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Sing Them Home
The eagerly anticipated second novel from the author of Broken for You - a national best seller and selection of the Today Show Book Club - is a sweeping, gorgeously crafted family story set in the American heartland.
With her best-selling debut novel, Broken for You, Stephanie Kallos earned comparisons to John Irving, Anne Tyler, Margaret Atwood, and Carol Shields, establishing her as a writer of uncommon “wisdom and soulfulness” (Sue Monk Kidd).
Sing Them Home is a deeply moving portrait of three grown siblings who have lived in the shadow of unresolved grief since their mother’s mysterious disappearance when they were children. Everyone in Emlyn Springs, Nebraska, knows the story of Hope Jones, the physician’s wife whose big dreams for their tiny town were lost along with her in the tornado of 1978. For Hope’s three young children, the stability of life with their distant, preoccupied father, and with Viney, their mother’s spitfire best friend, is no match for their mother’s absence. Larken, the eldest, is an art history professor who seeks in food an answer to a less tangible hunger; Gaelan, the only son, is a telegenic weatherman who devotes his life to predicting the unpredictable and whose profession, and all too much more, depend on his sculpted frame and ready smile; and Bonnie, the baby of the family is a self-proclaimed archivist who combs the roadsides for clues to her mother’s legacy, and permission to move on.
When, decades after their mother’s disappearance, they are summoned home after their father’s sudden death, they are forced to revisit the childhood tragedy at the center of their lives. With breathtaking lyricism, wisdom, and humor, Stephanie Kallos explores the consequences of protecting the ones we love.
Sing Them Home is a magnificent tapestry of lives connected and undone by tragedy, lives poised—unbeknownst to the characters themselves—for redemption.
With her best-selling debut novel, Broken for You, Stephanie Kallos earned comparisons to John Irving, Anne Tyler, Margaret Atwood, and Carol Shields, establishing her as a writer of uncommon “wisdom and soulfulness” (Sue Monk Kidd).
Sing Them Home is a deeply moving portrait of three grown siblings who have lived in the shadow of unresolved grief since their mother’s mysterious disappearance when they were children. Everyone in Emlyn Springs, Nebraska, knows the story of Hope Jones, the physician’s wife whose big dreams for their tiny town were lost along with her in the tornado of 1978. For Hope’s three young children, the stability of life with their distant, preoccupied father, and with Viney, their mother’s spitfire best friend, is no match for their mother’s absence. Larken, the eldest, is an art history professor who seeks in food an answer to a less tangible hunger; Gaelan, the only son, is a telegenic weatherman who devotes his life to predicting the unpredictable and whose profession, and all too much more, depend on his sculpted frame and ready smile; and Bonnie, the baby of the family is a self-proclaimed archivist who combs the roadsides for clues to her mother’s legacy, and permission to move on.
When, decades after their mother’s disappearance, they are summoned home after their father’s sudden death, they are forced to revisit the childhood tragedy at the center of their lives. With breathtaking lyricism, wisdom, and humor, Stephanie Kallos explores the consequences of protecting the ones we love.
Sing Them Home is a magnificent tapestry of lives connected and undone by tragedy, lives poised—unbeknownst to the characters themselves—for redemption.
542 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Stephanie Kallos
4 books300 followersStephanie Kallos spent twenty years in the theatre as an actor and teacher. Her short fiction has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and received a Raymond Carver Award. Her first novel, BROKEN FOR YOU, received the Pacific Northwest Book Award, the Washington State Book Award, and was chosen by Sue Monk Kidd as the December 2004 selection for "The Today Show." Her second novel, SING THEM HOME, was featured as an IndieBound selection and chosen by Entertainment Weekly as one of the Top Ten Books of 2009. Her third novel, LANGUAGE ARTS, will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in the spring of 2015. Stephanie lives with her husband and sons in North Seattle.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 735 reviews
February 9, 2009
"Read" is cheating -- I read about 100 pages and quit. I would have thrown it against a wall but 1) it was a library book and 2) it's pretty fat, so it would have left a dent. I'm sure people who like magical realism will adore this book, but I thought it was goopy and annoying. Just as I'd become interested in a "real" character, some random dead person would appear and the author would waste five pages on a lot of woo-woo philosophizing about the dead and their opinions. Dead people, apparently, do not want us to sweat the small stuff! Which made me feel much better about giving up after 100 pages.
