Take Me With You

Avevo letto già un libro di questa autrice e non mi aveva impressionato, carino ma nulla più. Questo invece è bello. Una storia delicata, un romanzo di formazione con due ragazzi,un anziano professore, un padre insufficiente, una ex moglie en passant, il fantasma di un figlio e infine un cane. Il tutto ambientati nei principali parchi nazionali degli Usa, letteralmente on the road.
Piuttosto ben scritto, carico di buoni sentimenti anche se a volte un po' intrecciati ed arzigogolati, narra di seconde occasioni perse o sfruttate, di lutto, di alcolismo, di figli, di paure... mescola tutto come in un frullatore ma l'insieme intrattiene e fa riflettere in modo piacevole.
Ognuno dei personaggi ha la possibilità di capire i proprio errori show more e anche cosa vuole davvero dalla vita. Alcuni ci riescono, altri rimangono prigionieri delle proprie schiavitù interiori. Ma la possibilità di cambiare arriva per tutti e va saputa cogliere.
E lo spunto per coglierla resta legato comunque all'essere famiglia, comunità, allo stare insieme. In particolare il cibo, anche banali panini, consumano insieme diviene altro. Il lutto si trasfigura in una nuova paternità, e la figliolanza diventa a sua volta un prendersi cura.
Perché, come di recente commentato a proposito del film gaelico "The Quiet Girl", a volte la svolta sta in pochi settimane o mesi con una persona o una famiglia che ti fa conoscere un modo diverso di vivere, e così facendo ti salva letteralmente lo spirito dall'abbrutimento, dalla semplice animalità del soddisfare i bisogni fisici.
Proprii per questo è un ottimo testo per adolescenti/quasi adulti. show less

August Schroeder is on his way to Yosemite. He is taking a trip he had planned with his son, Philip, but Philip is not along for the trip because he was killed in a traffic accident. When his car breaks down in a town along the way, he is persuaded to take two young boys (12 and 7), Seth and Henry, along with him on his summer trip. It is a fortuitous trip for both August and the boys, and it changes them in ways they cannot anticipate. They all need saving, and they save each other, and it is the building of their relationships and the influences they exert upon one another that make this a poignant and meaningful story.

This is my second Hyde book and I liked this one even more than the first. Hyde has a way of telling a story that show more makes you just relax into it and go along on the journey. You feel that you are always moving toward something important, something that matters not only to the characters but to all of us. I cried and laughed during this read, and I felt at the end that August and Seth and Henry were all made of flesh and blood and that I knew them well. show less

This review contains some minor spoilers.

When his RV breaks down one summer and is towed to a repair shop, August Shroeder, a high school science teacher, has no idea how his life is about to change. It soon becomes apparent that the shop owner, Wes, has something he wants to ask of August. Wes wants August to take his two boys, Seth, aged 12, and Henry, aged 7, on his road trip to visiti national parks for the summer while Wes does 90 days in jail. The boys have nowhere else to go and will end up in county custody if August does not take them. August can see they are good boys who get along well with his dog, Woody. Seth, while talkative, is thoughtful and courteous, and Henry just doesn't talk. August wants to say no to the idea but show more instead finds himself agreeing to the arrangement, and once the agreement is made, it cannot be undone.

August is still reeling from the loss of his 19-year old son, Phillip, and is a recovering alcoholic. He has some of Phillip's ashes along to scatter in his final destination, Yosemite Park.

It soon becomes clear that the boys' father is in jail not for writing bad checks as he claimed but for his fourth DUI and the jail sentence is actually longer than Wes had told August initially. As August and the boys visit national parks such as Bryce Canyon and Yosemite, August finds himself growing attached to the boys. When he has to return the boys to their father, he is disappointed that the boys don't keep in better touch as the years go by.

After years pass, August's health begins to decline, and he is no longer able safely drive his rig around the country every summer. He will have to sell it and offers it first to the oldest boy, Seth, whom he met 8 years ago. Seth, now in college and an avid climber, agrees to buy the RV from August. When August meets the boys for the first time in over 8 years, they insist on taking him on a road trip with them over the summer with a special end destination in mind.

