Moonkiszt's Reviews > The Sojourner

This is the lifelong tale of Asahel Linden, the Sojourner. It is probably my 4th or 5th time reading it. I love it even more. An outsider in his own tribe, he finds friends outside of the usual parameters. They are not his age, not his ethnicity, each from far off countries bringing to his lonely heart foreign but welcome comforts.

His father is newly dead. Mother is a tyrant. Brother Benjamin has an escape plan prepared, with no return included. All Asa wants is to be with his brother. At their poignant parting Asa says:

"I'll never be done missing you."

Asa is left behind to make a life out of limited opportunity and a parent who hates him, and ever waits for the return of the good son, Benjamin. Set between 1860 through WWII, in a central Atlantic state (never is quite identified - all community is from very local perspectives). From there on, Asa's life unfolds.

For anyone left behind to take care of what remains, this book is a perfect read. For me the ending satisfies and comforts my soul. Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings writing is evocative, whispering to all of my ancestral DNA - the ones who stayed put.