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The Way Home
Book by Pelecanos, George.
308 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2009
89 people are currently reading
1635 people want to read
About the author
George P. Pelecanos
57 books1,632 followersGeorge Pelecanos was born in Washington, D.C., in 1957. He worked as a line cook, dishwasher, bartender, and woman's shoe salesman before publishing his first novel in 1992.
Pelecanos is the author of eighteen novels set in and around Washington, D.C.: A Firing Offense, Nick's Trip, Shoedog, Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go, The Big Blowdown, King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever, Shame the Devil, Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus, Hard Revolution, Drama City, The Night Gardener, The Turnaround, The Way Home, The Cut, and What It Was. He has been the recipient of the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Falcon award in Japan, and the Grand Prix du Roman Noir in France. Hell to Pay and Soul Circus were awarded the 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and the collections Unusual Suspects, Best American Mystery Stories of 1997, Measures of Poison, Best American Mystery Stories of 2002, Men from Boys, and Murder at the Foul Line. He served as editor on the collections D.C. Noir and D.C. Noir 2: The Classics, as well as The Best Mystery Stories of 2008. He is an award-winning essayist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Sight and Sound, Uncut, Mojo, and numerous other publications. Esquire called him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world." In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King wrote that Pelecanos is "perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." Pelecanos would like to note that Mr. King used the qualifier "perhaps."
Pelecanos served as producer on the feature films Caught (Robert M. Young, 1996), Whatever, (Susan Skoog, 1998) and BlackMale (George and Mike Baluzy, 1999), and was the U.S. distributor of John Woo's cult classic, The Killer and Richard Bugajski's Interrogation. Most recently, he was a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series, The Wire, winner of the Peabody Award and the AFI Award. He was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on that show. He was a writer and co-producer on the World War II miniseries The Pacific, and is currently at work as an executive producer and writer on David Simon's HBO dramatic series Treme, shot in New Orleans.
Pelecanos lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Pelecanos is the author of eighteen novels set in and around Washington, D.C.: A Firing Offense, Nick's Trip, Shoedog, Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go, The Big Blowdown, King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever, Shame the Devil, Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus, Hard Revolution, Drama City, The Night Gardener, The Turnaround, The Way Home, The Cut, and What It Was. He has been the recipient of the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Falcon award in Japan, and the Grand Prix du Roman Noir in France. Hell to Pay and Soul Circus were awarded the 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and the collections Unusual Suspects, Best American Mystery Stories of 1997, Measures of Poison, Best American Mystery Stories of 2002, Men from Boys, and Murder at the Foul Line. He served as editor on the collections D.C. Noir and D.C. Noir 2: The Classics, as well as The Best Mystery Stories of 2008. He is an award-winning essayist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Sight and Sound, Uncut, Mojo, and numerous other publications. Esquire called him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world." In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King wrote that Pelecanos is "perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." Pelecanos would like to note that Mr. King used the qualifier "perhaps."
Pelecanos served as producer on the feature films Caught (Robert M. Young, 1996), Whatever, (Susan Skoog, 1998) and BlackMale (George and Mike Baluzy, 1999), and was the U.S. distributor of John Woo's cult classic, The Killer and Richard Bugajski's Interrogation. Most recently, he was a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series, The Wire, winner of the Peabody Award and the AFI Award. He was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on that show. He was a writer and co-producer on the World War II miniseries The Pacific, and is currently at work as an executive producer and writer on David Simon's HBO dramatic series Treme, shot in New Orleans.
Pelecanos lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland.
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December 24, 2025
THE WIRE
”The Wire”, la serie tv della HBO in cinque stagioni. Pelecanos è stato tra i creatori.
Anche attori e registi importanti dicono che le serie televisive si spingono in territori di sperimentazione che il cinema ormai diserta (per inseguire piuttosto sequel, prequel, remake, spin off, videogiochi, fumetti…): le serie televisive, sia per il linguaggio narrativo che quello visivo, adesso hanno preso il ruolo del cinema, diventato invece sempre più mainstream.
E il primo aspetto che colpisce i grandi attori e i grandi registi avvicinandosi a una serie televisiva è la possibilità di poter “raccontare” i personaggi: avendo più tempo a disposizione, i personaggi possono arricchirsi di molti più dettagli, e informazioni, e aspetti, e sfaccettature, e profondità, e spessore, e…
Esperienza mai così forte come nella serie “The Wire”, che Pelecanos ha prodotto e in parte scritto: si tratta della serie televisiva che ha rimescolato le regole del racconto poliziesco, dove le linee orizzontali sono nettamente predominanti rispetto a quelle verticali.
Ed è proprio quello che fa George Pelecanos nei suoi libri, pur restando in un numero di pagine contenuto: i suoi personaggi sono così ricchi e rotondi e scolpiti, che esistono, ci sono, rimangono, vivono. Pur utilizzando lo strumento della suspense, il racconto è soprattutto centrato sui personaggi.
Non sono eroi, per nulla sovraumani, ma anzi molto quotidiani, molto simili alla gente che s’incrocia per strada, a quella che conosciamo, simili a noi:
Ma lui voleva che io diventassi migliore di lui. E invece sono solo un essere umano, proprio come lui.
I suoi libri non sono infarciti di action, di eventi e colpi di scena: i suoi romanzi hanno un andamento più lento della media, un tempo “andante”.
Questo è il suo quarto che leggo.
E anche qui ho trovato momenti che mi hanno colpito, che mi hanno saputo stupire.
Per esempio, il commento di Pelecanos dopo che i due brutti ceffi se ne vanno e lasciano vivere l’immobiliarista; un flash mentale prima del confronto finale; il racconto di Ben che impara a leggere e scopre la bellezza e la ricchezza della lettura:
Fu come indossare per la prima volta un paio di occhiali da vista. Il mondo sembrava un posto nuovo.
Devo dire che non sono mai stato così tanto d’accordo con uno strillo di copertina come quello del NYT che riporto:
George Pelecanos è uno degli scrittori che sposta i confini del thriller nel territorio della letteratura.
È lo scrittore che mi ha fatto tornare ad amare la crime story, il thriller, il noir.
O, forse, i suoi sono romanzi fuori da qualsiasi genere dove sono accentuate le sfumature criminali.
In fondo, La strada di casa è semplicemente un romanzo, scritto in modo magnifico, sull’adolescenza, sul rapporto tra figli e genitori, sulle attese e sulla crescita e le responsabilità.
Un’altra bella serie cui Pelecanos ha partecipato attivamente è “The Deuce”, sempre HBO, per ora alla prima stagione.
”The Wire”, la serie tv della HBO in cinque stagioni. Pelecanos è stato tra i creatori.
Anche attori e registi importanti dicono che le serie televisive si spingono in territori di sperimentazione che il cinema ormai diserta (per inseguire piuttosto sequel, prequel, remake, spin off, videogiochi, fumetti…): le serie televisive, sia per il linguaggio narrativo che quello visivo, adesso hanno preso il ruolo del cinema, diventato invece sempre più mainstream.
E il primo aspetto che colpisce i grandi attori e i grandi registi avvicinandosi a una serie televisiva è la possibilità di poter “raccontare” i personaggi: avendo più tempo a disposizione, i personaggi possono arricchirsi di molti più dettagli, e informazioni, e aspetti, e sfaccettature, e profondità, e spessore, e…
Esperienza mai così forte come nella serie “The Wire”, che Pelecanos ha prodotto e in parte scritto: si tratta della serie televisiva che ha rimescolato le regole del racconto poliziesco, dove le linee orizzontali sono nettamente predominanti rispetto a quelle verticali.
Ed è proprio quello che fa George Pelecanos nei suoi libri, pur restando in un numero di pagine contenuto: i suoi personaggi sono così ricchi e rotondi e scolpiti, che esistono, ci sono, rimangono, vivono. Pur utilizzando lo strumento della suspense, il racconto è soprattutto centrato sui personaggi.
Non sono eroi, per nulla sovraumani, ma anzi molto quotidiani, molto simili alla gente che s’incrocia per strada, a quella che conosciamo, simili a noi:
Ma lui voleva che io diventassi migliore di lui. E invece sono solo un essere umano, proprio come lui.
I suoi libri non sono infarciti di action, di eventi e colpi di scena: i suoi romanzi hanno un andamento più lento della media, un tempo “andante”.
Questo è il suo quarto che leggo.
E anche qui ho trovato momenti che mi hanno colpito, che mi hanno saputo stupire.
