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The Distance Home
A family saga set in the American West, about sibling rivalry, dark secrets, and a young girl's struggle with freedom and artistic desire.
This moving debut novel is a profoundly American story. Set in a circa-1960s rural South Dakota--a hardscrabble place of cattle buyers, homegrown ballet studios, casual drug abuse, and unmitigated pressure to conform, all amid the great natural beauty of the region--the book portrays a loving but struggling young family in turmoil, and two siblings, Rene and Leon, who opt for different but equally extreme means of escaping the burdens of home. By turns funny and tragic, lyrical and terse, Paula Saunders' debut examines the classic American questions: What is to become of the vulnerable in a culture of striving and power? And what is the effect of this striving and power on both those who dominate and those who are overrun? It is an affecting novel, in which the author's compassionate narration allows us to sympathize, in turn, with everyone involved.
This moving debut novel is a profoundly American story. Set in a circa-1960s rural South Dakota--a hardscrabble place of cattle buyers, homegrown ballet studios, casual drug abuse, and unmitigated pressure to conform, all amid the great natural beauty of the region--the book portrays a loving but struggling young family in turmoil, and two siblings, Rene and Leon, who opt for different but equally extreme means of escaping the burdens of home. By turns funny and tragic, lyrical and terse, Paula Saunders' debut examines the classic American questions: What is to become of the vulnerable in a culture of striving and power? And what is the effect of this striving and power on both those who dominate and those who are overrun? It is an affecting novel, in which the author's compassionate narration allows us to sympathize, in turn, with everyone involved.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published August 7, 2018
About the author
Paula Saunders
1 book53 followersPaula Saunders grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota. She danced as an apprentice with the Harkness Ballet in New York City, under David Howard. She is a graduate of Barnard College, as well as the Syracuse creative writing program, and was awarded a post-graduate Albert Schweitzer Fellowship in the Humanities at the State University of New York at Albany under then-Schweitzer Chair, Toni Morrison. She lives in California with her husband. They have two grown daughters.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 216 reviews
July 26, 2018
4 family saga stars to The Distance Home! ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
I am drawn to family sagas, and I never tire of them. The dynamics and character analysis always have great potential. The Distance Home is a moving story of family set in 1960s rural South Dakota.
I was struck first by the atmospheric setting: cattle farms and the natural beauty of the west in South Dakota in contrast with the grittier aspects of this family’s home life. Included in the family of five are the mother, father, older son, and two daughters.
The parents each have their preferred child as family dynamics sometimes predict. The difference is that the preferences result in psychological turmoil. The son wants to be a ballet dancer, and the father wants no part in that, while he is pleased one of his daughters is a dancer. The mother is more protective of the son in response and is harsh and critical towards one of the daughters. Both children are deeply affected by the treatment of their parents, positive and negative, and develop negative coping strategies to escape.
Paula Saunders writes beautifully, and the characters are fully-developed, except for the youngest daughter. She is present in the book, but did not add or detract from it. The Distance Home revolves around the day-to-day life of this family at a time when gender roles and American culture were drastically changing. There is a somber tone within these pages without the book being heavily emotional.
Overall, The Distance Home is a story about what could be anyone’s family. It is at times funny while equally tragic, and although there is intense tumult in this family, there is also love, and in striking that shifty, shaky balance, there is honesty in this portrayal.
Thank you to Random House for the complimentary copy. My opinions are my own. The Distance Home will be published on August 7, 2018.
My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
I am drawn to family sagas, and I never tire of them. The dynamics and character analysis always have great potential. The Distance Home is a moving story of family set in 1960s rural South Dakota.
I was struck first by the atmospheric setting: cattle farms and the natural beauty of the west in South Dakota in contrast with the grittier aspects of this family’s home life. Included in the family of five are the mother, father, older son, and two daughters.
The parents each have their preferred child as family dynamics sometimes predict. The difference is that the preferences result in psychological turmoil. The son wants to be a ballet dancer, and the father wants no part in that, while he is pleased one of his daughters is a dancer. The mother is more protective of the son in response and is harsh and critical towards one of the daughters. Both children are deeply affected by the treatment of their parents, positive and negative, and develop negative coping strategies to escape.
Paula Saunders writes beautifully, and the characters are fully-developed, except for the youngest daughter. She is present in the book, but did not add or detract from it. The Distance Home revolves around the day-to-day life of this family at a time when gender roles and American culture were drastically changing. There is a somber tone within these pages without the book being heavily emotional.
Overall, The Distance Home is a story about what could be anyone’s family. It is at times funny while equally tragic, and although there is intense tumult in this family, there is also love, and in striking that shifty, shaky balance, there is honesty in this portrayal.
Thank you to Random House for the complimentary copy. My opinions are my own. The Distance Home will be published on August 7, 2018.
My reviews can also be found on my blog: www.jennifertarheelreader.com
July 27, 2018
A marriage, not a happy one from the beginning sows a dysfunctional family. A domineering father who is on the road a lot, favors one child, badgers another, alienating him until he’s lost. A mother who seems to try at times, but is as guilty as the father, favoring one, alienating her daughter. The damage done to their self esteem with emotional, verbal and sometimes physical abuse makes dysfunctional a mild descriptor. The relationships in this family felt toxic at times. The tension, the anxiety and the pain was palatable. This is so well written, I was anxious for these characters. The impact on the son Leon and the daughter, Rene was heartbreaking. The third daughter Jayne is not mentioned much but she too has been impacted.