August 8, 2009
It took me a while to get into this book, but once I did, I was hooked. Kallos is a good writer, and one of her strengths is her subtle, intelligent humor. I really liked, too, how she feeds you a little bit of information at a time and makes you wait till the end of the book to get the whole story about this odd family and even odder town. For me, the biggest drawback was the terrible editing. There were lots of typos ("acamedician" was a standout among the more mundane misspellings) and odd mistakes ("Princess Leah" instead of "Leia" more than once). The author also repeatedly described children doing developmentally inappropriate things and made me wonder if she's ever been around children at all (e.g., she had a 6-week-old sitting up in a high chair and eating food, a 4-month-old playing alone in a kitchen and rearranging cabinets, and 2 kids under the age of 2 entertaining themselves outside without supervision). Nitpicky? Yes, but I can't help it -- those things really distract me.
March 2, 2009
I just don't know what to say about this one. At the core, this book is a family drama, in which 3 vaguely dysfunctional adult siblings try to make their way in the world after the bizarre deaths of both of their parents (Mom: sucked up in a tornado; Dad: struck by lightning). I loved this book when it focused on these characters.
But the author was trying to do more than just tell the story of these people. She was trying to tell the story of an odd little Welsh town in Nebraska (what does it mean to be "home?"). She was also trying to offer a version of what-happens-after-you-die (some sections are told from the point of view of dead people). There's just too much of everything here -- too much description, too much quirkiness, too many storylines, and too many pages (540).
But the author was trying to do more than just tell the story of these people. She was trying to tell the story of an odd little Welsh town in Nebraska (what does it mean to be "home?"). She was also trying to offer a version of what-happens-after-you-die (some sections are told from the point of view of dead people). There's just too much of everything here -- too much description, too much quirkiness, too many storylines, and too many pages (540).
February 26, 2011
This is a saga, a sweeping family story that lodges in your marrow, the kind of story that makes you smile, laugh, weep, snort, chortle, sing, spread your arms wide and lay your heart wide open.
With flavors tender, ribald, ironical, farcical, tragic, magical, and wondrous, Sing Them Home narrates an epic story of a family emotionally disrupted by the disappearance of their mother (and wife), Hope, in a Nebraska tornado of 1978. Hope was swept up, along with her Singer sewing machine and a Steinway piano, but she never came down. Due to the absence of her remains, all that stands in the graveyard is her cenotaph.
Twenty-five years later, the three grown-up children are still trying to cope with their grief. None ever married. Larkin, an art history professor (whose work is symbolic with her loss and grief) hides behind food and refuses to "leave the ground." Gaelan is a weatherman (ah! the irony) who has only superficial, sexual relationships with women, and the youngest, Bonnie, is a virgin and garbologist. She roams after storms to look for "archival" remains of things that flew away in the tornado with their mother. And she talks to the dead at the cemetery.
There is also a beloved but inscrutable stepmother, Viney, (although she never legally married their dad); a large supporting cast of unforgettable characters; ancestral Welsh traditions; and the Nebraska weather and topography, a salient ingredient in pulling the story together.
The prose is beautiful and evocative as the story moves along non-linearly, but with grace. Past events are revealed gradually and build momentum as it catches up to the present. You will experience an intimate relationship with these radiant, unconventional characters and their extraordinary story.
There are some themes similar to The Lovely Bones--loss, unresolved grief, isolation, the meaning of memories and the idea of home. However, Kallos' novel is richer, more sprawling and textured. John Irving comes to mind, with veins of Philip Roth, Margot Livesy, and Ann Tyler. She is an original, though--she leaves her own memorable imprint.
This is no garden-variety redemption story. It exhilarates with an elixir of spiritual, metaphysical and deeply human voices, of things said, unsaid, unuttered, and forever sung.
For a taste of the author's wit, poise, sensibility, and charm, read her bio on her website at www.stephaniekallos.com
With flavors tender, ribald, ironical, farcical, tragic, magical, and wondrous, Sing Them Home narrates an epic story of a family emotionally disrupted by the disappearance of their mother (and wife), Hope, in a Nebraska tornado of 1978. Hope was swept up, along with her Singer sewing machine and a Steinway piano, but she never came down. Due to the absence of her remains, all that stands in the graveyard is her cenotaph.
