Goodbye Lemon
I recently recieved a copy of Adam Levin’s touching family dramedy Goodbye Lemon. It tells a story of a family destroyed by the drowning of its 6-year-old son, Dexter. The real reason behind this is that the patriarch of the family, Dexter’s father, was drunk when he and Dexter went out on the boat that Dexter drowned on. His father did not rescue Dexter, and as a result, his children put the blame for Dexter’s death on him. The story begins as the youngest son in the family is returning to the house for the first time in years with his girlfriend, Hahva. He discovers that his father has had a dehabilitating stroke and has been “locked in”, where he can completely sense all that is around him, but cannot react to it or respond. His father regains some control by the end of the book, but dies later. Hahva is seperated from her boyfriend due to a battle over Dexter’s orange flip-flop (which turns out not to be Dexter’s). The ending somehow manages to give perfect closure to the story. As to the name of the book, its meaning is revealed halfway through the book; Lemon was Dexter’s nickname. This book is engrossing and entertaining, and best of all, contains many great vocabulary words if you wish to improve your vocabulary, such as detritus.
