Thanks so much to the publisher and to NetGalley for giving me access to this book. Well written, great premise and interesting characters. The binds between parents and children is the focus. I will be recommending this book. Thanks again for letting have a chance to read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for this reader's copy. In exchange, I am providing an honest review.

This is a beautiful story with amazing characters. I enjoyed reading this title so much that I was sad when it ended.

Clara Winter has returned, for good, to Stern. After she found Mr. Orange Juice in the cupboard instead of the refrigerator she knew her Mom, Tamar, needed her close by. Her best friends, Sunshine and Brown, are thrilled to have Winter back in the area but she promised her Mom she wouldn't tell them why so she keeps a huge secret to herself while navigating her Mom's early on-set Alzheimer's. Clara is a word girl. She literally writes words for other people for a living - eulogies, wedding speeches, birthday greetings, apology letters, anything someone is finding it hard to write can hire Clara and she will write it for them in 100 words for $100. As Tamar declines, Clara searches for answers and resolution to the elephant in the room that has been between them for years. The one thing they still have in common is Jeopardy! Yes, the TV game show. In order to get answers to the questions she has, Clara models her inquiries after Jeopardy and pursues the truth of their past. Time is running out and Clara's mom is never coming back.

Maybe it's because I love words so much. I loved this book. I love how McGhee smartly and whimsically crafted the story in Clara's POV by using the love of words that Clara has. How she used the game show Jeopardy! to aid Clara's search for truth. I loved Clara, Sunshine, Brown, The Bartender, Tamar, Annabelle Lee. I thought McGhee did such beautiful crafting of each character and because of her attention to their details, they felt alive and real to me. I want to be friends with these people. There are so many ways to process the disappearing of a loved one and I was warmed by McGhee's account through Clara. I almost reread the book as soon as I read the last word but the "so many books, so little time" thought stopped me from rereading it right away. But it's definitely one I will be rereading.

I was a little apprehensive about reading this book at first due to the subject matter and my own personal reasons. I didn’t lose someone I love to Alzheimer’s, but I lost my daughter 6 years ago and it’s been a mission of mine not to let her be forgotten. It’s unimaginable to watch someone you love, your parent, a grandparent forget who you are. But it’s equally unimaginable to be the one doing the forgetting.
This was an amazing story. So well written and so beautiful. Thank you so much for the ARC. 5 beautiful, heart wrenching stars from me.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley in exchange for my unbiased opinion.

Clara Winter wanted to stay near her Adirondack hometown and her boyfriend after graduating high school. However, after her boyfriend dumps her, and her mom insists she attend a college two states away, Clara lives her life far from her hometown. Now, over a decade later, Clara moves back to the area after her mom is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. Now, Clara wants answers from her mom about why she pushed her away all those years ago, but it might be too late. Clara also has a 50% chance of inheriting early-onset Alzheimer's and wonders how that might affect her life.

The blurb sounded like a book that would be right up my alley, but unfortunately, I just didn't connect with any of the characters in this book. I also didn't understand why Clara kept referring to Chris as The Bartender throughout most of the book, long after she had learned his name.

While I enjoyed the writing in this book, it also wandered into "trying too hard" territory. Sometimes I really liked the authorial voice, other times it felt melodramatic.

Some really good wordsmithing about coping with dementia. A rather immature narrator (IMO). I just didn't feel like going further- I was afraid the things I didn't like would start outweighing the things I did, and lord knows I have enough hundreds of books in my TBR. So, it's my impatience and searching for a book that pulls me in like a strong undertow and keeps me engrossed as opposed to something perfectly fine that kept me from going further.

I am in charge of our Senior School library and am looking for a diverse array of new books to furnish their shelves with and inspire our young people to read a wider and more diverse range of books as they move through the senior school. It is hard sometimes to find books that will grab the attention of young people as their time is short and we are competing against technology and online entertainments.
This was a thought-provoking and well-written read that will appeal to young readers across the board. It had a really strong voice and a compelling narrative that I think would capture their attention and draw them in. It kept me engrossed and I think that it's so important that the books that we purchase for both our young people and our staff are appealing to as broad a range of readers as possible - as well as providing them with something a little 'different' that they might not have come across in school libraries before.
This was a really enjoyable read and I will definitely be purchasing a copy for school so that our young people can enjoy it for themselves. A satisfying and well-crafted read that I keep thinking about long after closing its final page - and that definitely makes it a must-buy for me!