The landscape of the time and place in South Dakota are so well described, I felt like I was there. There are glimpses, too of the Native Americans of the area, a little of the history. This is such a sad story and I found it difficult to read at times . Yet, there are brief moments of caring and love in this family. For me these moments were overshadowed by the damage done, an uneven dichotomy. A well written debut novel, that in spite of the sadness, will have me watching for what Paula Saunders will do in the future.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Random House through Edelweiss.
April 6, 2020
Hands down the best book I've read this year. Saunders's writing is beautifully lyrical -- filled with movement and life, but also intense sorrow and memory -- and provides a wonderful backdrop for this family history.
The book follows a family of five, from marriage to death, and how parenting affects the people that children and parents alike become. Eve and Al have three children (Leon, Rene and Jayne) and their two eldest children start dancing from an early age. Whilst Al adores Rene for her talent, he is cold and distant towards his son, never properly connecting with him. Eve makes up for this by favouring Leon and neglecting Rene. These complex family dynamics, and the effect which this has on the two children, is explored intricately and sensitively.
I particularly liked how Saunders played with empathy. Typically, there is one protagonist -- maybe a few if you're playing with timeframes -- but Saunders switches between Rene and Leon, turning them into antagonists and heroins so rapidly that you can't quite tell whether you're supposed to like them or not. Interestingly though, whilst we always hear from Rene directly and can access her interior thoughts, we cannot for Leon (he remains distant). We only ever understand Leon through Eve, which of course makes all knowledge of him rather unreliable... In short, I loved the complexity of characterisation.
Plus -- best last chapter of a book I think I have ever read. Everything literature should be.
The book follows a family of five, from marriage to death, and how parenting affects the people that children and parents alike become. Eve and Al have three children (Leon, Rene and Jayne) and their two eldest children start dancing from an early age. Whilst Al adores Rene for her talent, he is cold and distant towards his son, never properly connecting with him. Eve makes up for this by favouring Leon and neglecting Rene. These complex family dynamics, and the effect which this has on the two children, is explored intricately and sensitively.
I particularly liked how Saunders played with empathy. Typically, there is one protagonist -- maybe a few if you're playing with timeframes -- but Saunders switches between Rene and Leon, turning them into antagonists and heroins so rapidly that you can't quite tell whether you're supposed to like them or not. Interestingly though, whilst we always hear from Rene directly and can access her interior thoughts, we cannot for Leon (he remains distant). We only ever understand Leon through Eve, which of course makes all knowledge of him rather unreliable... In short, I loved the complexity of characterisation.
Plus -- best last chapter of a book I think I have ever read. Everything literature should be.
August 5, 2018
Family sagas and the complex relationships between family members in all their different permutations are an area of fiction I enjoy reading. However, I struggled with Paula Saunders’ debut novel “The Distance Home.” The characters seemed to lack depth and the events that occurred in their lives, particularly to Leon, were heart wrenching and disturbing to read about. It was difficult for me to determine what some of the characters motivations were, much less understand them. I certainly don’t expect books about family relationships to be all sunshine and happiness, but this book did not resonate with me for the above reasons, and it would not be a book I would recommend. (But please read other reviews before making your decision!) Ms. Saunders definitely shows promise as a novelist and I will be watching for her next book.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
July 29, 2020
A modern version of "Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf"…dark without the comedic relief.
It’s the story of a volatile marriage and blistering verbal abuse towards each other and Leon and Rene, their children. The father, Al is a cattle trader in South Dakota who favors his daughter. Their mother, Eve is a homemaker with a small dance studio, and she dotes on Leon.
Escalating tension erupts when Eve enters Leon in tap and then ballet lessons. This is 1960 South Dakota cattle country, and Al is disgusted with his son dancing ballet. His bruising taunts toward Leon over his dance lessons were harrowing at times for this reader. Leon paid such a terrible cost as his life went off the rails. This novel laid bare a dysfunctional family and its impact on each of the separate members.
Paula Saunders is married to the author George Saunders. This was her debut novel and much of the central theme was based on Saunders own parents and her turbulent 1960s South Dakota childhood. This is a very well written and piercing story. I look forward to more works from this talented author.
It’s the story of a volatile marriage and blistering verbal abuse towards each other and Leon and Rene, their children. The father, Al is a cattle trader in South Dakota who favors his daughter. Their mother, Eve is a homemaker with a small dance studio, and she dotes on Leon.
Escalating tension erupts when Eve enters Leon in tap and then ballet lessons. This is 1960 South Dakota cattle country, and Al is disgusted with his son dancing ballet. His bruising taunts toward Leon over his dance lessons were harrowing at times for this reader. Leon paid such a terrible cost as his life went off the rails. This novel laid bare a dysfunctional family and its impact on each of the separate members.
Paula Saunders is married to the author George Saunders. This was her debut novel and much of the central theme was based on Saunders own parents and her turbulent 1960s South Dakota childhood. This is a very well written and piercing story. I look forward to more works from this talented author.
August 31, 2018
3.5 stars: Set in 1960’s South Dakota, “The Distance Home” is a meditative novel about a dysfunctional marriage and the affects of that marriage on the children. The story is told in three parts; the first part opens with the end of the story: two sisters dealing with the death of their mother. Their father and brother had already passed and it is just the two girls. Each handled the death differently.
After the first chapter entitled “The End: A Refrain” the story moves to Eve, the matriarch of the family. Eve lives in Fort Pierre SD and has her sights on Al, who is handsome and full of promise. They marry young and live in Al’s parent’s basement. From the beginning of the marriage, Al and Eve bicker.
