This Just Read: All the Way Home. By, Ann Tatlock

This Just Read: All the Way Home by Ann Tatlock

Christian Women’s Fiction. Won a Christy Award in 2003.

Blurb from Fantastic Fiction

A Moving Novel From an Award-Winning Author that Celebrates Friendship and
Family
Played out against the backdrop of two critical eras of American
history, this beautifully written story imparts powerful lessons of forgiveness
and reconciliation that will linger long after the last page is turned.
Augie Schuler is desperate for love, the kind "normal" families provide. And
when she meets Sunny Yamagata and her family, Augie knows she’s found what she’s
looking for in spite of cultural differences. Together, the two girls pursue the
fanciful dreams of youth and a sometimes humorous search for God beneath the
bright California sun.
When the dark days of World War II and the Japanese
internment camps tear them apart, they vow never to forget each other. Reunited
years later, the two find themselves offering healing and hope as they triumph
over the pain of their years apart.

Wow. This was phenomenal. Story aside, we’ll get there in a minute, as a writer- I have bowed with chin dropped to Ms. Tatlock. The dialogue, the dialects, the beautiful descriptions, the settings, the layer upon layer of historical and cultural references and significances, the plot and plot-twists, the resolution, the ability to convey Christianity without preaching--- gasp, sputter, sigh --- I’m in awe. Dare to dream, Lynnie.

Now, let’s get to the story shall we? This expertly woven tale begins and ends with a story about friendship and family. It seems so simple, but it’s anything but. It is a book on my favorite theme in Christian literature: God using one person to fill in the gaps left behind by another.
I was a passive reader, and was listening to this on my mp3 player. I didn’t know much about the book other than the blurb and what the first few minutes (pages) were like. Once I started reading/listening, I couldn’t put it down (shut it off). I was sucked in. If the story was a Dyson, I was the crumb on the floor.

As a writer, I try not to guess where the story is headed- it’s like opening a Christmas present early, but sometimes books are predictable. In those cases, I just wait to be pleasantly surprised by the variation on a known plot. But in this book? I had no idea where it was going or how it would end. There were times I’d say aloud what I thought was happening next or I’d state a “fact” I just knew to be true. I was thrown off so many times, in a very good way, and even to the end- I was both delighted and surprised.

Well-written, poignant, a story I’m glad to have inside me now. It’s a keeper, and solidly taking its place with my favorites.