Twenty-five years later, the three grown-up children are still trying to cope with their grief. None ever married. Larkin, an art history professor (whose work is symbolic with her loss and grief) hides behind food and refuses to "leave the ground." Gaelan is a weatherman (ah! the irony) who has only superficial, sexual relationships with women, and the youngest, Bonnie, is a virgin and garbologist. She roams after storms to look for "archival" remains of things that flew away in the tornado with their mother. And she talks to the dead at the cemetery.
There is also a beloved but inscrutable stepmother, Viney, (although she never legally married their dad); a large supporting cast of unforgettable characters; ancestral Welsh traditions; and the Nebraska weather and topography, a salient ingredient in pulling the story together.
The prose is beautiful and evocative as the story moves along non-linearly, but with grace. Past events are revealed gradually and build momentum as it catches up to the present. You will experience an intimate relationship with these radiant, unconventional characters and their extraordinary story.
There are some themes similar to The Lovely Bones--loss, unresolved grief, isolation, the meaning of memories and the idea of home. However, Kallos' novel is richer, more sprawling and textured. John Irving comes to mind, with veins of Philip Roth, Margot Livesy, and Ann Tyler. She is an original, though--she leaves her own memorable imprint.
This is no garden-variety redemption story. It exhilarates with an elixir of spiritual, metaphysical and deeply human voices, of things said, unsaid, unuttered, and forever sung.
For a taste of the author's wit, poise, sensibility, and charm, read her bio on her website at www.stephaniekallos.com
October 12, 2012
It's been a long time since I've felt so close to what I begrudgingly must admit are fictional characters. And I don't mean that these characters felt like friends or neighbors, but that each of them was a part of me, and their story on the page was a piece of my story I hadn't yet considered. Kallos' writing is stunning -- poetically lush and sharp at the same time. Beware, there is magic realism here; the dead will speak, but it only makes the voices of the living more distinct. This story has so much to tell you, and your listening will be rewarded.
Symbols! So many symbols and recurring themes - symbols are symbols -- kite strings, wooden dice, chairs/wheelchairs/bicycle seats, the shape of rain drops, the shapes of written language (English, Welsh, Hebrew), mousetraps, pianos, love spoons, grocery lists. Read this as a librarian would and consider the themes of archiving, censorship, information technology, when we share information and when we don't. So much is here. And singing. Beautiful, unselfconscious singing, rising and falling, inspiration and expiration, inflation and deflation, up and down, breath.
Symbols! So many symbols and recurring themes - symbols are symbols -- kite strings, wooden dice, chairs/wheelchairs/bicycle seats, the shape of rain drops, the shapes of written language (English, Welsh, Hebrew), mousetraps, pianos, love spoons, grocery lists. Read this as a librarian would and consider the themes of archiving, censorship, information technology, when we share information and when we don't. So much is here. And singing. Beautiful, unselfconscious singing, rising and falling, inspiration and expiration, inflation and deflation, up and down, breath.
March 4, 2009
This book rocked my world. The writing is superb and I couldn't put it down. I usually stick to shorter novels, but had no trouble staying interested in this work. I might have to buy my own copy so I can underline the innumerable insightful passages in the book.
December 27, 2016
If I fell in love with Stephanie Kallos's first novel, Broken for You, and then again with her third, Language Arts, imagine my delight when I discovered her sophomore novel, Sing Them Home, and went head over heels a third time. There are very few authors, and only Barbara Kinsolver comes to mind, whose work is so consistently amazing that it is, indeed, like falling in love to read their work. Fresh writing, still fresh. Deeply imagined places, characters and themes. Sing Them Home is one of those rare books that I find myself slowing down to read, savoring every word. Sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, Sing Them Home is also downright capable of bringing tears to this old cynic's eyes.
