Customer Reviews

All the Way Home

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I picked this book up in my library and it is by far and away the best book I have read in a long, long time. I read a wide variety of fiction, legal thrillers, suspense, etc...This book blew me away. I could not put it down and cried my way thru it.

Even if you dont' think Christian fiction is your thing, I think that this wonderful book, told a story that was beautifully written, with a wonderful message, but without being "preachy" as some other Christian fiction has a tendency to be.

Don't read it because its a Christian novel, read it because its a wonderful story.

To

What a wonderfully well written story. I have never read this author before and was pleasantly surprised. There were so many issues for discussion and so much history in the story that I am pushing for this to be on the required reading list at the high school where I work.

I picked up this novel by Ann Tatlock after I saw that it won a Christy Award. Now I understand why. The writing was deep and thoughtful, the plot was extensive, following two young girls on a journey to overcome racism over a period of thirty years. If you like books that you can read slowly, pondering the vivid descriptions and feeling a part of the characters' lives, you'll enjoy this book.

ALL THE WAY HOME by Ann Tatlock
November 15, 2007


Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

I wanted to like this book a lot more. While I enjoyed the two subplots (that of the story of a Japanese American family living in Los Angeles before the start of W.W.II, and life for Black Americans in the Deep South during
The 1960's), I felt this book could have been better if either one or the other subplot had been eliminated. I understand that the author was trying to compare two terrible injustices played against two sets of minorities in America, but I think this could have been easily two separate books, or written differently (to be specific, shorter).

With that said, ALL THE WAY HOME starts off as the story of Augie Schuler, who in the 1960's is flying from California to the Deep South, to meet with a woman who wants to tell her story about her project helping Blacks to use their right to vote. On the plane, she meets a woman who is on her way back home to the South, and Augie flashes back to memories of another time, living with a Japanese American family who made her feel like she was one of them. Augie's home life was terrible, having lost her father early in life and now her mother was forced to move in with a brother, living in a crowded house with children from both families. Augie chose to spend most of her time away from home, and eventually came to live with the Yamagata's and became best friends with Sunny, who became more like a sister to Augie. The first half of the book details the friendship between the two girls, and the awful family situation that Augie had to endure at her uncle's home. But when W.W.II broke out, and with the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Augie lost her adopted family, who were sent to the camps. Augie waited for that letter that would tell her that Sunny and her parents were doing OK, but no letters ever arrive.

And now it is the 1960's, and Augie has since learned to keep those memories of her childhood away, feeling she had been betrayed by the Japanese family she had once loved. But what she finds in Mississippi, will shock her, and bring her childhood memories back to the forefront.

This is a good book for one to be introduced to the plight of the Japanese Americans in the years before and during W.W.II. As a Japanese American (Third generation), there is only a little that I know about those years when my father and his family lived at Manzanar. While I am not sure how accurate this book was in terms of life for the Japanese American before WW II in Boyle heights, California, an area of Los Angeles I am familiar with, I think I did get a better idea of how my father's generation may have felt. However, I did have a hard time believing in the portrayal of Sunny's parents, who were 2nd Generation Japanese Americans (meaning, their parents were from Japan). They behaved too much like Caucasians, and not like the reserved traditional Japanese Americans that I connect with who were born in America before W.W.II. Still, I did enjoy reading the story of Augie and Sunny and their remarkable friendship prior to W.W.II. The book was a just a tad bit too long however, and that is why I'm giving it a 3.5 rating.

All the Way Home is a touching story, teaching us how the world events of WWII and the Civil Rights Movement touched everyday lives. The author weaves the story with questions of faith--real ones that real people struggle with--without being preachy in the least.

I enjoyed the book so much that I read it very quickly, but it's also worthy of a longer more thoughtful reading. Quality writing from an award winning author. Highly recommended.

This book covers two different eras of racial discrimination. When we meet Augie, it's just prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Neglected at home, Augie is "adopted" by an American Japanese family. Life is wonderful -- until the Japanese are sent to the camps and Augie loses the family that truely cares about her.

Many years later, in the midst of racism against African Americans in the south, Augie and her Japanese "sister" meet once again and together fight against racism.

I loved this book and would recommend it for anyone who wants to learn about the different racial struggles our counrty has gone through. I got so caught up in the story I forgot how much history I was learning. I would encourage everyone to read it just for the history background and hopefully you will learn just as much about yourself as I did.

This is such a great story! I had just finished "Farewell to Manzanar" when I read this book and learned more about the treatment of Japanese Americans during the war through the eyes of a young girl. The story did not get bogged down in war and politics though. The most intriguing aspect was the desire of the caucasian girl to be part of the Japanese family based on internal emotions and the challenge of the Japanese family to be accepted as Americans based on their external features. If only man were able to look at the heart the way God does! This is an inspirational story of belonging and the adverse treatment of "enemy" culture during the war.

This is the third Ann Tatlock novel I have read and I am telling everyone about it. Yes, this story deals with some huge issues, such as racial tensions, war, alcoholism and disfunctional families, but the wonderful part of this is that you are more caught up in the story than in the issues.

I was almost accidentally learning more than I ever knew about racism, etc. while being entirely captivated by the warm story line and it's diverse characters.

When I read an Ann Tatlock novel I am IN the story. It stays with me throughout the day and long after I've finished reading it. I recommend this book to anyone who wants quality, moral and entertaining reading.

This is the first Ann Tatlock book I have read but will definitely be reading her other two. She is a gifted writer who is able to draw the reader's mind and heart into the story. So much awaits the reader, who, in this novel, explores the history of Japanese internment and black civil rights. I was unable to lay this book aside for any length of time.