Hello, I Must Be Going

by Christie Hodgen

It's the early 1980s, and tomboy Frankie Hawthorne's world is overturned when her beloved father—a Vietnam amputee who masks depression by playing comedian—shoots himself. Frankie's neighborhood, in a down-at-the-heels industrial city near Boston, has had its own happier times. Left behind along with Frankie are her mother, Gerrie, a waitress at Friendly's, and a sweetly innocent younger brother, Teddy.


Soon, Frankie decides not to talk, resisting the overly ebullient school psychologist, and comforting herself by drawing cartoons. Gerri, now chain-smoking and addicted to television—Doris Day! Rock Hudson!—wears an imaginary charm bracelet of disappointments. The once-adorable Teddy runs wild and is frequently summoned to the principal's office.


Finally, with some unlikely help, Frankie understands the possibility of growing beyond grief. Balancing perfectly between funny and sad, this poignant novel is about the tenacity of ghosts and the stubbornness of love.

Genres: Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Christie Hodgen is the author of Elegies for the Brokenhearted; Hello, I Must Be Going; and A Jeweler’s Eye for Flaw. She has won the AWP Award for Short Fiction and the Pushcart Prize. She teaches at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.

Reviews

[heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book hit me in the feels more than a few times; being a veteran and having a brother who committed suicide. Sad, funny, and dark - I really enjoyed this book.

[anaiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

hello i must be going?

more like hello i must be going to emotionally damage you....

after the father died, i thought it would be a normal depressing book but it was much more than that. it contained so many emotions and even though he was rarely brought up, you could still tell how loved he was. during the ending Frankie says, "oh how we loved him." that hit hard. the whole story hits hard at the end and it's worth it.

[Dawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very sad and serious story, with moments of humor thrown in. The story shows you how a family tries to move on after the father commits suicide. Even though they rarely mention him and act like everything is normal, his selfish act has effected them for the rest of their lives. I enjoyed this book and felt sorry for all of the characters involved.

[Abbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not sure about this book in the first few chapters, but as it went along it really started getting to me. Frankie’s father, a Vietnam amputee, battles with depression. Frankie tells us about her dysfunctional family's denial of reality. The end of the book really ties it all together, I teared up at the end.

[Siddharth Mallya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Introduced me to Groucho, the gang, and their antics.

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have welcomed a couple of snips here and there; but a good capturing of a sad time in our history. Lots of light moments mixed in with the horrors of the consequences of the Vietnam War.

[loflo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sad :( feeling sad :( good book tho 👍🏻

[Mahi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was so good!! The story is sad, sometimes it was a bit painful to read. I nearly cried at that ending 😭

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet and sad look at a family dealing with hardship and loss. Well written.

[Sabina · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was told with a different perspective (almost as one looking in) but really come together in the end. Part 3 takes you back to the beginning to give the characters and the reader inside information/insight and it does a really good job at pulling everything together. It talks about the relationships they all had with one another in more detail and gives the memories that "one is not supposed to mention" details that explains things so well. Worth the read. It is different, and it is not a page turner, but worth the time to read.

[Elise Hamilton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I loved Hodgen's Elegies for the Brokenhearted (EFTB), thus looked forward to Hello, I Must Be Going (HIMBG). Alas, it was a disappointment. Like EFTB, HIMBG was the story of an awkward, intelligent girl's transition to young adulthood, growing up in a small town in a family of flawed but colorful individuals. We know from the book's jacket that Frankie's father commits suicide, so I'm not giving anything away. This event marks her, of course, and is the basis for much of the story's action. While I enjoyed Hodgen's writing style and the story's construction, it bored me. It felt like a short story that the author or editor had tried to stretch to a novel's length, but I didn't feel that it had enough substance to carry it to that level. Frankie never seemed in any danger of not surviving her circumstances, and each chapter seemed more of the same, with a conclusion simply tacked on the end. All in all, an unsatisfying read. I have Hodgen's A Jeweler's Eye for Flaw on my shelf, waiting to be read, but it will stay there for a while.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book. I started it several times over the past year and never made it through. But I'm glad I did and the ending is worth the extended journey it took to get me there.

The title is clever. The book is really a story of post-Vietnam depression (perhaps PTSD) in a time before they were recognized; a story of unremarkable lives and of a mother who would like to be remarkable; a story of family tragedy , of sadness, of a child's love for a parent, and of triumph I think (through Frankie's turn toward the future).

The author did a great job of communicating childhood scenes and of giving each character a unique personality that I could so easily picture when reading the novel. Not everyone can achieve that.

Sad, but good. I'd recommend it.

(I admit I also watched the Groucho Marx scene on Youtube...!).

[Alena · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frankie is a young girl struggling to cope with her beloved father's suicide. Depsite the brutally sad premise, Hidgen has infused this wonderful book with humor and kindness. It's a surprising easy read, filled with beutiful language and spot on observations about troubled teens.
"It was a relief to be left alone, to be given up on, to sit unnoticed in a corner and fall quietly out of tune, like a piano. People are always saying that kids my age couldn't get enough attention, that we spent most of our time trying to make ourselves noticed, but I found there was nothing so satisfying as being lost, faceless and nameless, utterly unknown."
I discovered Hodgen last summer after reading "Elegies for the Broken Hearted." Based on these two thoughful, well-written pieces, I look forward to what she comes up with next.

