The Distance Home: A Novel
(Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read)
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY REAL SIMPLE
“A deeply involving portrait of the American postwar family” (Jennifer Egan) about sibling rivalry, dark secrets, and a young girl’s struggle with freedom and artistic desire
In the years after World War II, the bleak yet beautiful plains of South Dakota still embody all the contradictions—the ruggedness and the promise—of the old frontier. This is a place where you can eat strawberries from wild vines, where lightning reveals a boundless horizon, where descendants of white settlers and native Indians continue to collide, and where, for most, there are limited options.
René shares a home, a family, and a passion for dance with her older brother, Leon. Yet for all they have in common, their lives are on remarkably different paths. In contrast to René, a born spitfire, Leon is a gentle soul. The only boy in their ballet class, Leon silently endures often brutal teasing. Meanwhile, René excels at everything she touches, basking in the delighted gaze of their father, whom Leon seems to disappoint no matter how hard he tries.
As the years pass, René and Leon’s parents fight with increasing frequency—and ferocity. Their father—a cattle broker—spends more time on the road, his sporadic homecomings both yearned for and dreaded by the children. And as René and Leon grow up, they grow apart. They grasp whatever they can to stay afloat—a word of praise, a grandmother’s outstretched hand, the seductive attention of a stranger—as René works to save herself, crossing the border into a larger, more hopeful world, while Leon embarks on a path of despair and self-destruction.
Tender, searing, and unforgettable, The Distance Home is a profoundly American story spanning decades—a tale of haves and have-nots, of how our ideas of winning and losing, success and failure, lead us inevitably into various problems with empathy and caring for one another. It’s a portrait of beauty and brutality in which the author’s compassionate narration allows us to sympathize, in turn, with everyone involved.
“A riveting family saga for the ages . . . one of the best books I’ve read in years.”—Mary Karr
“Saunders’ debut is an exquisite, searing portrait of family and of people coping with whatever life throws at them while trying to keep close to one another.”—Booklist (starred review)
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Paula Saunders. (2018). The Distance Home: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group.
Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)Paula Saunders. 2018. The Distance Home: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group.
Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)Paula Saunders, The Distance Home: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group, 2018.
MLA Citation (style guide)Paula Saunders. The Distance Home: A Novel. Random House Publishing Group, 2018.
| Library | Owned | Available |
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- bioText: Paula Saunders grew up in Rapid City, South Dakota. She is a graduate of the Syracuse University creative writing program, and was awarded a postgraduate Albert Schweitzer Fellowship at the State University of New York at Albany, under then-Schweitzer chair Toni Morrison. She lives in California with her husband. They have two grown daughters.
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- “[Paula] Saunders skillfully illuminates how time heals certain wounds while deepening others. . . . A mediation of the violence of American ambition.”—The New York Times Book Review
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY REAL SIMPLE
“A deeply involving portrait of the American postwar family” (Jennifer Egan) about sibling rivalry, dark secrets, and a young girl’s struggle with freedom and artistic desire
In the years after World War II, the bleak yet beautiful plains of South Dakota still embody all the contradictions—the ruggedness and the promise—of the old frontier. This is a place where you can eat strawberries from wild vines, where lightning reveals a boundless horizon, where descendants of white settlers and native Indians continue to collide, and where, for most, there are limited options.
René shares a home, a family, and a passion for dance with her older brother, Leon. Yet for all they have in common, their lives are on remarkably different paths. In contrast to René, a born spitfire, Leon is a gentle soul. The only boy in their ballet class, Leon silently endures often brutal teasing. Meanwhile, René excels at everything she touches, basking in the delighted gaze of their father, whom Leon seems to disappoint no matter how hard he tries.
As the years pass, René and Leon’s parents fight with increasing frequency—and ferocity. Their father—a cattle broker—spends more time on the road, his sporadic homecomings both yearned for and dreaded by the children. And as René and Leon grow up, they grow apart. They grasp whatever they can to stay afloat—a word of praise, a grandmother’s outstretched hand, the seductive attention of a stranger—as René works to save herself, crossing the border into a larger, more hopeful world, while Leon embarks on a path of despair and self-destruction.