Per esempio, il commento di Pelecanos dopo che i due brutti ceffi se ne vanno e lasciano vivere l’immobiliarista; un flash mentale prima del confronto finale; il racconto di Ben che impara a leggere e scopre la bellezza e la ricchezza della lettura:
Fu come indossare per la prima volta un paio di occhiali da vista. Il mondo sembrava un posto nuovo.
Devo dire che non sono mai stato così tanto d’accordo con uno strillo di copertina come quello del NYT che riporto:
George Pelecanos è uno degli scrittori che sposta i confini del thriller nel territorio della letteratura.
È lo scrittore che mi ha fatto tornare ad amare la crime story, il thriller, il noir.
O, forse, i suoi sono romanzi fuori da qualsiasi genere dove sono accentuate le sfumature criminali.
In fondo, La strada di casa è semplicemente un romanzo, scritto in modo magnifico, sull’adolescenza, sul rapporto tra figli e genitori, sulle attese e sulla crescita e le responsabilità.
Un’altra bella serie cui Pelecanos ha partecipato attivamente è “The Deuce”, sempre HBO, per ora alla prima stagione.
August 26, 2009
The Way Home is another stellar effort from George Pelecanos, one of the greatest working writers in America today.
Though Pelecanos works under the aegis of crime writer his novels have become vastly more encompassing than that, so acute at displaying American Dreams, lost & found, and so spot on in the rare and exact eye he puts on the working class and under class of the Washington DC area that it becomes increasingly apparent that his work is serious and lasting literature, and that he is as valuable to his time, and as discerning in his judgments as Mailer, Baldwin or Raymond Chandler were in theirs.
The Way Home is a tale of fathers and sons, of Thomas and Chris Flynn. Chris, is a teen screw-up and pot head with a violent streak, who finally goes too far and ends up in juvenile detention for a serious crime. Thomas, his father, is a good man, albeit a man who is sometimes incapable of making the necessary gesture that will calm his addled son and bring him back into the firm and loving embrace of his family. In juvenile hall Chris meets kids, mostly urban blacks, who are tougher than him, who come from backgrounds of such unrelenting hopelessness, devoid of firm guidance, that his own suburban upbringing is brought into stark relief as a thing both fragile and worth retaining.
Chris serves his time, not without violent incident, and maybe even learns a lesson or two. Back outside and a few years down the road he is working for his father’s carpet installing business, even bringing along some of his buddies from the correctional facility. Through no fault of his own events transpire that bring Chris and his friends back into a situation outside the law, where Chris needs to look long and hard about who he really is, what sacrifices he would make, what he would be willing to do in the name of justice and revenge. The people that Chris and buddies run up against are such another order of wicked that the confrontation serves as both a delineation of what is really bad-assed and what is kids pretending and a case study in how the longer you are institutionalized the more dehumanized you become.
Personal Aside: I was a bit of a fuck-up myself as a young man. I can certainly identify with the trajectory of Chris’ journey. My late teens and early twenties included halfway houses, juvenile hall, petty crime, vagrancy, drunk tanks and 72 hr holds in psychiatric wards. It was a rough journey from teen mess to adulthood and I had no paragon of virtue parent like Thomas Flynn to guide the way home. A new and weird wrinkle of reading coming of age texts: for the longest time I identified primarily with the teen/young man making the perilous journey. Now that I have a teen of my own, I feel much more fiercely the pain and hurt of the parents, the frustration, almost endless worry, anger, sadness and joy of trying to help a young man become the best version of himself he can be. This identification with both narrative paths leads to a richer, if somewhat schizophrenic, reading experience.
Some More Words on Pelecanos and The Way Home. Pelecanos started off writing neo-traditionalist noir, hard-boiled tales stuffed with femme fatales, muscle cars and dripping with venomous dialogue and enough pop cultural references and specific musical cues to make Tarentino green with envy. His voice has become mature, a tad mellower, he is now an American traditionalist in the Clint Eastwood vein. And while he can write violence as well as anyone, he is more interested in portraying the consequences of violence now, it’s soul-killing aspects, the way it plagues perpetrators as well as victims, and infects whole communities with it’s virulence.
Pelecanos, if he is known at all by the general public, is probably known more for his work on the great TV series, The Wire, than he is for his novels. The Wire at one time had Pelecanos, Dennis Lehane and Richard Price all writing on it, surely the first time three such august novelists worked on one show at one time. Pelecanos lacks the verbal agility and easy lyricism of Price, but he doesn’t give you those awkward moments were his too pretty prose pulls you out of the action as Price often does. His prose is workman like, gritty and heart-felt, never over-wrought or turgid; all his epiphanies are rooted in the character’s development not in empty rhetorical embellishment. He also is not as ham-fisted as Lehane can sometimes be(or as successful-his books sell 1/10th the amount of copies-there’s a crime for you). Pelecanos has written not one but three historical novels(The Big Blowdown, Hard Revolution & King Suckerman) and has caught every bit of each milieu(1940’s, 1960’s, 1970’s) with detail that is true, apt and exciting. Lehane in his big epic, That Given Day, was embarrassingly inept with the African-American characters. Pelecanos, a Greek American, has been writing with power, respect and admirable empathy of Black Americans for his entire career. While it isn’t for me, a white writer, to say how well another white writer ‘gets’ the black experience, the fact that he takes such pains with his craft to get it right is surely worth something.
The Way Home is both a conservative novel in that it upholds the validity of the family unit and the lessons of the father as worthwhile. It is a liberal novel in that it admits that here in America, self-styled greatest nation in the world, that some children are born lost by poverty, race and generations of repetitive violence, only escaping their dire downward trajectories by the utmost effort, luck and the prodigious help of others. Sure Pelecanos believes in The American Dream; he also knows it’s rigged.
Though Pelecanos works under the aegis of crime writer his novels have become vastly more encompassing than that, so acute at displaying American Dreams, lost & found, and so spot on in the rare and exact eye he puts on the working class and under class of the Washington DC area that it becomes increasingly apparent that his work is serious and lasting literature, and that he is as valuable to his time, and as discerning in his judgments as Mailer, Baldwin or Raymond Chandler were in theirs.
The Way Home is a tale of fathers and sons, of Thomas and Chris Flynn. Chris, is a teen screw-up and pot head with a violent streak, who finally goes too far and ends up in juvenile detention for a serious crime. Thomas, his father, is a good man, albeit a man who is sometimes incapable of making the necessary gesture that will calm his addled son and bring him back into the firm and loving embrace of his family. In juvenile hall Chris meets kids, mostly urban blacks, who are tougher than him, who come from backgrounds of such unrelenting hopelessness, devoid of firm guidance, that his own suburban upbringing is brought into stark relief as a thing both fragile and worth retaining.
Chris serves his time, not without violent incident, and maybe even learns a lesson or two. Back outside and a few years down the road he is working for his father’s carpet installing business, even bringing along some of his buddies from the correctional facility. Through no fault of his own events transpire that bring Chris and his friends back into a situation outside the law, where Chris needs to look long and hard about who he really is, what sacrifices he would make, what he would be willing to do in the name of justice and revenge. The people that Chris and buddies run up against are such another order of wicked that the confrontation serves as both a delineation of what is really bad-assed and what is kids pretending and a case study in how the longer you are institutionalized the more dehumanized you become.
Personal Aside: I was a bit of a fuck-up myself as a young man. I can certainly identify with the trajectory of Chris’ journey. My late teens and early twenties included halfway houses, juvenile hall, petty crime, vagrancy, drunk tanks and 72 hr holds in psychiatric wards. It was a rough journey from teen mess to adulthood and I had no paragon of virtue parent like Thomas Flynn to guide the way home. A new and weird wrinkle of reading coming of age texts: for the longest time I identified primarily with the teen/young man making the perilous journey. Now that I have a teen of my own, I feel much more fiercely the pain and hurt of the parents, the frustration, almost endless worry, anger, sadness and joy of trying to help a young man become the best version of himself he can be. This identification with both narrative paths leads to a richer, if somewhat schizophrenic, reading experience.
Some More Words on Pelecanos and The Way Home. Pelecanos started off writing neo-traditionalist noir, hard-boiled tales stuffed with femme fatales, muscle cars and dripping with venomous dialogue and enough pop cultural references and specific musical cues to make Tarentino green with envy. His voice has become mature, a tad mellower, he is now an American traditionalist in the Clint Eastwood vein. And while he can write violence as well as anyone, he is more interested in portraying the consequences of violence now, it’s soul-killing aspects, the way it plagues perpetrators as well as victims, and infects whole communities with it’s virulence.
