When We Were Romans takes us on a journey with 9 year old Lawrence,
and the physical travels and actual destination are not important.
What is important in this book is the journey of growth and
maturing that Lawrence experiences on the way. Lawrence is dragged
away from his normal life and surroundings to accompany his mother
back to her past, where she believes everything will be better.
Along the way Lawrence undergoes many inner battles with himself as
he fights to hold onto his childhood and innocence. But as the man
of the family he takes on the responsibility of his family. If this
weren't enough for a boy to deal with, he also has to come to terms
with the fact that his mother is quite possibly losing her
mind.
When We Were Romans was a very engrossing story that was paced out
like a madman's dream. Narrated by Lawrence in a stream of thoughts
and insights from his adolescent viewpoint. While using this
technique was a wonderful way of making the reader feel as though
they were in the mind of Lawrence, it did have it's drawbacks for
me. To keep in sync with the nine year old's narration, When We
Were Romans was also written in a childlike way. The spelling
errors and lack of grammatical editing was really hard for me to
get past. If this sort of writing does not bother you, then I
highly recommend this book. But if you are like me, and pick out
errors while reading, perhaps you should pick this up on audio CD
instead. Just make sure you either read or listen as this story is
well worth it.