February 8, 2009
Sing Them Home is a moving portrait of three siblings who have lived in the shadow of unresolved grief since their mother’s disappearance when they were children. Everyone in Emlyn Springs knows the story of Hope Jones, the physician’s wife whose big dreams for their tiny town were lost along with her in the tornado of 1978. For Hope’s three young children, the stability of life with their preoccupied father, and with Viney, their mother’s spitfire best friend, is no match for Hope’s absence. Larken, the eldest, is now an art history professor who seeks in food an answer to a less tangible hunger; Gaelan, the son, is a telegenic weatherman who devotes his life to predicting the unpredictable; and the youngest, Bonnie, is a self-proclaimed archivist who combs roadsides for clues to her mother’s legacy, and permission to move on. When they’re summoned home after their father’s death, each sibling is forced to revisit the childhood tragedy that has defined their lives. With breathtaking lyricism, wisdom, and humor, Kallos explores the consequences of protecting those we love. Sing Them Home is a magnificent tapestry of lives connected and undone by tragedy, lives poised—unbeknownst to the characters—for redemption.
**Rate this one 2/5. While I loved the author's first novel, I was disappointed in her second book. The book was way too long in telling the story and I couldn't establish any bond with any of the characters like I did in her first book.
**Rate this one 2/5. While I loved the author's first novel, I was disappointed in her second book. The book was way too long in telling the story and I couldn't establish any bond with any of the characters like I did in her first book.
April 5, 2009
Okay, maybe I am too picky, but editorial errors make me crazy and can even stop me from reading any further! In like the second chapter, a minor character, Kris, is introduced. Just a few paragraphs later, and from then on, the same character is referred to as "Chris". Why why why would no one have caught this? I am only reading on because of all the other great reviews that promise a terrific story... Grrr!
... So I finished the book, but the editorial errors continued. For example, the stage is set for 1977, when Larken is 14 and going to get her driver's permit early. But a few sentences later, the author says something to the effect that Larken needed to be able to drive in 1997 because her mother could not. Hello? Also, after her father dies, Larken is supposed to be settling up some of his affairs. Fair enough. However, the author explains that Larken is the one who has to do these things because she is her father's power of attorney. With very little research (and perhaps just a small poll of relatives or neighbors), you could find out that power of attorney is valid only while the individual is alive. Once you die, your power of attorney is void, and wishes must be carried out by an executor of the estate, or someone else named in a will. Being from Nebraska, I know that her other references to the area are spot-on, so I am disappointed that these details are so incorrect.
... So I finished the book, but the editorial errors continued. For example, the stage is set for 1977, when Larken is 14 and going to get her driver's permit early. But a few sentences later, the author says something to the effect that Larken needed to be able to drive in 1997 because her mother could not. Hello? Also, after her father dies, Larken is supposed to be settling up some of his affairs. Fair enough. However, the author explains that Larken is the one who has to do these things because she is her father's power of attorney. With very little research (and perhaps just a small poll of relatives or neighbors), you could find out that power of attorney is valid only while the individual is alive. Once you die, your power of attorney is void, and wishes must be carried out by an executor of the estate, or someone else named in a will. Being from Nebraska, I know that her other references to the area are spot-on, so I am disappointed that these details are so incorrect.
August 31, 2009
When I began this book, I just knew it was going to be a great read. However, the more I read the less interested I became. It seemed to drag on and on and on.....I kept looking for "the point". And the ending, well, it just really left me hanging.
January 16, 2009
Amazingly layered, so many complete characters. One of those books that you must immerse yourself in, and then feel panic when you realized the end is near.
June 19, 2009
This book was absolutely beautiful. I loved every single page of it. The characters were so vivid, the prose so gorgeous, the setting so lovingly described...it is a true classic.
When Hope Jones goes up in a tornado in 1978, it gives her children no way to let go of her. Without a body, they, and the town, cannot perform the traditional days of grieving and singing that they have inherited as part of their Welsh lineage. While those rituals help with loss for everyone else, without a body for Hope, they cannot take place...and the three Jones children remain unsettled and unable to move forward with the love they need in their lives.
This book was about so much. First of all, it was about love: the love that a mother holds for her children, the love of a community for the land and people that make it up, the love of family for each other, the love of husband and wife. It was about all the ways that people express that love, and about how much it matters.
"Sing Them Home" is also set in Nebraska, in Tornado Alley. It is written by a Pacific Northwesterner, with the Seattleite's fascination with the small towns of the prairie. And I also wondered, are their towns like Emlyn Springs, towns that have held onto their original European heritage for hundreds of years, to the point where they speak their ancestral language and follow the traditions and consider it part of their very being? Is that how history is preserved, not with the history books, but by the keeping of the everyday, even when its transplanted and modified slightly?