Pelecanos, if he is known at all by the general public, is probably known more for his work on the great TV series, The Wire, than he is for his novels. The Wire at one time had Pelecanos, Dennis Lehane and Richard Price all writing on it, surely the first time three such august novelists worked on one show at one time. Pelecanos lacks the verbal agility and easy lyricism of Price, but he doesn’t give you those awkward moments were his too pretty prose pulls you out of the action as Price often does. His prose is workman like, gritty and heart-felt, never over-wrought or turgid; all his epiphanies are rooted in the character’s development not in empty rhetorical embellishment. He also is not as ham-fisted as Lehane can sometimes be(or as successful-his books sell 1/10th the amount of copies-there’s a crime for you). Pelecanos has written not one but three historical novels(The Big Blowdown, Hard Revolution & King Suckerman) and has caught every bit of each milieu(1940’s, 1960’s, 1970’s) with detail that is true, apt and exciting. Lehane in his big epic, That Given Day, was embarrassingly inept with the African-American characters. Pelecanos, a Greek American, has been writing with power, respect and admirable empathy of Black Americans for his entire career. While it isn’t for me, a white writer, to say how well another white writer ‘gets’ the black experience, the fact that he takes such pains with his craft to get it right is surely worth something.
The Way Home is both a conservative novel in that it upholds the validity of the family unit and the lessons of the father as worthwhile. It is a liberal novel in that it admits that here in America, self-styled greatest nation in the world, that some children are born lost by poverty, race and generations of repetitive violence, only escaping their dire downward trajectories by the utmost effort, luck and the prodigious help of others. Sure Pelecanos believes in The American Dream; he also knows it’s rigged.
September 20, 2013
Chris Flynn is a troubled youth from DC and after some brushes with the law, finds himself in reform school. Upon his release, he is walking the straight and narrow, working for his father, when he and a friend stumble upon a gym bag full of money on a carpet laying job. They don't take the money but it goes missing anyway and the owners come gunning for them. Can Chris stay on the right path or will he fall back into his old ways?
In The Way Home, Pelecanos revisits themes from some his earlier books: sons struggling to live up to the expectations of their fathers and how hard it is to not fall back into bad behavior patterns.
The book is split almost in half, the first half depicting Chris's life before and during reform school and the second portion details Chris's adult life, struggling to stay out of trouble. Cars, basketball, and music are the frequent topics of conversation, as per usual.
Chris Flynn, the lead, is a troubled man with a rocky relationship with his father. I think a lot of fathers want their sons to do better than they have but don't know how to go about encouraging them. I know mine didn't and neither did Chris's. I found myself relating a little too much to Chris, both before he went into reform school and the reformed outlook after he came out.
Like a lot of Pelecanos books, he takes a fairly standard crime plot, the found money, and uses it as a device to showcase his nuanced characters. Besides Chris, the rest of the cast is also a well realized group. Ali and Ben have become responsible since leaving reform school. Lawrence has not. Chris's father Thomas owns a carpet business and has a strained relationship with his son, both before and after reform school.
The villains of the piece were certainly vile but weren't that complicated and served more as plot devices than characters.
The ending reminded me of the ending of a few other Pelecanos books, most notably Drama City. In a lot of ways, The Way Home is Drama City 2.0. It had a very cinematic feel at times and I could easily picture it being made into a movie.
This one is right on the line of being a three or four. I guess I'm rounding up. I was tempted to drop it down to a 3 because it reminded me so much of Drama City but I still liked it quite a bit. 4 out of 5 stars.
In The Way Home, Pelecanos revisits themes from some his earlier books: sons struggling to live up to the expectations of their fathers and how hard it is to not fall back into bad behavior patterns.
The book is split almost in half, the first half depicting Chris's life before and during reform school and the second portion details Chris's adult life, struggling to stay out of trouble. Cars, basketball, and music are the frequent topics of conversation, as per usual.
Chris Flynn, the lead, is a troubled man with a rocky relationship with his father. I think a lot of fathers want their sons to do better than they have but don't know how to go about encouraging them. I know mine didn't and neither did Chris's. I found myself relating a little too much to Chris, both before he went into reform school and the reformed outlook after he came out.
Like a lot of Pelecanos books, he takes a fairly standard crime plot, the found money, and uses it as a device to showcase his nuanced characters. Besides Chris, the rest of the cast is also a well realized group. Ali and Ben have become responsible since leaving reform school. Lawrence has not. Chris's father Thomas owns a carpet business and has a strained relationship with his son, both before and after reform school.
The villains of the piece were certainly vile but weren't that complicated and served more as plot devices than characters.
The ending reminded me of the ending of a few other Pelecanos books, most notably Drama City. In a lot of ways, The Way Home is Drama City 2.0. It had a very cinematic feel at times and I could easily picture it being made into a movie.
This one is right on the line of being a three or four. I guess I'm rounding up. I was tempted to drop it down to a 3 because it reminded me so much of Drama City but I still liked it quite a bit. 4 out of 5 stars.
January 23, 2021
One of the award winning writers of 'The Wire', Pelecanos produces a pretty formulaic crime thriller in the 21st century mean streets of Baltimore. Readable and pretty much set in the same world as 'The Wire' but nothing special. Tells the story of a white middle class boy from a 'normal' home but with an Old Skool macho dad that ends up on the wrong side of the tracks and how his life changes as he grows into a man. 4 out of 12.
April 12, 2020
"The first time Chris took a [juvenile] charge - for loitering and possession of marijuana - he was all nerves, standing in this room they had at the [police] station, waiting for his father to come and take him home. He was expecting his pops [to] put a finger up in his face, give him the lecture about responsibility and choices, maybe make some threats. But his father entered to room and . . . " -- page 12
Author Pelecanos again takes to the mean streets of the DC Metro Area - Washington D.C. and the bordering neighborhoods in Virginia and Maryland - for another crime drama / thriller, but this time he brings the idea of family (both biological or those formed out of necessity) into the mix. Chris Flynn is a repeat offender juvenile delinquent who is placed in a detention facility for several years. While in the stir he becomes acquainted with three other young men, one his cellmate Ben and two others - Ali and Lawrence - from the same block, forming a sort of de facto brotherly family unit.
Flash forward to adulthood and Chris and his former cellmate Ben are work partners, employed by Chris' father (the other major character in the story) in the family-run carpet installation business. Chris and Ben innocently stumble into A Simple Plan-type scenario - discovered money, but here during a house renovation - that quickly involves their other two old friends, but not exactly in a predictable way. When one of the four unwisely absconds with said legal tender all of them are targeted by two reprehensibly harsh career criminals who were just released from a federal prison.
Things get bleakly perilous and lethal in a hurry, with the worst moment being a brutal murder of one of the characters by the two ex-cons. (It was the saddest fictional scene that I've read so far this year.) What worked best about The Way Home was the suspense angle - not in a silly titillating manner, but just the conceivable idea that these young men are in grave danger, and also about how the father fears his son's life is at risk even though this type of trouble should be in the rearview mirror. Though the finale got a little shaky it was overall a very good modern day noir-like tale.
Author Pelecanos again takes to the mean streets of the DC Metro Area - Washington D.C. and the bordering neighborhoods in Virginia and Maryland - for another crime drama / thriller, but this time he brings the idea of family (both biological or those formed out of necessity) into the mix. Chris Flynn is a repeat offender juvenile delinquent who is placed in a detention facility for several years. While in the stir he becomes acquainted with three other young men, one his cellmate Ben and two others - Ali and Lawrence - from the same block, forming a sort of de facto brotherly family unit.
Flash forward to adulthood and Chris and his former cellmate Ben are work partners, employed by Chris' father (the other major character in the story) in the family-run carpet installation business. Chris and Ben innocently stumble into A Simple Plan-type scenario - discovered money, but here during a house renovation - that quickly involves their other two old friends, but not exactly in a predictable way. When one of the four unwisely absconds with said legal tender all of them are targeted by two reprehensibly harsh career criminals who were just released from a federal prison.
Things get bleakly perilous and lethal in a hurry, with the worst moment being a brutal murder of one of the characters by the two ex-cons. (It was the saddest fictional scene that I've read so far this year.) What worked best about The Way Home was the suspense angle - not in a silly titillating manner, but just the conceivable idea that these young men are in grave danger, and also about how the father fears his son's life is at risk even though this type of trouble should be in the rearview mirror. Though the finale got a little shaky it was overall a very good modern day noir-like tale.
