When We Were Romans: A Novel

This is one of the most charming books I've ever read. The voice of the child narrator, Lawrence, is one you'll never forget. The story is masterfully told, keeping you guessing until the last page. A glorious novel that's at once sweet, dark and page-turning.

WHEN WE WERE ROMANS by Matthew Kneale Nan A. Talese, Publisher ISBN: 978-0-385-52625-8 I had not been reading a whole lot lately and decided that I would ease my way back into my 20 plus ARC pile. I chose this book out of the pile mainly because it was only 224 pages long and I figured I could blow through it fairly fast. What follows are my thoughts on this book. Please read the entire review before deciding on this book. I was hoping for something reasonably light. What I found was a well written book with lots of characters that I did not like. All of them had issues and not a tremendous amount of redeeming qualities. The early reviews likened this book to "To Kill A Mockingbird" and I spent most of the book wondering why. I truly fought my way through the book. The entire book was about the frustrations that the 9 year old protagonist was feeling. It starts out with his mother, his sister, and himself fleeing their cottage in England because of an abusive father that was stalking the family. They run away to Rome to stay with the mother "Hannah's" friends from years before. The troubles just seemed to get from bad to worse. Slowly throughout the book certain truths started to become more and more apparent to the reader. Even though the story was sad and frustrating I found myself wanting to read more and more. I wanted to have something good start to happen. I wanted the truth to finally come out. Finally when I was done I could feel satisfied. The ending was the best that could have come out of a very bad situation. During the book I got the sense of being a voyeur watching a train wreck taking place. It was painful yet I just could not look away. After I was done reading the book I started to really think about the character of the boy Lawrence that Matthew Kneale created. I don't think I have ever seen a better job of creating the voice of a nine year old child hopelessly trying to hold his family together. Torn between his needs as a child and his desire to care for his mother was so perfect that I was unaware of anything but his view of his world. Then in the end the difficulty of overcoming the situation that he was placed in was perfectly portrayed. If this book is not put on the classic shelf I expect that a hole will exist there than can never quite be filled. If you are looking for a light beach read this is not the book for you. If you want a book that makes you feel and explore the relationships of life this is for you. Highly Recommended

For me, this was a pleasant introduction to the writing of prize-winning bestselling author Matthew Kneale (English Passengers). Now-- how to to convey my enthusiasm without giving away the story line? Opening the adventure, we are drawn into the world of nine year old Lawrence, explaining the vastness, power and mystery of outer space with appreciative awe. We can already sense a slight dizziness and start to realize we don't know the answers to a lot of life's mysteries. "The Great Attractor is pulling us... probably a black hole...we will be stuck there forever. We are all being pulled towards [it] but hardly anybody knows." This innocent reflection of a child's fascination with outer space forshadows the persistent force of his mother's increasingly bizarre behavior and the dark spiral of the story. From start to finish, the voice of young Lawrence carries us through events which abruptly propel him, his mother, his pet hamster, and his little sister away from their London home to a vagabond existence in the homes of generous friends in Rome, finally finding a comfortable temporary space of their own. This brief tranquility is not to last, however, as old feelings of insecurity begin to grow again, stonger than ever. The voice of Lawrence is intentionally indicated by frequent misspellings not uncommon for his age and imagination. When I was that age I remember "living inside my head" a lot and if written out, it would have looked a lot like Lawrence's musings. Since Lawrence is often wise beyond his years and warily observant of everyones' behavior, the "misspelling voice" helped keep in mind that he is just a young child after all, and thus his character stays intact throughout the crescendo of paranoia and sheer mayhem created by his mother's perception of reality. Through Lawrence's descriptions, his mother's and sister's characters develop. As he meets new people, he privately ascribes to them animal traits of his own peculiar choosing, which is his unique expression of endearment and a means of understanding their behavior. He has to care about someone before assigning them an animal personality. It seems to be a way for him to casually acknowledge psychological traits by couching them in "animal" terms. When the family reaches Rome and Lawrence is given some humorous history books, his comical retelling of the lives of several famous Caesars makes a fitting background for the family's haphazard adventures in Rome and the growing psychological confusion swirling around his mother's behavior. Uncertainty, fear, and panic build, and a child's mind is pulled inexorably toward his mother's delusions. For all its serious theme, When We Were Romans is a poignant and humorous story which builds from a flash of uncertainty to a keen panic and a very moving climax. It is an unexpectedly powerful human drama revealed through the mind of a curious, loving child.

When his mother decides to pack the family up to go to Rome, nine-year-old Lawrence isn't sure what to think. All he knows is that suddenly, his father is everywhere, out to get them, and they have to get away. He watches as his mother sinks into mental illness on their exodus, observing all with the sometimes innocent, sometimes surprisingly wise voice of a child. Intertwined with his story are his descriptions of his various interests, like the Solar System and some of the popes. I loved this book. I've since learned that my feelings aren't universally felt, and I suspect I know why. Lawrence felt like me. How hard is it to grow up with mental illness in your family? Only those of us who have experienced it think about it, just as with any other familial problem. His struggles spoke to me, his thoughts echoed mine when I was around his age - honestly, it was eerie, but I was so moved. I also liked that it was written in his child's voice. As I was reading it, I was sucked in and totally believed in this character. Matthew Kneale never slips out of Lawrence's voice and it's easy to sink in and fall in love with him as his reactions echo that of every child. I wasn't bothered by the spelling errors or the run-on grammar; I took it as an echo of Lawrence's thoughts, as if we were inside his head or he was telling us the story. It didn't bother me when he spelled names wrong or the new words he was learning were spelled phonetically. I was willing to accept it as the voice of a child, and I think that's where people have trouble with this book, because they're not willing to do the same. They get stuck on "Franseen" and Lawrence's run-on sentences and can't fall into the illusion. I think this writing style actually made the book stronger because I can just barely remember when my thoughts were like that, too, although I can't say I had Lawrence's spelling issues. I think what moved me most is his relationship with his sister Jemima. I remember feeling very similarly towards my brother, and of course now everything like that is tinged with the edge of my grief. You pull together in such circumstances, even if you fight the rest of the time. And that's not to mention the end, which made me cry and just felt so true. I even liked Lawrence's historical and scientific tangents; it gave us a deeper edge into his personality and related his situation to the wider world, like he was expressing his feelings in a different way. In essence, I unequivocally loved this book. I'm planning on emailing the author just to tell him how incredibly amazing I think it is. I think you should read it, too, but only if you're willing to suspend disbelief and accept Lawrence's story. Otherwise, the spelling and grammar will drive you crazy. In the end, this is an extremely accurate (take it from me, it really is) and moving picture from the head of a child whose mother has a mental illness and who tries to adapt in any way he can.

A fascinating look at a dysfunctional family. Alternately funny and heartbreaking as Lawrence attempts to help make things right again for his family, this story puts a unique spin on the effects of parental mental illness on children and manages to be an entertaining read in the process.