The Longest Way Home | |||||||
Robert Silverberg | |||||||
HarperCollins Eos, 304 pages | |||||||
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A review by Cindy Lynn Speer
On the outside, the physical journey is what seems to be the centre of The Longest Way Home. Through it, Joseph makes contact
with all the different cultures of his land, from the Folk who settled here before the Earth-born Masters came, to the
Indigenes, the only non-humanoid race to make constant contact with their space faring interlopers. His meetings with
these different people are interesting, and his struggles along the journey are exciting. This is important, because
it helps keep the true theme of the book palatable and interesting. The true journey of this book is the one Joseph
is forced to make inside of himself. When he starts off, Joseph is a Master-to-be, young, groomed for his
position and very serious about it. He is a key figure in a feudalistic society where he believes that without his
direction, the Folk under his care will suffer and die. It never occurs to him, until this journey, that the Folk
might want to have a say in this. The fact that the Folk are people with real hopes and dreams and a desire for
self-governance is a real eye opener for him. As he travels, he spends time with the different cultures, and
manages to take something away with him. You can almost see his thoughts develop and change, especially after his
philosophical talks with the Chief of the Indigenes, who befriends him. He's an interesting character... often, a
character of this sort will start off as a bit of a spoiled brat, the more for the change in his persona to really
show. Not so with Joseph. He starts off as a kind, if naive young man who believes that being a Master is a sacred
duty to be taken on with great care. He wants to be a good leader. As the book goes on, he quickly and readily
embraces changes, simple things such as asking someone for help rather than demanding it, or understanding that other
people have a point of view. The fact that he realizes that other cultural points of view are worthy and just as
relevant as his own transforms him even more than the arduous journey. I found it interesting that the technology of
that world had to be taken away... Joseph is taken back to a "purer" time, as the Folk have blocked his access to the
technological advances of the time. (This is why he has to walk/cart back home, rather than fly as he did to get to
the place in the beginning of the book.) I wonder if Robert Silverberg is saying that true changes in the soul have to be
done away from distractions. Most of the time, Joseph has nothing to do but think. Away from the faster paced life,
he is able to go inside himself, really search. It is an old theme, in a way, and one I think we will revisit the more
fast paced our own modern lives become.
The Longest Way Home recalls, in a lot of ways, the old-time frontier adventures, not the ones with the cowboys and the Indians,
but the ones where people have to learn to survive in the wilderness or along the prairie. His adventures in survival
are exciting, and the travels along this world are a pleasant escape.
Cindy Lynn Speer loves books so much that she's designed most of her life around them, both as a librarian and a writer. Her books aren't due out anywhere soon, but she's trying. You can find her site at www.apenandfire.com. |
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