Customer Reviews

Almost Home

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

 

 

T.M. McNally is an immensely humane writer. His small body of work displays an ever-deepening concern with the emotions which shape us, the situations which warp us, and the people with whom we try to find our hearts. This book concerns two teenagers, but it is not a typical coming-of-age story, fraught with angst and TV-like plot points of misunderstanding and resolution. Nor is it an attempt to shock larger society with false revelations of "real" teenage problems and passions. Elizabeth and Patrick are as fully realized as any characters in recent literary novels; they simply happen to be in their teens. The narrative alternates between Patrick's reminiscences from the distance of his thirties, and direct narration from the two as the events occur. McNally manages to make this potentially unwieldy time-structure feel just right, as he mixes a more mature emotional perspective with the youthful ones; the result is something I have not often read, but have lo! ng looked for: a serious emotional limning of youth. It manages to cover kegger parties with the same careful, accurate eye as it does the death of a parent. His prose is impeccably lyrical and supple, which heightens the memory-like strength of the story. This book is quiet, but its quietness conceals a heart as honest and huge as the Arizona desert surrounding the characters' artificially lush suburb.

T.m. Mcnally is an excellent writer. He has a style that is clear, easy to read, and keeps a reader interested throughout the entire book (in this case, "Almost Home"). He handles such topics such as teenage sexuality with a dignity and restraint, so as not to become gratuitous or pointlessly sexual, but explicit enough to evoke the proper emotion that one might have experiencing the act.

The book is so well written that the only real problem is that when finished reading, you find yourself wishing there were more. And I think that a little more might have really served this particular work well. Though the plots themselves are mostly resolved to satisfaction, I found myself mostly through the entire book bracing for a great tragedy that links the two characters as described by a synopsis I read. When it doesn't come (or maybe it did but was not very apparent), I found myself a little let down.

Still, an excellent read and an excellent example of modern American literature.

I found this novel a strange read. On the surface it's a coming of age novel set in a high school in Phoenix. It's tentacles reach back into the family histories of the two courting youngsters, and as the atmosphere darkens, violence descends. Interestingly, the author refers to the Lincoln Savings scandal of the late 1980s which wiped out thousands of depositors who thought they were investing in government insured securities. But he ties former Senator Barry Goldwater to the scandal when in fact it was Senator John McCain who became one of the so-called Keating Five, senators who got the government to help Charlie Keating continue his multimillion dollar con game. I liked the alternation of subjects in each chapter--keeps the story line moving.

I was thoroughly disappointed. The two teenagers that this story revolves around are stereotypical. Nothing seperates them as individuals from what i understood and understand as teenage love. The devices that the author uses to seperate these main characters from cliche are ineffective. The sweater, C voice, alcholic mother, scar, et cetera, et cetera seem to be toted in the novel's structure to be pulling these characters into reality. It doesn't happen. However, none of this is more shopworn than the treatment of the drug culture. And the reason i finished this novel was for the fact the book took place in AZ. This is also stated on the back cover of the book, and i don't know why. Place should be used to further or help develop the story, not to dismantle. Ford Madox Ford once said something to the effect, "The novelist should keep the reader entirely oblivious to the fact that the author exists..." Well, I was not only aware of the author existence throughout this short work, but i was also entirely aware the author is not from Arizona.

This is the epitome of 90's minimalism: impeccably written, utterly devoid of heart or soul. There isn't one risky sentence in this book: it's all so careful, so risk-free, so . . . dead. If you're into the whole Ron Carlson/Richard Ford thing, go for it. Otherwise, look elsewhere for rich, challenging fiction.

It is engrossing, deliciously written, and it is certainly alive. McNally's grasp of the adolescent subculture is dead on; his grasp of humanity is more accurate still. 'Almost Home' will profoundly affect you.

McNally's Almost Home is a small gem: he writes about his principal characters with grace and empathy, and their struggles, and heartaches are all-too-real.

Phoenix is the setting and McNally takes full advantage of the desert city's metaphorical possibilities, without ever thumping us over the head. It is so refeshing to read a literary novel so richly sophisticated (structurally and technically) that is also still a page-turner, still a great, moving STORY.

I highly recommend this book--

McNally is terrific at capturing the emotions of adolescence and his books transcend any stereotypical audience. They're all terrific and Almost Home is no exception. It's moving, uplifting and sad all in one.