My Home Is Far Away: An Autobiographical Novel

Dawn Powell was no whiner- and as this highly autobiographical novel attests, she had plenty of reason to complain! The story of her turn of the century Ohio childhood, is told through the viewpoint of Marcia, the gifted, plain, middle child of three motherless sisters. Despite a neglectful, absent and grandiose father, ( a child himself,) and a host of inadequate relatives, the girls are largely delighted with their world, which by modern standards is one of poverty and neglect. The book is an object lesson in attitudes and expectations that become reality. This was an era that discouraged pity, and would have been dumbfounded by modern 'confessional' trends. The attitudes toward children, would be barbaric today. The girls remained loyal to their father, even as they grew to understand his weaknesses, and they found delight in characters that would be considered dangerous and forbidden today. Their own grandmother, refusing to attend to fire safety, managed to burn down four houses, including her own, from which weeks before the girls had just been removed. This is a story of a triumph of childhood with nothing of the tone of the adult looking back in a lament. In some ways, it is similar to "Angela's Ashes," another horrible experience of childhood, that uniquely avoids the subject of depression and rage. This even holds true for the archetypical wicked stepmother, an unrelenting, hateful woman who sadistically confiscated or forbade any object or activity of pleasure. The most amazing part of Marcia, is this 'game' she played, when she was in the midst of an ordeal. She could reach down inside of herself and become the person who was devoid of reactions to the current stress and be completely strong and capable of enduring the trauma through to the end. It is a testimony, spoken by a child, of the human spirit, and the infinite manifestations and sources of power by which mankind survives. I will definitely read this book again, for its fresh outlook and restrained economy.

This is one of the most amazing books I have ever read. Dawn Powell turns what could be the stuff of melodrama--small-town girlhood with an unloving stepmother--into a deeply beautiful exploration of growing up and finding strength and beauty wherever you can. It is as smart as the very best of Tolstoy, as witty as Chekhov, as purely American as Mark Twain, and still as uplifting (and accessible) as any Oprah's Book Club selection could hope to be. It's an almost perfect book, and one you will never forget.

In this autobiographical novel, Powell gives us a wistful, moving look back at her upbringing, which was not an easy one. Although the tone and structure bear a very heavy debt to Anderson's "Winesburg, Ohio," this one stands on its own as a coming of age tale, convincingly told from a young girl's point of view. I had never heard of Powell before picking up this book, and her name goes unmentioned in most critical surveys of 20th century American literature, which is tragic. She's an excellent, evocative writer who deserves a wider following. I'd recommend this to anyone

"My Home is Far Away" is a child's eye view of growing up in the changing America of the 1920's. The prose is not-a-wasted-word sharp, and it picks you up and doesn't put you down til you're finished with the book. The closest thing I'd compare it to is Sinclair Lewis, Babbitt or Main Street. But Dawn Powell treats her subjects a little more gently, even while portraying the hypocracy and selfishness of the characters. I've been recommending this book to everyone who asks

This is a novel closely based on the author's childhood, growing up in rural Ohio in the early 20th century. While Dawn Powell uses an adult's language, the perspective is a child's. Although there is nothing monumental about the characters or their fates, the depth to which the reader sees and understands them is a testament to the author's skill. The writing is exquisite and the story is gripping in its depiction of a child's resilience in the face of adults who fail her at almost every turn. I finished the book weeks ago and am still thinking about it