Author Paula Saunders paints a morose picture of this sad marriage. Each chapter is almost a stand-alone short story that moves the narrative of the family dynamics. Al is a cattle trader and is on the road much of the time. His mother, from the start, didn’t like Eve. Eve is stuck with her. When Eve has her first child, a boy named Leon who is sensitive and reticent, the mother-in-law is cruel to her grandson; she wants to toughen him up. Al and Eve eventually move, yet Al continues to travel and is horrible to his son. The parents play favorites with their children and are openly hostile to each other. Either this is in part an autographical novel, or Saunders grew up close to someone with this marriage. She writes with convincing authority. I grew up in a small town in South Dakota, and this story hits close to home. In the 1960’s, adults were frequently strict and cruel (what we would think of as cruel now) at the time. Al and Eve’s marriage wasn’t that far off in reality, and their child rearing behaviors reflect that time.
I love this novel because it takes place in SD and I could relate. I’m not sure if others from a more liberal part of America could relate. Saunders writes an authentic story of a family in South Dakota. This is a true period piece.
After the first chapter entitled “The End: A Refrain” the story moves to Eve, the matriarch of the family. Eve lives in Fort Pierre SD and has her sights on Al, who is handsome and full of promise. They marry young and live in Al’s parent’s basement. From the beginning of the marriage, Al and Eve bicker.
Author Paula Saunders paints a morose picture of this sad marriage. Each chapter is almost a stand-alone short story that moves the narrative of the family dynamics. Al is a cattle trader and is on the road much of the time. His mother, from the start, didn’t like Eve. Eve is stuck with her. When Eve has her first child, a boy named Leon who is sensitive and reticent, the mother-in-law is cruel to her grandson; she wants to toughen him up. Al and Eve eventually move, yet Al continues to travel and is horrible to his son. The parents play favorites with their children and are openly hostile to each other. Either this is in part an autographical novel, or Saunders grew up close to someone with this marriage. She writes with convincing authority. I grew up in a small town in South Dakota, and this story hits close to home. In the 1960’s, adults were frequently strict and cruel (what we would think of as cruel now) at the time. Al and Eve’s marriage wasn’t that far off in reality, and their child rearing behaviors reflect that time.
I love this novel because it takes place in SD and I could relate. I’m not sure if others from a more liberal part of America could relate. Saunders writes an authentic story of a family in South Dakota. This is a true period piece.
March 9, 2018
The Distance Home is a novel of oppositions. Set in a landscape at once stark and beautiful, Paula Saunders introduces a family full of meanness and cruelty, but also crushing, miraculous love. These characters, this story, these sentences transcend the typical family drama, as Saunders shows us a world where hate and love are made of the same stuff, and where home and family are the best and worst things that will ever happen to you. In this novel, it is possible to be dragged down by the world, but also to be lifted up by it.
October 3, 2018
Yes I read this because Paula Saunders is married to George Saunders and given that some of the greatest reading experiences of my life have taken place between the pages of a Saunders story, novella or novel I wanted to see the effects of proximity. But how much must it suck to be in your husband’s shadow like that so putting George aside completely, I loved this novel. It beautifully looks at the damage of childhood and the power parents have to shape their children, for good or bad. The prose is lovely and I felt so grounded in place and character. I grew to trust Saunders completely and the novel was alive to me. It’s Anne Tyler-esque in its domestic drama. Heartbreaking and beautiful. A wonderful accomplishment for a debut novel.
April 20, 2018
I loved this book! It’s sad and tragic even, but somehow managed to not be terribly heavy. There’s a lot about ballet and I don’t care for ballet at all, but I cared about the characters enough to be interested. Giving this 4 not 5 stars because one character(Jayne) got almost totally left out of this family story, which didn’t feel fair. Especially compared to the nuanced other family members, she was totally one dimensional... barely even that, really. An aside. I’m not even sure why she was in the book... I would’ve loved to learn more about her.
Side note: I was curious how Saunders would treat Native Americans in this book, as the characters are a white family in around the 1960s in South Dakota. I liked that Indigenous people had a presence in this book in a way that wasn’t prominent but still made you think. Yes there was discrimination against them (by the characters, not the author) but there was also acknowledgement of the terrible things white people did to native people.
Side note: I was curious how Saunders would treat Native Americans in this book, as the characters are a white family in around the 1960s in South Dakota. I liked that Indigenous people had a presence in this book in a way that wasn’t prominent but still made you think. Yes there was discrimination against them (by the characters, not the author) but there was also acknowledgement of the terrible things white people did to native people.
Read
June 22, 2018“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.
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.
June 24, 2018
Genre: General Fiction
Publisher: Random House
Pub. Date: August 7, 2018
What a mistake I made with this one. I read that the author is Paula Saunders and silly me only registered the first name. I accepted this ARC thinking I was going to read a new Paula McLain novel, an author that I admire. It just took me a few paragraphs to realize my mistake. I’d say that I made a beginner reviewer’s mistake, but unfortunately, I am not a beginner anymore in this craft. Live and learn.
The novel’s setting is in the 1960s, we meet two sisters attending their father’s funeral. They are the surviving members of a Midwestern family of five—mother, father, older brother, older, and younger sisters. Do not expect to like the parents. They infuse so much psychological damage in their older two children that later in their offspring’s lives they are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress. In a nutshell, the father has no tolerance or love for his son, probably because he is interested in becoming a ballet dancer. Though, he very much enjoys that his elder daughter also loves to dance. Because the father is so uncaring about his son and shines towards his elder daughter, the mother goes in the opposite direction. Her allegiance is to the son, while she is extremely critical of the elder daughter. The youngest daughter barely shows up in the plot. I am not sure at all why she was added into the novel.
