What readers think of Calling Me Home, plus links to write your own review.

It is difficult to criticize a story whose subject and characters are so compelling.

I found the story to be well written, if occasionally overtold and often repetitious. The random crossword puzzle injections were welcome and pleasantly distracting.

However, the story itself was predictable. Within the first few pages, I easily anticipated what would happen next, in the same way we predict the next crisis of a good soap opera. As I read, I felt I was always 2-3 chapters ahead of the writer. This story has been told many times.

This is not to say that it is not an important story. However, I learned nothing that enhanced my interest or broadened my understanding of this dreadful piece of American history.

One final thought. The writer developed her main characters in terms of black and white (no pun intended. Isabelle, Robert, and Dorrie were presented as "all good". Dorrie's mother and brothers were presented as "all bad." A story told from the viewpoint of Cora and Nell, whose lifelong struggles of allegiance to two worlds, might have been a better read.