The Road Home: A Novel
by Rose Tremain
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Book Summary Information
Author: Rose TremainEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-08-26
ISBN: 0316002615
Number of pages: 432
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Book Reviews of The Road Home: A Novel
Book Review: "A man may travel far, but his heart may be slow to catch up."
Summary: 4 Stars
From the beginning of his long journey from Eastern Europe to London by bus, Lev is riddled with anxiety at leaving mother and daughter behind- his beloved wife has died- no work available in his home country, only hopelessness and hunger. Like others before him, Lev travels to London in search of employment, hoping to send money home and eventually be reunited with his family. His English only passable, Lev makes the acquaintance of Lydia, another traveler who leaves a note in his pocket: she will translate for him should Lev need her help in finding a job in this unfamiliar place. His funds rapidly diminishing, Lev sleeps out of doors, hidden from the prying eyes of passersby. With Lydia's assistance, he locates a room to rent and a position in the kitchen of a restaurant where the demanding and unpredictable chef waxes hot and cold.
Lev is more fortunate in his housing situation, renting from Christy Slane, whose wife has left with their small daughter. Because of Christy's all too frequent bouts with drinking and wild behavior, his wife's legal actions obstruct Lev's landlord's visitation with his child. At least at Christy's, Lev discovers a sympathetic friend, a man willing to share stories and disappointments. To alleviate the stresses of life in this new country, Lev comforts himself with reminiscences about his marriage before his wife's untimely death and the pleasure of time spent with his daughter, his overwhelming loneliness abated by calls on his new cell phone to his mother, Ina, and five-year-old, Maya, as well as his outrageous friend Rudi, an energetic complainer who offers family news and a stream of problems with the American "Tchevi" he has recently purchased to drive as a cab. Life is not all bleak, an impulsive romance with a coworker, Sophie, offering Lev a lifeline in an otherwise tedious existence.
An astute student of the human condition, the author straddles a thin line between Lev's immigrant experience, poignant memories and the hilarious diatribes that Rudi indulges in during their long-distance conversations. Torn between necessity and the comfort of his assignations with Sophie, Lev cannot shake his yearning for familiarity. His dilemma is artfully described, the grinding hours at the restaurant, the seduction of the past and Ina's endless pleas for her son to return home. Lev's displacement is at the heart of the novel, the complexity of feelings that confine happiness to moments and an ambivalence that all but cripples this struggling protagonist. A potpourri of warring emotions leaves Lev at odds with whether to stay or return home when he scents opportunity. Invisible, worn out by long hours, brief respites serve as temporary balm for his troubled heart. Tremain taps into the anguished isolation of the immigrant, exacerbated by a lack of communication, the result a painful journey through an unfamiliar place; restored by an entrepreneurial spirit, Lev transcends his limitations. Courage born of necessity is courage nonetheless. Luan Gaines/ 2008.
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