The Road Home; Rose Tremain
Naxos Audiobooks - 2009
The Road Home starts out rather sad. The protagonist, Lev, leaves his
Russian village for London to find work after losing his job at the
local sawmill. He's 43 and needs work so he can send money home to
his mother for both her and his his young daughter. Lev is recent widower who lost his wife
to leukemia at the age of 36. He's understandably depressed, leaving
all that is precious to him behind in order migrate to London to find work. He keeps in
touch with his good friend Rudi back home by cell phone in this post 9/11 time frame.
While traveling across Europe by bus, he meets Lydia who is also facing trying times. Lev's
English is poor and he is unfamiliar with some customs. Trying to
stretch the little money he has, he initially sleeps in doorways until
Lydia helps him to find a room in a rundown place. The house is owned by
an Irish plumber who drinks a bit too much and is also missing his
family who have recently moved out. Lydia also helps Lev find a job,
first distributing leaflets, then as a dishwasher and later as a cook.
Still depressed and missing his wife and family, he meets Sophie,
a tattooed vixen who is more than willing to cheer up poor Lev, but there is
more to Sophie than meets the eye. She is a compassionate young woman
who spends her free time volunteering at Ferndale Heights, a home for the elderly.
The
focus of the story is on Lev and how he tries to navigate life in an
unfamiliar country after having suffered tremendous personal
loss. The story is interesting enough, but it was a little to quiet for me. Although some readers may view the ending as convenient, to me it
was evident early on how this story might end, I just wasn't aware of
the specifics. The Road Home is a story about loss and
about loneliness. It's about picking yourself up when life throws you a
curve ball and about doing what you need to do in order to move on. The
author manages to capture all of this very well without making it too
sad. For me, the best past of this novel was the multi-dimensional characters, each flawed in some way, yet so real and so memorable.
I liked the audiobook because of Juliet Stevenson, who is an amazing
narrator. She is so skilled at capturing so many different accents and
timbres. While listening it felt like the story was choppy, and "choppy" it was
for a reason -- this was an "abridged" version, which made me kind of mad. I
didn't realize libraries even purchased "abridged" audiobooks. Had I realized this earlier on, I would have read the print edition which I'm sure I would have enjoyed a bit more.
I read this years ago and think I liked it more than you did even though I, too, found the ending predictable.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard about "abridged" audiobooks before reading this review. I can see how that could diminish your enjoyment a bit. But it does sound as if you liked the characterizations and the message(s) of the story.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your review Diane. I did not know to watch out for abridged versions.
ReplyDeleteI keep meaning to read Rose Tremain!
ReplyDeleteThis book has been on my TBR shelf forever practically. I wonder if the choppiness was in part because the version you listened to was abridged. I don't like abridged versions either. I feel like you lose out on so much.
ReplyDeleteI'm such a stickler for checking whether the library's version is abridged or not. In our system the library sticker often covers where it tells you if it's abridged or not. If it isn't one I ordered and checked online before, I always make the reference desk check for me :) Like you, they often sound choppy of I'm certain that I've missed something.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to remember what else I've read by this author. Her name rings a bell by it isn't landing anywhere. I'll have to do a little research. I like the idea of the story. Good review.
ReplyDelete