Sing Them Home

by Stephanie Kallos

Book Overview

Sing Them Home is a moving portrait of three siblings who have lived in the shadow of unresolved grief since their mother's disappearance when they were children. Everyone in Emlyn Springs knows the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802144136
• ISBN13: 9780802144133
• Release Date: August 2009
• Publisher: Grove Press
• Length: 560 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

Beautifully written drama to sink your teeth into

I love a nice long book. I read a lot, and when I find a long, beautifully written book that holds my attention from beginning to end, I feel incredibly lucky. Such is the case with Sing Them Home. This is an incredibly moving story of love, loss and family. The characters are so well drawn that by the end of the book, you feel you know them. Anyone who has lost someone close to them will find this particularly moving, but even if you haven't, you can't help but feel for the family and their trials and tribulations. I cannot recommend this book enough. I was sad when I finished it, because I never wanted it to end. Beautiful prose, fantastically drawn characters and a gripping plot make this one of the better books I've read this year. You won't be disappointed!

A lovely story, not to be missed

Sing Them Home earns its place as one of the best books I've read this year. In fact, it likely would make my top-ten list. I loved this book. The flowing plot, description, prose, and the author's ability to put the reader inside the character's minds reminded me of two of my favorite authors, Joyce Carol Oates and Margaret Atwood--but in a fresh, updated sense. I eagerly await Stephanie Kallos's future works. In Nebraska in 1978, Hope Jones is carried up and away by a tornado that destroys the family she's left behind as much as it destroys their small town. Rebuilding the town is quite simpler than rebuilding their family. Hope's husband and their three children carve out a life for themselves. Each harbors his or her own particular form of guilt and grief. These characters are, if not lovable, extremely likable. They are your sister, your neighbor, your friend. I loved their dysfunctions. Larken, the eldest daughter, is a pillar of strength--except when it comes to controlling her food intake. Gaelen reacts to the loss of his mother and girlfriend by becoming selfishly consumed with all things physical. The youngest, Bonnie, searches endlessly for a sign from above. As the story unfolds with rich detail, all is not what it seems. Like any family, the Jones's have secrets. And Mother Nature is determined to set the family on a crash course with truth and healing.

Superb Novel! You Won't Want to Put This One Down!

"Sing Them Home" is a beautifully written novel which you will find hard to put down. Further, it may be one of those novels that you cannot forget. The basic story involves the lives of three siblings and the impact their mother's death has on their personalities and relationships with the opposite sex. One is tempted, at first, to compare this book to "The Lovely Bones." The dead "speak" through the narrator, and through the diary of Hope Jones, the mother of the three protagonists. That comparison would be, however, a mistake. "Sing's" dead speakers help draw the picture of the tiny community of Emlyn Springs and are not a major force in the narrative. Hope Jones' diary excerpts are inserted at appropriate points in the story and serve to provide background for the characters' actions and reactions to situations. I found this book to be particularly moving in the sections where Hope spoke of her miscarriages and her subsequent reaction, psychological and physcial, to those tragedies. Stephanie Kallos writes these scenes with empathy and insight. Further, Kallos' insight into a parent's serious illness (Hope has MS), death, and the manner in which those event impacts children into adulthood is masterful. If she does not have first hand knowledge of the subject, I would be quite surprised. I thought the female characters were more finely drawn and much more realistic than the males. Irrespective of that opinion, I found that I liked all the individuals who peopled the town of Emlyn Springs; thought their customs were fascinating; and wanted everyone to have the life they deserved. I recommend this book for anyone who wants to read a gentle, well written novel. You will find yourself wrapped up in the lives of the characters, crying when they cry, and celebrating their joys when they celebrate. First class all the way!

It blew me away (pun intended)

This is a saga, a sweeping family story that lodges in your marrow, the kind of story that makes you smile, laugh, weep, snort, chortle, sing, spread your arms wide and lay your heart wide open. With flavors tender, ribald, ironical, farcical, tragic, magical, and wondrous, Sing Them Home narrates an epic story of a family emotionally disrupted by the disappearance of their mother (and wife), Hope, in a Nebraska tornado of 1978. Hope was swept up, along with her Singer sewing machine and a Steinway piano, but she never came down. Due to the absence of her remains, all that stands in the graveyard is her cenotaph. Twenty-five years later, the three grown-up children are still trying to cope with their grief. None ever married. Larkin, an art history professor (whose work is symbolic with her loss and grief) hides behind food and refuses to "leave the ground." Gaelan is a weatherman (ah! the irony) who has only superficial, sexual relationships with women, and the youngest, Bonnie, is a virgin and garbologist. She roams after storms to look for "archival" remains of things that flew away in the tornado with their mother. And she talks to the dead at the cemetery. There is also a beloved but inscrutable stepmother, Viney, (although she never legally married their dad); a large supporting cast of unforgettable characters; ancestral Welsh traditions; and the Nebraska weather and topography, a salient ingredient in pulling the story together. The prose is beautiful and evocative as the story moves along non-linearly, but with grace. Past events are revealed gradually and build momentum as it catches up to the present. You will experience an intimate relationship with these radiant, unconventional characters and their extraordinary story. There are some themes similar to The Lovely Bones--loss, unresolved grief, isolation, the meaning of memories and the idea of home. However, Kallos' novel is richer, more sprawling and textured. John Irving comes to mind, with veins of Philip Roth, Margot Livesy, and Ann Tyler. She is an original, though--she leaves her own memorable imprint. This is no garden-variety redemption story. It exhilarates with an elixir of spiritual, metaphysical and deeply human voices, of things said, unsaid, unuttered, and forever sung. For a taste of the author's wit, poise, sensibility, and charm, read her bio on her website at www.stephaniekallos.com

An Amazing Story

I loved this book! It is a beautifully written story of one family and one Welsh Town in Southeastern Nebraska. We are taken through the life of Hope and Llwellyn Jones and their three children, Larken, Gaelan and Bonnie. This is also the story of Vinie (the children's stepmother) yet she never really married their father. The couple marry in the early 1960's and settle down in his hometown of Emlyn Springs, Nebraska. It is a town that honors all their Welsh traditions and Hope falls in love with the town as a young woman. Llwellyn is a Doctor and Hope a stay at home mom, who suffers several miscarriages before giving birth to 3 children. Through excerpts from Hope's diary throughout the book we learn of her feelings as she goes through these losses and tries to adapt to and fit in to this very "set in its ways" small town. At the same time we are taken through present day (2004) and the lives of Larken, Gaelan, Bonnie and Vinie. Llwellyn is struck down and killed by lightning in 2004 and from that point on we learn the details of the life he has had. We learn that Hope was diagnosed with MS and that she was "taken up" during a tornado in 1978. This is such a dynamic book, I highly recommend it. I had trouble getting to sleep at night worrying about these people and couldn't wait to get back to the book the next day. All the characters of this book display a humaness that we all have. It is believeable and inspiring to follow these people through their lives. It has heart and warmth not easily found anymore in writing. Great work!!!