I loved this book. All the characters are thoughtful and well-developed. I liked how well August, Seth, and Henry communicated among one another. I did guess the final end destination of the second road trip, but there are enough twists in the story to keep it interesting. This was a thoughtful, poignant story, and I enjoyed the descriptions of the national parks as well. show less

I agree with others – the first half was great, the second half not so much. Very interesting premise: an alcoholic, about to go to jail, asks a stranger who’s also an alcoholic, to take his two sons on a summer-long road trip so they don’t have to go into foster care. I loved the boys, with their philosophical outlook on life and quiet wisdom. Young Henry is especially endearing because of his tendency not to speak, until he begins bonding with August and later feels the need to defend himself, his brother, and August from his father. The way the boys help August deal with the death of his son was really touching; almost brought a tear to my eye. The author does a great job of describing the beauty and majesty of the parks and show more sites that they visited; she also skillfully handles the subject of alcoholism and the positive effect that AA can have on the addicted and those affected by addiction. It’s when the boys and August reconnect after eight (!) years that the story falls short. Way too much rock climbing; way too contrived with August’s sudden disability; not enough reality about cross-country trips once the boys are adults with their own lives and families. It almost felt like two different books. A little more story-telling about the intervening years might have improved things. show less

This was my first book by this author, who has a large body of work, including Pay It Forward, which was made into a movie. She writes well and her characters are all carefully drawn and very interesting. I was very pleased that the plot was more complex than I had thought it might be and I learned a bit about free climbing I hadn't known. I enjoyed the relationship between August and the boys and his relationship with his sponsor added a new dimension to the book and allowed the author to give the reader information without having August think it on his own. I thought it was a clever way to add interest to the story. The author wisely did not make Wes a villian, merely a troubled man. I'll look for more by this author.

Catherine Ryan Hyde’s Take Me with You (2014) reminds me very much of her When I Found You, a novel I read back in 2008. In both instances, a man has his life turned upside down by children who randomly come into his life. In Take Me with You, the main character encounters the two young sons of the small-town mechanic he’s hired to get his travel rig back on the road, and in When I Found You, a man finds a small baby that’s been abandoned in a field he is walking across on his way to hunt ducks. In both novels, the men have to deal with unreliable relatives of the children who resent the long term relationships that will develop between the men and the children. It should be noted, however, that Take Me with You does have a much show more more positive tone and ending than When I Found You.

August, a high school science teacher on a tight travel budget, is on his way to Yellowstone National Park when his rig breaks down in a small California town, and now it appears that the repair costs are going to eat up all of his allocated gas money and then some. For very personal reasons, August is desperate to get to Yellowstone, but now it looks as if he is going to have to try again next year. And then it happens: the mechanic, who is about to begin a 90-day DUI jail sentence, offers to do the repairs for free if only August will take his two boys along with him and keep them until school starts again in September. August knows there are all kinds of reasons that he can’t — and shouldn’t — even seriously consider what the man is asking him to do. But when he drives away, the boys are with him.

On the road, August learns that the boys, aged 12 and 7, have been emotionally damaged by living alone for the past few years with their alcoholic father. In their own way, the boys are as damaged and fragile as August, himself a recovering alcoholic and newly divorced, knows himself to be. An entire summer of life on the road together will not be easy for any of them, but it will end up being the defining moment in each of their lives despite their reluctance to admit it to themselves or, most difficultly, to each other.

Bottom Line: Take Me with You strikes me as a novel whose message is that life is only made more difficult, and more precious time wasted, when good people fail to communicate with each other out of a misplaced fear of offending each other. This is, in effect, as much a coming of age novel for August as it is for the two boys for whom he suddenly finds himself totally responsible. Hyde tells a good, satisfying store here despite the fact that I found myself sometimes wishing I could shake a couple of the main characters by the shoulder and tell them to just get on with it. show less

Three troubled people travel across the United States, visiting National Parks. There's a middle-aged teacher called August, a worried 12-year-old called Seth, and his 7-year-old brother Henry who won't speak to anyone. The dog Woody plays his part too.

It's character-based, with believable and extremely likeable people. They all have problems in their past, and some quite serious issues are expertly tackled. But the growing friendship between the three is the main theme of the story. The final section turns the relationship on its head, and I found it extremely moving in places.

Suitable for teenagers as well as adults, there's no bad language (other than a few mild words here and there), no sex, no violence... and it's show more thought-provoking and ultimately a very satisfying read. Recommended to anyone who likes this kind of character-based novel with no fast action, but a gradual unfolding of secrets and a positive caring friendship.

Longer review here: https://suesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2020/03/take-me-with-you-by-catherine-ryan-... show less