≡ Read The Distance Home A Novel Paula Saunders 9780525508748 Books

The Distance Home A Novel Paula Saunders 9780525508748 Books

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The Distance Home A Novel Paula Saunders 9780525508748 Books

Paula Saunder’s novel THE DISTANCE HOME tore me apart. A family divided no matter what they do. Young Leon doesn’t stand a chance. Not in the world or in his own home. The father is brutal. In his open rage and dislike for his own son. It will disturb anyone to read his pure disgust for his own flesh and blood. The glory that he bestows on their middle daughter who can do no wrong in his eyes. How can a child survive such hatred? A mother is torn apart with guilt as she witnesses the wrong on behalf of her son, yet she incurs the wrath of her husband to no avail.

Enduring upheaval post World War II, desolate parts of the country, specifically the prairies of South Dakota, and feeling like misfits, the family perseveres. How will their battle wounds resurface? Will they heal?

Your heart will ache over and over. Will you feel compassion for a character so weak, so cruel, so fraught, while exerting so much energy for the afflicted who can barely pick himself up? This is a family of survivors, Americans with grit.


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The Distance Home A Novel Paula Saunders 9780525508748 Books Reviews

“The Distance Home”, by Paula Saunders, took me to a place and time I haven’t been exposed to often in novels; the sparse, wind-swept plains of the Dakotas just after WWII to the present. And it took me into the world of dance. But it also took me inside a highly dysfunctional marriage at a transitional time for gender roles (the 1950s) and a transitional time for American culture (the 1960s).

The novel opens with grown daughters Rene and Jayne, and their very different reactions to their mother, Eve’s, recent death. Why such stark contrast? What went on in that family? Well, the next chapter starts that story which makes up this novel.

When Eve and Al got married after the war, Eve was 18, and they lived with Al’s mother, Emma, until after their first two children were born. Emma was the stereotypical “Mother-in-law from Hell” and the cause of many a fight between Eve and Al. In those days roles were clear the husband worked and made the rules, the wife obeyed the rules and took care of the home and the children. Even after they finally move out on their own to a town in the Black Hills, the fights do not abate. Eve and Al’s toxic marriage afflicts their three children Leon, Rene, and Jayne; the novel is a study of how abusive parenting and excessive favoritism damages children; and the scars that last a life-time.

“The Distance Home” is told mostly from Rene’s point of view, as she navigates her parent’s disastrous relationship, friendless school years, and her immersion into dance. One can’t help but wonder how much of Rene’s story is autobiographical; the depth of insight into Rene psyche that Saunders writes about so poignantly, makes one suspect that she knows exactly what she’s writing about.
A beautiful book about flawed family love and the loneliness of excellence. It captures the powerless feeling of watching a brilliant, talented, loved one succumb to addiction and mental illness. The Distance Home is a meditation on divergent fates, like a Greek tragedy set in the Midwest. I stayed up all night reading, cried at the end, and bought a copy for a friend.
This novel reminded me at times of Evan Connell and other times of Carson McCullers. The Leon episodes were painful for me to read they were so true and hit home so hard. I tend to shy away from family dramas in general, but this novel just gripped and kept me. The writing is incredibly poignant.
I have to admit, I probably wouldn't have read this book if the author's husband wasn't George Saunders, my favorite author... but also the book wouldn't have even been on my RADAR had I not read a few paragraphs by George Saunders about it.

On the plus side geographically, the book is VERY evocative! It made me want to visit South Dakota, which I'd never considered before. And the casual racism displayed by the whites to the native Americans is very well-written and disturbing. Also Saunders clearly has empathy for ALL her characters, even the most unlikable.

On the minus side for me, the storytelling started out strong but then lost steam. I didn't care for the main character (Rene), so reading this felt like a bit of a chore by the end. Still, Saunders is a gifted writer and I'll gladly read her future work.
Paula Saunder’s novel THE DISTANCE HOME tore me apart. A family divided no matter what they do. Young Leon doesn’t stand a chance. Not in the world or in his own home. The father is brutal. In his open rage and dislike for his own son. It will disturb anyone to read his pure disgust for his own flesh and blood. The glory that he bestows on their middle daughter who can do no wrong in his eyes. How can a child survive such hatred? A mother is torn apart with guilt as she witnesses the wrong on behalf of her son, yet she incurs the wrath of her husband to no avail.

Enduring upheaval post World War II, desolate parts of the country, specifically the prairies of South Dakota, and feeling like misfits, the family perseveres. How will their battle wounds resurface? Will they heal?

Your heart will ache over and over. Will you feel compassion for a character so weak, so cruel, so fraught, while exerting so much energy for the afflicted who can barely pick himself up? This is a family of survivors, Americans with grit.