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What is Go Away Home about? Readers weigh in.
By Carol / July 16, 2014 /
One of my college professors spent much of a semester dissecting T.S. Eliot’s poem “The Love-Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.” I must admit, I left the classroom on most days shaking my head in dismay. I saw NONE of what the professor talked about.
Writers, painters and sculptors go about creating art out of their own souls. When they share their art with the world, readers and viewers apply their attitudes, emotions, and worldview to the art and create something new. They may see some, all or none of what the creator had in mind.
Now that my novel Go Away Home is out in the world, I’m seeing this happen. Recent reviews by bloggers on the Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tour offered these observations:
Svetlana at Svetlana’s Reads and Views suggested this theme: “There is more to life than satisfying self.”
Svetlana draws comparisons between Go Away Home and stories by Willa Cather and Sarah Orne Jewett who wrote on similar themes of responding to societal expectations versus satisfying self. “… the book is a bit of evolution when it comes to the question of “having it all,” Svetlana says.
“Whether or not the reader has familiarity with the era and what was going on, I found the story to be very resonating as well as relevant and modern,” Svetlana continues. To read more of her comments, click here.
The theme of inequality between women and men and the desire for that to change resonated with Darlene at Peeking Between the Pages.
“At a time in history when women were made to accept being only housewives or teachers, she dared to be different and want more for herself,” says Darlene of the novel’s main character Liddie. “Go Away Home will tug at your heart and leave you feeling enriched for having read it.” To read more from Darlene, click here.
Midwest Book Review called it, “… a tale of choices, dreams realized and rejected, and how values evolve.”
Readers’ Favorite said, “Go Away Home is the perfect story of coming home.”
With each reader, I learn more about what I wrote in Go Away Home. Sometimes I find myself thinking, “I had no idea!”
Have you found yourself wondering whether what you took out of a novel or other artwork was what the creator intended? If you’ve read Go Away Home, please share what you think it’s about. I’m curious.
My virtual book tour continues throughout July. For more reviews, giveaways and guest posts on writing historical fiction, check in regularly on my blog tour.
I loved this story of a young woman’s dreams and the way they evolved through her life’s twists and turns. The characters were crisp and alive; the sense of place was so real I could almost hear the sounds and smell the bread baking. It was escape in the best sense of the word. Liddie’s dream of becoming a seamstress and dress designer reminded me of my husband’s dream to be the first man on the moon. He did not achieve that dream, and eventually, many years later, he adjusted his dreams to fit the reality of his life and learned that that was all he really wanted. I ended the book confident that Liddie would be completely fulfilled in whatever life brought her way. That is a lesson many of us never learn, and we do not fulfill our destiny because of it.
“He adjusted his dreams to fit the reality of his life and learned that that was all he really wanted.” That’s a wonderful observation, Veronica, for your husband and for any of us. To be at peace with the directions our lives have taken is a spiritually satisfying goal. Thanks for reading and for sharing what you took from Go Away Home.