Customer Reviews

A Place to Call Home

5 star:		(70)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A Place to Call Home is a family favorite. Everyone in my family loves it. I read it first on their combined recommendation way back in March of '00 and recorded it in my book journal as a 4.75 out of 5 - a straight A, very close to an A+. On re-read, it doesn't quite rate that high, but this is still a very affecting read with a great pair of star-crossed lovers, Claire Maloney and Roan Sullivan.

The book starts off with Claire's reminiscences of her childhood in a small town community in Georgia. She begins by telling the story of her family and how they settled and thrived there, and then the narrative organizes itself around certain pivotal moments in time she has through the years of her young childhood with Roanie Sullivan, the poor, socially oppressed, abused, neglected son of the town's shame, Big Roan Sullivan. In their small town society Claire lives on one side of the tracks and Roanie barely exists on the other, though physically there are no tracks and they live only down the road from each other. Claire is surrounded by love, comfortable affluence, and family. Roanie lives in a junky trailer that lacks a working toilet or washing machine. He has no family ties outside his mess of a father. The town prefers to ignore his problems rather than deal with Big Roan. Claire is the only person who sees something in Roanie and she persistently defends him against any of his tormentors and against the expectations of her family. However, eventually, when Roanie's situation takes a turn for the worse, Claire's parents finally intervene and he comes to live with the Maloneys. Claire is certain everything will now be fine and she and Roanie will always be together. Roanie himself is more skeptical, but as the months pass, he begins to hope. Then a terrible tragedy blasts a hole in the Maloney family idyll. And twenty years pass before Claire and Roanie reunite.

The plot of A Place to Call Home revolves around two romantic fantasies - (1) soulmates kept apart by the vagaries of fate and (2) the resiliant child. Both have equal appeal and Smith uses both to tug the reader through the emotional wringer. She builds her story by building Claire's community, bit by bit, quirky personality by quirky personality including tons of authentic seeming Southern detail. Claire's childhood is a good one, but her family isn't all sweetness and light. Her Uncle Peter is a tail-chasing disgrace, his sons are cruel and sadistic; several of her aunts cling to their prejudices with all of their strength. Her parents are good people, but constrained in their instinct to do good by the family expectations. From Roanie's perspective none of these people give a damn about anyone not family. Claire tries valiently to bridge the gap between the respectable Maloneys and Roanie, developing a reputation as a troublemaker in the process. No one understands her or her crusade.

Smith's character development is particularly well done. The Maloneys act like real people, good and bad, sometimes both. Since the novel is told in first person, the reader really gets to know Claire and feels with terrible intensity the love she has for Roanie. Roanie is a bit more mysterious. The reader only gets into his head a few times, through short letters he writes to Claire. But his sense of betrayal comes through loud and clear as does his emotional vulnerability to those he considers his true family. Roanie is a tragic figure, even though, or perhaps because, he survives and thrives. If he can go forward and prosper given his horrible childhood, what more could he have done if he'd had a proper family to love and raise him?

From the beginning of the novel it's immediately clear that Claire and Roanie are meant to be together. They understand each other despite all of their surface differences. They accept each other. They nourish each other and stick up for each other. Unfortunately, almost no one sympathizes with their friendship. All of these nice, well-meaning people in Claire's family manage to drive a twenty year wedge between them with their own agendas and selfish behaviors. That Smith can manage to make the reader understand that these are nice people and yet make the reader simultaneously burn with anger and frustration at them is a tribute to her ability to characterize.

The book is not without flaw, however. The novel's biggest problem is that the emotional payoff comes just about dead center of the book, leaving a lesser conflict to propel the narrative to its end. Right there, smack dab in the middle, is a bunch of heart-stirring, throat-wrenching emotional stuff: true love thwarted, family betrayal, aimless wandering in life's barren wilderness, bitter loneliness, and then finally, FINALLY, reunion. Get out the hankies, this is good stuff. Great stuff. For about 100 pages.

Before that middle third, the book is about a B+. It's got all that great characterization, but there's also some info dump in the beginning (first about Smith's real-life rural Georgia Irish ancestry, then about Claire's fictional rural Georgia Irish ancestry) and a touch too much Southern cutesiness. The middle third is an A, very close to an A+, very, very affecting. The last third, however, is no better than a B. With the main conflict of Claire and Roanie's physical and emotional separation resolved, Smith has to use a new conflict to fill up the remaining pages. This secondary conflict has some meat to it, but it's not as vital or riveting. And, unfortunately, Smith chooses to resolve it too easily with some impossible yet very timely maneuvering involving nature. In the end, everything wraps up very tidily. Too tidily. Without any sort of hammering out of original grievances between Roanie and the family. The book ends on a sugary note with everything finally made precious and good.