This book is a true joy to read. I really think almost anyone could enjoy it. I loved it so much that I was re-reading it on a plane home from NYC last week, which is where I think it still is. I hope it turns up soon so I can return it to the LAPL and let someone else experience Kallos' creation.
When Hope Jones goes up in a tornado in 1978, it gives her children no way to let go of her. Without a body, they, and the town, cannot perform the traditional days of grieving and singing that they have inherited as part of their Welsh lineage. While those rituals help with loss for everyone else, without a body for Hope, they cannot take place...and the three Jones children remain unsettled and unable to move forward with the love they need in their lives.
This book was about so much. First of all, it was about love: the love that a mother holds for her children, the love of a community for the land and people that make it up, the love of family for each other, the love of husband and wife. It was about all the ways that people express that love, and about how much it matters.
"Sing Them Home" is also set in Nebraska, in Tornado Alley. It is written by a Pacific Northwesterner, with the Seattleite's fascination with the small towns of the prairie. And I also wondered, are their towns like Emlyn Springs, towns that have held onto their original European heritage for hundreds of years, to the point where they speak their ancestral language and follow the traditions and consider it part of their very being? Is that how history is preserved, not with the history books, but by the keeping of the everyday, even when its transplanted and modified slightly?
This book is a true joy to read. I really think almost anyone could enjoy it. I loved it so much that I was re-reading it on a plane home from NYC last week, which is where I think it still is. I hope it turns up soon so I can return it to the LAPL and let someone else experience Kallos' creation.
June 5, 2016
Okay, between 4 1/2 and five stars. A really good book! It starts near the "end" of the story, with a father's death due to being hit by lightning on the golf course. His three adult children -- all of whom are quirky and unusual, perhaps due to the mysterious disappearance of their mother during a tornado when they were children -- come home to mourn him and to reconnect with their past. The setting is the small town of Emlyn Springs, Nebraska, a town founed by Welsh settlers, which has held firmly to its Welsh heritage. Much of the story is told either in flashbacks or with excerpts from their mother's diary.
Some reviewers have called this a novel of magical realism; if it is, it's more realistic than magical, though there are mysteries.
Lots of metaphors: singing, light/vision/blindness, mystery, weather. It's a wonderful story which brought me to tears or to out-loud laughter more than once.
Friends who have read this book say that Kallos's first novel, "Broken For You," is even better. I can hardly wait!
Some reviewers have called this a novel of magical realism; if it is, it's more realistic than magical, though there are mysteries.
Lots of metaphors: singing, light/vision/blindness, mystery, weather. It's a wonderful story which brought me to tears or to out-loud laughter more than once.
Friends who have read this book say that Kallos's first novel, "Broken For You," is even better. I can hardly wait!
May 13, 2010
The book was just okay. The editing seemed to be non existent. There were spelling errors, names were spelled differently from one page to another and some parts just went on for way too long. Any good editor would have chopped a few paragraphs, took out a few adjectives, made sure the names were consistent throughout and corrected the spelling. These errors made the book much less enjoyable.
January 20, 2009
This may be my new favorite novel: I love the rendering of Nebraska (where I currently reside) and its exploration of grief and absence. The characters are complicated and nicely drawn. A lovely book, seriously.
December 18, 2008
I anxiously awaited the release of this book as I loved the author's first book: Broken for You. This book was scheduled for a January 2009 release but hit the stores and libraries earlier.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Sing Them Home is a moving portrait of three siblings who have lived in the shadow of unresolved grief since their mother’s disappearance when they were children. Everyone in Emlyn Springs knows the story of Hope Jones, the physician’s wife whose big dreams for their tiny town were lost along with her in the tornado of 1978. For Hope’s three young children, the stability of life with their preoccupied father, and with Viney, their mother’s spitfire best friend, is no match for Hope’s absence. Larken, the eldest, is now an art history professor who seeks in food an answer to a less tangible hunger; Gaelan, the son, is a telegenic weatherman who devotes his life to predicting the unpredictable; and the youngest, Bonnie, is a self-proclaimed archivist who combs roadsides for clues to her mother’s legacy, and permission to move on. When they’re summoned home after their father’s death, each sibling is forced to revisit the childhood tragedy that has defined their lives.
