Customer Reviews

A World Away: A Novel

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

 

 

This is the kind of novel that may challenge a reader's investment. It is a book worthy of reading, but one that may take deeper reflection and patience for the story line and time period to assimilate. For some one that lived in this time, I imagine it could be an entirely different experience. O'Nan has obviously researched the era; the references to war events, the battles in Alaska, the names of songs and radio stations could bring back potent memories to the right persons. Even though it is not a time period I am intimately familiar to, I did feel caught up in much of the storyline.

The novel is subtle. Unlike many war stories, it concentrates on the family left at home. The war did not stop people from living their lives, making mistakes, having affairs and coping with the usual events any family must deal with. The investment the reader must make is to be patient enough to allow the characters to reveal themselves and for the gentle ambience so well presented by the author to enhance the story.

The story may not be as gripping as is the feel of the book, the emotional and crystal reminisces of the characters and the incredibly unique years of WWII.

The young men go away to war but family and life still goes on.
The story shifts from one era to another to give the reader an idea of how a veteran feels while at war and again when they are back at home, many years later.
This is a story of the effects and the memory of war and the lost innocense of young men. The sadness that stays with a war veteran during his daydreaming of fighting and fear.
A very worthwhile book to read.
A lot of different emotions and outcomes are entwined through this story of family, love, and war.

A fine, subtle, well-written book by one of the best authors in America. He understands families, war, and beautiful prose. Ignore negative reviews; you won't be disappointed. Also recommend The Names of the Dead -- a very different, but equally or more compelling book.

The fighting during World War II may be overseas, but to James and Anne Langer, the battle is in the Hampton home of his father, suffering from a severe stroke. Anne is irate with her spouse for having an affair with one of his students. To retaliate, Anne starts her own passionate fling with a soldier stationed nearby. Her oldest son, Rennie is missing somewhere in the Pacific. her youngest son Jay is falling apart as he watches his world collapse.

When Rennie returns from the war, he seems like a shell of his former self. Even his beloved spouse who gave birth while he was MIA, cannot snap him out of his melancholy. Anne knows that she must patch up her own relationships if she is going to help her son recover from his severe case of battle fatigue.

A WORLD AWAY is a brilliant look inside the minds of people who stayed home during the big war. The story line is crisp and interesting, but it is the deep tour of each individual's psyche that makes Stewart O'Nan's relationship drama into a compelling piece that will bring kudos the author.

Harriet Klausner

The first three quarters of this book are excellent, if a bit difficult to follow due to time changes and information that is left out for later. But overall I liked it. The last 1/4 is a bore. The same emotions repeated and the same family interactions with no one really growing or changing. Everyone resigned to the status quo. The mother is particularly unlikable. No way for me to know if the WWII stuff is accurate. I wasn't alive.

This is a bit more polished than his previous books, but there is something about each of O'Nan's novels that begs for attention, that feels as though he is trying to imitate literature. I found this one loftier still and while O'Nan's reach is admirable, perhaps, his grasp remains modest. An unsatisfactory reading experience.