Name: Sons From Afar
ISBN: 9780689808890

Cynthia Voigt

Six years after coming to live with their grandmother, James and Sammy Tillerman go in search of their long-lost father.

Sons From Afar

Mahasin S Ameen

I really, really like Voigt's writing style. She has a way of capturing the complicated emotions of each character. This book focuses on James and Sammy. Last year I read Homecoming and Dicey's Song and just thought they were okay, but this book was different. 

I still am not a big fan of James as a character. He's significantly less annoying in this book than he was in the other two, but that's not saying much. I know that it's a clear indication that James is emotionally stunted and insecure about himself physically, he really needed a lot more personal growth than I think we see in Sons from Afar. Sammy on the other hand, was a whiny six-seven year old who said "good-o" way to much, but he's not like that anymore. I think emotionally Sammy is facing a lot of the same problems James is, but makes up for it with physical strength and a tough guy bravado. Sammy's weakness is on his sleeve though, when James brings up the idea of their father, a man who abandoned their mother before Sammy was even born, Sammy gets angry. You see a full range of emotions from Sammy, anger at being abandoned, the desire for love and acceptance through is friend Robin's family, the shame of having people ask about his parents. 

I wasn't planning on reading another Tillerman book but I want the closure I think reading Seventeen Against the Dealer will bring. Plus the book is only 233 pages, I should be able to knock that out in a few quiet hours.

Sons From Afar

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