The plot line of a daughter returning to her family home could have been hackneyed and trite, but this novel takes the family relationships to a much deeper and interesting level, and one that was very compelling and drew me to read most of this book in one sitting. I recommend it, even for many men who might be initially not interested because of the plot.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and NetGalley provided me with an electronic copy of Never Coming Back.
I was under no obligation to review this book and my opinion is freely given.

After Clara Winter was basically forced, by her mother, out of the Adirondacks for college, she never looked back. One day, Clara receives a call that her mother, Tamar, needs her. Will she be able to find the courage to ask the questions that have been plaguing Clara since her teenage years?

Never Coming Back was all over the place, with retrospective looks to the past disrupting the flow of the novel. Tamar's story should have been compelling, but it came off flat and uninspiring. The premise of the book was good, but the author just never got there. I was expecting more from this book and was disappointed in the ending, especially. I would be hesitant to recommend Never Coming Back to other readers, for the reasons I have mentioned above.

Never Coming Back by Alison McGhee is a woeful and beautifully written book.
This is the first book I have read by Alison McGhee and I was definitely impressed. I loved both the writing style and the depth off all the characters within the book.
Clara and her mother Tamar have had a fractious relationship for years ever since Tamar all but pushed her daughter out the door to go to college. Since then communication between the two has been strained to say the least and many things lay unsaid between them.
Almost a decade later Clara finds herself moving closer to her home town near the Adirondack Mountains. Tamar has recently become increasingly forgetful and has been diagnosed with early onset dementia. Clara arrives home full of questions for her mother but how will she cope when the mother she knew is no longer there? And how will she come to terms with the knowledge that she has a fifty- fifty chance of being diagnosed with the illness herself.
I have always found books on dementia fascinating and I knew as soon as I read about this book that I wanted to read it. In particular, I was excited to read a book specifically about early onset dementia as I had never encountered one before.
Having read it, I would say that Never Coming Back deals with this topic, and many other potentially delicate topics, in a sensitive and accurate manner. I have seen the effects dementia can have on both the person with dementia and their family at both a professional and personal level and this book couldn’t have described it any better.
“Now that my mother was disappearing, I wondered when it began to happen. A few months before her neighbour called to tell me something was wrong, or maybe years ago, when I was in my nomadic twenties and home only once or twice a year? Or did something inside her change in a single moment?”
These are all questions that plague Clara on her return journey to the area she grew up in.
Clara moves home with visions of helping her mother to make provision for long-term care and to sort the house they lived in together for so long. When she returns home though Clara is shocked and dismayed to see that her mother has already sold her childhood home and gotten rid of all her possessions barring Clara’s childhood books and a small shoebox. She has also already sorted out her own residential care. Clara is left feeling hurt and resentful.
One of the benefits of moving back to the area she grew up in is that she will be living closer to her married best friends, Sunshine and Brown. She is looking forward to having them around even though she is unable to tell them why she is there. They know her mother as ‘The Fearsome’, a straight talking women with a love of Leonard Cohen, eating dinner out of jars using cocktail forks, and a penchant for chopping her own firewood.
“They knew my mother and they had known her for a long time but I hadn’t said a word to them, or to anyone, about what was happening to her, about the fact she was the reason I was even thinking about moving back. Tell no one, my mother had said, and no one had I told, not even Sunshine and Brown.”
Clara’s relationship with Tamar is full of resentment, guilt and questions and she is disheartened when she realises how quickly her mother’s memory is being destroyed by the illness.
“My mother was disappearing and I didn’t know what to do, didn’t know how to keep her with me, in this world, on this plane of existence, thinking and talking the way I had always known her to think and talk.”
Clara has always been good with words, something that Tamar has never shared with her. In her adult life Clara is an author and has written a successful book named The Old Man. She now makes her living with a business called Words of Winter in which she finds words for people when their own words fail them. She writes birthday cards for estranged siblings, wedding speeches for a best man who thinks the wedding will not last, and funeral announcements of beloved family members. When it comes to her own mother though Clara has never been able to find the words to bridge the gap between them.
As Tamar’s dementia progresses Clara finds certain changes more difficult to cope with than others, for example, when her mother sits eating at a table using plates and cutlery rather than eating from a jar. Or the first time her mother no longer recognises her.
“The day came when she looked at me and asked me how she knew me.
The minute she asked me that question I tried to banish it from my mind, tried to shoo it away, because How do I know you again? was not a question you expected ever to hear from your mother. But too late, it was already burned into my brain.”
The lack of time is the thing that hits Clara the hardest though as she realises that maybe she never really knew her that well at all.
“Facts I knew about Tamar Winter $800: 1, She graduated from Sterns High School at age seventeen and 2, Immediately tried to head South to Florida for adventure and 3, to get away from Sterns and her father and 4, the memories of her mother, who had died earlier that year, but 5, she was raped at a party in Utica and 6, got pregnant with me and my twin sister, who was 7, stillborn, so 8, it had been just me and her for all the years since and 9, it was still just me and her. Me and my mother. My mother and me.”
I loved the final paragraph of the book. In fact the book was just generally very good.