I usually love books about family sagas, family secrets and, stories with quirky dysfunctional characters. This book certainly contained those elements, but I found this book to be a HUGE disappointment. The only part I really enjoyed was reading the entries in Hope's journal right up to the time of her disappearance. The other criticism I has was that at 500++ pages the ending seemed to be rushed.
In summary, I found the book easy to put down and harder to pick up afterward. I am glad I borrowed it from the library.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Sing Them Home is a moving portrait of three siblings who have lived in the shadow of unresolved grief since their mother’s disappearance when they were children. Everyone in Emlyn Springs knows the story of Hope Jones, the physician’s wife whose big dreams for their tiny town were lost along with her in the tornado of 1978. For Hope’s three young children, the stability of life with their preoccupied father, and with Viney, their mother’s spitfire best friend, is no match for Hope’s absence. Larken, the eldest, is now an art history professor who seeks in food an answer to a less tangible hunger; Gaelan, the son, is a telegenic weatherman who devotes his life to predicting the unpredictable; and the youngest, Bonnie, is a self-proclaimed archivist who combs roadsides for clues to her mother’s legacy, and permission to move on. When they’re summoned home after their father’s death, each sibling is forced to revisit the childhood tragedy that has defined their lives.
I usually love books about family sagas, family secrets and, stories with quirky dysfunctional characters. This book certainly contained those elements, but I found this book to be a HUGE disappointment. The only part I really enjoyed was reading the entries in Hope's journal right up to the time of her disappearance. The other criticism I has was that at 500++ pages the ending seemed to be rushed.
In summary, I found the book easy to put down and harder to pick up afterward. I am glad I borrowed it from the library.
January 19, 2009
Wow! I don't even know where to start. This is a very special novel; I haven't read anything this good in a long time.
Our story begins with the death of Llewellyn Jones, the mayor of Emlyn Springs, Nebraska. His death brings together the three Jones children: Larken, Gaelan, and Bonnie. Larken is now a respected professor of art history at the University of Nebraska, Gaelan is the hunky weatherman for KLAN-KHAM, and Bonnie is the town eccentric of Emlyn Springs.
Each sibling has his/her own complex and intriguing story, as well as a part in the family's tragic past. You see, their mother, Hope, was blown away in the tornado of 1978, never to be seen again. Everyone assumes that she is dead, but no evidence exists to prove it.
As the siblings come together, their lives start to unravel. It is as though tragedy follows them. As you read, you will feel their pain and wish that you could help them.
This is an excellent novel. The character development is amazing, the setting is incredible, and the plot contains pleasant surprises. I highly recommend Sing Them Home.
Our story begins with the death of Llewellyn Jones, the mayor of Emlyn Springs, Nebraska. His death brings together the three Jones children: Larken, Gaelan, and Bonnie. Larken is now a respected professor of art history at the University of Nebraska, Gaelan is the hunky weatherman for KLAN-KHAM, and Bonnie is the town eccentric of Emlyn Springs.
Each sibling has his/her own complex and intriguing story, as well as a part in the family's tragic past. You see, their mother, Hope, was blown away in the tornado of 1978, never to be seen again. Everyone assumes that she is dead, but no evidence exists to prove it.
As the siblings come together, their lives start to unravel. It is as though tragedy follows them. As you read, you will feel their pain and wish that you could help them.
This is an excellent novel. The character development is amazing, the setting is incredible, and the plot contains pleasant surprises. I highly recommend Sing Them Home.
May 22, 2011
This story is set in SE Nebraska, where tornadoes and blizzards are a fact of life, and meterorology is a part of this story, with a little bit of magic thrown in. This book is most poignant when Hope, a mother of three young children, recounts the many losses she suffers with the progression of M.S. At the same time, Hope is an amazing character, with great spirit, and a wonderful sense of humor. Most of the story actually revolves around the three children as adults, and the loving support they receive from Viney, their's mom's best friend, and later the paramour of their Dad. I loved this book, and narration from the audio version, read by Tavia Gilbert, is excellent.