January 31, 2013
This is a solid effort from George Pelecanos, but it suffers by comparison to some of his better books. Its principal themes involve the relationship between fathers and sons and the inadequacies of the juvenile justice system. But you get the feeling that Pelecanos is so determined to focus on these issues that he occasionally allows the story suffer for it.
The main protagonist, Chris Flynn, lost his way as a teenager, but for reasons that aren't entirely clear. He comes from a solid, two-parent household, and while his father might be on the stricter end of the scale, there's no clear explanation for why Chris goes off the rails. But after a number of scrapes with the law, he winds up incarcerated in a juvenile jail.
Ultimately, Chris is released and determines to turn his life around. He goes to work as an installer for his father's carpet company and convinces his father to take on a couple of the other young men that Chris met while in juvie prison. However, just as Chris seems to be getting his act together, he faces a serious temptation that seems just a bit too contrived. The decision that he makes in the face of that temptation will have far-reaching consequences for a number of people and will significantly impact Chris Flynn's determination to find his way home.
Despite my concerns, I did enjoy this book and I would certainly recommend it. Any disappointment I might have felt results simply from the fact that Pelecanos has set the bar so high that I'm in the habit of expecting him to hit a home run every time he comes up to bat. This is a solid triple, which certainly isn't all that bad.
The main protagonist, Chris Flynn, lost his way as a teenager, but for reasons that aren't entirely clear. He comes from a solid, two-parent household, and while his father might be on the stricter end of the scale, there's no clear explanation for why Chris goes off the rails. But after a number of scrapes with the law, he winds up incarcerated in a juvenile jail.
Ultimately, Chris is released and determines to turn his life around. He goes to work as an installer for his father's carpet company and convinces his father to take on a couple of the other young men that Chris met while in juvie prison. However, just as Chris seems to be getting his act together, he faces a serious temptation that seems just a bit too contrived. The decision that he makes in the face of that temptation will have far-reaching consequences for a number of people and will significantly impact Chris Flynn's determination to find his way home.
Despite my concerns, I did enjoy this book and I would certainly recommend it. Any disappointment I might have felt results simply from the fact that Pelecanos has set the bar so high that I'm in the habit of expecting him to hit a home run every time he comes up to bat. This is a solid triple, which certainly isn't all that bad.
August 4, 2009
I’m skeptical whenever a critic claims a genre writer “gets better with every book.” Most writers I’ve followed (including, perhaps especially, the high-falutin’ types) work steadily until they find their groove. Once established, they return to the groove and work it until it becomes a rut. George Pelecanos came on the crime fiction scene just over 15 years ago, and immediately proved himself as someone worth reading. And, dammit, he gets better with every book. He definitely has his groove, but it is gaining depth and breadth.
Some of the pleasures I take from Pelecanos’ books:
1)It’s A Working Man’s World. Pelecanos’ perspective isn’t just resolutely masculine, it’s resolutely blue-collar — involving guys who have learned how to do a job they can take pride in, whether it’s run a diner, work a chop-shop or install flooring. Even when he introduces a minor character, he takes pains to accurately portray the work they do. This approach is something of a revelation, and certainly a welcome change from the artists, free-spirits and flakes who populate other books.
2)Attribution. GP has cited movies as his chief source of narrative inspiration, but his books are filled with other tip-offs. The early books were often written with an accompanying soundtrack (one novel even came with a CD). Characters carry paperback copies of books with them, standing in as the author’s list of recommended reading, which is worth following up. Pelecanos hopes to join a particular company of authors who, in turn, have provided company and encouragement for a very particular audience (see above).
3)Literary Self-Improvement. GP’s template gets wider with every book. In The Way Home Pelecanos spends the first 100 pages getting into the head of a self-destructive, self-centered late-adolescent punk who, through circumstance, very slowly begins to get a clue — tiresome reading in the hands of a lesser, more self-infatuated novelist, but I couldn’t put it down. Mortal peril is eventually thrown into the mix (something else I always appreciate about GP’s books) but the larger question is will this kid make it to the end of the book and become a man?
This is one of those books I immediately donate to the public library, so that readers in my town get the chance to discover it for themselves.
Some of the pleasures I take from Pelecanos’ books:
1)It’s A Working Man’s World. Pelecanos’ perspective isn’t just resolutely masculine, it’s resolutely blue-collar — involving guys who have learned how to do a job they can take pride in, whether it’s run a diner, work a chop-shop or install flooring. Even when he introduces a minor character, he takes pains to accurately portray the work they do. This approach is something of a revelation, and certainly a welcome change from the artists, free-spirits and flakes who populate other books.
2)Attribution. GP has cited movies as his chief source of narrative inspiration, but his books are filled with other tip-offs. The early books were often written with an accompanying soundtrack (one novel even came with a CD). Characters carry paperback copies of books with them, standing in as the author’s list of recommended reading, which is worth following up. Pelecanos hopes to join a particular company of authors who, in turn, have provided company and encouragement for a very particular audience (see above).
3)Literary Self-Improvement. GP’s template gets wider with every book. In The Way Home Pelecanos spends the first 100 pages getting into the head of a self-destructive, self-centered late-adolescent punk who, through circumstance, very slowly begins to get a clue — tiresome reading in the hands of a lesser, more self-infatuated novelist, but I couldn’t put it down. Mortal peril is eventually thrown into the mix (something else I always appreciate about GP’s books) but the larger question is will this kid make it to the end of the book and become a man?
This is one of those books I immediately donate to the public library, so that readers in my town get the chance to discover it for themselves.
February 5, 2010
Pelecanos adds his twist to a standard crime story: people find a large sum of money and trouble follows. As always with Pelecanos, the crime is far less important than the characters. Most of this one hinges on a father-son relationship with son Chris trying to live down his past as a teen-age criminal and his father's disappointment that he hasn't grown into a more successful man.
The first part of the book is about young Chris committing a minor crime spree just because of teen-age stupidity and winding up a in jail. You can't help but compare this section to the fourth season of The Wire which Pelecanos wrote for. The story of troubled kids who grow into men just trying to find a foothold in the world is another major part of the book.
Adult Chris and his friend Ben from jail end up working for his father's carpet installation business. When they find a bag of money during an installation, Chris wants nothing to do with it and insists they leave the money where they found it. Despite doing exactly that, another inmate from their past and the money's owners soon bring trouble to Chris and his family.
I always hesitate to call Pellecanos's books 'crime novels' because they're really character studies. Even though this one concerns a bag of money and criminals trying to track it down, the heart of the book is really about Chris and his friends trying to outgrow their pasts.
The first part of the book is about young Chris committing a minor crime spree just because of teen-age stupidity and winding up a in jail. You can't help but compare this section to the fourth season of The Wire which Pelecanos wrote for. The story of troubled kids who grow into men just trying to find a foothold in the world is another major part of the book.
Adult Chris and his friend Ben from jail end up working for his father's carpet installation business. When they find a bag of money during an installation, Chris wants nothing to do with it and insists they leave the money where they found it. Despite doing exactly that, another inmate from their past and the money's owners soon bring trouble to Chris and his family.
I always hesitate to call Pellecanos's books 'crime novels' because they're really character studies. Even though this one concerns a bag of money and criminals trying to track it down, the heart of the book is really about Chris and his friends trying to outgrow their pasts.
May 3, 2020
I found this book quite boring actually, with one dimensional characters and a stale plot.
I enjoyed the first third of the book, but some of the characterisation was too be laboured. The plot was boring and very much like a B-rate crime drama TV show.
Nothing wrong with the writing and I did enjoy the representation of the prison system and the portrayal of class and family life. I just found some of the characters and scenarios tiring. Full of "homies" and "gang-baging" and "bro", author's word choices not mine, so that's what added to the stale and one dimensional characters and boring plot.
I enjoyed the first third of the book, but some of the characterisation was too be laboured. The plot was boring and very much like a B-rate crime drama TV show.
Nothing wrong with the writing and I did enjoy the representation of the prison system and the portrayal of class and family life. I just found some of the characters and scenarios tiring. Full of "homies" and "gang-baging" and "bro", author's word choices not mine, so that's what added to the stale and one dimensional characters and boring plot.
February 25, 2011
Just a note: There's a spoiler in the final third of this review, but it shouldn't matter to you because it is an annoying spoiler and part of the reason you shouldn't read The Way Home. ON WITH THE REVIEW!!
