“Goodbye Earl: A Revenge Novel” by Leesa Cross-Smith (Grand Central)
Whether you know the song by The Chicks or not, there’s a lot to love about Leesa Cross-Smith’s latest and uber-personal novel, “Goodbye Earl.”
But it does help to know the context: There are Earls in this world — men who abuse women. And, as the song explains, Earl’s gotta die.
When Kasey travels back to Goldie after 15 years away, she faces a traumatic past that she’d just as soon keep buried. But her best friends since they were babies — Rosemarie, Ada, and Caroline, together known as RACK — are there to help her through it.
RACK’s sisterhood transcends shared experiences and close proximity. Cross-Smith crafts a magical bond between them, capturing their easy, deep camaraderie as the now-33-year-old women slip into fun teenage banter when they reunite, their Southern accents bleeding through the page when they’re especially excited.
The chapters flip between then and now. In 2004, their final months together in Goldie before RACK graduates high school and Rosemarie and Kasey split town for wide open spaces and new faces. Jump 15 years, the four reunite in their hometown for a wedding.
The past reveals the abuse Kasey witnessed and experienced at the hands of her stepdad. The present uncovers a second chance for all of them to make things right and to rid the world of an Earl once and for all.
But the people in their lives aren’t all Earls — some of them are positively delightful, with scenes that buoy the book like a breath of fresh air: rejuvenating kinship, contented friendship, giddy romance.
Cross-Smith’s novel reflects her wide-ranging interests, which are so broad you’d have to be a total curmudgeon not to connect with at least one of the items in the extensive list on her About Me page. At once small Southern hometown and bigtime world-traveling interests, Cross-Smith pours bits of herself into these four besties to create a nostalgically familiar flavor with a wow-what-is-that-spicy-kick note that’s refreshing and fun all the way through.
Baking pies meets kimbap by the lake. A straight Southern red-headed cupcake-baking sweetheart is best friends with a god-loving Black polyamorous bisexual hippie. Nosy Nancy keeps an eye on the town and everyone loses themselves dancing down at Duke's.
It takes a bit to get acquainted with everyone, but after the wedding is over, things start moving at a breakneck speed. Then it somehow keeps rolling forward with the same momentum and doesn’t stop.
Ideal summer reading, “Goodbye Earl” is the kind of story you want to tell all your friends about because the content is heavy enough to need to vent it out, but the narration is light enough to merit gossip. Cross-Smith's incredible, easy voice will make your skin crawl one moment and give you goosebumps the next, then smooth out your frazzled emotions with a contented, sunshiny vibe two pages later.
