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A review by busymamabookclub
Turning for Home by Barney Norris
5.0
Barney Norris has hit the jackpot again with Turning for Home. I am constantly in awe of the way he creates totally believable characters and how he uses language to convey deep meaning in a way that doesn’t feel like hard work when you are reading. So many passages in this book were incredibly profound and literally made me say ‘wow’. It’s like Barney gets right into your head and articulates thoughts you’ve had in the past for you... only in a much more eloquent way! One passage towards the end even brought a tear or two to my eye (and you should know by now if you have read any of my previous reviews that I love a good cry!).
In Turning for Home, Norris slowly unravels the life stories of Robert, an 80 year old man whose 90th birthday party is the setting for the majority of the book, and his granddaughter Kate. Both voices are distinctive and likeable. There’s a particular part in the book where we find out more about Kate’s backstory (I won’t give too much away on here) and Norris’ attention to detail/understanding of the character’s situation just shows how talented he is.
Norris’ first book (Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain) was a brilliant read but as it was set in Salisbury, my hometown, I wondered if that was why I liked it so much. Now reading Turning for Home I can see it’s Barney’s pure talent for writing that’s the main denominator- he really is a gifted story teller; writing in a way that I think is quite hard to rival and I wish more people celebrated just how fantastic his writing is!
In Turning for Home, Norris slowly unravels the life stories of Robert, an 80 year old man whose 90th birthday party is the setting for the majority of the book, and his granddaughter Kate. Both voices are distinctive and likeable. There’s a particular part in the book where we find out more about Kate’s backstory (I won’t give too much away on here) and Norris’ attention to detail/understanding of the character’s situation just shows how talented he is.
Norris’ first book (Five Rivers Met on a Wooded Plain) was a brilliant read but as it was set in Salisbury, my hometown, I wondered if that was why I liked it so much. Now reading Turning for Home I can see it’s Barney’s pure talent for writing that’s the main denominator- he really is a gifted story teller; writing in a way that I think is quite hard to rival and I wish more people celebrated just how fantastic his writing is!