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Title details for The Distance Home by Paula Saunders - Available

The Distance Home

A Novel

by Paula Saunders
Rebecca Lowman
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
“[Paula] Saunders skillfully illuminates how time heals certain wounds while deepening others. . . . A mediation of the violence of American ambition.”—The New York Times Book Review
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY REAL SIMPLE
“A deeply involving portrait of the American postwar family” (Jennifer Egan) about sibling rivalry, dark secrets, and a young girl’s struggle with freedom and artistic desire
In the years after World War II, the bleak yet beautiful plains of South Dakota still embody all the contradictions—the ruggedness and the promise—of the old frontier. This is a place where you can eat strawberries from wild vines, where lightning reveals a boundless horizon, where descendants of white settlers and native Indians continue to collide, and where, for most, there are limited options.
René shares a home, a family, and a passion for dance with her older brother, Leon. Yet for all they have in common, their lives are on remarkably different paths. In contrast to René, a born spitfire, Leon is a gentle soul. The only boy in their ballet class, Leon silently endures often brutal teasing. Meanwhile, René excels at everything she touches, basking in the delighted gaze of their father, whom Leon seems to disappoint no matter how hard he tries.
As the years pass, René and Leon’s parents fight with increasing frequency—and ferocity. Their father—a cattle broker—spends more time on the road, his sporadic homecomings both yearned for and dreaded by the children. And as René and Leon grow up, they grow apart. They grasp whatever they can to stay afloat—a word of praise, a grandmother’s outstretched hand, the seductive attention of a stranger—as René works to save herself, crossing the border into a larger, more hopeful world, while Leon embarks on a path of despair and self-destruction.
Tender, searing, and unforgettable, The Distance Home is a profoundly American story spanning decades—a tale of haves and have-nots, of how our ideas of winning and losing, success and failure, lead us inevitably into various problems with empathy and caring for one another. It’s a portrait of beauty and brutality in which the author’s compassionate narration allows us to sympathize, in turn, with everyone involved.
“A riveting family saga for the ages . . . one of the best books I’ve read in years.”—Mary Karr

“Saunders’ debut is an exquisite, searing portrait of family and of people coping with whatever life throws at them while trying to keep close to one another.”—Booklist (starred review)

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    August 7, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9780525630883
      • File size: 268766 KB
      • Duration: 09:19:55

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      June 25, 2018
      Saunders debuts with a penetrating and insightful deconstruction of a Midwestern family. The story starts with Eve and Al, high school sweethearts who marry, have children, and find themselves mired in jealousy and misunderstanding. Throughout, Eve’s indomitable spirit won’t be quashed, no matter the conflicts or the despair that hover over her family. Firstborn Leon, an athlete with a penchant for ballet, is as opposite from his father as can be imagined. Middle child René, a fierce, competitive sprite, takes up ballet like her brother and can do no wrong in her father’s eyes, much to Eve’s consternation, whose heart lies with her first born. As the family moves from Missouri to South Dakota, where Al grows his cattle business and spends more time away from home, the story contrasts René, driven to achieve—despite the resentment it causes in everyone who crosses her path—and Leon, a misguided soul bearing his father’s wrath. The sweet, easygoing youngest child, Jayne, doesn’t get the same attention as the other characters. Still, Saunders brilliantly parses Leon and René’s disparate paths; they are two wildly talented, sensitive souls—one shattered by life’s circumstances, the other learning to soar above them. This debut wonderfully depicts the entire lifespan of a singular family.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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