I’m a reviewer that doesn’t need to like the characters to enjoy the story. That is not my issue with this novel. I simply found the whole story flat and the characters too one-sided. The only part of the tale that kept my interest is that the story-line goes back and forth in time, without any advance warning. In one paragraph, you will be reading about the young teenage son pulling out his eyebrows and eyelashes, and in the next paragraph, you will get a glimpse into the future while he is in addiction rehab. It is there that he learns that he is bipolar; a condition that went untreated his whole life. While the teenage son is clearly not doing well, the older sister becomes an anorexic overachiever. It appears to her parents that the older sister is doing just fine but the reader knows better. The entire plot revolves around the family’s day to day warped dynamics. The author hints at the idea that the parents simply didn’t know any better. The old saying that “they did the best they could” is applied to them. This seems to be the reason that the elder sister came to forgive them both before they died. But I will be damned if I know why.
I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
Find all my book reviews at:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Leave Me Alone I am Reading & Reviewing: https://books6259.wordpress.com/
Twitter: Martie's Book Reviews: https://twitter.com/NeesRecord
Publisher: Random House
Pub. Date: August 7, 2018
What a mistake I made with this one. I read that the author is Paula Saunders and silly me only registered the first name. I accepted this ARC thinking I was going to read a new Paula McLain novel, an author that I admire. It just took me a few paragraphs to realize my mistake. I’d say that I made a beginner reviewer’s mistake, but unfortunately, I am not a beginner anymore in this craft. Live and learn.
The novel’s setting is in the 1960s, we meet two sisters attending their father’s funeral. They are the surviving members of a Midwestern family of five—mother, father, older brother, older, and younger sisters. Do not expect to like the parents. They infuse so much psychological damage in their older two children that later in their offspring’s lives they are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress. In a nutshell, the father has no tolerance or love for his son, probably because he is interested in becoming a ballet dancer. Though, he very much enjoys that his elder daughter also loves to dance. Because the father is so uncaring about his son and shines towards his elder daughter, the mother goes in the opposite direction. Her allegiance is to the son, while she is extremely critical of the elder daughter. The youngest daughter barely shows up in the plot. I am not sure at all why she was added into the novel.
I’m a reviewer that doesn’t need to like the characters to enjoy the story. That is not my issue with this novel. I simply found the whole story flat and the characters too one-sided. The only part of the tale that kept my interest is that the story-line goes back and forth in time, without any advance warning. In one paragraph, you will be reading about the young teenage son pulling out his eyebrows and eyelashes, and in the next paragraph, you will get a glimpse into the future while he is in addiction rehab. It is there that he learns that he is bipolar; a condition that went untreated his whole life. While the teenage son is clearly not doing well, the older sister becomes an anorexic overachiever. It appears to her parents that the older sister is doing just fine but the reader knows better. The entire plot revolves around the family’s day to day warped dynamics. The author hints at the idea that the parents simply didn’t know any better. The old saying that “they did the best they could” is applied to them. This seems to be the reason that the elder sister came to forgive them both before they died. But I will be damned if I know why.
I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.
Find all my book reviews at:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list...
Leave Me Alone I am Reading & Reviewing: https://books6259.wordpress.com/
Twitter: Martie's Book Reviews: https://twitter.com/NeesRecord
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 24, 2019
Endless miseries heaped on members of a dysfunctional family and their pets, interspersed with dance lessons.
September 24, 2018
This book was so true to my experience growing up in Deadwood, Platte, and Pierre South Dakota. The writing is so crisp, and every page rang with truth for me. I think I just happen to be the perfect audience for this book though, so I don't know of anyone I could even recommend it to. I kept getting the feeling that Paula Saunders wrote it just for the two of us, and that it doesn't matter if anyone else likes it.
April 10, 2018
Paula Saunders' debut novel The Distance Home shows a hell of a lot of promise: beautiful prose, fleshed out characters. But the story felt rehashed somehow and I found it hard to connect with it. That being said, there were enough enjoyable moments in this family drama to recommend.
February 8, 2022
3.5 stars rounded up.
I love novels about families, about how the family was made, how the adults treat each other, and in turn, how they treat their children. What are their values? Their ethics? What is important to each individual? How do their experiences shape them? Is the family melded-or fragmented? Are they products of the time or are they progressive? This book is a great example of what I love about family sagas. And the way it is written really addresses these questions and thoughts, and really shows us events that shape these people. The parents, Eve and Al, are both hardworking and spirited, especially Eve. There is just nothing she cannot tackle. But they are both very flawed people. They have a combustible relationship. And, oh, what they do to their children! There is overt favoritism, which leads to rivalry. There is negligence and abuse. There is blatant bigotry. I fully understand why Leon-the eldest-evolved into the man he did. The handwriting is not just on the wall-it is etched in acid. I fully understand why Rene-the middle child-became the person she evolved into. The unfortunate part of the book is the third and last child, Jayne. I can’t for the life of me figure out why the author invented her. She had hardly any role at all and was never developed. It was as though the author forgot about Jayne. The other thing that bothered me was I never knew what time period this took place in. All we are told is that it some years after WWII. But was it the 50’s or 60’s? That’s sort of important to me.
I felt very attached to Rene and to Leon-my heart ached for Leon and truth be told, I could not forgive either parent for their treatment of these kids.
I am glad I read it. I always like a good family saga.
