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A review by finesilkflower
The Long Way Home by Ann M. Martin
2.0
I keep devouring these books so I should probably give them more than 2 stars. They're interesting in the moment but leave me feeling hollow and empty, as if there's been a lot of drama but it hasn't really amounted to anything, like life, I guess.
This follows the format of the first book with each chapter occurring about 6 months after the previous chapter. It takes the main character from age 7 to 18.
Dana is the daughter of Abby from the Book #1, [b:Better to Wish|16043634|Better to Wish (Family Tree, #1)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358993088s/16043634.jpg|21820893]. Abby's story chronicles her family's ascent from poverty into upper middle class in small-town in Maine in the 1930s/40s, ending her story striking it out on her own in New York City. Dana, then, grows up in New York City in the 1950s/60s. She starts her life glamorously, but once again family fortunes change, and the family finds itself back in Maine. Dana, a budding artist, has New York City in her heart and can't adjust to life in Maine. She's like Stacey + Claudia - Quality.
Because I just can't like Dana. She's serious and sullen. There's no fun about her. She's the daddy's girl of a raging alcholic, and while that's somewhat understandable, it's also incredibly tiresome, especially when she blames her obviously saintly mother for everything that goes wrong.
Again, I question the choice of daughter to base this around. This time, the book follows the interesting rather than boring sister, but it surprises me that the book is following Dana, the iconoclast who is clearly going to cut her family out of her life and move to a completely new area with her bohemian husband, rather than Julia, the close-to-home daughter who will clearly spend the rest of her life living close to the previous generations. But I guess Ann M. has a plan. Maybe Dana will mellow in her old age. But even in this book, it causes its problems; Dana spends so much time away from the rest of the family.
Some kinda neat things about this volume:
* While Zander's alcoholism is cartoonishly depicted AND he was kind of a lackluster romantic hero in book #1 anyway--it's sorta clear that Ann M. preferred Orrin all along--I still admire the guts to turn Happy Ending Guy into Incredibly Flawed Dad. I was sort of expecting all dads after the book 1 dad to be perfect because we had seen their love story.
* The family tree structure allows some interesting lessons about adulthood; namely, choices you make when you are 22 will profoundly affect your children to the point of making them people who cause you pain and anguish as an adult by failing to adjust to what you consider "home" because what they consider "home" is the dumb place you lived when you were 22 and failing to adjust to the guy that you consider the love of your life because what they consider "father" is the dumb guy you married when you were 22.
* I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop when Dana actually reads Father because you KNOW that it's a terribly cynical book and that her childlike drawings are used not for heartwarming but for sardonic reasons. It didn't happen but there's still time. Anyway, I guess I like that I have such a strong feeling about Zander's work despite us not being told anything about it really?
Some weird things about this volume:
* Dana's parents are consistently referred to as "Abby" and "Zander" in narration, which feels jarring because books with a tight POV on a kid don't refer to the parents by their first names when they kid doesn't. It's inconsistent, too, because the mom in book 1 isn't called "Nell" except by other adults; to Abby, she's just "Mother." So should Abby be! We get it, we know they are the kids from the first book--it's in all the branding.
* A major character drowns in every book! This should also be in the branding.
* Dana's family pattern follows her mother's almost exactly. In Abby's family, she was the oldest, then a slightly younger sister, a younger brother who apparently has Down syndrome, and a much-younger sister. Dana is an identical twin, but still: she and Julia are eldest, then a younger brother with Down syndrome, then a much-younger sister. It seems improbable. I would have expected the family sizes and patterns to show the differences in generations: 8 kids in 1930, 4 kids in 1950, 2 kids in 1980, only child in 2015.
* Except for the insistence on calling Abby by her first name, there is almost nothing to connect her with the Abby of the first book. She's just a bland hardworking put-upon mom who calls everyone "lovey." I guess she was also bland, hardworking, & put-upon in book #1 so it's actually consistent?
This follows the format of the first book with each chapter occurring about 6 months after the previous chapter. It takes the main character from age 7 to 18.
