Reviewed by Gary
Homeward Bound
Reviewed by Gary Homeward Bound
Once you get past an awkard opening the reader will be rewarded with a good story. The main character Emmanuel is everyones parent or grandparent.
Set in his lifestyle and used to getting his own way Emmanuel is faced with a dilemma. One of his sons decides he must go to an old folks home.
"A thief and a traitor!" Emmanuel screams to the river where he has taken refuge. Rage vies with disbelief for the upper hand as he takes stock of his life.
Over forty years in the house, many of those years as a widower, Emmanuel is certain he is being sent to his death in the home. When a fish strikes his line all that matters is the present, and a precarious one it becomes.
While battling for the fish the stout branch, large enough for him to stretch out on, cracks sending him and the branch hurtling into the river where the branch acts as a canoe.
Kathy uses stark contrasts in her descriptions. Emmanuel loves fishing and yet he is terrified of the water. He loves his children yet when presented with this choice he rages at their decision.
Her choice of terms for the branch itself, a form of salvation from a watery death, are telling. 'The branch was one of a kind, a rare piece of deformity'.
The reader will be carried along as swiftly as the rushing current to the stories climax. The typo's and the curious descriptive terms, i.e., "leaves licked each other noisily" or "the seductive wash of the river" could leave one with a confused image.
These are area's which can be tightened up but overall this is a well written story and it is interesting to follow the main character's growth to the conclusion.
Reviewed by � Gary
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