I love novels about families, about how the family was made, how the adults treat each other, and in turn, how they treat their children. What are their values? Their ethics? What is important to each individual? How do their experiences shape them? Is the family melded-or fragmented? Are they products of the time or are they progressive? This book is a great example of what I love about family sagas. And the way it is written really addresses these questions and thoughts, and really shows us events that shape these people. The parents, Eve and Al, are both hardworking and spirited, especially Eve. There is just nothing she cannot tackle. But they are both very flawed people. They have a combustible relationship. And, oh, what they do to their children! There is overt favoritism, which leads to rivalry. There is negligence and abuse. There is blatant bigotry. I fully understand why Leon-the eldest-evolved into the man he did. The handwriting is not just on the wall-it is etched in acid. I fully understand why Rene-the middle child-became the person she evolved into. The unfortunate part of the book is the third and last child, Jayne. I can’t for the life of me figure out why the author invented her. She had hardly any role at all and was never developed. It was as though the author forgot about Jayne. The other thing that bothered me was I never knew what time period this took place in. All we are told is that it some years after WWII. But was it the 50’s or 60’s? That’s sort of important to me.
I felt very attached to Rene and to Leon-my heart ached for Leon and truth be told, I could not forgive either parent for their treatment of these kids.
I am glad I read it. I always like a good family saga.
March 17, 2019
Sometimes a book slaps you in the face before you are even aware of it. Such is Paula Saunders’ brilliant The Distance Home. Now we have read about misunderstood kids from Huck to Holden to Scout, but in South Dakota? Saunders traces the lives of a family: Al, Eve, Leon, and René. And she does it with deftness and subtlety. There is a third child who rarely enters the picture.
So Eve marries too early to a cattle buyer. They have children, then Eve enrolls them in a ballet school. Yes. And then we just sit back and watch. Although we are entirely enraptured by what happen to them all.
Saunders very deftly skips forward many years in her narrative with nary a jog. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she does not mix up times for the mere sake of writing school technique. She is a true master of sequence. She becomes the Faulkner of South Dakota in her sense of place. In fact, Saunders creates a nigh perfect novel. with only the occasionally slightly florid sentence bleaking the landscape.
I always revel in first novels with this much skill and panache.
So Eve marries too early to a cattle buyer. They have children, then Eve enrolls them in a ballet school. Yes. And then we just sit back and watch. Although we are entirely enraptured by what happen to them all.
Saunders very deftly skips forward many years in her narrative with nary a jog. Unlike many of her contemporaries, she does not mix up times for the mere sake of writing school technique. She is a true master of sequence. She becomes the Faulkner of South Dakota in her sense of place. In fact, Saunders creates a nigh perfect novel. with only the occasionally slightly florid sentence bleaking the landscape.
I always revel in first novels with this much skill and panache.
September 17, 2018
Look, I love dramatic, ambitious, depressing family sagas as much as the next person, but this book had no point. No one learned anything or grew in any discernible way. Once of the most interesting characters — Leon — was underutilized when the author would hint at all the horrible things that would happen in his life but never actually talked about it.
The constant time jumping was also jarring and confusing — one second it would be present day and the next would be talking about events 30 years later, then back to present day with no warning. There were no logical transitions and no explanation. All in all, there was some good writing mixed up in a jumbled, meandering story that could have been much better if it ever found a focus. Two point five stars rounded up because it is a debut novel, after all.
The constant time jumping was also jarring and confusing — one second it would be present day and the next would be talking about events 30 years later, then back to present day with no warning. There were no logical transitions and no explanation. All in all, there was some good writing mixed up in a jumbled, meandering story that could have been much better if it ever found a focus. Two point five stars rounded up because it is a debut novel, after all.
June 17, 2018
Written so clearly that you could place yourself in the characters sad and depressing shoes.
February 2, 2021
For the first time ever I am torn on how to rate this... books are an instant response for me, I listen to usually two audio books a day, I spend 10-12 hours a day outdoors, I try a huge swath of books daily, frankly, I liked the simplicity of the cover.
I enjoyed the atmospheric feel of the west, I was instantly recalling our trips. this book took me back to my high school days, my love of ballet, had I been twenty reading this, it would have been five stars, but the family dynamics were depressing, reactions off putting, I felt so much emphasis on set designs, with minor reflections of abuse. Sometimes it felt like four stars, other times two, times age inappropriate, yet I listened to every word and wanted to finish...
I am going to ponder my rating, right now I am leaning on two stars, it was well written, I just didn't like the paths she chose. I don't feel it's a three, which to me us average, I just can't decide between 2 or 4 stars, but to be honest I know I would not recommend it... but if you are young, perhaps ;-)
I enjoyed the atmospheric feel of the west, I was instantly recalling our trips. this book took me back to my high school days, my love of ballet, had I been twenty reading this, it would have been five stars, but the family dynamics were depressing, reactions off putting, I felt so much emphasis on set designs, with minor reflections of abuse. Sometimes it felt like four stars, other times two, times age inappropriate, yet I listened to every word and wanted to finish...
I am going to ponder my rating, right now I am leaning on two stars, it was well written, I just didn't like the paths she chose. I don't feel it's a three, which to me us average, I just can't decide between 2 or 4 stars, but to be honest I know I would not recommend it... but if you are young, perhaps ;-)
September 26, 2018
Saunders began this autobiographical novel as a graduate student at the University of Syracuse and finished it decades later with the hindsight of having raised a family of her own. Her deep distillation of the past is evident in the dexterity of the language and the wisdom of the retrospection. Buckle your seat belt for a deep dive into beauty, yearning and grief. You won't regret the ride.
February 2, 2021
This book written by Paula Saunders, wife of George Saunders, is set in a state that I have neither visited nor read about. My goal is to read at least one book set in each of the 50 states. This is my first South Dakota.