NEVER COMING BACK by Alison McGhee is a beautifully written story that deserves reflection and quiet – a perfect Boxing Day read by the fire. It's a story about Clara Winter and her mother, Tamar, who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's. For Clara, a talented young woman who loves music and writing, moving back to rural New York State and the Adirondack Mountains brings not only the need to cope with the present situation, but confrontation with questions concerning the past and glimmers of a possible future. McGhee is an extremely talented writer – I chose this title in part because of its evocative setting, but also because I remember reading and being moved by McGhee's Snap (a middle grade novel) over a decade ago.

In NEVER COMING BACK McGhee describes dementia as: "What happens when someone close to you starts to disappear is that they aren't always there. They are with you and then they aren't. This happens while their hearts still beat, while their lungs still breathe, while they look directly at you. They talk and laugh and sing and then they don't. They are here and they are gone, are and were, simultaneously." NEVER COMING BACK is an emotional, yet gentle, contemplation on mothers and daughters and on the challenges we face in life.

I found the premise of Never Coming Back by Alison McGhee very interesting, but sadly the way the idea was executed just didn't appeal to me and wasn't my cup of tea.

Clara never had a good relationship with her mother Tamar. She was an independent woman and raised Clara on her own, but she also harbored a lot of secrets and Clara never fully knew why one day her mother forced her to leave and make her own life far away from their home. Now, over ten years later, Clara has to come back to her hometown when she learns that her mother is sick and can no longer live on her own. As Tamar loses more and more memories, Clara tries to come to terms with the past and unveil the long buried secrets before it's too late.

I'll start by saying that I appreciate that the author decided to touch upon such a difficult subject - a daughter dealing with her mother's illness, watching her mother "disappear" day by day to Alzheimer’s disease. The book deals with a lot of different types of loss, but this one was the most visible and palpable to me through Clara's emotions. I also liked the idea of Clara learning new things about her mother and being surprised by this new image of Tamar she unveiled. I believe that children often view their parents through their own lense, sometimes not realising that the parents also exist as separate human beings, with interests and lives on their own.

That said, I have to say that I can't give this book a high rating because the way it was written and constructed took away a lot of my enjoyment of reading. The story is divided into three very long parts and there's no division into chapters in between, which made it really hard to read. The action would jump places from one paragraph to another, going from present times to flashbacks or jumping into the future without any visible ending to whatever was happening at that moment. The way everything was so fluid, made me quite confused at times, as if the author hasn't finished one scene yet but we were already in another one. Clara also had a lot of inner monologue, and usually I wouldn't mind, but her thoughts were so jumbled sometimes, it again left me confused. On top of that, I felt like there was a lot of unnecessary scenes, which described past events of some secondary characters, or even main characters, that didn't bring anything important to the main plot and caused the story to progress painfully slowly. Because of that, even though the book is only about 250 pages long, it felt like a much longer read.

In general, I don't think that Never Coming Back was a bad book, it just wasn't a book for me. I liked the general idea for the story, however the way it was presented didn't appeal to me in the end.