I expected more from one of the writers of The Wire. I guess this is unfair to George Pelecanos. I mean it's not his fault that the other fiction writers associated with The Best Show Ever Aired are all gods of the crime-fiction realm. Not everyone can be Dennis Lehane, Richard Price, or even David Simon, who wrote one of the best nonficiton cop books ever. Not everyone can be great.
But not everyone has to be George Pelecanos, either.
It's not that The Way Home is terrible in every regard. In some ways, it is PERFECTLY...adequate. The plot, about a group of juvie offenders who get released and rehabilitated (to varying degrees) and then later accidentally get caught up in some Bad Things, is ok if as unoriginal as an episode of Two and a Half Men. But still, credit GP for attempting something about more than action-action-action. It's about friendship and loyalty, family and love, right and wrong. It's about a parent's decisions.
It's also about some lazy-ass writing.
Pelecanos DESPERATELY wants to set a mood and tone akin to those set by Price and Lehane. You can smell it. He wants to say Big Things. But he just can't do it. He graduated at the top of the class in the "Tell, Don't Show School," and the laziness (or just clumsiness)he learned there single-handedly destroys anything good that does manage to shine through. Here are two sentences, totally without context, that SHOW what I'm talking about:
"Chris called Ali and had a brief conversation."
Oh, DID he now? I wonder what was said in that conversation? Was it important? Were there knock-knock jokes? IF ONLY there was some way to show people what could have possibly been said! Some sort of...marks or something that could signify that, hey, people are talking here! This isn't the narrator's words! Seriously. Inexcusable and just fucking annoying.
Example deux:
"Renee became hysterical upon learning the news of Ben's violent death."
This sentence comes during a pivotal moment after a major character gets waxed. The main character has gone to break the bad news to the new corpse's girlfriend. These are MAJOR players in this book. And that's all we get. She 'became hysterical.' Well. It's good to know that she reacted to the news! I'll bet Jackie O 'became hysterical' one day in 1963 as well! I mean, really? That's all you got? Did she break down and cry? Violate her pet bunny with a plunger handle? Or simply drink some tea that was, quite frankly, too hot? What kind of 'hysteria' we talking here?
I'll admit that I stopped reading pretty much after this sentence. I skimmed the rest, just because I did have some time invested. And even though I don't know the details of the last 100 pages or so, there is a random paragraph on the final page that is so...out of place and stupid that it makes me want to go back through all 5 seasons of The Wire to see if there are any obvious parts ruined by this hack.
I expected more from one of the writers of The Wire. I guess this is unfair to George Pelecanos. I mean it's not his fault that the other fiction writers associated with The Best Show Ever Aired are all gods of the crime-fiction realm. Not everyone can be Dennis Lehane, Richard Price, or even David Simon, who wrote one of the best nonficiton cop books ever. Not everyone can be great.
But not everyone has to be George Pelecanos, either.
It's not that The Way Home is terrible in every regard. In some ways, it is PERFECTLY...adequate. The plot, about a group of juvie offenders who get released and rehabilitated (to varying degrees) and then later accidentally get caught up in some Bad Things, is ok if as unoriginal as an episode of Two and a Half Men. But still, credit GP for attempting something about more than action-action-action. It's about friendship and loyalty, family and love, right and wrong. It's about a parent's decisions.
It's also about some lazy-ass writing.
Pelecanos DESPERATELY wants to set a mood and tone akin to those set by Price and Lehane. You can smell it. He wants to say Big Things. But he just can't do it. He graduated at the top of the class in the "Tell, Don't Show School," and the laziness (or just clumsiness)he learned there single-handedly destroys anything good that does manage to shine through. Here are two sentences, totally without context, that SHOW what I'm talking about:
"Chris called Ali and had a brief conversation."
Oh, DID he now? I wonder what was said in that conversation? Was it important? Were there knock-knock jokes? IF ONLY there was some way to show people what could have possibly been said! Some sort of...marks or something that could signify that, hey, people are talking here! This isn't the narrator's words! Seriously. Inexcusable and just fucking annoying.
Example deux:
"Renee became hysterical upon learning the news of Ben's violent death."
This sentence comes during a pivotal moment after a major character gets waxed. The main character has gone to break the bad news to the new corpse's girlfriend. These are MAJOR players in this book. And that's all we get. She 'became hysterical.' Well. It's good to know that she reacted to the news! I'll bet Jackie O 'became hysterical' one day in 1963 as well! I mean, really? That's all you got? Did she break down and cry? Violate her pet bunny with a plunger handle? Or simply drink some tea that was, quite frankly, too hot? What kind of 'hysteria' we talking here?
I'll admit that I stopped reading pretty much after this sentence. I skimmed the rest, just because I did have some time invested. And even though I don't know the details of the last 100 pages or so, there is a random paragraph on the final page that is so...out of place and stupid that it makes me want to go back through all 5 seasons of The Wire to see if there are any obvious parts ruined by this hack.
July 14, 2010
According to the list in the front of the book, this is Pelecanos' 16 book. I have read quite a few of them and come back for more every time I remember to look if he has a new book. I read slowly and my recent trend is to read non-fiction books which automatically slows me down even more. I have just begun reading some novels again and am enjoying the fact that I can read some shorter novels in just a few day.
...and they lived happily ever after. Pelecanos' take is: "If storytellers told it true, all stories would end in death." On the other hand, he might say that Life Goes On.
Pelecanos does seem to have a formula in many of his books that I have read. There is the initial background story, time passes (10 years will do), and the experience from the background story comes back on some way or another. And it is usually all men who play the major roles. Women are wives or mothers or waitresses or girlfriends and most of them are pretty good looking as Pelecano often points out. And often sex objects. In this book a homicide detective shows up a woman! And it seems like maybe a woman will have a significant. But "She was a slow, deliberate mover anyway, what with the extra weight she was carrying these days in her hips, belly, and behind." I guess she is not good looking but at least she is a mother and it turns out to only appear a couple more times briefly so is not a significant character.
The code of not being a rat (or a stool pigeon as Pete Seeger might say) is held to pretty firmly here. But it does seem like it does lead to bad consequences. At the end Chris does break the code and call the police in a scene that suggests that he has finally come around to the right way.
If you ever have taken a writing class, writing a descriptive paragraph is always one of the assignment. George Pelecanos would get an A+ in being descriptive. It is one of his trademarks and I think it is kind of fun although I do not always know the referenced product. GP is a name brand kind of guy. No generics for him. "Lawrence wore a LRG T-shirt with a matching hat, and Nikes edged in red to pick up the red off the shirt."
Pelecanos displays his thoughts about child rearing clearly noting early and lasting damage from environment and primary care providers. Locking kids up in juvenile detention is not a good solution. "I wasn't so bad when I went in. But they cured me of any goodness I had by the time I came out." Plenty of places for characters to fall prey to their past or escape to a better future. "Time for you to make your move or you ain't never gonna get out," one of the characters says to his young nephew. These kind of messages are throughout the book but I am not sure I would call Pelecanos' book a change agent. What would people who disagreed with message think of his books? Would they read it start with and would they finish it?
And my biggest inability to suspend disbelief is (I guess some think this is the spoiler) not taking the $50,000. Now come on! There are many things you could do if you found a large stray bunch of money. But putting it back doesn't seem to me to be high on the list of possibilities. Sorry, George.
ADDED LATER
I would call this a suspense or mystery book and I did feel the surprise (for me) ending fit the book. I was surprised about how much emotion I felt in the last 50 or so pages. I am not quite sure if that was coming from me or from the book. (Sometimes I enjoy being jerked around by a book. As a guy, feeling emotions is a good thing and good practice.) I may have to read it again to see if I can figure that out. In the meantime, I would be interested to hear if others found this book to be emotional, especially at the end.
...and they lived happily ever after. Pelecanos' take is: "If storytellers told it true, all stories would end in death." On the other hand, he might say that Life Goes On.
Pelecanos does seem to have a formula in many of his books that I have read. There is the initial background story, time passes (10 years will do), and the experience from the background story comes back on some way or another. And it is usually all men who play the major roles. Women are wives or mothers or waitresses or girlfriends and most of them are pretty good looking as Pelecano often points out. And often sex objects. In this book a homicide detective shows up a woman! And it seems like maybe a woman will have a significant. But "She was a slow, deliberate mover anyway, what with the extra weight she was carrying these days in her hips, belly, and behind." I guess she is not good looking but at least she is a mother and it turns out to only appear a couple more times briefly so is not a significant character.