February 19, 2009
This was so diappointing. I loved Kallos' first novel, Broken For You. This was 540 pgs that never really got to a climax and never resolved/worked thru the big issues. Finished feeling disappointed and wondering how the main characters came to their 'happy' ending. You never seem them work thru their challenges to end up with a happy ending! Sad that after anxiously waiting for her 2nd book, this was such a let down
October 9, 2008
Stephanie Kallos has a remarkable gift. She writes about everyday life and the kind of people that you might not notice as you pass them on the street, and make them both come alive in a magical way. A small town, parents and children, brothers and sisters, and a longing for family mixed with the fragility of happiness all come together to make this a wonderful book.
November 12, 2016
One of the things I really liked about this book was that "the dead" as a group are characters in this book with lives, interests, and a tendency to gossip beyond the grave. Not like zombies or in the way that stories usually have dead characters in a book, where living characters have memories of them or readers are taken back in time to see them when they were alive. The dead in this book are dead, but have active "lives," spiritually hanging around the cemetery, traveling around the world, keeping an eye on the living in their small Nebraska town, commenting on the smart or stupid behaviors of the living, and generally functioning a bit like an off-stage Greek chorus. As Kallos notes on the first page, "It's so hard to explain what the dead really want."
And in addition to watching the development of and interactions between the three main sibling characters, their dead mother, and their widowed stepmother, I greatly enjoyed learning more about Welsh culture, as that is a small percentage of my own ethnicity about which I know virtually nothing. The importance of music and singing, the rites and rituals around death and grieving, the food and "fancy eggs," the strictures and supports of faith, the expectations and loyalty of family: these pieces of Welsh life maintained by Americanized descendants in small-town, rural Nebraska are made palpable through Kallos's depiction of Emlyn Springs and its residents.
I am trying to understand some of the author's choices as well, especially why we are rarely, if ever, given a scene or chapter from the perspective of Llewellyn, the dead father of the adult siblings who are the main focus of the book. He is seen through the eyes and memories of other characters, often honorable and hard-working as a physician and mayor, yet also duplicitous, neglectful, and betraying as a father and husband. It is difficult to understand his motivations and actions without having his perspective, but I suppose this is true of many of the people whom we meet in real life, even in our own families.
And in addition to watching the development of and interactions between the three main sibling characters, their dead mother, and their widowed stepmother, I greatly enjoyed learning more about Welsh culture, as that is a small percentage of my own ethnicity about which I know virtually nothing. The importance of music and singing, the rites and rituals around death and grieving, the food and "fancy eggs," the strictures and supports of faith, the expectations and loyalty of family: these pieces of Welsh life maintained by Americanized descendants in small-town, rural Nebraska are made palpable through Kallos's depiction of Emlyn Springs and its residents.
I am trying to understand some of the author's choices as well, especially why we are rarely, if ever, given a scene or chapter from the perspective of Llewellyn, the dead father of the adult siblings who are the main focus of the book. He is seen through the eyes and memories of other characters, often honorable and hard-working as a physician and mayor, yet also duplicitous, neglectful, and betraying as a father and husband. It is difficult to understand his motivations and actions without having his perspective, but I suppose this is true of many of the people whom we meet in real life, even in our own families.
December 30, 2015
I loved this book! It is a beautifully written story of one family and one Welsh Town in Southeastern Nebraska. We are taken through the life of Hope and Llwellyn Jones and their three children, Larken, Gaelan and Bonnie. This is also the story of Vinie (the children's stepmother) yet she never really married their father.
The couple marry in the early 1960's and settle down in his hometown of Emlyn Springs, Nebraska. It is a town that honors all their Welsh traditions and Hope falls in love with the town as a young woman. Llwellyn is a Doctor and Hope a stay at home mom, who suffers several miscarriages before giving birth to 3 children.
Through excerpts from Hope's diary throughout the book we learn of her feelings as she goes through these losses and tries to adapt to and fit in to this very "set in its ways" small town. At the same time we are taken through present day (2004) and the lives of Larken, Gaelan, Bonnie and Vinie.
Llwellyn is struck down and killed by lightning in 2004 and from that point on we learn the details of the life he has had. We learn that Hope was diagnosed with MS and that she was "taken up" during a tornado in 1978.
This is such a dynamic book, I highly recommend it. I had trouble getting to sleep at night worrying about these people and couldn't wait to get back to the book the next day. All the characters of this book display humanity that we all have. It is believable and inspiring to follow these people through their lives. It has heart and warmth not easily found anymore in writing. Great work!!!
