And now on with my search to understand Amy Bloom’s Away and to see what others think. Maybe I’ll start with the stuff that’s easiest to find about what people make of the book – book reviews. I’ve already cited Publishers Weekly and The New York Times. Let’s take a closer look at those sources and then check out some other sources…
First look for reviews – I Googled “Amy Bloom Away Book Reviews.” First one up with the NPR review by Maureen Corrigan – so I get to listen rather than read. Corrigan starts by telling me two things that I didn’t know and/or think of myself:
1. she compare it to Toni Morrison’s Beloved, from the one word title to the use of a real woman’s story as a basis;
2. that is the 2nd thing, i.e. I didn’t know there was a real-world model for Lillian.
Corrigan calls it a female on-the-road novel, which I would agree with. It is very much about a journey.She then mostly continues on with the Beloved comparison and thinks it pales in comparison, including what she derides as its “multi-culti chorus line of clichéd characters…” I see what she means, but I think I found those characters more charming than did Corrigan...
Ok, onward in the reviews search… Next I find something that looks very handy, something I’ve actually been searching for – a compendium of reviews at http://www.reviewsofbooks.com/ - this site seems to list all the reviews a book received and link to them. There’s The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, newspapers from Seattle, Pittsburgh, Boston, and more, magazines such as Entertainment Weekly… Ok, I’ve got some reading to do…
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I am reading your blog today and smiling, for the first two books featured here were books I read and pondered deeply. I wrote a little about Edgar Sawtelle on my blog. I discovered, in AWAY, a book that was so sensational in its first-person press, its evocations, its ending (I loved its ending). I felt a repetition in disaster making during some of the middle pages. But no doubt she's wonderful. I read recently that she said that we all write about one thing. Her one thing being love.
Take care,
Beth
www.beth-kephart.blogspot.com
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