[Cassie Fleurs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story deals brilliantly with the painful parting of a loved one by suicide. While death is always hard, having someone you love commit suicides layers the experience in a different level.
I highly enjoyed how we got to see it from start till the main character finally got closure.A death is never some thing that ever really ends, every day you are alive and that person is not is likea blow, but there comes a point where you can at least have accept it , a point where you get a resolution of some sort .
In the case of Frankie that takes years and I'm thankful a book approaches it that way.

The portrayal of a family unraveling slowly and each character dealing with grief their own way was outstanding.

Since i first read it this has been my favorite book, it is 2020 now but i still ocasionally open it up in a random page and enjoy every sentence.

[Debra Hale-Shelton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, though I read it for work -- for a review and interview with the author who lives in northeastern Arkansas. The author is young but showed good insight into the 60s, which are referenced in the story. More importantly, she showed much insight into death -- how the survivors deal with it -- some of us better/worse than others. I enjoyed the book because it was easy to read and insightful. I enjoyed the book, because like the main character, everyone has a relative or friend who's a good person but who has no common sense -- who loves their family but wastes their money on other things. A bit like Alice McDermott's "Charming Billy" perhaps. I think the author has much promise. This is her first novel. I'd definitely check out her next book.

[pdxmaven · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book --captured the angst of the teenage narrator, Frankie as she struggles to cope with her Friendly's waitress mother, Vietnam vet father and younger brother's shift from idolizing her to newfound popularity at school. In particular, the struggles of her father and the dysfunction in her parents' marriage are particularly illustrated without being either cloying or over-dramatic. Ruefully, the portrayal of the school psychologist who "only wants to help" is all too on-point.

a great quote: Frankie describing her desire, at school, to fly under the radar: "It was a relief to be left alone, to be given up on, to sit unnoticed in a corner and fall quietly out of tune, like a piano." (page 132-33)

[Mary Susan Vaughn · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was sad and funny at the same time. A story about a family of 4 struggling to make ends meet in post-Vietnam America. A father (Randall Hawthorne) who is depressed and dealing with his war demons by being comical and detached at the same time. A mother, (Gerry Hawthorne) who works as a waitress at a Friendly's restaurant, a daughter, (Frankie) who not only narrates the story, but is growing up in a middle-lower class neighborhood, and must face difficult emotional circumstances in order to survive at home and at school. And, a son, (Teddy) who is full of life until the family begins to fall apart after facing tragedy.

[Ginny Lennon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it deals with great sadness (the aftermath of a father's death by suicide), the witty, quirky outlook of the narrator makes this book easy to read. I have just finished reading her third book, and I will definitely keep my eye out for subsequent works because she deals with themes (losing a parent, coping with less-than-adequate parenting, growing up too soon) near and dear to my heart. Not a literary masterpiece, but well written and well worth the time for those who enjoy reading such stories.

[Daphne Atkeson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of a teen girl and her younger brother with a Vietnam vet father who commits suicide. Great characterizations, fresh styoe, a profound story, intense without being maudlin, with a powerful ending, instead of the typical trickle-away finish so common in episodic coming-of-age tales. Highly recommend after a desert of mediocre reading in the last couple months. A quiet story. This author's previous book was a National Book Award finalist, I believe.

[Allison Renner · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book cracked me up so much, which is a great feat considering the main character's father commits suicide (not a spoiler - it was written on the jacket copy). The book is very serious and realistic, so I valued the humor even more as it was cleverly, slyly done. Also adding to the realism is the lack of a happy ending, which I am always a fan of.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about coping with loss in a family, and how a family tries to piece itself back together. I liked how it was told by a child narrator and how suddenly there would be some of her drawings next to the text.

[Jodie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a girl whose father commits suicide and her mother is crazy. She stops talking and resists the school psychologist while she tries to make decisions about what to do with her life. Yes, I recommend this book, it's really good.

[Tammy Theriault · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book I've read in a LONG time. I LOVE that Christie doesn't follow literary rules and writes how she wants to. Reminds me im on the right/write path, too. I slowed it down at the end. Hated to see the story end but the relationships were so good.

[Kendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Believable characters navigating life in the aftermath of death. Funny, honest and real the story is easy to get lost in. You do not turn the page for a happy ending - more like you just want the family to find peace.

[Chandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

a bittersweet memoir type of book of the narrator's childhood. a very sad time but also really draws you in. i liked all the characters and felt invested with them. also funny and happy!

[Kiera · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should definitely make you realize how much suicide can affect one person or a whole family. I couldn't put it down.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

cute book, easy read. the end left me wanting more - but it was still a worthwhile read.

[Sasha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emotional and somewhat bittersweet. I saw a lot of myself in Frankie, and I have to wonder now (given the circumstances of her life in the book) why that is. Touching book though.

[Karin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really like it much until the final few chapters. The characters became a bit more likeable and, just when I got attached to them, the book ended.

[Beverly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Depressing, but very well written.