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Loading... Running Away to Home: Our Family's Journey to Croatia in Search of… (edition 2012)by Jennifer Wilson
Work detailsRunning Away to Home: Our Family's Journey to Croatia in Search of Who We Are, Where We Came From, and What Really Matters by Jennifer Wilson None. I enjoyed this book of not only researching family history, but living in the ancestors' home village and meeting new relatives. I liked how Jen learned not to stand outside as an observer but instead participate in daily activities, thus making new and valued friends. (  ) krin5292 | Jan 30, 2013 |   This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers.Coupled with the need to stop this, was Jennifer's want to find her roots. She was a travel writer and finagles an article that sends her to Croatia. It's enough to whet her appetite and her husband whole-heartedly supports the plan of taking a sabbatical in order to spend more time with his family and get a little more back to the land in Croatia. Jen's ancestors are from the small Croatian town of Mrkopalj. This is a town of maybe 1,000 people full of farmers, loggers, heavy drinkers, and happy people. When the Wilsons arrive with their two small children in tow they still aren't really sure what they have gotten themselves into. What ensues is one of the sweetest, most laugh out loud, heartwarming stories I have read in a long time. Jim instantly feels welcomed into the bosom of this town. Jen, on the other hand, has a harder time making her way. The children, in a similar fashion, have some bumps and starts but then soon grow to have a blast with the freedom this small town gives them. The characters you meet in Mrkopalj can't help but make you smile and the whole story is so inspiring, it made me want to pack up and move my family abroad to a small town too. Honestly, I can't recommend Running Away to Home enough. Just read it! (  ) amusedbybooks | Nov 23, 2012 | A woman wanting to get her family out of their middle America, middle class rut moves her husband, young son and daughter to the Croatia her great grandparents immigrated from 100 year ago to find family and live a simpler life. ctighe4261 | Apr 12, 2012 | Jennifer Wilson, a free-lance travel writer living in Des Moines, Iowa, and her husband Jim, an architect, (and their two young children) decide to take a year to live in Croatia, the land of Jennifer's ancestors, in hopes of discovering more about them. They face a number of obstacles including the difficulty of finding housing in her ancestral village, the language barrier, and access to records. Jennifer seems to be a bit unprepared for her genealogical ventures. An organized research plan is never shown and most of what she is doing seems to be random. She also seems to be content to leave her research at the parents of her immigrant ancestors instead of trying to go back further. She does mention loss of records in the narrative, but the main record mentioned as being lost is the record of burials. I'm certain there are other records which could have been explored for the time period. The Family History Library guide mentions some that they have filmed or are in the process of filming. The reader does come away with a feel for some of the family's experiences in the country, but there are gaps in the narrative and places where you want more details and many places where you want far less information. ( ) thornton37814 | Feb 25, 2012 | This review was written for LibraryThing Early Reviewers. ) DFED | Jan 7, 2012 | no reviews | add a review
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