Terrifying, sad, heartwarming, inspirational. These are words that describe the amazing story of Saroo Brierley. Saroo is an Indian born Australian businessman who was separated from his family at the age of five. Saroo was born in a small suburb of Khandwa, India called Ganesh Talai, which was an important place for him all his life including when he would initiate the long and tiresome search for his mother. A memoir of this account of his experiences was published in 2013 and called A Long Way Home.
I remember hearing about this story a few years ago, when it broke on national television. It was a headline stating that a man had found his mother after 25 long years of separation. I had already known the basic frame of the story, so when I read the book it was very enjoyable getting details about what I had already known. Although this story wasn’t written by Saroo himself, ghost writer Larry Buttrose did an exceptional job at capturing the emotion and details of the journey. This story is one about the journey of a little boy who’s lost his family and doesn’t know how to get back to them.
Saroo Brierley was only five years old when he had to endure the hardest challenge of his life. When Saroo’s father abandoned his family for another woman, Saroo was forced to move from the Hindi side of India to the Muslim side and met with terrible living conditions. A poverty-stricken neighborhood, with a mud house and the only form of electricity coming from a candle, Saroo’s family had to work very hard to support each other. Saroo’s mother Kamla would spend 6 days a week, gone all day collecting rocks for the village to support her family. This was hard and physical work that only a strong woman could endure. While reading this memoir, it was easy to see how strong Kamla really was, both emotionally and physically. Having to physically support the family and endure the loss of her son for 25 years, it became hard not to appreciate her efforts to keep her family strong. Although Kamla worked so hard to support Saroo and his brothers, it just wasn’t enough. Guddu, the eldest brother, went to work every day, washing dishes for many hours just to make only half a rupee. Anyhow, Saroo and his family ultimately resorted to begging for money at local markets, railways, and neighborhoods. Although this was a difficult time, there were moments that Saroo looked back on with attachment. These moments included playing with his brothers and sister. The author did a good job showing his appreciation for his older brother Guddu by adding little anecdotes about their good times. The journey took off when Saroo was going to work with Guddu. Guddu left him so he could work his shift and after that Saroo would not see his hometown of Ganesh Talai again for 25 years. It was truly amazing how he was able to find his way back to a place that he had no real memory of.
Family was there for Saroo when times were tough, and it was clear that the importance of family was one of the main themes in this memoir. The author did an exceptional job at showing how much his family did to be able to support him by using many examples of his mother and brothers going out for long work days even if it meant earning enough to buy a simple loaf of bread. When reading this memoir, you can notice that Saroo constantly mentions how much he loves his family, and what they mean to him. “We all reach a point as young adults when we wonder what we should be doing with our lives—or, at the very least, which direction to point ourselves in. Beyond the means to get by, we need to think about what’s most important to us. Not surprisingly, I discovered that for me the answer was family.” As much as this memoir was about Saroo and his journey, much of this memoir was dedicated to his adoptive family. The author emphasized the importance of his adoptive parents and gave a good idea of what role they played for him following such a tragic loss of his biological family. “Mum and Dad were very affectionate, right from the start, always giving me lots of cuddles and making me feel safe, secure, loved and above all, wanted. That meant a lot for a child like myself”. When Saroo talked about his adoptive parents it was difficult not to get emotional. His stylistic choice when he wrote about his adoptive parents had a very endearing tone to it. You could tell that these people meant a lot to him.
As far as the layout of the book, it was very easy to follow as it was chronologically told starting with the earliest days in his childhood, to the separation from his mother and then onward to life with his adoptive parents and finally the search for his biological mother. The way the book was set up into two parts was effective in understanding the story. The author uses the first part of the book to explain the journey from his hometown to Australia and his adjustment to his new life while the second part is solely about the search for his old home. Personally, I felt that this was a good way to have divided the memoir as it allowed me to keep track with the story and understand it better.
What struck me most about this memoir was how the author was able to take a tragic experience and truly connect with the reader on an emotional level. The way the author was able to take his story and make something out of it was remarkable. When I was five years old, I was in my playroom enjoying the company of action figures and toy blocks. The author was able to make me feel guilty for having such a good life by showing the struggle of this five-year-old boy losing his family with no money, no one to talk to and no way of how to find himself home. This story was truly inspirational, one of a kind of a kind and I would recommend it to anyone who loves a great read.
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A very inspiring read. This book will inspire us to not lose focus on our goal. Love it!
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