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So Long, Chester Wheeler: A Novel Hardcover – December 6, 2022
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Unlikely road trip companions form an unexpected bond in an uplifting novel about the past―lost and found―by the New York Times and #1 Amazon Charts bestselling author.
Lewis Madigan is young, gay, out of work, and getting antsy when he’s roped into providing end-of-life care for his insufferable homophobic neighbor, Chester Wheeler. Lewis doesn’t need the aggravation, just the money. The only requirements: run errands, be on call, and put up with a miserable old churl no one else in Buffalo can bear. After exchanging barbs, bickering, baiting, and pushing buttons, Chester hits Lewis with the big ask.
Lewis can’t say no to a dying wish: drive Chester to Arizona in his rust bucket of a Winnebago to see his ex-wife for the first time in thirty-two years―for the last time. One week, two thousand miles. To Lewis, it becomes an illuminating journey into the life and secrets of a vulnerable man he’s finally beginning to understand. A neighbor, a stranger, and a surprising new friend whose closure on a conflicted past is also just beginning.
So Long, Chester Wheeler is an uplifting novel about looking deeper into the heart and soul to form bonds with the last people we’d expect―only to discover that they’re the ones who need it most.
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherLake Union Publishing
- Publication dateDecember 6, 2022
- Dimensions5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-101662505779
- ISBN-13978-1662505775
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From the Publisher
Editorial Reviews
Review
“So Long, Chester Wheeler will change you in ways that you can’t imagine a book could... Once you read this story, there is no chance that you will ever forget it. It is a rare treasure that doesn’t come along often.” ―Bookreporter
About the Author
Catherine Ryan Hyde is the #1 Amazon Charts and New York Times bestselling author of over forty published and forthcoming books. An avid traveler, equestrian, and amateur photographer, she shares her astrophotography with readers on her website.
Her novel Pay It Forward was adapted into a major motion picture, chosen by the American Library Association (ALA) for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than twenty-three languages for distribution in over thirty countries. Both Becoming Chloe and Jumpstart the World were included on the ALA’s Rainbow list, and Jumpstart the World was a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards. Where We Belong won two Rainbow Awards in 2013, and The Language of Hoofbeats won a Rainbow Award in 2015.
More than fifty of her short stories have been published in the Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train, and many other journals; in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts; and in the bestselling anthology Dog Is My Co-Pilot. Her stories have been honored by the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest and the Tobias Wolff Award and have been nominated for Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Three have been cited in the annual Best American Short Stories anthology.
She is founder and former president (2000–2009) of the Pay It Forward Foundation and served for more than twenty years on its board of directors. As a professional public speaker, she has addressed the National Conference on Education, twice spoken at Cornell University, met with AmeriCorps members at the White House, and shared a dais with Bill Clinton.
For more information, please visit the author at www.catherineryanhyde.com.
Product details
- Publisher : Lake Union Publishing (December 6, 2022)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1662505779
- ISBN-13 : 978-1662505775
- Item Weight : 14.4 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 1 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,154,896 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #14,330 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction
- #15,501 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #50,887 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of more than 40 published and forthcoming books.
An avid hiker, traveler, equestrian, and amateur photographer and astrophotographer, she has a published book of photos, 365 DAYS OF GRATITUDE: PHOTOS FROM A BEAUTIFUL WORLD.
She is co-author, with fellow author and publishing industry blogger Anne R. Allen, of HOW TO BE A WRITER IN THE E-AGE: A SELF-HELP GUIDE.
Her novel PAY IT FORWARD was adapted into a major motion picture, chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than 23 languages for distribution in over 30 countries. The paperback was released in October 2000 by Pocket Books and quickly became a national bestseller. Simon & Schuster released PAY IT FORWARD: YOUNG READERS' EDITION in August of '14. It is suitable for kids as young as eight. A special Fifteenth Anniversary Edition of the original PAY IT FORWARD was released in December of '14
LOVE IN THE PRESENT TENSE enjoyed bestseller status in the UK, where it broke the top ten, spent five weeks on the bestseller lists, was reviewed on a major TV book club, and shortlisted for a Best Read of the Year award at the British Book Awards. Both BECOMING CHLOE and JUMPSTART THE WORLD were included on the ALA's Rainbow List, and JUMPSTART THE WORLD was a finalist for two Lambda Literary Awards. WHERE WE BELONG won two Rainbow Awards in 2013 and THE LANGUAGE OF HOOFBEATS won a Rainbow Award in 2015.
New Kindle editions of her backlist titles FUNERALS FOR HORSES, EARTHQUAKE WEATHER AND OTHER STORIES, ELECTRIC GOD, and WALTER'S PURPLE HEART are now available. Also available is THE LONG, STEEP PATH: EVERYDAY INSPIRATION FROM THE AUTHOR OF PAY IT FORWARD, her first book-length creative nonfiction.