The code of not being a rat (or a stool pigeon as Pete Seeger might say) is held to pretty firmly here. But it does seem like it does lead to bad consequences. At the end Chris does break the code and call the police in a scene that suggests that he has finally come around to the right way.
If you ever have taken a writing class, writing a descriptive paragraph is always one of the assignment. George Pelecanos would get an A+ in being descriptive. It is one of his trademarks and I think it is kind of fun although I do not always know the referenced product. GP is a name brand kind of guy. No generics for him. "Lawrence wore a LRG T-shirt with a matching hat, and Nikes edged in red to pick up the red off the shirt."
Pelecanos displays his thoughts about child rearing clearly noting early and lasting damage from environment and primary care providers. Locking kids up in juvenile detention is not a good solution. "I wasn't so bad when I went in. But they cured me of any goodness I had by the time I came out." Plenty of places for characters to fall prey to their past or escape to a better future. "Time for you to make your move or you ain't never gonna get out," one of the characters says to his young nephew. These kind of messages are throughout the book but I am not sure I would call Pelecanos' book a change agent. What would people who disagreed with message think of his books? Would they read it start with and would they finish it?
And my biggest inability to suspend disbelief is (I guess some think this is the spoiler) not taking the $50,000. Now come on! There are many things you could do if you found a large stray bunch of money. But putting it back doesn't seem to me to be high on the list of possibilities. Sorry, George.
ADDED LATER
I would call this a suspense or mystery book and I did feel the surprise (for me) ending fit the book. I was surprised about how much emotion I felt in the last 50 or so pages. I am not quite sure if that was coming from me or from the book. (Sometimes I enjoy being jerked around by a book. As a guy, feeling emotions is a good thing and good practice.) I may have to read it again to see if I can figure that out. In the meantime, I would be interested to hear if others found this book to be emotional, especially at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 1, 2015
I was led to buy this book by the little tag above the author's name, telling me it was 'by one of the award winning writers of The Wire'. Sadly, The Way Home did not live up to the standard this suggests. The Wire was compelling and essential viewing, peopled by characters that all felt real to me. The Way Home was pedestrian storytelling peopled by characters that could have been interesting if given a chance, only for Pelecanos to decide not to show any growth or change but simply tell us about it instead, usually in one short line.
The story of Chris Flynn, from attitude-filled teenage criminal to straightened-out adult, 'struggling' with temptation when coming across a bag filled with money and apparently led into 'a deadly game of cat and mouse', the dispassionate writing style at first seemed to fit this particular type of book rather well. However, as the book progressed I found that instead it felt like I was being read to in the most boringly monotone voice I could imagine, which only highlighted how little I cared about what was happening.
This, combined with the 'tell, don't show' mode of writing employed, served to remove all dramatic tension and left me scratching my head a little about the 'struggle' Chris apparently went through (which was dealt with in a line) and the 'deadly game of cat and mouse' which only really came up in the last stretch of the story and barely involved Chris after all, climaxing without him.
As this was so far below the standard I expected when picking it up, I can only assume that The Way Home is not one of the best works from George Pelecanos. However, I won't be bothering to pick up any more to find out.
**Also posted at Randomly Reading and Ranting**
The story of Chris Flynn, from attitude-filled teenage criminal to straightened-out adult, 'struggling' with temptation when coming across a bag filled with money and apparently led into 'a deadly game of cat and mouse', the dispassionate writing style at first seemed to fit this particular type of book rather well. However, as the book progressed I found that instead it felt like I was being read to in the most boringly monotone voice I could imagine, which only highlighted how little I cared about what was happening.
This, combined with the 'tell, don't show' mode of writing employed, served to remove all dramatic tension and left me scratching my head a little about the 'struggle' Chris apparently went through (which was dealt with in a line) and the 'deadly game of cat and mouse' which only really came up in the last stretch of the story and barely involved Chris after all, climaxing without him.
As this was so far below the standard I expected when picking it up, I can only assume that The Way Home is not one of the best works from George Pelecanos. However, I won't be bothering to pick up any more to find out.
**Also posted at Randomly Reading and Ranting**
April 4, 2010
Although Thomas Flynn never attended college, he became a successful entrepreneur. All he wants for his son, Chris, is to see him go to college and succeed in life. But Chris has no interest in school and drifts toward a life of drugs and petty crime. Placed in a juvenile facility until 18, Chris takes a job with his father once he graduates high school. Although Flynn is disappointed in Chris and Chris resents his father’s plans for his future, the two learn to work together without conflict. Thomas begins to hope that Chris is maturing and leaving behind the past, but when one of Chris’s friends is murdered and Chris begins acting suspiciously, Flynn fears his son has slipped back into the past, to a place he can never leave behind.
The predominant theme is a character study of two men in a contentious relationship, one not uncommon to many fathers and sons. Through characters and plot, Pelecanos relays his own message concerning juvenile detention centers and rehabilitating young criminals. He adds suspense to the story with the murder of Chris’s friend and nicely develops a back story reflecting on Chris’s time in the juvenile facility, touching upon the injustices Chris endures in that center as well as his relationship with the other young boys facing the same fate.
The predominant theme is a character study of two men in a contentious relationship, one not uncommon to many fathers and sons. Through characters and plot, Pelecanos relays his own message concerning juvenile detention centers and rehabilitating young criminals. He adds suspense to the story with the murder of Chris’s friend and nicely develops a back story reflecting on Chris’s time in the juvenile facility, touching upon the injustices Chris endures in that center as well as his relationship with the other young boys facing the same fate.
January 29, 2020
An easy 5 stars!
Once again Pelecanos delivers the goods on an engaging tale that kept me captivated. The way this guy writes makes the words just fly off the page. Satisfying ending too.
Once again Pelecanos delivers the goods on an engaging tale that kept me captivated. The way this guy writes makes the words just fly off the page. Satisfying ending too.
July 5, 2014
PROTAGONIST: The Flynn family
SERIES: Standalone
RATING: 3.25
Thomas Flynn is a successful business owner, whose family life is unfortunately a difficult one. His son, Christopher, is one of those kids who seems destined to end up in trouble. Ultimately, he is sentenced to juvenile prison; and the relationship with his father is strained to the breaking point. Chris experiences an epiphany while serving his time and is ready to change his ways upon his release at the age of 26. But Thomas is not forgiving at all and continues to expect the worst from his child. Nonetheless, he gives Chris a job as a carpet installer. He's not very skilled, but he does work hard.
Chris is partnered with another former convict, Ben Braswell. While removing the carpet during a job, they uncover a cache filled with money. Chris immediately rejects the idea of taking the money; instead, they continue with the installation. But Ben can't stop thinking about what that money could mean for his life; while drunk, he tells another friend about the discovery which results in the money being stolen. From that point on, it's one dangerous situation after another, as the felons who put the money there try to get it back.
Sometimes even great authors turn out a book that is less than stellar. That is definitely the case for THE WAY HOME. Normally, Pelecanos is a master of plotting. However, the plot for this book is completely clichéd. We have the rebellious son who goes wrong and disappoints his parents. He has an awakening and turns his life around. However, his father is not able to accept the fact that his son has changed. You can pretty much figure out where it goes from there. There's the strong and steady girlfriend whose love is placed in jeopardy. And then there's the whole thread about the stolen money that plays out just as expected.
On the positive side, Pelecanos realistically depicts the challenges facing those who have been released from incarceration, the difficulties that they face in being reintegrated into society and the challenges of living the straight life. Overall, though, the book was a disappointment. There was the possibility of a strong story of redemption, but it was never realized.
SERIES: Standalone
RATING: 3.25
Thomas Flynn is a successful business owner, whose family life is unfortunately a difficult one. His son, Christopher, is one of those kids who seems destined to end up in trouble. Ultimately, he is sentenced to juvenile prison; and the relationship with his father is strained to the breaking point. Chris experiences an epiphany while serving his time and is ready to change his ways upon his release at the age of 26. But Thomas is not forgiving at all and continues to expect the worst from his child. Nonetheless, he gives Chris a job as a carpet installer. He's not very skilled, but he does work hard.
Chris is partnered with another former convict, Ben Braswell. While removing the carpet during a job, they uncover a cache filled with money. Chris immediately rejects the idea of taking the money; instead, they continue with the installation. But Ben can't stop thinking about what that money could mean for his life; while drunk, he tells another friend about the discovery which results in the money being stolen. From that point on, it's one dangerous situation after another, as the felons who put the money there try to get it back.
