Safe Passage

by Ellyn Bache

The story of a family united by its fear that one brother, (there are five), is missing, feared dead, in the terrorist onslaught of the bombing of a U.S. base in Beirut.

Genres: Fiction

234 pages, Paperback

First published July 27, 1988

About the author

Ellyn Bache is the author of nine novels, including Safe Passage, which was made into a movie starring Susan Sarandon, and The Art of Saying Goodbye, which was chosen as an “Okra Pick” by the Southeastern Independent Booksellers Alliance. She began her career writing short stories for women’s magazines like McCall’s and Good Housekeeping, some of which have recently been collected in Kaleidoscope: 20 Stories Celebrating Women’s Magazine Fiction. She has also published dozens of literary stories, including those which appeared in a collection that won the Willa Cather Fiction Prize. After many years living in Wilmington, NC, she moved to Greenville, SC, a lovely city but much too far from the ocean. Visit her at www.ellynbache.com

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sean Astin was my first celebrity crush - I was 7 and saw him in The Goonies - and there was a time I attempted to watch his entire filmography: alas, I just looked at IMDB and realized I've only seen 20 of his reported 174 actor entries!

One of his movies is Safe Passage (1994) and I discovered only recently that it was adapted from a novel. So of course I had to read it!

The book was "just ok" - tense and quiet as six siblings wait to hear if their brother has died in the war (not Sean Astin's character thank goodness!) In a family of seven sons, I liked that each one was the focus of a different chapter. A chapter for mom, and a chapter for dad too.

It mostly just made me want to re-watch the movie though.

[Michelle Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Safe Passage is an interesting story of a family that fears that one of the seven brothers has been killed in Beirut. Though it is a solid, well-written book, some of the themes and internal dialogue (especially of the mother) seem a bit repetitive. Also, it was strange that some of the brothers were developed and others (the twins) were left on the sidelines.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

1996 review

I picked up this book because I liked the movie, and I wanted to see how true the book was to the movie. [2019--I should have written, the movie to the book]

I liked the book also--I especially liked the way the different characters had different perceptions of each other and what was happening and what had happened. In the book, as in the movie, the twins are the most under-developed characters.

[Marjorie Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This eighties novel of terrorism and family life was so vivid! I lived through assassinations, Middle East kidnappings, and all manner of similar difficulties during that time in Washington DC, it absolutely brought it back to me. Explores a layer of terrorism that we are all too familiar with today, the kind where family members in the US are blindsided by political terror.

I also liked the movie!

[jlaurellax · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book after seeing the movie, something I dislike doing. Surprisingly, it added a lot more depth from what the movie portrayed ( no surprise there). I remember thinking that it got a little muddy trying to keep all of the characters straight, although that could be because the main character had 7 sons! I might need to re-read it, to see what my impression is now.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was pretty good, and surprisingly the movie was pretty true to the book!