Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #31790 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-07
• Binding: Hardcover
• 320 pages

Glamour
'Tremain allows us to see our country's wonders and failings as if for the first time'

The Gloss
`A thoughtful, moving, timely novel'

Literary Review
`It is Rose Tremain's ability to pluck triumph from disaster which
makes her such an engaging writer..'

Customer Reviews

Lev's Road Home
This is a very good book and a thought provoking read. As a Londoner, living in London I have `immigrants' living and working all around me, but to be honest I don't take much notice of them. This book gives a voice to people like this... the people who some of us don't notice. Lev is a hard working man from an Eastern European country. He wants to earn money and he doesn't mind working for it. He wants to send money back for his mother and daughter and doesn't want to be on benefits. I think a lot of immigrants in London and the UK are like this ... no matter what the Daily Mail says! I thought Rose Tremain (who is one of my favourite writers - my favourites being Music and Silence and Restoration, both very different to this book!) wrote the voice of a man very well and I really felt for and believed in him.

My only criticism (spoiler warning) is that it was a little too `feel good' at the end. I'm not saying I wanted a sad end to Lev's story but at times it kind of felt like I was reading a Jane Green ending. Maybe it's nice to have the character have things go to plan and I'm a cynic.

I won't look at the people working around me in London in the same way ever again.

Couldn't put it down
The real strength of this book is that the characters are three dimensional. No one if perfect, and as a reader can imagine them. As the story continues Lev becomes more and more human. At times you really feel for him and at other times you are horrified by what he does.

I'll be reading other books by Tremain.

Lovely story, but...
The Road Home is a lovely story but my enjoyment was frequently interrupted by frustration with the repeated condescending statements about the Eastern European country featured. Throughout the book I felt as though the author did not really understand the Eastern Europoean country or the culture she was writing about. A number of incorrect views about the culture and food that are widely believed in the UK were encorporated in the book. Which country from the eastern reaches of the European Union has only goat meat and pickles to eat? In fact these countries have a rich food culture which is very much alive, having been kept alive in the kitchens of people's homes during the times when fast food wasn't available.
There were also technical faults within the story such as a hydroelectric dam project being completed within a few months.
So, although I enjoyed this story, I wished the writer had stuck to subjects she knew more about.