The Year We Left Home

Thompson does an admirable job of bringing the Erickson family of rural Iowa to life in such a way that even though the characters are often unlikable they are also sympathetic. First, there is Anita, who, while still young, got married to a banker and tried to make herself into the perfect stay at home mom without ever giving any thought as to whether that was who she wanted to be. Then, there's Ryan who spends his elder sister's wedding day thinking about how he doesn't what to fit into the mold his family has set out for him, marrying, having babies, having a "small" mid-western life. He might escape, but will he like the new him that he discovers? Younger brother Blake is living the life that Ryan dreaded, but it seems to suit him show more just fine. Little sister Tori, brimming with potential, becomes a target for tragedy and is bound to her childhood home where she tries the dedication of her faithful parents. On the fringes of the Erickson family is cousin Chip who came back from Vietnam damaged and addicted to drugs and lightly deviant behavior.

Thompson tells bits and pieces of their stories in chapters that focus on one character at a time until she's teased out what is essentially a microcosm of the American experience in recent history. There's the guy that came home from Vietnam with his young life turned upside down who could never seem to turn it right again. There's the woman caught on the outer fringes of an era when being the perfect stay-at-home mom and homemaker was expected. She thought she wanted to be that, but maybe it's time that she can be more. There's the guy riding the dot-com bubble to wealth, and discovering that wealth can't deliver what he really needs. These are people living hollow lives, looking for something to fulfill them. They're looking back on older generations in the glow of memory, respecting the work they did to give the current generation the resources and the privilege to go in search of themselves. They miss that sense of hard work and purpose that permeated the lives of their elderly aunt and uncle, but these people can't be satisfied by that kind of life anymore for better and for worse.

As the book wears on, it gets to feeling a little hopeless and sad, but then something changes. The characters find some of what they're looking for in their striving. They might never quite arrive, but they come to an understanding. The Year We Left Home is a slice of life book that is over before it's truly ended, but it's got one of the best last paragraphs I think I've ever read, a paragraph that starts out cryptic but then ties Thompson's whole accomplishment together with respect for the past and hope for the future. This book demands a little extra time and a little extra effort when it comes to empathizing with the characters, but it's got a lot of true things to say about our lives and times in these United States. Well worth a read. show less

Started out especially strong with finely drawn early 70's Midwestern wedding and funeral scenes. I say that from experience, having grown up in Iowa in the 70's from Scandinavian Lutheran stock. Writing was a little weaker as the characters traveled to other locales and as Thompson became enamored with attempting to enter the mind of a family outcast, not completely successfully. Still, I enjoyed the good parts (which were very good) enough to read more Thompson.

The Year We Left Home tells the story of the Erickson family, of Grenada, Iowa, in the last twenty-five years of the last century. Beginning with the wedding reception of the oldest daughter, Anita, at the American Legion Hall, and continuing, each chapter moving forward a few years and telling a self-contained story about a different member of the family, to end, where the children are approaching fifty. Jean Thompson writes with a clarity and an absence of fuss that is a pleasure to read. Each member of the family, as well as some members of the extended family, are beautifully brought to life, from Anita with her desire to make a success of having a family to Chip, the Vietnam veteran cousin who is having some trouble settling down. show more There's a quiet strength to this book, with its ordinary family trying to get by in a difficult and changing world.

That said, there are some flaws that marred my enjoyment of this book. Early on, there's a silly anachronism, where the family sits down to watch a show that won't be aired for another six years, which made me wary of believing the accuracy of the background of each chapter's events. Each story is very much oriented in time and place, so that careless mistake at the beginning had me doubting the authenticity of each story's setting. There's a sense in which this book is derivative of The Corrections; although they are very different in tone, there are enough similarities in a few of the characters to make comparisons inevitable, and The Year We Left Home is the lesser book. show less

I really enjoyed this. The writing was powerful, the characters were recognizable and multi-dimensional. Thompson was very effective at writing from many vantage points, treating each equally and still keeping all of the personalities internally consistent. I would especially recommend this book to all of my Iowan in-laws, as it was set in Iowas starting in 1969, right during the coming of age of many of them.

Intriguing plot carries the book.
I could not connect well with characters, notably over-angst mothers,
and well-just-what Ryan. Norm and Martha and Blake were cool.

Description of the failure of small farmers in the U.S. was intense and well crafted.
The insidious involvement of bankers was a highlight.

If I could give this 4 1/2 stars, I would. About 1/2 way through I was marveling at this book, and thinking maybe it was the book of the year, but the final 75pp or so flagged.

In any case, this is a wonderful multi-generational yarn, that focuses on particular family events from the early 70s to the 2000s. The characters are vivid. The events are recognizable but surprising.

The setting is Iowa (seems to be around Ames), and Thompson does a great job evoking the dutiful and plain life of the farmers, before industrialized / corporatized farming takes over.

The Year We Left Home is one of the best books I have read this year. It is an engrossing story of a family over several decades and a sort of lament about American life and coming of age centered around a small Iowa town. Some characters are trying to get away from the town, some want to stay, some are forced to stay. I really agree with one of the blurbs on the book jacket that said after you are done reading, it will be hard to remember that these are not real characters. How true! I have found myself wondering what some of their reactions to current events might be.

Overall, an excellent, well-written novel that makes me want to read much more by Jean Thompson.