Goodbye, Johnny Thunders

by Tania Kindersley

A story about a girl in London for the first time, who falls in love with a "bad boy" while trying to stay cool through a long hot summer.

Genres: Fiction, New Adult, Romance, Chick Lit

312 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1996

About the author

I live in Scotland where I write books and look after two antic lurchers and two gentle thoroughbred mares.

Reviews

[katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that changed my life followed closely by tania kindersley's other book. i must have read this book 5 times. It just captured something for me at the time of reading it. friendships, love, lost love, passion. loved it.

[Donyae Coles · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books captures everything that was amazing about being a girl in the 90 sand everything that sucks about being a girl in the 90s. I havent' read this book in over 20 years but I still think about it all the time.

[Vita Luna · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe even 4.5 - a great read, hard to put down

[Emma Lewis-Galic · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was about 25 I read this book. I adored it. I still adore it. It's wistful and beautiful. It was one of the few things I took on a long trek in Nepal when I was turning 30. Tania Kindersley's writing is evocative and wonderful. For anyone who's fallen in love for the first time. For anyone who's moved to London in their 20s. Lovely.

[Emilie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trashy and cliched, tried really hard to be witty but it fell flat in so many ways, not unlike Sex in the City might I add....an easy read if anything, and certainly a little guilty pleasure (the first half anyway), but I couldn't get beyond the tired and used paradigms...

[Morgana Taylor · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book to me was crap. Cliched, pretentious and just trying too hard to be something it wasn't - a good book!

[Bex · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very interesting book. The descriptions of London (and New York) were incredibly evocative and atmospheric, and made for some incredible passages that completely drew me in. The overarching plot itself I really liked: others have critiqued the fact that we are aware the relationship is doomed from the start, but I thought that was actually one of this novel's strongest points, though that might just be personal preference. It became a journey not of what was going to happen, but how; and- I found- made the novel more complex and intriguing. Similarly the journey of the protagonists feelings was captured fantastically. However (because there's always a however!), I really didn't like any of the characters: I found them highly naive and pretentious. The dialogue was ridiculous to say the least, and often incomprehensible. The protagonist especially was just incredibly ingenuous, despite her history and experiences, which made her really difficult to relate to or empathise with. Similarly, I found Jack as a character hard to fall in love with, because there was so little to him- which I know is part of it, I'm all for him being mysterious!- I just needed more of a reason to see why the protagonist fell for him, and I wanted to fall for him myself.
So yeah, an interesting read: highly evocative, but ultimately uncompelling.

[Carla Burns · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, perfectly crafted novel.

A novel in which nothing happens - girl meets boy, girl falls in love, boy disappears - yet which expresses, beautifully and evocatively, every emotion and every level of emotion that love and the loss of love brings.

All this set against the backdrop of a hot London summer, where you can feel the sunshine, smell the cigarettes, taste the espresso.

I first read this book in 2001, and kept it because I love the title. Second time around, it did not disappoint.

A work of art.

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give this 3.5 stars. It was well written and I really liked it. It was my kind of thing because it was set in London in the 1990’s and so was I, although not in Nottinghill... the main character falls hopelessly in love with an unsuitable chap... I’m saying nothing 😉 References to places I knew, musical references and a likeable main character meant it was an easy read for me and I’d have read it a lot quicker had I had more time to read.

[Ian Pindar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have looked at this book on a book shelf for over twenty years (I have done some other stuff as well).

I loved this book, atmospheric, capturing a time and place really well - 90's London.

I loved that it did not give everything away, and we had to use our own imaginations to 'try' and fill the gaps.

If you lived through London in 90's, you should like this.

[Jen Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourites that I've read almost every year.
Perfectly captures the disaster of first true love. The pain, the desperation, the way we lose ourselves. And the way we eventually recover and grow.

[Janakap · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book at a space in my life where I was in London, getting over trauma from the adventure known as life. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't understand much of myself. I read this book in 1998 during a voyage out of despair. And it was as though I was reading about myself.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Main girl is a little annoying and the ending predictable but it's a fun read. It has a very similar vibe to Shanghai baby, which I read last year: young, hot woman in the city living life and causing chaos. I wish I hadn't sold my copy of that...

