You Can't Go Home Again
"The Homecoming of Samuel Lake" is a well told family tale with characters I came to care about; what will happen to each of them?; how will their individual lives impact the other family members?
Tom Wolfe once stated "You can't go home again," and while this is not true literally, it is true in the sense that things will not be the same.
In this "homecoming" nothing stays the same, but is ever changing. I enjoyed reading the changes which made the book interesting and engaging.
Rated of 5
by Nancy F. (carmel, in)
Homecoming of Samuel Lake
I was impressed by the author's ability to make her characters three dimensional, almost as if I was watching a film. Having grown up in the urban east coast , both this setting and period in history, were totally unfamiliar. I enjoyed this book as it carried me along a character driven story which made me re-evaluate the definition of family and how our lives can change with just one small adjustment in the wheel of life. This would be an excellent selection for book club readers who really enjoy getting to know a novel's characters on a personal level.
Rated of 5
by Gayle M. (Billerica, MA)
Enjoyable Summer Read
Reminiscent of 'To Kill a Mockingbird', the book centers on the precocious daughter of the title character. The book starts out slowly, giving the reader time to get to know, and like, the members of the Moses and Lake families. But once the plot takes off, its hard to put the book down. Overall a good read with well developed characters, and a villain that you just love to hate.
Rated of 5
by Susan B. (Coventry, RI)
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
I had mixed feelings about this book until I was about one third of the way through. I felt that it was too quiet for me. but then 'the plot thickens' and it picks up speed and races to the finish. I was breathless when I got to the end. I'm glad that I persevered!
Rated of 5
by Regina F. (TOPEKA, KANSAS)
Highly Recommend!
I could hardly put this book down. Wonderful debut book by Jenny Wingfield. Wingfield does a good job of captivating the reader in this tale of good vs evil. This is an emotionally charged book, with several breathtaking moments, and one moment that left me sobbing for thirty minutes (the only time I put the book down). This is some of the best storytelling I've read in years and the book has the potential of becoming a great movie. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.
Rated of 5
by David V. (Wayside, NJ)
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake by Jenny Wingfield
This book started out with a bang, literally. Based on the beginning I thought it would be an interesting read, but something seemed to be missing. It gave a good depiction of life in rural Arkansas and focused on a somewhat dysfunctional family. Some of the characters were interesting buy many seemed to be part of the plot just to fill gaps in the narrative. One of the characters was particularly well-drawn. He was a truly evil person who another character described as "Satan's stepson". The story moved along but became somewhat boring and predictable. I also felt the title is misleading since, for me, Samuel Lake is a rather minor, under-developed character. The story never really seemed to reach it's potential as an interesting novel.
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Stranger than fiction, blending tragedy and farce, How to Create the Perfect Wife is an engrossing tale of the radicalism, and deep contradictions, at the heart of the Enlightenment.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
read more
Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
read more
Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
read more
British Parliament asks Amazon to clarify why it pays $9 million in income tax on $23 billion of UK sales.(May 20 2013) Amazon will be called back to give further evidence to members of the British Parliament "to clarify how its activities in the U.K. justify its low corporate...
Full Story
of 5
by Jeanne M. (Vancouver, WA)
of 5
by David V. (Wayside, NJ)
