Friday, December 28, 2012

Book Review: Godspeed by Dan Chabot


Godspeed
A Love Story

Author: Dan Chabot
Paperback: 306 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (June 20, 2012)
Amazon Link

Kindle Edition
File Size: 419 KB
Print Length: 307 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1477435360
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Babop/Dan Chabot; 1 edition (September 28, 2012)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Amazon Link

Note: I received a review copy of this book free from Dan Chabot. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.

Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

My thoughts:

Godspeed is a love story which tells the painful yet satisfying journey of one man - Derry Danaher. Derry works in a local newspaper called the Ledger as a reporter and feature writer. He believes that by working in that newspaper, he is doing something important, something that makes difference in people's lives. For Derry, he doesn't need anything or anyone in his life. When he lost his father, he went into depression and he doesn't want to go through the same pain again. Everything is working out well with him until he meets Amedee Carol Beauchene.

Godspeed is a very touching love story. I was deeply moved by this book, I cried and laughed with Derry and Amedee as I join them in their life together. I loved the building of their relationship. His love for Amedee is so pure, everlasting and I'm sure anyone who reads this book would want to find someone like Derry.  

I also loved Derry's family and even work friends. The love and understanding they have shown him is unbelievable. Everyone at work had the compassion to offer any help to Derry, they did not hesitate to take him back even after six months of no communication. I sometimes wonder if that was realistic, to have that kind of support from people at work is just amazing. 

The only flaw I see in this book was that the first 100 pages were kind of a slow read because of the flashbacks. I was never good in understanding stories with flashbacks so I just skimmed through those until I guess I was almost done with the story. When I finally realized how they are connected, I went back to read the earlier pages again.

The ending made me decide to finally give this book a 5-star rating even with the above flaw.   I honestly think this would make a good Hollywood movie. If you are looking for a nice, heartwarming and encouraging story, you might want to pick-up this book.

About the book:

When Derry and Amedee fall in love, it is a collision of destinies, and they are sure it will last forever. But when it ends in tragedy, Derry, beset by remorse and guilt, sets off on an improbable, reckless crusade for redemption. When it finally ends abruptly, he has found someone to help him build a new life from the ashes of the past, and readers are left to ponder a poignant question: How can a lie be wrong when it makes so many people feel so good?

About the author:



Dan Chabot is a veteran newspaper editor, writer and columnist who spent 25 years with the Milwaukee Journal, much of that time as the editor of its popular and beloved Green Sheet, a feature section printed on green paper that specialized in whimsical and offbeat stories, humor and advice columns, puzzles and games, and of course, the comic strips.

He wrote a popular column called The Greenskeeper that engaged readers in offbeat and improbable contests, such as finding the people with the worst handwriting in Milwaukee (doctors were declared ineligible, because they were considered professional scrawlers), or searching neighborhoods to find homes with the most interesting, imaginative and creative mailboxes. For several years the Green Sheet provided helpful advice on St. Patrick's Day to folks caught without something green to wear -- a handy template on how to cut up the Green Sheet in a precise way to make a quick necktie!

Chabot also wrote for other sections of the paper. One of his travel stories, about a visit with his family to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, was quoted in a Hall of Fame publication, and also wound up in Paul Dixon's book, "Famous Baseball Quotations."

Chabot is a native of Ontonagon, MI, where he served for a time as assistant editor of the local weekly. After two years with a small paper in the California Bay Area, he joined the staff of the Milwaukee Journal.

These days Chabot lives in Florida. He and his wife, Mary Ellen, are the parents of three grown sons and five grandchildren. "Godspeed: a love story" is his first novel, and he's now at work on a second.

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