[H · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and easy read. As a 90s girl who lived briefly in London in my twenties, has experienced the same heartbreak, and recognises and appreciates the musical and literary references, I found this completely relatable, nostalgic, messy and sweet.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well it kept my interest but think the author was trying to get in the Guinness Book of Records for the most cliches that could be squeezed into a novel.

[Mafer Echeverría · Rating 1 out of 5]

Has potential but ends up coming across as privileged and annoying. Did not finish.

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars

Doomed love. Definitely new territory for me, but I'm extremely glad I gave this book a chance because it was such an enjoyable read.

The story is set in 1990's London. It's summer, and Nancy is our protagonist, she, who has traveled and seen so much and yet so little, falls in love with a bad boy. A really bad one.

Along the way, we meet her friends, boss and colleagues, we meet Jack and see her falling for him, but we also start to notice those little things that tell us there is something wrong with their relationship, nothing too big, of course, but something nonetheless. And then it happens, and love acquires the "doomed" adjective for a reason and we understand why and how and when, even thought we might had wanted everything to work out at the end.

Every character in this book has its own personality, their banter is funny and in occasions fairly poetic, there were so many excellent sayings in this book that hit the spot right on that it was almost scary how real all characters felt for me.

I did not give the story a 5 because there were too many references. I was born in the 1990s, but I do not know anything about famous people in those years in America, much less in London. I had to look up a lot of names and sometimes it got tiresome.

Besides that one bad thing, there is nothing else I can criticize. Frankly, one of the things I enjoyed the most was the way this book was written, it was so very colloquial I could almost imagine myself sitting in a bar talking and having some drinks with these guys. I have no doubt that If given the chance, I would re-read this book many times.

[Margaret Pitcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this twice but the second time it grabbed me. It filled in part of the missing link for me between leaving London 30 years ago and my son living there now with his totally international set of friends. So London is there and it's great, if you're a fan. What of the love story? I don't normally read them (unless you count Murakami, who sneaks it up on you in 1Q84) but this is great. Instant, unaccountable, love at first sight, with wasted, sexy but not very loveable Jack, who, cleverly, remains an enigma throughout and has barely two lines to say. Friendship gets a much more positive press.

Don't let the clever, Sunday-supplement-style writing put you off, as it did me in the beginning, once she's into the story you're hooked.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written book showing the total breakdown and rebuild of spirit following a relationship failure. Would be brilliant reading material for someone just out of a relationship. Some great quotes - “Let’s drink this wine and have a nice time. Living well is the best revenge.”
“The saddest two words in the English language are too late.”
Talking of old ladies sitting in a bar “…lifeless eyes, that terrible glazed look which is the last defense against a world that didn’t turn out as they planned.”

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed this read. It's not going to set the world on fire but it was a nice journey to take. 1990s London. I has a problem with the format in that it was a retrospective of a failed relationship and so the knowledge of the ultimate failure kind of overshadowed the whole thing. We knew it was doomed from the start and therefore the book didn't have much of anywhere to go. But some of the writing and observations were spot on, honest and recognisable.

[Clare Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books from my London days (previous life) and it was like I could have written it. I wish I had! A good read if you have some leftover pent-up feelings about the torturous end of a dizzying summer love affair, this is a good one to read! I love her books, especially Elvis Has Left the Building, which falls into the same category but packs a wonderful revenge punch for added therapy.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has been in my 'to read' pile for a while now. I bought it at a book sale a couple of years back, I guess largely because the title attracted me. It is written well, but it just didn't do anything for me

[georgia L · Rating 4 out of 5]

love her writing and the portobello setting, poignant and struck a big chord at the time

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not believe the voice of the character. liked the background stuff, wanted to follow a different character.

[Marianna Torok]

Loved it in the 90s, captures the atmosphere so well, and there is love and loss.