Sometimes even great authors turn out a book that is less than stellar. That is definitely the case for THE WAY HOME. Normally, Pelecanos is a master of plotting. However, the plot for this book is completely clichéd. We have the rebellious son who goes wrong and disappoints his parents. He has an awakening and turns his life around. However, his father is not able to accept the fact that his son has changed. You can pretty much figure out where it goes from there. There's the strong and steady girlfriend whose love is placed in jeopardy. And then there's the whole thread about the stolen money that plays out just as expected.
On the positive side, Pelecanos realistically depicts the challenges facing those who have been released from incarceration, the difficulties that they face in being reintegrated into society and the challenges of living the straight life. Overall, though, the book was a disappointment. There was the possibility of a strong story of redemption, but it was never realized.
May 9, 2023
This book is in no way offensive, but it is just average. It has a healthy dose of testosterone and captures what it means to be a man quite well, especially for the middle-class US.
The prose is clear and efficient, but you won't be reading a paragraph or a line twice because it is breathtaking.
The plot was very slow; at around 45%, I was wondering how this novel was a thriller. It felt like a contemporary coming of age.
The characters are well woven, they have depth, and George Pelacanos has an attuned mind toward class, masculinity, social conflicts, and family. The characters are this novel's strongest points despite many cliches.
The book has endless descriptions of street/building/alley names; like the author was on google maps and flexed his knowledge page after page. We get it, you know the place well, it just felt pointless and added nothing to the plot or characters.
Too many cliches and too many daily activities described down to the minutia that bogged down the pacing.
Women were written as if they were from 1970, all the women.
This was also so predictable it hurt.
I couldn't find anything that deems this a writing genius, or literary masterpiece. It was just mediocre and boring at times. 3 stars for the themes, and the characters.
I realized these big commercial writers with 60+ million books sold are average. Commercial success does not equate to literary quality.
The prose is clear and efficient, but you won't be reading a paragraph or a line twice because it is breathtaking.
The plot was very slow; at around 45%, I was wondering how this novel was a thriller. It felt like a contemporary coming of age.
The characters are well woven, they have depth, and George Pelacanos has an attuned mind toward class, masculinity, social conflicts, and family. The characters are this novel's strongest points despite many cliches.
The book has endless descriptions of street/building/alley names; like the author was on google maps and flexed his knowledge page after page. We get it, you know the place well, it just felt pointless and added nothing to the plot or characters.
Too many cliches and too many daily activities described down to the minutia that bogged down the pacing.
Women were written as if they were from 1970, all the women.
This was also so predictable it hurt.
I couldn't find anything that deems this a writing genius, or literary masterpiece. It was just mediocre and boring at times. 3 stars for the themes, and the characters.
I realized these big commercial writers with 60+ million books sold are average. Commercial success does not equate to literary quality.
May 26, 2009
Tom and Amanda Flynn believed that if you raised a child in a comfortable home, good schools, church and with two loving parents, it should be what a child needs to be successful in life. It didn't seem to work for their son, Christopher. By the time Chris was sixteen his grades were down, he stopped playing sports, started shoplifting, fighting, smoking marijuana and was headed for jail.
A stretch in a juvenile jail worked for Chris. He grew up and learned what he had to do to stay out of jail. He got his own apartment and a job working for his father's flooring business as a carpet installer. By his mid-twenties he was doing okay. Then one day he and his friend discovered a bag with a lot of money hidden under a floor in a house where they were laying carpet. They put the money back, laid down the carpet, and walked away. Unfortunately, Chris' friend tells someone. Unfortunately, the two crooks who originally stashed the money come looking for it. And then the story continues.
I definitely want to read more of Pelecanos' books. I know this is classified as Crime Fiction but it didn't really feel that way. There was a little violence and some bad language but it fit the story. The characters were well developed. They each had flaws but that's what made them feel human.
A stretch in a juvenile jail worked for Chris. He grew up and learned what he had to do to stay out of jail. He got his own apartment and a job working for his father's flooring business as a carpet installer. By his mid-twenties he was doing okay. Then one day he and his friend discovered a bag with a lot of money hidden under a floor in a house where they were laying carpet. They put the money back, laid down the carpet, and walked away. Unfortunately, Chris' friend tells someone. Unfortunately, the two crooks who originally stashed the money come looking for it. And then the story continues.
I definitely want to read more of Pelecanos' books. I know this is classified as Crime Fiction but it didn't really feel that way. There was a little violence and some bad language but it fit the story. The characters were well developed. They each had flaws but that's what made them feel human.
May 21, 2009
I'm really torn on my opinion of this one. My main complaint is quite similar to my issue with Pelecanos' previous novel The Turnaround, in that it was a bit too transparent in trumpeting the importance of Honor and Responsibility and Fathers Having A Catch With Their Sons.
Which is a shame, because the story and the characters are compelling enough to convey such points. The author's experience as a writer for The Wire shows through, as he maintains his ability to tell layered crime stories suffused with an all-encompassing sense of geography. Which is why it's so frustrating to hear him telegraph the Meaning of his story with increasingly ham-fisted bits of narration.
C'mon, George. If you're going to write a book about learning to trust people, you should be able to do the same thing with your readers.
Which is a shame, because the story and the characters are compelling enough to convey such points. The author's experience as a writer for The Wire shows through, as he maintains his ability to tell layered crime stories suffused with an all-encompassing sense of geography. Which is why it's so frustrating to hear him telegraph the Meaning of his story with increasingly ham-fisted bits of narration.
C'mon, George. If you're going to write a book about learning to trust people, you should be able to do the same thing with your readers.
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July 25, 2011I have read everything George Pelecanos has written. I'm a huge fan. And while it's always exciting to see authors branch out a bit instead of writing the same old thing every time, I'll admit that this book and his last one are making me a bit nostalgic for his previous ones. Yes, he's an awesome writer. And this book certainly does prove once again he's a master at telling a story and creating a pervading feeling of forboding. But in the end, this book left me fairly cold. What I struggled with the most here are two things: the main character, Chris Flynn, is fairly unsympathetic for almost the entire book, and you can see how the book will resolve itself as early as halfway in. Why should you care about a character who doesn't much care about the direction his own life is taking? I hope that George Pelecanos heads back into more familiar territory for his next book.
December 19, 2009
I was impressed with The Way Home.
I was impressed how George Pelecanos plunged into the challenge of taking on a subject far too often ignored in all communities and that subject is how to save our youth after they’ve served time in a juvenile facility.
Pelecanos shows how the prison system fails our children after punishing them, and often punishing them to severely. The system punishes our children then throws them back into the communities that failed them.
In The Way Home we follow four youths and the lives they live and the decisions they make after leaving the juvenile prison system. Pelecanos takes it a step further by telling us how we can help these youth. www.sentencingproject.org.
The Way Home is a must read.
I was impressed how George Pelecanos plunged into the challenge of taking on a subject far too often ignored in all communities and that subject is how to save our youth after they’ve served time in a juvenile facility.
Pelecanos shows how the prison system fails our children after punishing them, and often punishing them to severely. The system punishes our children then throws them back into the communities that failed them.
In The Way Home we follow four youths and the lives they live and the decisions they make after leaving the juvenile prison system. Pelecanos takes it a step further by telling us how we can help these youth. www.sentencingproject.org.
The Way Home is a must read.
February 17, 2016
A decidedly minor work in the Pelecanos oeuvre, which I'm sure many would argue itself is minor. It's a standalone novel rather than part of one of his series, which mostly just means there's no PI protagonist. Otherwise, this is very similar to any number of other Pelecanos books. Depending on how you look at it, that's either its strength or its weakness. The main distinguishing factor is the main kid's redemption story and the evolving relationship between him and his father, which, based on something I may have heard on NPR, makes this one of the more autobiographical Pelecanos books. For whatever reason, it didn't really resonate with me. Maybe I haven't been in enough trouble? Well, the night is still young.
January 18, 2011
I've read all of the Pelecanos novels, starting with Drama City and then getting back into the various cycles. This was disappointing. I can see that he is trying to broaden out his scope but I don't think this one rings true. For new readers I suggest you start with his earlier novels which build into a rich fabric of characters that weave in and out of plots. You will experience better plots, great characters and fantastic dialogue. Leave the Way Home till later.
