Member Reviews

What can I say about this book? The only thing that is on repeat in my mind is I HAVE to do a better job at reading the description when the title and cover jump out at me. I must have been in a very maudlin mood when I picked this since I thought it was about a boy who was kidnapped, but it is very much not.
The three protagonists are women of different generations from the same family- Bobbi in the 1960’s, Ella in the 1990’s and Kasey in the late 20teens. Bobbi is infatuated with Robert F. Kennedy and between that and the title you’d think he would play a bigger part in this book.
The book jumps from protagonist to protagonist but the jumps don’t really move the story along. Admittedly, I skipped the middle third of this because I was bored to tears and didn’t care for any of the characters. At over 500 pages, this book is 300 pages too long.
Given the few amount of reviews across multiple platforms and the fact that all of the reviews are raving I can only assume they’re all biased. This book was a waste of my time. I appreciate NetGalley and Sword & Silk Publishing for allowing me not to have wasted my money on this piece of drivel.

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I knew I'd enjoy this book, but I enjoyed it even more than I thought!
Such a unique idea, with vibrant situations and fully formed characters using cultural events and real people to bolster the tales at the heart of this story. I can't wait to see what else this author writes.

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Thankyou to Netgalley, the publisher and the author for allowing me to read this ARC.
This is my first title from this author, i really enjoyed and will be reading more from them in the future.
I am not really that into historical fiction but i did enjoy this book and it does leave you will alot to think about.
Thanks
3/5 stars

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I'm normally not a fan of alternating POVs because it's so easy to get the reader confused, but I did like this book and how it showed different POVs in such a complicated time in American history.

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This was such a good read! The different timelines and how bittersweet I felt after I finished it! This book will leave a mark on me for years to come. It has left me with a book hangover that I can't stop thinking about. Will recommend to everyone.

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This book was a very quick read for me. I love historical fiction and the subject matter in this book really appealed to me. I was born in 1967 and the Kennedy family legacy has always been of interest to me. Reading about how MLK and Bobby Kennedy's assassinations affected Americans was heartbreaking. Also, I had family members who fought in Vietnam and it was eye-opening about the soldiers who came home dealing with demons. The way this book was presented with alternating characters in every chapter was perfect! I was so glad the book had a happy ending! I will definitely recommend this book to my friends that enjoy historical fiction!

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So Long, Bobby is a strong first novel by by Lillah Lawson. In Lawson's historical fiction novel her characters negotiate the historical concerns from their three distict time periods to coalesce with one another. Lawson's novel takes on the difficult task of meaningfully addressing the historical, cultural, and personal concerns of each of her female protagonists and mostly does a fantastic job. Sometimes Lawson's characters get trapped in the author's contemporary lens and the language or conflict framing slips out of the time frame being addressed into present day. As someone from PNW and who was the same age as Lawson's characters who are negotiating the post Nirvana grunge scene it felt most authentic despite a few slip ups. Overall, So Long, Bobby is a terrific first novel and if you enjoy historical fiction through a contemporary lens check this one out.

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