More than 50 of her short stories have been published in The Antioch Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, Glimmer Train and many other journals, and in the anthologies Santa Barbara Stories and California Shorts and the bestselling anthology Dog is my Co-Pilot. Her stories have been honored in the Raymond Carver Short Story Contest and the Tobias Wolff Award and nominated for Best American Short Stories, the O'Henry Award, and the Pushcart Prize. Three have been cited in Best American Short Stories.
She is founder and former president (2000-2009) of the Pay It Forward Foundation, and served on its board of directors for over 20 years. As a professional public speaker she has addressed the National Conference on Education, twice spoken at Cornell University, met with Americorps members at the White House and shared a dais with Bill Clinton.
For more information and book club questions for most backlist titles, please visit the author at catherineryanhyde.com (Note: The newer titles have book club questions included at the back of the book.)
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This book is amazing from the first page, it grabs you and does not let go, it traverses twists and turns and highways and byways and every part of the human condition from the heart to the introspection and understanding of the mind, including both comfortable and uncomfortable truths. It will surprise you with its depth, its insight into human behavior, and it will help you understand just how difficult it is to age and die, how hard relationships are, familial and other wise. It will also give you a tremendous amount of respect for those who are angels on earth, those who devote their lives to caring for people, pleasant and unpleasant, who are in the final days of their lives.
This book will fill your heart and your soul. It is so much more than it seems at first glance in reading the brief introduction which does NOT do it justice in any way. It’s hard to say who the protagonist is, though, of course it is Lewis, but his journey of self discovery as he learns what will become his life’s calling and the insights he comes to while providing a service that few could manage to handle with grace, patience and understanding beyond his years. It’s just a wonderful book I wish everyone would read because, the truth is, it follows a path we are all on. Blessings on those, like Lewis, who will walk with us to the end of our time and as much as possible, ease our transition out of this life to whatever comes next, without judgment, with character and caring. One of Catherine’s very best efforts.
Thoroughly enjoyed this one.
Easy read but it makes you think and feel!
So Long, Chester Wheeler, published in December 2022, is a novel torn from the maelstrom we call the news cycle and carefully caressed by the author to release revelations about the spiteful virulence life can inflict, and how we deal with them.
Here is an excellent summary from What’s Better Than Books? book review and recommendations website. It’s one of the best out there.
“Lewis Madigan is young, gay, out of work, and getting antsy when he’s roped into providing end-of-life care for his insufferable homophobic neighbor, Chester Wheeler. Lewis doesn’t need the aggravation, just the money. The only requirements: run errands, be on call, and put up with a miserable old churl no one else in Buffalo can bear. After exchanging barbs, bickering, baiting, and pushing buttons, Chester hits Lewis with the big ask.
“Lewis can’t say no to a dying wish: drive Chester to Arizona in his rust bucket of a Winnebago to see his ex-wife for the first time in thirty-two years — for the last time. One week, two thousand miles. To Lewis, it becomes an illuminating journey into the life and secrets of a vulnerable man he’s finally beginning to understand. A neighbor, a stranger, and a surprising new friend whose closure on a conflicted past is also just beginning.”
Fox News and conservative radio and podcasts add daily to their enemies list — LGBTQ, minorities, immigrants, teachers, progressives, pro-choice advocates, gun control supporters, and mask wearers. That’s the world of Chester Wheeler. When Lewis agrees to drive Wheeler to Arizona to confront his life demons, we, the readers, are confronted with an ugly yet inescapable reality. Hate always needs a fall guy.
Chester Wheeler has lived simmering in this slow cooker of grievance until the death in the form of terminal cancer forces him to rip off the bandage that has protected him all these years from his own life miscues. The wound is raw. A failed marriage. Feelings for another man he felt were shameful, and a loss of his children. For Wheeler, and people like him, life is hard, perhaps too hard. Blame must be assigned and weakness must never be displayed. The enemies surround him, and he fights back with angry words, hateful bumper stickers, and a cruel streak sharpened by his decades of disappointment.
But the title character, Chester Wheeler, is really the stage decoration for the main act, which is the reclamation of Lewis’s psyche. After all, when we first meet Lewis, he doesn’t exactly have life figured out yet. He’s broke, out of a job, out of a bad relationship, and without a goal other than just survival.
Of course, when Lewis first works as the home health aide for Chester Wheeler, hate burns red-hot in his mind. It’s late in the novel that we find that Lewis has a realization about Chester Wheeler, people like him and people like himself.
“…that I started to understand him. Because somewhere along the line . . . somewhere down the road in this process I got something. All the way down to my gut, I got something I’d never gotten before. I got that when a person is rude and abusive to me, it’s not about me at all. They can say something terrible to me or about me, but they’re revealing themselves, not me. It has nothing to do with me. They’re just showing me the landscape on the inside of themselves as they project it out onto somebody else. Does that make sense? It’s the first time I’ve tried to put it into words.”
