The Way Home

Rating:
Summary: Symphonies and Sopapilla
Review: Snowed in by a winter storm and spellbound by a strong narrative, I read this fine novel in two sittings. It made me nostalgic for sopapillas I've eaten in Santa Fe and symphonies I've heard in New York. The characters attracted and held my attention as they tried to find "the way home" by answering two key questions: Where do I belong? With whom?
Max, the teenage son of a computer whiz and an accomplished pianist, leaves the unique but isolated colony of Los Alamos to determine if he belongs in a Quaker boarding school back East. He explores a prep school campus, an understaffed nursing home and an Atlantic City casino. Does he fit in best with a classmate from a nearby town, a cynical physician named "Seneca" or a young reporter from the Main Line named "Farmer?"
Meanwhile, his parents plan to divorce. Max's father, Dan, runs 50 miles in a single outing but can't outdistance the shadow of his own brilliant Dad. Can he start a new life with a divorcee in Princeton? Max's mother, Alicia, returns to New York City for her own "Manhatten Project," and in renovating her childhood home uncovers a hurtful secret about the extremes of parental love. In Los Alamos, she visits her neighbors, Fred and Betty Baca, who know where they belong and are comfortable in combining the artistic (refurbishing pianos) with the practical (creating customzied pool cues). They offer her a sopapilla--a unique pastry, best made by hand, at home.
I'd recommend this book to older teens about to leave home and to their parents preparing to feather the empty nest. Many fathers will recognize themselves in the efforts of Dan and Max to distance themselves from long shadows. Scientists will appreciate the muted references to Max's namesake, the Dr. Planck, who won the Nobel Prize for physics in 1918 for pioneer work in quantum theory. Musicians will probably enjoy the conductor who sees Mahler as a "giant cavern" and the gifted amateur who plays Beethoven when she's "in the zone." Fans of the Roman Empire will appreciate how Max unwittingly plays the role of Nero and has great impact on his teacher, Seneca.
Anyone who appreciates intelligent themes, handled with skill, with enjoy this book, with or without hot cocoa, iced tea or a sopapilla with honey.

Rating:
Summary: The Way Home
Review: The Way Home

In his first novel Mr. Earle has given us a wonderful, tightly woven story with a universality that often strikes close to home. Sometimes painfully. What an eye for detail he has! The author virtually takes us by the hand as he shows us New Mexico, New Jersey, the small rural Pennsylvania towns, their light, sounds, smells and sense of place.
The depth of felling for classical music, its instruments and composers could have only come across better if the book had come with its own CD.
Dan and Max, father and son, take their solitutde in plain view. Dan as a runner and Max as cyclist. Until he is asked, Dan never wonders why his son choose cycling over running. He has been too busy running to wonder. When his parents divorce Max is dropped, in effect, on another planet as he goes from New Mexico to a Society of Friends school in Raponikon, Pennsylvania. He is 17.
Max volunteers at Oakhurst, a home for the aged. Here he meets Dr. Seneca Sussex, one of the most memorable, compelling, complex characters of fiction that I can recall, he fairly leaps off the page. He also encounters Sid Farmer, a manipulative reporter who engages Max's help in investigating questionable practices concerning patient medications at Oakhurst. The truth comes to light in an "unauthorized act of conscience(!)", that lifts the veil of "greater age and experience that makes us so dull, unseeing ......"
In their final meeting together Sid reveals himself in the stunning question that he asks Max. His question goes unanswered. The author has other surprises for his characters and readers throughout his book and some stop both in their tracks as they consider their implications. He shows us that our acts, however insignificant they may seem, echo through the years but these are echoes that don't fade.
Join Mr. Earle and those who people his fine novel in their search for the way home. You won't be sorry.

F. K.

Rating:
Summary: A Gift From God
Review: Where has Mr. Earle been keeping himself? A master story-teller owes it to the world to make himself known! "The Way Home" is truly a tour-de-force. Insightful and beautifully written, it perfectly captures the trials & tribulations couples undergo when getting a divorce. And Max....good god MAX! Not since Salinger was still publishing has there been a better incarnation of adolescent angst. I highly recommend this book! If you appreciate fine literature, than make sure to pick up this gem. You will not be disappointed.