Customer Reviews

Rush Home Road

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

An absolutely cracking read! The story is sad, funny, and utterly believable. The book deals with undedrlying racial, physical, and mental abuse of the two main characters in the book, but it is all done in a very sensitive way.

The book made me laugh, cry, but most of all kept me page-turning until the end. As a debut novel for this author, I can only say, what comes next.

After selecting this book, I was enthralled from begining to end. I passed it to my daughter and daughter in law, we all thought it was the most emotional and heartening read we had in a long while. It takes us on a journey of heatbreak, love and faith, I cant wait to read another of her books. A truly uplifting book. In the meantime I am planning to read it again.

This is a beautifully written book. Rush home road centres around the world of a woman called Addy Shadd who at the age of seventy is left to look after a boisterous mouthy five year old, Sharla Cody, after she is abandoned into her care by her mother. Thw books storyline is split between the trailer park where the two currently reside, and the seventy years of Addy's tumolous life, both sentimental and powerful. Growing up as a black female in the U.S the book deals with issues such as racism rape and murder and there devastating consequences but also shows that some people do triumph in the face of adversity. It's a tale of the survival of a woman who had to fight through no fault of her own, and the way in which the oddest most unlikely relationships can grow. It is ultimately a book full of hope, wonderfully thought out, thoroughly touching, thought provoking and also terribly heartbreaking. be prepared with a box of tissues because you will cry more than once. Although not just with sadness but with joy, laughter, sympathy and recognition

I grew up in the small city of Chatham where this book takes place and have visited the small village established by freed slaves that was the idea for the fictional village in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed all there references to the community I grew up in. I was also fascinated by the background story of the underground railroad and its history in this part of Canada. Although this book is a work of fiction, the information about the underground railroad is correct and the Shadd family was (and is) a prominent family in the area. (If you are not familiar with this area, don't worry, Lansens does a thorough job of setting the scene!)

The book is both heart warming and heart wrenching. The characters are well thought out and one enjoys getting to know them through out the book.

Lansens writes in a style that is easy to follow and makes the book a relaxing read. I didn't want the book to end and wanted to keep following these characters.

The story is a testament to the resilency of the human spirit.

Don't miss this book!

I picked up "Rush Home Road" simply because I really enjoyed reading "The Girls". Although "The Girls" is very good, this book blows it out of the water!!!!

Addy's (the 70 year old main character) story begins when she's a teenager without a care in the World and her life planned out in her mind..... this all goes wrong, from her being raped by one of her fathers friends, becoming pregnant and exiled by her family, her traumas are never-ending but through it all she just sticks out her chin and gets on with life until she's asked to look after a little girl. I knew what the ending of this book was going to be (everyone will, once you're a way through) and I just didn't want it to end.

It was soooooo good, it's hard to write a review to do it the justice it deserves, other than to say that although I read a lot of books there aren't that many I will read again, but this is a definate.

I picked this book up on a whim & was entranced from the first. The language is beautiful, the story is well-told & moves easily from past to present. An abused & abandoned child is left with a 70 year old neighbour with a troubled history herself, and the story told is one of the redeeming power of love & the strength of the human spirit. Though it sounds cliched as I write it it really is a lovely book & certainly an accomplishment for a first novel. I loved it.

My partner bought me this book on the strength of it's 5 star reviews. Having read it over a weekend and throughly enjoyed it I felt I should add my own review in agreement to encourage others to read it. You won't be disappointed. The book switches between the touching present day relationship between the 70 year old Addy and the 6 year old Sharla, thrown together by circumstance, and the history of Addy's tumultuous life and her admirable strength of character in the face of adversity. An excellent compelling read.

I really loved it. It reminded me of the colour purple but much, much better. My mum & nana also read it after me & they also loved it - we have never all liked the same book before.

A fantastic book. I cannot recommend this author enough. I read this book after reading her other two. As this had been her first novel I was prepared to be less enamored but this was not the case at all. I love this author. She provokes me to think, to consider, to ponder, to smile, to laugh and to cry.

I bought this book thinking it would be Ok but I did not expect it to be as brilliant as it was. This is the story about an old lady who agrees to look after a young girl for the summer and reflects back on her own childhood and life as she slowly grows more attached to the girl. Her own story is a sad one. She is not bad but after being raped by her father's friend she falls pregnant; her brother thinks he knows who is to blame but ends up dying trying to sort it out. Throughout the book Addy talks to Lil Liam he is the only one who knows the truth about all that befalls her and tells her what she knows but won't admit to. You know what is going to happen to Addy in the end but you would never expect it to be written so well. This book will bring tears to your eyes way before the end but you will finish reading and think wow, what a story. This book must be made into a film!