So, add it all together - B+ and A and B - and you get a B+. A Place to Call Home is well worth reading, even re-reading, but, Dear Reader, the best stuff is in the middle and not the end.

As an avid reader of many different types of books (including romance), I am pretty picky about the quality of writing. Deborah Smith enchants the reader with her knowledge of children's reactions and expressions. In this book she makes you want to live in the Georgia Mountains. You will love Claire and Roanie as children and as adults. A lot of romance fiction writers rely on sex to make the novel a good read. This has a rare blend of true, touching romance that reminds me of Lvyrle Spencer. Rarely has a book come alive from the pages for me. I highly recommend this one and I warn you - you will be tired for work in the morning, because you can't put this book down!

If I were a better reviewer I would gave you a nice plot summary with dozens of the reasons why I LOVE this book so much and how deeply it made me feel for those charactors.

But because I'm not that good so all I can say is that this book is absolutely a MUST READ. There're a lot of touching moments and some vivid scenes that made me laught and cried. I sighed with happiness when it came to the end but also felt a little bit sad because I wanted more. What a wonderful book and what a great author!!

Though I agree with some reviewers that the second half of the book isn't as good as the first part, it only means that this book deserves more than 5 stars with additional stars for the first half.

The beginning, of the book I found very interesting, and it seemed like a promising book. I enjoyed the "Southerness" of the story, but, oh boy, after the two main characters grew up the storyline drug on and on and on and on.. you get the point. Sorry, but I give it 3 stars.

Alas, I also am not gifted at describing the plot of this book or even why I liked it. It made me laugh and cry out loud. I, who never read a book more than once, have read it every year since I found it. I will buy it for friends but never loan it.
Its a classic story but the author has a hilarious way with her descriptions of Claire, her family, etc., its just a fun fun read. It is, truly, my all time favorite book, and I read it again and again.

I loved the first half of the book. The second half was more like a typical romance novel. I was amazed to find other reviewers felt like I did, the second half was a huge disappointment.

As a 16-year-old reader, I loved this book. Claire is a character I admire so much, and Roan Sullivan was a character that I practically fell in love with. It made me wish that I was Claire! I will read this book again and again, and each time feel the joy that I felt the first time I read it. After reading this book by Deborah Smith, it made me feel like reading all of her other books (which I did). A Place to Call Home was my personal favorite.

The beginning of this book was truly wonderful. There were some laugh out loud funny parts (the Easter scene had me laughing until I cried). The characters were well drawn and enchanting. I was even compelled to read through Clair's stint as a reporter. But when Roan came back, I was left scratching my head. I lost interest quickly in the drama of whether or not Roan would forgive Clair's family. Add to that Matthew's parentage...What difference did it make which one of them had fathered him? I agree with the reviewer who said that Ms. Smith has talent. Next time I read one of her novels, I hope it lasts all the way through the book.

This is one of those love stories that just stays with you. You will compare the lovers Clare and Roanie to all who come after them. This is the story of young love, faith, hope, charity and the strong bonds of family and the even stronger bonds of love that can exist outside of your immediate family.

Clare and Roanie meet at the ages of 5 and 10, drawn to each other even at such a young age and were torn apart by violence at the ages of 10 and 15, but it had to be. They had to grow up and grow up they did. But they kept the faith in their love for each other. A love that time and family intervention good and bad could not change. Twenty years later, they are reunited and the questions start.

This is my third reading of this book and I expect there will be other readings for me. It's just one of those stories that we all need a dose of every now and then.

After reading Blue Willow and Silk & Stone, I was very excited to start reading this book, since it's one of Ms. Smith's most acclaimed novels. When I first picked this one up and read the first page and found that it was written in the 1st person, I continued reluctantly. I normally try not to read books written as such because the story telling is from only one person's point of view. I prefer reading stories where I can get a feel of how all the characters are thinking and feeling. It makes them seem more three dimensional to me. Anyway, as I was reading, I was mesmerized the first half of the book. My heart went out to Roanie and the environment he grew up in. And I loved the way Claire stood beside him and believed in him every step of the way. However, the second half was very disappointing. There was something lacking in Roan and Claire's relationship. The story seemed to drag on and go downhill from there. Their reunion wasn't as touching I was would have liked. But this is a good story, but very tragic. Those who love tearjerking stories shouldn't pass this one up, as well as those who love stories involving second chances and forgiveness.