I love Alison McGhee! One of her earlier works, RAIN/LIGHT is one of my favorite books and I am so glad McGhee has returned to adult literature. There are few writers who write with such vulnerability, such truth, NEVER COMING BACK will break your heart. It will make you reach out to your parents with such urgency and ask them every single thing about themselves. You will want to crawl inside their skins and walk around for awhile. and if you have children, you will give them this book when they are grown so that they realize that we are all parents and children, just doing the best we can for one another, imperfectly. I must buy a hundred copies of this book, immediately.

This novel is set in the Adirondacks in a small isolated mountain town experiencing 6 or 7 months of winter. Clara Winter, a successful author, is our protagonist, home after many years away to care for her mother Tamar who is suffering Early-Onset Alzheimer's, which is advancing much more quickly than was at first diagnosed. There is a romantic side story that is very entertaining, but the majority of this tale covers the effects of Alzheimer's on both the patient and their friends and loved ones. An excellent and educational read. I will shelve this right there beside Still Alice.

I received a free electronic copy of this excellent novel from Netgalley, Alison McGhee, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

A beautiful book. Depth and understanding of the love between mothers and daughters. Very descriptive, takes the reader into the story.

I absolutely loved " Never Coming Back". The title alone is so clever because the book centers around. Clara, who left home never wanting or expecting to go home and her mother who now that she has Alzheimer's disease will never be coming back. There are so many issues explored in this book. McGhee delves into the relationship between a daughter and a mother and she explores the necessity of communication before it is too late.. "Never Coming Back" is a deeply moving novel that will keep you thinking about the story long after you have finished the book..

Meh, had high hopes for this book but it just didn't do it for me, I could not get into it.

First - thanks to NetGalley, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Alison McGhee for the privilege of being able to read and review this book - I loved it!

This is a book about words - those we say, those we don't say, those we tell ourselves and others. It is a beautifully written book about mothers and daughters and all those words between them.

Clara is a professional writer who is summoned home when it is discovered that her mom has early-onset Alzheimer's. Clara finds a small cabin in the Adirondack Mountains where she grew up and where her best friends, Sunshine and Brown, now also live. While trying to come to grips with this new version of her mother, Clara finds herself with so many questions about their past. Is it too late to ask those questions?

I really loved this book - I realize I'm gushing. It touched my heart, made me laugh, made me cry, made me think about all those words.

Highly recommended - and extra points for being set in the Adirondack Mountains where I live!

This is one of those books that will probably win the Pulitzer or Nobel prize or both because to me it reads like some I had to read in High School - and a lot were fiction prize winners. It doesn’t mean I understand them, to this day…

This is essentially a story about how a daughter, Clara, comes to terms with her mother’s early onset Alzheimer’s.This hits her hard because she, like all of us, does at one time, believe her Mom would die of old age, not slowly vanish into her own world and own mind until her eyes are empty and she is but a shell. My late Dad suffered from this and his eyes were so empty it broke my heart. I have tried to finish the story, but I honestly can’t. I’m more of a thriller and mystery fan, so when nothing happens, nothing happens.

It seems as if Clara goes on a road of self-discovery during this time, as she finally deals with the loss and death of her boyfriend, Asa, as well. Her mother had stopped the romance and there is a lot of hurt regarding this, as well as issues to do with the mother-daughter bond.

I would like to suggest that either the author or the publisher gives more detail on both content and audience as it might make a difference when others look to see if it is their type of genre. This would have a huge impact on sales and ratings as well.

I work on the belief that writing is very difficult. Just to get a book published takes a lot of hard work, and for that, I happily give it two stars.

Elsa

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

What a beautiful book!

Clara returns to her home turf when her mother is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s. She is reunited with her two best friends from college and meets an interesting new man as she struggles with losing the strong woman in her life with whom she has had a mixed relationship. An old mystery is solved and Clara comes to grips with the new life she must make for herself and her future.

Well written with a wonderful command of the English language (Clara is a “words” person) this novel is a poignant look at one woman’s relationship with her mother as well as life in general. I’m so glad I read it.

This is such a heart wrenching, yet lovely view of Alzheimer's and the impact on everyone around. Beautifully written.