Tender, searing, and unforgettable, The Distance Home is a profoundly American story spanning decades—a tale of haves and have-nots, of how our ideas of winning and losing, success and failure, lead us inevitably into various problems with empathy and caring for one another. It’s a portrait of beauty and brutality in which the author’s compassionate narration allows us to sympathize, in turn, with everyone involved.
“A riveting family saga for the ages . . . one of the best books I’ve read in years.”—Mary Karr
“Saunders’ debut is an exquisite, searing portrait of family and of people coping with whatever life throws at them while trying to keep close to one another.”—Booklist (starred review) - reviews
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March 15, 2018
In the wilds of 1960s South Dakota, where Saunders grew up, siblings Rene and Leon face relentless pressure to achieve. Their father appreciates his brainy daughter's gift of dance, something he scorns in his equally talented but wistfully shy son. Saunders received a postgraduate Albert Schweitzer Fellowship in the Humanities at SUNY Albany.
Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
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June 1, 2018
The slow, punitive grind of family dynamics, even when leavened by love, contorts a Midwestern family.Where does all the hurt and anger go, wonders René, the lively, confident middle child, about her sad, victimized brother, Leon. Saunders' debut makes no bones about the answer to that question, illustrating in detail the sedimentary process of psychological damage inflicted on children by their parents, in this case Al and Eve. Married young in Fort Pierre, South Dakota, the couple settles, at first, in Al's parents' basement, Eve working two jobs, Al--a cattle trader--often away on the road. Soon they have two children, Leon and René, later a third, Jayne, and money is tight. Set in the 1960s, the novel's world is remote and traditional, at least as represented by Al, whose pitiless response to his son's sensitivities--a stutter; a startling gift for ballet dancing--is knee-jerk harshness. Leon reacts by pulling out his hair and eyelashes and withdrawing from the family group, while Eve's attempts to defend him only result in arguments with her husband. Saunders avoids Leon's perspective, opting for René's instead. She too is warped by the constant tensions at home, becoming an overachiever whose will to excel leads to resentment and social rejection. Meanwhile, there's no respite for poor Leon, beaten by his father, assaulted by a stranger, and later sent to an abusive Catholic boarding school. Flashes forward confirm the inexorable outcome: Leon's future will be alcoholism, drugs, mental disease, and PTSD. René manages to escape, and Saunders suggests some healing balm in years to come, but not enough to displace the early, indelible harm.A grim, haunting parable of split child-rearing in which the dark blots out much of the light.COPYRIGHT(2018) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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June 25, 2018
Saunders debuts with a penetrating and insightful deconstruction of a Midwestern family. The story starts with Eve and Al, high school sweethearts who marry, have children, and find themselves mired in jealousy and misunderstanding. Throughout, Eve’s indomitable spirit won’t be quashed, no matter the conflicts or the despair that hover over her family. Firstborn Leon, an athlete with a penchant for ballet, is as opposite from his father as can be imagined. Middle child René, a fierce, competitive sprite, takes up ballet like her brother and can do no wrong in her father’s eyes, much to Eve’s consternation, whose heart lies with her first born. As the family moves from Missouri to South Dakota, where Al grows his cattle business and spends more time away from home, the story contrasts René, driven to achieve—despite the resentment it causes in everyone who crosses her path—and Leon, a misguided soul bearing his father’s wrath. The sweet, easygoing youngest child, Jayne, doesn’t get the same attention as the other characters. Still, Saunders brilliantly parses Leon and René’s disparate paths; they are two wildly talented, sensitive souls—one shattered by life’s circumstances, the other learning to soar above them. This debut wonderfully depicts the entire lifespan of a singular family.
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NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY REAL SIMPLE
“A deeply involving portrait of the American postwar family” (Jennifer Egan) about sibling rivalry, dark secrets, and a young girl’s struggle with freedom and artistic desire
In the years after World War II, the bleak yet beautiful plains of South Dakota still embody all the contradictions—the ruggedness and the promise—of the old frontier. This is a place where you can eat strawberries from wild vines, where lightning reveals a boundless horizon, where descendants of white settlers and native Indians continue to collide, and where, for most, there are limited options.
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