Dana is the daughter of Abby from the Book #1, [b:Better to Wish|16043634|Better to Wish (Family Tree, #1)|Ann M. Martin|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1358993088s/16043634.jpg|21820893]. Abby's story chronicles her family's ascent from poverty into upper middle class in small-town in Maine in the 1930s/40s, ending her story striking it out on her own in New York City. Dana, then, grows up in New York City in the 1950s/60s. She starts her life glamorously, but once again family fortunes change, and the family finds itself back in Maine. Dana, a budding artist, has New York City in her heart and can't adjust to life in Maine. She's like Stacey + Claudia - Quality.
Because I just can't like Dana. She's serious and sullen. There's no fun about her. She's the daddy's girl of a raging alcholic, and while that's somewhat understandable, it's also incredibly tiresome, especially when she blames her obviously saintly mother for everything that goes wrong.
Again, I question the choice of daughter to base this around. This time, the book follows the interesting rather than boring sister, but it surprises me that the book is following Dana, the iconoclast who is clearly going to cut her family out of her life and move to a completely new area with her bohemian husband, rather than Julia, the close-to-home daughter who will clearly spend the rest of her life living close to the previous generations. But I guess Ann M. has a plan. Maybe Dana will mellow in her old age. But even in this book, it causes its problems; Dana spends so much time away from the rest of the family.
Spoiler
I actually kind of like that Dana reacts poorly to her mother's remarriage to the guy she should have married in Book 1--it's neat to get a different/buzzkill perspective from the POV character on an event which, to readers of book 1, should be the happy ending they've always wanted--but Dana spends hardly any time with Orrin, so it feels like a waste to reintroduce him into the books only to ignore him.Some kinda neat things about this volume:
Spoiler
* While Zander's alcoholism is cartoonishly depicted AND he was kind of a lackluster romantic hero in book #1 anyway--it's sorta clear that Ann M. preferred Orrin all along--I still admire the guts to turn Happy Ending Guy into Incredibly Flawed Dad. I was sort of expecting all dads after the book 1 dad to be perfect because we had seen their love story.
* The family tree structure allows some interesting lessons about adulthood; namely, choices you make when you are 22 will profoundly affect your children to the point of making them people who cause you pain and anguish as an adult by failing to adjust to what you consider "home" because what they consider "home" is the dumb place you lived when you were 22 and failing to adjust to the guy that you consider the love of your life because what they consider "father" is the dumb guy you married when you were 22.
* I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop when Dana actually reads Father because you KNOW that it's a terribly cynical book and that her childlike drawings are used not for heartwarming but for sardonic reasons. It didn't happen but there's still time. Anyway, I guess I like that I have such a strong feeling about Zander's work despite us not being told anything about it really?
Some weird things about this volume:
Spoiler
* Dana's parents are consistently referred to as "Abby" and "Zander" in narration, which feels jarring because books with a tight POV on a kid don't refer to the parents by their first names when they kid doesn't. It's inconsistent, too, because the mom in book 1 isn't called "Nell" except by other adults; to Abby, she's just "Mother." So should Abby be! We get it, we know they are the kids from the first book--it's in all the branding.
* A major character drowns in every book! This should also be in the branding.
* Dana's family pattern follows her mother's almost exactly. In Abby's family, she was the oldest, then a slightly younger sister, a younger brother who apparently has Down syndrome, and a much-younger sister. Dana is an identical twin, but still: she and Julia are eldest, then a younger brother with Down syndrome, then a much-younger sister. It seems improbable. I would have expected the family sizes and patterns to show the differences in generations: 8 kids in 1930, 4 kids in 1950, 2 kids in 1980, only child in 2015.
* Except for the insistence on calling Abby by her first name, there is almost nothing to connect her with the Abby of the first book. She's just a bland hardworking put-upon mom who calls everyone "lovey." I guess she was also bland, hardworking, & put-upon in book #1 so it's actually consistent?