The book is not very highly rated and I can only guess why. The family is mostly dysfunctional. Yvonne (nickname Eve) and Al's marriage is on the rocks. Their oldest child, Leon, stutters and is abused by his father. He goes through a phase where he pulls out his eyebrows, eyelashes and a portion of his hair. Middle daughter Rene is so good at everything she attempts that she has no friends. Youngest daughter Jayne is normal; she hardly figures in the book.
Despite all of this I really liked the book. Saunders is a talented writer. I was never bored nor disappointed in her writing style. I was really glued to the book.
The book starts out with Eve, Al and Leon all dead and then goes backwards in time to tell us all that happened on the way to present day.
Let's face it: there ARE dysfunctional families and I can see all of this really happening.
5 stars
The book is not very highly rated and I can only guess why. The family is mostly dysfunctional. Yvonne (nickname Eve) and Al's marriage is on the rocks. Their oldest child, Leon, stutters and is abused by his father. He goes through a phase where he pulls out his eyebrows, eyelashes and a portion of his hair. Middle daughter Rene is so good at everything she attempts that she has no friends. Youngest daughter Jayne is normal; she hardly figures in the book.
Despite all of this I really liked the book. Saunders is a talented writer. I was never bored nor disappointed in her writing style. I was really glued to the book.
The book starts out with Eve, Al and Leon all dead and then goes backwards in time to tell us all that happened on the way to present day.
Let's face it: there ARE dysfunctional families and I can see all of this really happening.
5 stars
June 29, 2019
I once read another book set in the Black Hills and I thought “The author has never even been there”.... not so with this one. It’s real and she knows it! I lost some of my nostalgia however as she brought me back to the uglier side of the place at times. I bought this book at Mitzi’s Independent bookstore in Rapid City and really wish I could join their book club discussion coming up.
June 2, 2019
What a beautifully written book about families, and the effects we all have on each other. It never stops, really!
October 19, 2018
This was very good but the edge was taken off it by an introductory note from the author that made it plain this was based on her own early life. Nothing wrong with that in itself, but I'd have preferred the mystique or magic of the fiction to be maintained while I was reading it and let me draw my own conclusions - which would have been that it was based on the author's early life! I read it as a proof, so perhaps the author note won't be in the finished edition.
Still - very well written and it doesn't pull its punches.
Still - very well written and it doesn't pull its punches.
November 1, 2018
As I began this novel, that read like a memoir, I felt enough interest and compatibility with the writing to persevere. I did finish it. I liked some parts of it. Mostly, the characters came off as one dimensional exhibiting one personality extreme or another. Black and white thinking is troublesome. I’d prefer to think in shades of gray. There was also some misinformation about long term opiate use which aggravated me. There are enough myths out there about ‘devil drugs’ without their being perpetuated in novels. In essence the story never really moved me. I had more of a head shaking experience and was, at the end, happy to see the narrator fly away from the nest of vipers her family was shown to be. What do you learn in a family where members ignore violence towards one another?
Want to read
March 24, 2018I just per-ordered this book. Can't wait to read it.
August 9, 2018
{My Thoughts}
What Worked For Me
Beautiful Writing – Debut author Paula Saunders truly has a way with words. Her phrasing often came across as lyrical even in the midst of a gritty story; plus, her use of similes was textbook perfect.
“What comes together falls apart. Parties are planned, celebrated, then disperse and dissolve as though they were no more than dreams; seasons come and go like magic tricks, flowers blooming then fading, snowbanks swelling then melting away. How could it be different for families?”
“As far back as René could remember, it seemed like she’d been riding a stormy, disordered team of horses – Eve and Al, Leon and Jayne, school and ballet – standing astride as many saddles as her legs could manage, clutching a fistful of tangled reins, balancing in jerks and starts like an untrained circus performer.”
René – Though The Distance Home is the story of an entire family, it is fully told from René’s perspective and I found her to be a very relatable, if not always likeable, character.
René was a keen observer of the world around her, and not just her own family.
A child born into dysfunction René developed startlingly wise insights into the behaviors of others, as well as herself.
Not yet a teen, René witnessed a horrific family event, and blamed not the perpetrator, but the silent witness. I loved how René’s conflicted feelings served to dramatically shift the trajectory of her life.
“And as René sat in her bed that night, looking across the hall at Leon’s closed bedroom door, she couldn’t help but wonder where all the hurt and anger went after something like that. Did it just disappear, as a person grew older, dissolving in a mist of resignation and forgetfulness?”
As René grew older, her family relationships grew more and more complex with only a fine line between love and hate, condemnation and forgiveness. Saunders did a commendable job having René walk that line in ways that felt very real.
“Now get yourself something to eat and go straight to bed.” And René leaned in for a hug that felt mainly like a metal restraining device closing in around her.”
Ballet in South Dakota – I don’t want to offend anyone from South Dakota, but ballet just isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a small town in The Mount Rushmore State. Yet, ballet played a huge role in The Distance Home. Leon, René’s older brother, was the first to start in ballet in the hunt to find a place for him to succeed. And, succeed he did. He was soon joined by René, later by younger sister, Jayne and finally even their mother, Eve. Ballet became a huge part of their lives, very nearly taking over. It was an escape that offered freedom and a sense of normalcy sadly missing from their lives. But, for Leon especially, it came with very high costs. René watched Leon’s demise as her own status rose.
What Didn’t
Uncomfortable Attitudes – This isn’t exactly something that didn’t work, in fact it was key to the story, but it made me uncomfortable and may be a trigger to some. A factor of the times, both Al and Eve had very harsh things to say about their Native American neighbors. Prejudice wrapped in fiction doesn’t typically bother me, but here I squirmed.
