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Come Back Soon
Val's family, consisting of her absent-minded professor father, twin brothers, and "Mud," her mother, changes suddenly when Mud leaves unexpectedly, and Val must assume her mother's role of keeping the family together
139 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
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August 4, 2025"From the outside, Val's family are quite an odd bunch: her Mum is into sculpture, her Dad is always talking about books, and the twins are like an army of naughty little boys. It is all pretty hectic, but happy. Or it was, until her mother walked out on them . . ." - brief synopsis in back of The Night-Watchmen
July 29, 2009
I'm currently sorting through boxes containing my entire childhood and adolescence, and was pleased to find this again. I have various friends who enjoy (re-)reading young adult books, but I've never really bothered other than Paul Zindel's (whose Pardon Me, You're Stepping On My Eyeball! is possibly still my favourite book ever).
It's a pretty quick read, though the synopsis here on Goodreads isn't quite accurate. Val's family is sort of shambolic and colourful, and there are some nice comedy moments to be found. She herself is a bit introspective and feels that she's not very bright - also, her best friend is clever and smug, which isn't going to help. The main thing going on in the book is, of course, Val's mother's disappearance. Val and her father do their best to cope, and Val becomes more independent, but also, more pissed off with the world. This all seems perfectly realistic, as is their suspicion that her mother's having an affair with another man. The bit where the plausibility falters is the end, where her mother comes home after having simply taken some time out to work on her sculptures in peace. I wonder how helpful this storyline would be to a kid whose parent really has left for good, or for a more complicated reason. Not that all young adult books need to help people, but you get what I mean. Also, the end of the book has everyone coming together in a bit of an impromptu celebration, which is sort of nice, but feels like the writer's suddenly realised that deadline is tomorrow morning.
It's a pretty quick read, though the synopsis here on Goodreads isn't quite accurate. Val's family is sort of shambolic and colourful, and there are some nice comedy moments to be found. She herself is a bit introspective and feels that she's not very bright - also, her best friend is clever and smug, which isn't going to help. The main thing going on in the book is, of course, Val's mother's disappearance. Val and her father do their best to cope, and Val becomes more independent, but also, more pissed off with the world. This all seems perfectly realistic, as is their suspicion that her mother's having an affair with another man. The bit where the plausibility falters is the end, where her mother comes home after having simply taken some time out to work on her sculptures in peace. I wonder how helpful this storyline would be to a kid whose parent really has left for good, or for a more complicated reason. Not that all young adult books need to help people, but you get what I mean. Also, the end of the book has everyone coming together in a bit of an impromptu celebration, which is sort of nice, but feels like the writer's suddenly realised that deadline is tomorrow morning.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews