Good Night, Henry

by Jennifer Olds

A ward-winning poet Jennifer Olds crafts a beautiful story about love and loss and familial bonding in her debut novel.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0451215184
• ISBN13: 9780451215185
• Release Date: July 2005
• Publisher: New American Library
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.63 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A story of struggle, courage and love evolves

Melvina is raising two boys on a California horse farm with the help of a twin sister, father and boyfriend, facing the disappearance of her brother and handicap of her son with spirit until her estranged husband shows up, wanting to make up for lost time with his family. A story of struggle, courage and love evolves.

A wonderful debut novel

GOOD NIGHT, HENRY by Jennifer Olds July 16, 2005 I loved GOOD NIGHT, HENRY, the debut novel by the award-winning poet Jennifer Olds. It is the story of a family that is anything but traditional. Melvina Brown is the main character, a twin to her sister Brenda. They aren't identical twins at all, and are different in more ways than one. Belinda grew up with the looks, and for that reason Mel always felt second best. Their personalities were also opposite, but yet they were as close as two sisters can be. GOOD NIGHT, HENRY, in part, is the story of their relationship, but it's really the story of Melvina and her relationships with the people in her life including her sons, her current lover Walt, her sister Belinda, and their brother Henry, who had disappeared years ago. Most people believe Henry to be dead, but Melvina continues to talk to him, feeling his spirit within her. They were the siblings that most people said could have been twins. His story is also told in flashbacks, and slowly the reader will get the picture of what happened to Henry and why he was no longer a part of their lives. Life for Mel becomes a bit more difficult when her husband Tucker shows up after having left them soon after the birth of her second son. Tucker seems to think he's back for good, and does his best to bond with his two boys, one of whom resents him for leaving all those years ago. Tucker tries to show Mel he's changed, but she's moved on. But he is her children's father, and for their sake she tries to be as civil to Tucker as she can. There's a lot of family dynamics and relationship issues going on in GOOD NIGHT, HENRY. I loved the way Jennifer Olds writes, and I loved her characters. They are all flawed, as real people will be. I also think she did a great job with creating a boy with a handicap. To me it was realistic, especially his relationships with his brother and school friends and family members. And Theo was definitely a character I enjoyed getting to know, a purely good soul who was dealt a bad hand at birth. While Theo may not be the main character, his existence creates friction between his older brother Archie and their father Tucker, for reasons, which become clear in the novel. I highly recommend GOOD NIGHT, HENRY. Her writing in this book was beautiful, containing some of her own poetry, which is what she is known for. One of my favorite new authors, I hope to see Jennifer Olds writing more novels like this.

powerful deep relationship drama

Professional polo player Tucker Twist-Black suffers a career ending injury. While in the hospital he reflects on what is important and knows he let down his wife Melvina Brown and their two children ten-years old Archie and nine years old Theo when he left them years ago. Now he wants back in their lives, but Archie loathes him for deserting them and Theo who has one arm wonders if it was his imperfection that sent dad leaving as he believes it did before. Tucker knows he has no chance with Mel who has a boyfriend Walter Beech who helps her along with her dad and her sister. Mel allows Tucker to try to regain what he lost with the kids though her family and her boyfriend would prefer Tucker left. Every evening before going to bed she says GOOD NIGHT, HENRY hoping that one day her brother will return home; he fled town a decade ago after a fight that she caused. Still feeling guilty over what she did to Henry's life and unable to forget, she allows her estranged spouse a chance with his children giving her renewed strong that one day her sibling will come home. GOOD NIGHT, HENRY is a powerful deep relationship drama. The simplistic yet delightful story line intelligently focuses on the complex connections between people; sister with sister, father and his daughters, mother and her sons, father and his sons, people and animals, woman and man, and finally a "ghost" and his sister. Readers who appreciate fully developed casts starring in realistic situations inside an entertaining tale will want to read Jennifer Olds' astute family drama. Harriet Klausner