwarming and wise celebration of the choices we make, the friendships we cherish, and the lengths we go for love.