Jeff Gillenkirk

Full review:

http://readingthroughlife.ca/home-away-review/

Short excerpt:

What I liked the most about Home, Away was how it flipped the usual parent/child dynamic found in my most books, by focusing on the father rather than the mother. There simply aren't that many books that focus on teen characters and single dads who actually want to be around and try to get custody of their kids over the mother. And so this was a nice change, and that part of the story was really fleshed out well: Jason's character was believable and I found myself frustrated as a reader sympathizing with him.… (meer)

There's no shortage of stories about fathers and sons and baseball out there. It's one of the classic American stories, and I read some when I was growing up, and then still more later as I grew older. There's even a pretty well known book by Donald Hall called Fathers Playing Catch with Sons. So when you want to write a book about the parental relationship through the eyes of baseball, you better have a pretty good hook.

Jeff Gillenkirk does come up with something quite interesting: a father, Jason Thibodeaux, so devoted to his son Rafe that, at the outset, he's given up his promising baseball career to tend to his boy, taking the year off from Stanford. The book then progresses through the years, focusing on the conflicts between Jason and his career, Jason and his ex-wife, Jason and Rafe, and Jason and the way that society views fathers. In giving up that much, and in trying to keep control of his son, Jason gets some decidedly mixed reactions, and that's interestingly handled.

Jason's journey, from Stanford to the big leagues to Mexico and around, and later on, Rafe's troubles with and without his father, would be pretty engrossing on their own, without the baseball added in, but some of that does provide good color as well. It never takes over the story, the baseball, but it's always there, the demands it places on the main characters, and the culture and characters and rewards it brings along. Gillenkirk is an advocate of the importance of fathers in parenting, and so perhaps it's natural that side is stronger in the story than the sports component; those who don't like baseball shouldn't be thrown off too much by the story.

As good as the story can be, and as interesting Gillenkirk's take, the book does have some pretty noticeable flaws, as well. The writing is hard to follow at points for who's talking, and the style can be choppy, as well. The characters beyond Jason and Rafe are generally one-dimensional; the ex-wife character is maybe 1.5 dimensional, and that's the limit. The pacing felt off; overall; sections felt rushed, particularly towards the end, so there's not time for some of the later plot developments to really feel fully impactful. And, yes, the ending... I don't suppose it was bad, per se, but it was very pat, just the situation of it, and I didn't much care for it.

I don't want to sound too harsh: the story overall is good, and it's a different take on the father/son story here. I'd consider giving it to my dad as a father's day present or such, and for people who like seeing a good bonding story, but I wouldn't give it really wide distribution. That would call for a book with a bit more of a change-up at the end, rather than the fastball you're expecting.… (meer)

"Home,Away", by Jeff Gillenkirk, is a painful yet endearing portrayal of a son whose divorced parents make poor choices while raising him. They are both educated with professional jobs. Yet, they are unable to put aside their hate and anger to effectively raise a happy and emotionally balanced child. They eventually learn from their mistakes and seek to rectify them, only too late. The damage is done and they are left to deal with the resulting anger and resentment that fuels their son's negative behavior. The pain one feels is raw and very real. This is Gillenkirk's success. He is able to pull the reader into the lives of his characters and make one truly feel the power of their emotions. Unfortunetly, the ending does not match the scope and depth of the novel. It is too mushy and soap-like. One feels little doves should be happily flying over-head because everything is eternally wonderful in Never, Never Land. It is ready made for the movies and, as such, would be a feel good story no one could dislike.… (meer)