Synopsis
Nine-year-old Lawrence is the man in his family. He carefully watches over his willful little sister, Jemima, and his mother, Hannah. When Hannah becomes convinced that their estranged father is stalking them, the family flees London and heads for Rome, where Hannah lived happily as a young woman. For Lawrence, fascinated by stories of popes and emperors, Rome is an adventure. Though they are short of money, and move from home to home, staying with his mother's old friends, little by little their new life seems to be taking shape. But the trouble that brought them to Italy will not quite leave them in peace. Narrated in Lawrence's perfectly rendered voice, When We Were Romans powerfully evokes the emotions and confusions of childhood - the triumphs, the jealousies, the fears, and the love. Even as everything he understands is turned upside down, Lawrence remains determined to keep his family together. Like the young narrators of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and To Kill a Mockingbird, Lawrence views the world from a perspective that is at once endearingly innocent and preternaturally wise.
Review
When We Were Romans takes us on a journey with 9 year old Lawrence, and the physical travels and actual destination are not important. What is important in this book is the journey of growth and maturing that Lawrence experiences on the way. Lawrence is dragged away from his normal life and surroundings to accompany his mother back to her past, where she believes everything will be better. Along the way Lawrence undergoes many inner battles with himself as he fights to hold onto his childhood and innocence. But as the man of the family he takes on the responsibility of his family. If this weren't enough for a boy to deal with, he also has to come to terms with the fact that his mother is quite possibly losing her mind.
When We Were Romans was a very engrossing story that was paced out like a madman's dream. Narrated by Lawrence in a stream of thoughts and insights from his adolescent viewpoint. While using this technique was a wonderful way of making the reader feel as though they were in the mind of Lawrence, it did have it's drawbacks for me. To keep in sync with the nine year old's narration, When We Were Romans was also written in a childlike way. The spelling errors and lack of grammatical editing was really hard for me to get past. If this sort of writing does not bother you, then I highly recommend this book. But if you are like me, and pick out errors while reading, perhaps you should pick this up on audio CD instead. Just make sure you either read or listen as this story is well worth it.
About The Author
Matthew Kneale lives in Oxford, England. English Passengers won the Whitbread Book of the Year 2000 award and was nominated for the 2000 Booker Prize. Kneale currently resides in London, Ontario.
Published by Nan A. Talese (a division of Doubleday/Random House)
© 2008-2010 Joanne Mosher of The Book Zombie. All rights reserved.
6 comments:
Your CD suggestion is brilliant. The errors didn't bother me. It would've bothered me had they not been intentional (bad editing peeves me to no end), but since it was keeping with the style, I was able to forget about it pretty quickly. But I know those spelling errors really annoy some people, and I think listening to it on CD is an inspired idea for those people.
I hate it when a book is poorly edited.
Just so the editor/author doesn't take offense (lol) the poor editing was meant as a way to enhance the childlike narration in the novel.
I couldn't get past the style of writing. Maybe it's because I'm a homeschooling mom who is constantly correcting grammar papers and talking to my sons - who talk like that - but it drove me crazy and I had to quit reading it.
Thanks for your review! I picked this up last time I was at B&N and read about halfway through (would have finished if I hadn't had somewhere to be!). I'll certainly be getting back to it, as I found the storyline intriguing and the erratic spelling -- just like a child! -- charming and true to character.
Found you via the Saturday Review!
I loved your blog. Thank you.
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