A bit too long (The Road Home - Rose Tremain)

Member Name: SmithSJ01

Product:	The Road Home - Rose Tremain
Date:	04/10/08 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well written characters

Disadvantages: The length

This book was a surprise as I really didn't enjoy reading one of Rose Tremain's other books, 'The Colour'. So it was with trepidation that I started this novel. It was good to see it bang up to date and quite topical in its subject matter. The novel centres around Lev, who has left his eastern European country to come to London in search of work. He finds it very difficult to get established due to language barriers and a sheer lack of knowledge about how to organise accommodation and work.

The downside of this novel for me was how badly he was accepted by most people. This wouldn't have surprised me for some places in the UK but not in London where surely there is such a rich mixture of cultures. It was interesting to see Lev's journey unfold for the reader, at the same time as it was unfolding for Lev. Joining in his highs and lows, experiencing my own country from a stranger's perspective. I don't know why his country was put down so much in the novel, even though we were taken there a lot through telephone calls I felt I would've liked to have experienced it more. I can't imagine that the people who were involved in Lev's life would do this and I feel this was a slight mistake on the author's behalf.

The characters were overall well-written, I could imagine most of them but I couldn't always imagine how Lev was feeling; especially in the early parts of the novel before he got himself sorted with a room to live in. The plot is very topical and bang up to date, which was (as mentioned) a refreshing change after reading a novel that I disliked so much. The downside of the novel was it's length and in some parts, lack of emotion. It became repetitive, the reader knew the struggles Lev was going through and some of them seemed to be agonisingly long, when they didn't need to be. I quite liked the ending, it brought a good close to the novel and although predictable from the early stages it still made me smile.

Summary: A surprise after not liking 'The Colour'