Bible Verses & Mythology – The author used both at different times as a means to explain what René thought and felt. I thought they were overdone.
{The Final Assessment}
For me The Distance Home was the best sort of dysfunctional family story. Harsh at times, it was a slow building saga of a family trying, and trying again, and trying again. Poor, cruel, unkind choices pulled René’s family apart over and over again, and still under all the drama, all the raw emotion love never quite let go. Grade: B+
Note: I received a copy of this book from Random House (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks!
Original Source: https://novelvisits.com/distance-home...
What Worked For Me
Beautiful Writing – Debut author Paula Saunders truly has a way with words. Her phrasing often came across as lyrical even in the midst of a gritty story; plus, her use of similes was textbook perfect.
“What comes together falls apart. Parties are planned, celebrated, then disperse and dissolve as though they were no more than dreams; seasons come and go like magic tricks, flowers blooming then fading, snowbanks swelling then melting away. How could it be different for families?”
“As far back as René could remember, it seemed like she’d been riding a stormy, disordered team of horses – Eve and Al, Leon and Jayne, school and ballet – standing astride as many saddles as her legs could manage, clutching a fistful of tangled reins, balancing in jerks and starts like an untrained circus performer.”
René – Though The Distance Home is the story of an entire family, it is fully told from René’s perspective and I found her to be a very relatable, if not always likeable, character.
René was a keen observer of the world around her, and not just her own family.
A child born into dysfunction René developed startlingly wise insights into the behaviors of others, as well as herself.
Not yet a teen, René witnessed a horrific family event, and blamed not the perpetrator, but the silent witness. I loved how René’s conflicted feelings served to dramatically shift the trajectory of her life.
“And as René sat in her bed that night, looking across the hall at Leon’s closed bedroom door, she couldn’t help but wonder where all the hurt and anger went after something like that. Did it just disappear, as a person grew older, dissolving in a mist of resignation and forgetfulness?”
As René grew older, her family relationships grew more and more complex with only a fine line between love and hate, condemnation and forgiveness. Saunders did a commendable job having René walk that line in ways that felt very real.
“Now get yourself something to eat and go straight to bed.” And René leaned in for a hug that felt mainly like a metal restraining device closing in around her.”
Ballet in South Dakota – I don’t want to offend anyone from South Dakota, but ballet just isn’t the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a small town in The Mount Rushmore State. Yet, ballet played a huge role in The Distance Home. Leon, René’s older brother, was the first to start in ballet in the hunt to find a place for him to succeed. And, succeed he did. He was soon joined by René, later by younger sister, Jayne and finally even their mother, Eve. Ballet became a huge part of their lives, very nearly taking over. It was an escape that offered freedom and a sense of normalcy sadly missing from their lives. But, for Leon especially, it came with very high costs. René watched Leon’s demise as her own status rose.
What Didn’t
Uncomfortable Attitudes – This isn’t exactly something that didn’t work, in fact it was key to the story, but it made me uncomfortable and may be a trigger to some. A factor of the times, both Al and Eve had very harsh things to say about their Native American neighbors. Prejudice wrapped in fiction doesn’t typically bother me, but here I squirmed.
Bible Verses & Mythology – The author used both at different times as a means to explain what René thought and felt. I thought they were overdone.
{The Final Assessment}
For me The Distance Home was the best sort of dysfunctional family story. Harsh at times, it was a slow building saga of a family trying, and trying again, and trying again. Poor, cruel, unkind choices pulled René’s family apart over and over again, and still under all the drama, all the raw emotion love never quite let go. Grade: B+
Note: I received a copy of this book from Random House (via NetGalley) in exchange for my honest review. Many thanks!
Original Source: https://novelvisits.com/distance-home...
July 29, 2018
The Distance Home by Paula Saunders is a very highly recommended family drama which is beautifully written while brilliantly depicting a highly dysfunctional post World War II family living in West River South Dakota.
René narrates the story of her contentious childhood in South Dakota, beginning on the plains next to the Missouri River in Fort Pierre, and later in the foothills of the Black Hills in Rapid City. Set in the 1950'and 60's, her parents, Al and Eve, married young and lived in Al's parents' basement, where Leon and René were born. Al is a cattle trader, which means he spends more time away from his family than at home, so Eve must make a life for her children. She also fights to overcome the blatant favoritism Al and his mother show to René, by favoring and fighting for sensitive Leon, who is mocked and treated harshly by Al and his mother - first for his stutter and later for dancing. Eve signed Leon up for a tap dancing class, and later ballet, when he showed a natural aptitude for dance, which Al cannot accept. When René shows the same natural ability for dance, she is applauded and praised. The battle lines are clearly set, with Eve defending Leon and Jayne and Al favoring René.
When the family moves to Rapid City, the gulf between parents and children widens and worsens. The parents are constantly battling each other when Al comes home. His disdain for Leon is as obvious as his favoritism for René. Sides are clearly drawn: Eve defends Leon; Al prefers René. Al even ignores Leon's many accomplishments playing baseball and never attends a game. The epic battles and the abusive punishments doled out to Leon result in both Leon and René being diagnosed with PTSD as adults. Leon turns to self-destructive behavior, while René tries to excel at everything.
The novel follows their abusive childhoods through René's narrative. Occasionally inserted in the story is information from future discussions shared between Leon and Rene as adults. They provide a glimpse into the fallout from their childhood and the destruction that resulted. Families are complicated organisms and Saunders clearly captures this in The Distance Home. It has been said that the novel draws on Saunders's own family history, which makes perfect sense because the turmoil, emotions, and the prevailing attitudes of that period in American history is captured so completely.
