A Way From Home: A Novel

Hill Family #2

by Nancy Clark

It is 1992, and the Lowe family is living in a centuries-old castle in Prague. Alden Lowe works at the Czech Ministry of Finances and his wife, Becky, advises women entrepreneurs. With their daughter, Julie, they appear a fortunate American family; but after twenty years with Alden, Becky shocks everyone by fleeing to Libya, where she intends to reunite with a man who has loved her since before her marriage.

In its tale of Americans living abroad and the social reconfigurations that ensue, the captivating A Way From Home is reminiscent of the novels of Edith Wharton and Henry James -- with a delicious satiric tang all its own.

Genres: Fiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published June 7, 2005

Reviews

[Kerfe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this better than "The Hills at Home"--the story was more coherent--yet I still could not bring myself to like these people. I don't think the author meant them to be The Ugly Americans, but even in America they seemed like spoiled brats, deaf to any view of the world that did not radiate from themselves. Their self-absorbed obliviousness is only intensified by this book's foreign locales.

Becky was more likable as a repressed and proper society matron, but even then it was hard to see her inspiring such adoration from two men. Alden is still immature, shallow, and irritating in a George W. Bush sort of way, and I found his service in Vietnam hard to believe; William continues to have no admirable qualities at all. While I can understand Becky's desire to escape her life as a good girl, the attraction of William and a totally isolated, useless, and senseless existence as a solution does not fit her character. And Alden's inablility to cope on his own makes sense, but arouses impatience rather than sympathy.

Only Little Becky/Julie/Juliet emerges in a human way. To survive the parenting of her life in Prague at all shows more depth than either of her parents would ever have seemed to possess.

[Joyce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sequel to "The Hills at Home", which follows Alden, Becky, little Becky and William to Prague and Libya.
A little disjointed, but I enjoy Clark's dead-pan, arch observations.

Introducing a Czech diplomatic funtionary: "And as for Svatopluk, what sort of name was Svatopluk? Alden wondered. Was it the equivalent of having an assistant named Jethro or Clem, or Julian or Byron, or Bill or Bob? Ought he to speak of Svatopluk naturally or with a voice freighted with irony? Was a Svatopluk, in the language of the Ministry, to be listed among one's assets?"

Later, Alden's visiting sister Ginger calls him "Sputnik".

[Deana · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't impressed by this book, which you may have guessed by the ridiculous amount of time it took me to read it compared to other books this year. I really disliked most of the characters, though the daughter (Little Becky/Julie/Juliet) was alright at times, and I did like Svatopluk, but he was only a minor character. I hated the mom Becky, she really grated on my nerves right from the beginning, and I cannot understand how she managed to get two men fighting over her. She must have been super sexy or something, because it certainly wasn't her personality!

Then again, it turns out that this is kind of a sequel book, that these characters are also characters in other books by the same author, at different points in their lives. I didn't realize that when I picked it up. So perhaps she's less annoying in the other books and it explains the attraction?

My biggest problem with this book is that it didn't really seem to have a plot. If you asked me "what's the story" I could say "It's about this American family who lives in Czechoslovakia and then the wife runs away to live with a guy who she's always been attracted to." Not very exciting.

Not only that, I haven't 100% figured out what the point was of them being in Czechoslovakia in the first place. I mean, I know they were there for Alden's work, but why there? What did it add to the story? Not much, as far as I could tell. They were pretty well received - not the fish out of water Americans I was hoping for (though they were a bit self-centered and spoiled compared to the Czechs, but I'm not sure that really added anything either). Maybe it's some kind of metaphor because that country was going through a lot of changes and breaking into two countries at the time, much like the family was? But yeah, I really think this could have taken place just about anywhere.

I did enjoy the one chapter that took place in Libya, the first chapter there just with William, describing the home he took and was bringing back to life, and the sandstorm, and the people there. It was kind of fascinating. If the whole book had been written that well, I would have loved it. The chapter that was basically Becky finding a book and then (in italics, of course) the text of the book for us to read really annoyed me. Was that really necessary?

And the ending just sort of ... ends. There's no resolution, no end. Annoying. Though I was glad to see Julie(t) planned to keep in touch with Svatopluk. I liked him.

[Maya · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem with this book lies mostly in the fact that it fails to live up to Clark's first novel, The Hills at Home. It's hard for me to be objective in judging whether or not it's possible to read this not as a sequel, but as a novel in its own right--it probably is, but as it follows characters I already met in the first book, it begs comparison. Having said that, if I hadn't read Hills first, I probably would have enjoyed this book more. Make of that what you will. I'll still look forward to Clark's next book in this series--according to the Random House web site she's still at work on July and August, no pub date announced.

[Ann Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read all three of these connected books in a single rush. These was my least favorite of the three, in part because we're so far removed from the lovely New England setting of the first and third books, but also because it's a less upbeat story.

[Francine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was weird. I picked it up because I love a good Americans-abroad-fish-out-of-water story but this was more of a tale of midlife crisis. And not a very interesting one either.

[Ron Charles · Rating 2 out of 5]

I adored "The Hills at Home," but this follow-up is pretty dull.

[theresa · Rating 2 out of 5]

skimmed about half because it was so boring and often just a wall of words on the page. not nearlya s good as the first book.

[Susan White-Riggs · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not enjoy this book as much as the first in the trilogy.