July 13, 2025
I struggled to get into this book, as most of the action was in the last third of the book and the main character was not one I was rooting for. Writing is still excellent and when it picked up the pace, it was a good take on privilege and what will actually bring you happiness but as I expected it to be a crime thriller like his other books, this needed a better tempo.
June 23, 2018
If you're affronted by coarse language and violence, don't read this book. If you're looking for a good story, plunge in! The author made me care about the characters enough to see them through to the end. And that last line--wow. Made my eyes tear up.
November 2, 2017
Meh. The story was a bit weak, but great characters. The writing was pretty good but the slang dialogue was cringe-worthy. It was missing that “X-factor” for me.
April 5, 2019
Abandoning for now... I don’t think I’ll finish this one. 54% done and I have no interest in where the story is going. Boring, cringe-worthy slang and extremely boring and predictable plot. I’d rather spend my time reading something else.
April 2, 2022
This took a long time to get going. Well told, but slow.
July 30, 2022
This is getting a 3 stars only for the way it addresses or attempts to address reform in the juvenile justice system. The way the book addresses the criminalization of children and the impact of societal factors is one of the stronger points of the novel.
November 11, 2009
Title: The Way Home
Author: George Pelecanos
ISBN: 978-0-316-15649-3
Pages: 323
Release Date: May 2009
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Genre: Literary Crime Fiction
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Summary: Hidden beneath the floorboards in a house he's remodeling, Christopher Flynn discovers something very tempting-and troubling. Summoning every bit of maturity and every lesson he's learned the hard way, Chris leaves what he found where he found it and tells his job partner to forget it, too. Knowing trouble when he sees it-and walking the other way-is a habit Chris is still learning.
Chris's father, Thomas Flynn, runs the family business where Chris and his friends have found work. Thomas is just getting comfortable with the idea that his son is grown, working, and on the right path at last. Then one day Chris doesn't show up for work-and his father knows deep in his bones that danger has found him. Although he wishes it weren't so, he also knows that no parent can protect a child from all the world's evils. Sometimes you have to let them find their own way home.
My brief review: This is not a thriller or a traditional whodunnit but a story about a boy growing up and trying to find his way in the world and his place in his family. There's is a crime but it is more of a vehicle to illustrate several points including that of the role and result of punishment as doled out by the juvenile justice system. Arguably for some it is a deterrence, for others it is not.
At the heart of this novel is a father son relationship. It's a fractured relationship that was once strong and invigorating to father and son. Thomas Flynn and Chris love each other but have lost respect for each other as Chris grew into a teenager and are no longer able to communicate. Growing up is a difficult time in a young person's life. There are a myriad of pressures to contend with from parents, friends, school and society. Chris rebels against the rules, authority and his father's expectations. Poor judgment and stupid decisions made under the guise of being cool eventually land him in Pine Ridge Juvenile Detention. It might end up being one of the best things that happens to Chris. But not his dad. Thomas Flynn is too concerned with what the neighbors will think and too blind-sided by his determination to make Chris into the son he thinks Chris should be. But even after Chris sheds his bad boy image, starts working for his dad and maintains a low profile, Thomas isn't happy. Chris doesn't understand his father and finds it easier to stay away from his family despite wanting to be able to talk to his father. But he's also thinking about starting his own family.
The values and beliefs both Thomas and Chris hold tightly will be tested. They will be forced to reconsider their views of life, each other and human nature. Chris is still young and may be able to build a life he can be proud of that includes his mother and father. Thomas needs to reconcile the things that desperately upset him and come to terms with life before it is too late. And father and son will soon realize how important are the small and large decisions you make for yourselves, your family and your friends. George Pelecanos has given us a captivating story about life and relationships and how the decisions we make in our own lives will effect the lives of those we love.
Author: George Pelecanos
ISBN: 978-0-316-15649-3
Pages: 323
Release Date: May 2009
Publisher: Little Brown and Company
Genre: Literary Crime Fiction
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Summary: Hidden beneath the floorboards in a house he's remodeling, Christopher Flynn discovers something very tempting-and troubling. Summoning every bit of maturity and every lesson he's learned the hard way, Chris leaves what he found where he found it and tells his job partner to forget it, too. Knowing trouble when he sees it-and walking the other way-is a habit Chris is still learning.
Chris's father, Thomas Flynn, runs the family business where Chris and his friends have found work. Thomas is just getting comfortable with the idea that his son is grown, working, and on the right path at last. Then one day Chris doesn't show up for work-and his father knows deep in his bones that danger has found him. Although he wishes it weren't so, he also knows that no parent can protect a child from all the world's evils. Sometimes you have to let them find their own way home.
My brief review: This is not a thriller or a traditional whodunnit but a story about a boy growing up and trying to find his way in the world and his place in his family. There's is a crime but it is more of a vehicle to illustrate several points including that of the role and result of punishment as doled out by the juvenile justice system. Arguably for some it is a deterrence, for others it is not.
At the heart of this novel is a father son relationship. It's a fractured relationship that was once strong and invigorating to father and son. Thomas Flynn and Chris love each other but have lost respect for each other as Chris grew into a teenager and are no longer able to communicate. Growing up is a difficult time in a young person's life. There are a myriad of pressures to contend with from parents, friends, school and society. Chris rebels against the rules, authority and his father's expectations. Poor judgment and stupid decisions made under the guise of being cool eventually land him in Pine Ridge Juvenile Detention. It might end up being one of the best things that happens to Chris. But not his dad. Thomas Flynn is too concerned with what the neighbors will think and too blind-sided by his determination to make Chris into the son he thinks Chris should be. But even after Chris sheds his bad boy image, starts working for his dad and maintains a low profile, Thomas isn't happy. Chris doesn't understand his father and finds it easier to stay away from his family despite wanting to be able to talk to his father. But he's also thinking about starting his own family.
The values and beliefs both Thomas and Chris hold tightly will be tested. They will be forced to reconsider their views of life, each other and human nature. Chris is still young and may be able to build a life he can be proud of that includes his mother and father. Thomas needs to reconcile the things that desperately upset him and come to terms with life before it is too late. And father and son will soon realize how important are the small and large decisions you make for yourselves, your family and your friends. George Pelecanos has given us a captivating story about life and relationships and how the decisions we make in our own lives will effect the lives of those we love.
April 21, 2009
Shortly after they were married, Thomas and Amanda Flynn had a baby girl, Kate, who lived for two days. After a few more years of trying, they finally had a boy, Chris, who never could quite live up to the image of Kate that Thomas had in his mind. Thomas would always think about what Kate would be doing, had she lived. Chris quit trying to please his father and got into trouble for stealing, using and selling drugs, fighting and reckless driving. He was finally sentenced to Juvenile Detention where he remarkably made some good friends and decided to turn his life around.
Upon his release, Chris and one of his friends from Juvenile Detention, Ben, went to work as carpet installers for Thomas’s flooring business. Things were going along great until Ben and Chris discovered some cash hidden under the floor of one of the houses they were working in. Chris and Ben decided to leave the money alone, but Ben couldn’t resist telling someone else about it. The thugs who hid the money came back for it and when they didn’t find it, they assumed Ben and Chris had it. When they come after Chris and Ben for the money, chaos ensues.
The Way Home by George Pelecanos drew me in from the first paragraph. It is a fast-paced, action packed thriller. The characters are flawed, but so real - there were times I wanted to choke both Chris and Thomas. The story goes much deeper than that - for me, it was the story of a family and how the son lived up to his father’s expectations of him. It also made me think about the way our society treats it’s offenders and wonder if there isn’t a better solution. I thought this book was great! There are some mild sexual references and violence, but they are suitable for the storyline.
Upon his release, Chris and one of his friends from Juvenile Detention, Ben, went to work as carpet installers for Thomas’s flooring business. Things were going along great until Ben and Chris discovered some cash hidden under the floor of one of the houses they were working in. Chris and Ben decided to leave the money alone, but Ben couldn’t resist telling someone else about it. The thugs who hid the money came back for it and when they didn’t find it, they assumed Ben and Chris had it. When they come after Chris and Ben for the money, chaos ensues.
The Way Home by George Pelecanos drew me in from the first paragraph. It is a fast-paced, action packed thriller. The characters are flawed, but so real - there were times I wanted to choke both Chris and Thomas. The story goes much deeper than that - for me, it was the story of a family and how the son lived up to his father’s expectations of him. It also made me think about the way our society treats it’s offenders and wonder if there isn’t a better solution. I thought this book was great! There are some mild sexual references and violence, but they are suitable for the storyline.
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