I have never read any Amy Bloom before so I was interested to read her latest offering, AWAY. AWAY follows the life of Lillian Leyb, a 22-year old Jewish immigrant who comes to America after surviving a Russian pogrom. In the pogrom, Lillian loses all of her family including her 3-yr-old daugher, Sophie. As the book follows Lillian's adventures in the New World, we discover that Sophie may be still alive. This revelation fuels Lillian's quest to find her daughter as she begins an epic journey across North America.
This book is filled with an array of fascinating characters. Lillian, however, was a difficult protagonist for me. Even in the face of her struggles, I had a hard time empathizing with her. Her quest, however, is fascinating. The ending confused me a bit but overall I thought it was a solid book.
2 comments:
I had a really hard time with Lillian, too. But I loved the writing.
I've just recently realized that empathizing with a character can either make or break a book for me. I'll probably skip this one, but I do want to give Amy Bloom a try, someday.
Post a Comment