The writing is exquisite in this well-written debut novel and the narrative is compelling. I was totally immersed in this family drama and the struggle both Leon and René faced with their combative parents making it almost a conflict between them. (This is a testament to the wisdom of never, ever, picking or having a favorite child.) The conflicts are realistically portrayed with brutality, but also result in compassion for the characters. The Distance Home is totally set during the time period indicated and in South Dakota as it was at that time. (Small soapbox: To judge this or any novel based on current societal and political measurements is unfair. What is the worth of providing a historically accurate setting if reviewers judge it based on modern sentiments rather than being pleased over the progress we have made and continue to make.)
The character who is most fully developed is René, especially since she is the narrator and is telling the story. Leon's character is also fairly well-developed through her eyes. Jayne's character is not fully formed, but there can often be a disassociation between older and younger siblings. Between the parents, Eve is the most fully realized character, but then she was also the main parent who was with the children daily while Al was usually traveling. Saunders did an excellent job depicting the conflicting emotions René felt toward her mother, and the final resolution of them was touching.
This is truly one of the better novels I've read this year and it is a notable debut novel. It is immediately going on my list of contenders for the top ten novels of the year. Hopefully Saunders will be writing another novel soon.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/0...
René narrates the story of her contentious childhood in South Dakota, beginning on the plains next to the Missouri River in Fort Pierre, and later in the foothills of the Black Hills in Rapid City. Set in the 1950'and 60's, her parents, Al and Eve, married young and lived in Al's parents' basement, where Leon and René were born. Al is a cattle trader, which means he spends more time away from his family than at home, so Eve must make a life for her children. She also fights to overcome the blatant favoritism Al and his mother show to René, by favoring and fighting for sensitive Leon, who is mocked and treated harshly by Al and his mother - first for his stutter and later for dancing. Eve signed Leon up for a tap dancing class, and later ballet, when he showed a natural aptitude for dance, which Al cannot accept. When René shows the same natural ability for dance, she is applauded and praised. The battle lines are clearly set, with Eve defending Leon and Jayne and Al favoring René.
When the family moves to Rapid City, the gulf between parents and children widens and worsens. The parents are constantly battling each other when Al comes home. His disdain for Leon is as obvious as his favoritism for René. Sides are clearly drawn: Eve defends Leon; Al prefers René. Al even ignores Leon's many accomplishments playing baseball and never attends a game. The epic battles and the abusive punishments doled out to Leon result in both Leon and René being diagnosed with PTSD as adults. Leon turns to self-destructive behavior, while René tries to excel at everything.
The novel follows their abusive childhoods through René's narrative. Occasionally inserted in the story is information from future discussions shared between Leon and Rene as adults. They provide a glimpse into the fallout from their childhood and the destruction that resulted. Families are complicated organisms and Saunders clearly captures this in The Distance Home. It has been said that the novel draws on Saunders's own family history, which makes perfect sense because the turmoil, emotions, and the prevailing attitudes of that period in American history is captured so completely.
The writing is exquisite in this well-written debut novel and the narrative is compelling. I was totally immersed in this family drama and the struggle both Leon and René faced with their combative parents making it almost a conflict between them. (This is a testament to the wisdom of never, ever, picking or having a favorite child.) The conflicts are realistically portrayed with brutality, but also result in compassion for the characters. The Distance Home is totally set during the time period indicated and in South Dakota as it was at that time. (Small soapbox: To judge this or any novel based on current societal and political measurements is unfair. What is the worth of providing a historically accurate setting if reviewers judge it based on modern sentiments rather than being pleased over the progress we have made and continue to make.)
The character who is most fully developed is René, especially since she is the narrator and is telling the story. Leon's character is also fairly well-developed through her eyes. Jayne's character is not fully formed, but there can often be a disassociation between older and younger siblings. Between the parents, Eve is the most fully realized character, but then she was also the main parent who was with the children daily while Al was usually traveling. Saunders did an excellent job depicting the conflicting emotions René felt toward her mother, and the final resolution of them was touching.
This is truly one of the better novels I've read this year and it is a notable debut novel. It is immediately going on my list of contenders for the top ten novels of the year. Hopefully Saunders will be writing another novel soon.
Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House.
http://www.shetreadssoftly.com/2018/0...
February 25, 2019
Paula Saunders’s “The Distance Home” stars René as the main character with her mother, father, brother and sister in orbit around her. René’s family is a perfect model of dysfunction: she and her mother have a love/hate relationship, her father is usually on the road, her brother is miserable and troubled and her sister is seldom a player. Set in South Dakota during the 1950's and 60's, the book is sad and bleak, making it often painful to read even as it is difficult to put down. I love how Saunders handles the movement of time, covering three generations in deft strokes while focusing most of the chapters on René’s stormy childhood and adolescent years. With occasional respites (thanks for the family dog and for the dance teacher), the story grinds on to a realistic but satisfying conclusion. I��m glad I read this one, but I think I’ll look for a frothy love story next time. Or, more likely, I won’t.
August 21, 2020
The book was overall well-written and the premise was interesting, as it recounted one family’s life through hardships and experiences: a struggling marriage, misunderstood and ill-treated kids, and a general sense of isolation. However, I finished it with the sense of wanting more from it, feeling that it had only just begun to scratch the surface, especially since Jayne’s character was entirely under-utilized, even forgotten at times. I like the realistic sense of a family dynamic, but I the author could have gone a little deeper into it.
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