It’s this revelation by Lewis that brings the sun streaming into his cloudy life. It’s why Jackie Robinson was handpicked to be the first black player in baseball’s Major Leagues. Robinson didn’t back down from racism, but he survived and thrived in an institution with a long heritage of hating and abusing people of his race.
Ultimately, So Long, Chester Wheeler is an uplifting novel. The author does not sugarcoat or downplay the animus that grips Chester Wheeler or Estelle, his next patient. Catherine Ryan Hyde doesn’t slide into cheesy aphorisms about love triumphing over hate. Instead, she wants us to understand that sometimes the last people in the world we’d expect to connect with are those who need that our help the most.
The author expects that “haters gonna hate” but wants to know what we’re going to do about it. Like any good novel, So Long, Chester Wheeler asks more questions than it offers pat answers or simplistic solutions. After, good books are about getting us to think, not telling us what to think.
Reviewed in the United States on January 12, 2023
So Long, Chester Wheeler, published in December 2022, is a novel torn from the maelstrom we call the news cycle and carefully caressed by the author to release revelations about the spiteful virulence life can inflict, and how we deal with them.
Here is an excellent summary from What’s Better Than Books? book review and recommendations website. It’s one of the best out there.
“Lewis Madigan is young, gay, out of work, and getting antsy when he’s roped into providing end-of-life care for his insufferable homophobic neighbor, Chester Wheeler. Lewis doesn’t need the aggravation, just the money. The only requirements: run errands, be on call, and put up with a miserable old churl no one else in Buffalo can bear. After exchanging barbs, bickering, baiting, and pushing buttons, Chester hits Lewis with the big ask.
“Lewis can’t say no to a dying wish: drive Chester to Arizona in his rust bucket of a Winnebago to see his ex-wife for the first time in thirty-two years — for the last time. One week, two thousand miles. To Lewis, it becomes an illuminating journey into the life and secrets of a vulnerable man he’s finally beginning to understand. A neighbor, a stranger, and a surprising new friend whose closure on a conflicted past is also just beginning.”
Fox News and conservative radio and podcasts add daily to their enemies list — LGBTQ, minorities, immigrants, teachers, progressives, pro-choice advocates, gun control supporters, and mask wearers. That’s the world of Chester Wheeler. When Lewis agrees to drive Wheeler to Arizona to confront his life demons, we, the readers, are confronted with an ugly yet inescapable reality. Hate always needs a fall guy.
Chester Wheeler has lived simmering in this slow cooker of grievance until the death in the form of terminal cancer forces him to rip off the bandage that has protected him all these years from his own life miscues. The wound is raw. A failed marriage. Feelings for another man he felt were shameful, and a loss of his children. For Wheeler, and people like him, life is hard, perhaps too hard. Blame must be assigned and weakness must never be displayed. The enemies surround him, and he fights back with angry words, hateful bumper stickers, and a cruel streak sharpened by his decades of disappointment.
But the title character, Chester Wheeler, is really the stage decoration for the main act, which is the reclamation of Lewis’s psyche. After all, when we first meet Lewis, he doesn’t exactly have life figured out yet. He’s broke, out of a job, out of a bad relationship, and without a goal other than just survival.
Of course, when Lewis first works as the home health aide for Chester Wheeler, hate burns red-hot in his mind. It’s late in the novel that we find that Lewis has a realization about Chester Wheeler, people like him and people like himself.
“…that I started to understand him. Because somewhere along the line . . . somewhere down the road in this process I got something. All the way down to my gut, I got something I’d never gotten before. I got that when a person is rude and abusive to me, it’s not about me at all. They can say something terrible to me or about me, but they’re revealing themselves, not me. It has nothing to do with me. They’re just showing me the landscape on the inside of themselves as they project it out onto somebody else. Does that make sense? It’s the first time I’ve tried to put it into words.”
It’s this revelation by Lewis that brings the sun streaming into his cloudy life. It’s why Jackie Robinson was handpicked to be the first black player in baseball’s Major Leagues. Robinson didn’t back down from racism, but he survived and thrived in an institution with a long heritage of hating and abusing people of his race.
Ultimately, So Long, Chester Wheeler is an uplifting novel. The author does not sugarcoat or downplay the animus that grips Chester Wheeler or Estelle, his next patient. Catherine Ryan Hyde doesn’t slide into cheesy aphorisms about love triumphing over hate. Instead, she wants us to understand that sometimes the last people in the world we’d expect to connect with are those who need that our help the most.
The author expects that “haters gonna hate” but wants to know what we’re going to do about it. Like any good novel, So Long, Chester Wheeler asks more questions than it offers pat answers or simplistic solutions. After, good books are about getting us to think, not telling us what to think.
Top reviews from other countries
Es ist keine Berg- und Talbahnfahrt aus, Höhepunkten und Flauten. Aber ein durchwegs packender Handlungsstrang. Mit der Zeit entwickelt man sogar Sympathien für Chester.
Gut und unterhaltsam geschrieben, am Ende hätte ich gerne noch weiter gelesen.
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