The couple marry in the early 1960's and settle down in his hometown of Emlyn Springs, Nebraska. It is a town that honors all their Welsh traditions and Hope falls in love with the town as a young woman. Llwellyn is a Doctor and Hope a stay at home mom, who suffers several miscarriages before giving birth to 3 children.
Through excerpts from Hope's diary throughout the book we learn of her feelings as she goes through these losses and tries to adapt to and fit in to this very "set in its ways" small town. At the same time we are taken through present day (2004) and the lives of Larken, Gaelan, Bonnie and Vinie.
Llwellyn is struck down and killed by lightning in 2004 and from that point on we learn the details of the life he has had. We learn that Hope was diagnosed with MS and that she was "taken up" during a tornado in 1978.
This is such a dynamic book, I highly recommend it. I had trouble getting to sleep at night worrying about these people and couldn't wait to get back to the book the next day. All the characters of this book display humanity that we all have. It is believable and inspiring to follow these people through their lives. It has heart and warmth not easily found anymore in writing. Great work!!!
May 11, 2009
During the first few chapters, I thought, wow, what wonderful, descriptive writing. During the next few, I thought, O.k. that's too descriptive (second by second recount of how a character eats a candy bar). But by the middle, I was comfortably tucked into the tale of 3 siblings whose mother was carried off by a tornado when they were children and now have reunited with the death of their father (by lighting). Kallos tries to follow each sibling as they deal with issues surrounding their childhood, and look for love in their present lives. And for the most part she succeeds in fleshing out these characters until the end, when suddenly it wraps up neater than a birthday package. To delve so deeply into 3 separate, messy lives and then gloss over the ending to "they live happily ever after" feels like a cop-out and frankly, makes the time invested getting to know these characters feel like a waste.
June 1, 2009
Some good stuff here, but unfortunately it was a good 300 pages too long.
I do not mind long books, but Kallos definitely did some unnecessary rambling.
In the first half of the book, the characters reminded me exactly of rubble from a tornado--they were disconnected, displaced, remote, without a home.
It was nice to see them come together, and some of the characters were charming.
But not my favorite...
I do not mind long books, but Kallos definitely did some unnecessary rambling.
In the first half of the book, the characters reminded me exactly of rubble from a tornado--they were disconnected, displaced, remote, without a home.
It was nice to see them come together, and some of the characters were charming.
But not my favorite...
April 29, 2009
I gave up on this book after about 160 pages. At a recent staff meeting with Nancy Pearl as guest speaker we learned there are 4 basic kinds of books, books with story as the prime gateway, or those with character, setting or language as the gateway. This was a character book and I just couldn't like these folks enough to continue on. A big disappointment to me since I like her previous book, Broken For You so much.
August 11, 2009
Read the first chapter, but couldn't make myself go any farther. Some reviews said the book got better after the first 100+ pages, but I couldn't make myself trudge through to the "better" part of the book. Just goes to show you that the beginning of the book is just as important as the rest--often you can lose your reader in the first 25 pages, especially if the book doesn't "get good" until after the first 100 pages.
May 15, 2010
Beautiful writing... no doubt about it. This is a long book and at times felt longer than it needed to be. There were multiple viewpoints which transitioned smoothly, yet some of the characters (e.g. Bonnie) I felt I didn't know at all. And still others there was almost too much detail. The characters of Viney and Gaelen were very powerful and richly drawn. I also appreciated the deceased mother's diary entries/input. All in a lovely read but parts were a bit hard to get through.
June 22, 2009
Bah.
I wish Kallos had taken the time to craft the type of novel she did with Broken For You. This isn't it. It was okay, barely, okay. There were at least six different narrative voices, and that was probably five too many. Had she focused the story on just the mother, it might have been better.
Also, she had some bad data on fat girls. That never plays well for me, only annoys.
I wish Kallos had taken the time to craft the type of novel she did with Broken For You. This isn't it. It was okay, barely, okay. There were at least six different narrative voices, and that was probably five too many. Had she focused the story on just the mother, it might have been better.
Also, she had some bad data on fat girls. That never plays well for me, only annoys.
February 5, 2019
This book was way too long for the story it was telling. Initially the extensive description was great, then it just became too descriptive.
October 19, 2020
I liked this book; I’m not sure why. It was gentle and loving to its characters I think. That’s good enough for me right now.
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