The Road Home

By: Jim Harrison

Narrated by: Christian Baskous, Mark Bramhall, Stacey Glemboski, Andrew Eiden, Jane Oppenheimer

Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

The Road Home lies in the shadows of Manifest Destiny and Wounded Knee; it is etched into the landscape of an old man’s memory and into the stubborn dreams of a young man’s heart.

In one of Jim Harrison’s greatest works, five members of the Northridge family narrate the tangled epic of their history on the expanses of the Nebraska plains. They strive to understand their fates, to reconcile with demons of the past, to live in accordance with the land, and to die with grace.

As the family grapples with the mysterious forces that both pull them apart and draw them inextricably back together, they must come to term with life’s greatest and hardest lessons: the deception of passion, the pain of love, the vitality of art, and the supplication to nature’s generosity and fury.

©1998 Jim Harrison (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Good writing - Ok Story

I liked the overall writing of the book, but not so much about the story. His fascination with Lakotas is little be exaggerated and sometimes quite annoying.

Very worthwhile read.

I loved absolutely everything about this book. It is written with such regard for every character, so detailed as to provide intimate knowledge of self. With the introduction of the next character the reader gets the perspective from an external point of view. Beautifully written and narrated.

Good story but …

I enjoyed the story and characters but it was a little bit too much of a downer for me.

Excellent narration, good story

If you like long, character-driven novels that span 80 years, you will enjoy this book. Most of the book consists of various characters musing on life, death, dogs, horses, family memories, and Insights on our treatment of Native Americans, on birds and on the environment. Essentially the same story is told by five different family members so we see the many sides to the story and how the actions of each character affected the others. If your taste runs to a complicated plot with lots of twists, this is not the book for you, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

epic journey

I was caught from the beginning. listening for days. powerful compelling. winding through lives. leading to the enevitible end

Been here before.

Harrison wrote the same story over and over. He recycled places and events relentlessly. I might have rated this higher if I hadn't already heard it before, several times.

stop after part one

The protagonist in the first part is great. I want to know more about him. The writer should have stopped the book entirely or continued developing that character. Part 2 picks up with his grandson. I just can't stand the guy. I've listened to several hours and still wish he'd just shut up. Finally giving up.

Disappointed

The author is a talented writer, however he is little too pornographic for my taste. The story starts out great, and slowly ramps up the sexuality. At first it is fine. I don't mind refences to sex in a book - sex is part of life. The shame is that this could have been a great book - sexual content should not have to be needed to sell good writing. One of the few books that I have decided not to finish.

Mixed Review

Don’t under-estimate this book’s melancholy if you are watching your mental health; timing is everything. :). The first part about the old man was my favorite. I felt like he was a kindred spirit and he reminded me of a very old friend who i miss dearly. I enjoyed his relationships so much, including the one with Delva. IMHO the character development between Delva and her lover left their relationship rather unbelievable. This left the rest of the book weaker than it could have been. In the 1st part it was hard to understand the timeline or where he was. I am glad I read it.

Loved it, gentle and quirky.

I really like this book. It is a historical life story narration from multiple characters. First people, settlers, naturalists. It was lovely.