Simply put - Away from Everywhere took me away from everything and
back again.
After hearing Chad Pelley himself read the first few pages of his
book at the Writer's Federation of New Brunswick WordsSpring I was
gripped and disappointed that his book had already sold out at the
event. I added it immediately to my "to-buy" list and put it right
at the top.
Hearing Pelley read the beginning of the novel again when I read
it, I was able to carry his voice throughout the book which added
so much to it's impact.
Pelley took on the voice of two brothers with completely different
views of their similar world as well as a woman caught between
them. Not knowing who to sympathize with more I was easily relating
to the married doctor detached from his family, his brother the
passionate brother falling in love with the loves possibilities and
the woman who was married to the first but falling for the second.
As a writer I easily sided with Owen, the struggling author
searching for his next big break but being distracted by the
freedom and excitement of reality only I couldn't look past that he
was taking a wife away from her husband and two young girls. I'm a
sucker for romance and falling in love, of course, but death do you
part and all that. Once committed always committed, with so very
few exceptions.
And Alex. The man trying to be a success in the work place at the
expense of his relationships. While he was ever diligent in making
his social status climb he disengaged from those who mattered most
with such ease I learned to despise him and yet forgive him in the
next scene.
Their father who was a successful writer we meet only through
memories and the eyes of his sons as his world of fiction became
his own reality. Scoring jobs, meeting people, and solving crimes
that could never be recorded for proof and were no longer written
down as fiction. I had to wonder how many fictional writers have a
little schizophrenia inside trying to pour out, our fingers acting
as a dam.
A brilliant novel which left me both loving being a writer,
inspired by Pelley who is becoming a great success in the author
field at such a young age and also cursing the fact that I truly am
a writer as there is so much truth to Owen's struggle and
distraction with making a living doing what he loves.
This is a must must must must read in my books and one I will
definitely be reading again in later years to see how my view of
their stories have changed. It'll be interesting to discover their
world all over again. I can't wait for the next novel by Pelley.
Thanks for reading,
Sarah Butland