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Book Review
Mar. 30th, 2012 10:18 amThe Year We Left Home
by Jean Thompson
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
This short, very realistic novel follows the lives of four siblings and their cousin from their adolescence in Iowa during the 1970s through the early 2000s. Thompson tells her story through a series of vignettes that each concentrate on a moment or short episode in one sibling's life so that the book has a little bit of the feel of a series of linked short stories. It's also very similar to the structure of .
I had very mixed feelings about this book. Thompson is an effective writer, and she really brought her characters and the late 20th century midwest to life. However, she focused relentlessly on her characters' miseries and failures, on the moments when things break down and go bad. It's clear from the shape of the characters' lives and things that are alluded to that these people must have had moments of happiness and success, that things must have been good for them during some parts of their lives. But Thompson never shows us any of this. For me, this made it increasingly difficult to connect with the characters and feel anything for their situations. It's hard to feel much over a divorce or the breakdown of a parent-child relationship if you never got to see the good times.
by Jean Thompson
I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
This short, very realistic novel follows the lives of four siblings and their cousin from their adolescence in Iowa during the 1970s through the early 2000s. Thompson tells her story through a series of vignettes that each concentrate on a moment or short episode in one sibling's life so that the book has a little bit of the feel of a series of linked short stories. It's also very similar to the structure of .
I had very mixed feelings about this book. Thompson is an effective writer, and she really brought her characters and the late 20th century midwest to life. However, she focused relentlessly on her characters' miseries and failures, on the moments when things break down and go bad. It's clear from the shape of the characters' lives and things that are alluded to that these people must have had moments of happiness and success, that things must have been good for them during some parts of their lives. But Thompson never shows us any of this. For me, this made it increasingly difficult to connect with the characters and feel anything for their situations. It's hard to feel much over a divorce or the breakdown of a parent-child relationship if you never got to see the good times.
