Chapter 18
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The other difficult thing to get used to is the abundance of food. Saroo and Mum name food items for each other in Hindi and English. Mum cooks Indian food often, but Saroo’s diet slowly becomes more Australian. He’s shocked the first time he sees Mum with beef—as a Hindu, it’s taboo to slaughter cows, which are considered holy animals. Eventually, the abundance of food overcomes Saroo’s cultural preferences. He peers out at them, and feels as though none of them could believe that they were going to be a family.
I couldn't imagine that a sequel featuring Gamache in retirement could be as good and postponed reading this book for a long time and unfortunately it does not live up to the rest of the series. As a five year old, he tries to ask passerbyers for help but is either not understood or ignored all together. He begins sleeping under benches at the train station with a group of homeless children and sneaking onto different trains every day trying to find his way back home. One night a group of men approach the children and start to chase after them.
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He explains that years later, he discovered that the area of Calcutta where he lived on the streets was also called Howrah, named after the city’s massive Howrah Station. Josef’s experiences in the war disturbed him, and though he was initially kind and trustworthy, he soon became delusional and violent. Mum grew up terrified of him and left school at age 16 to escape. She met Dad a few years later, and they married and moved to Hobart. Because of Mum’s experiences with Josef and because of a vision of herself with a brown-skinned child she had when she was twelve, she was firm in her desire to adopt.
I would say that this book is pretty much filler and you can skim it to get the bare bones of the story and can skip to the next book in the series. I had a hard time with the overall mystery that was solved here and how Peter was worked into that plot. It didn't make a lot of sense and the villain reveal in this one was done really badly. I liked what another reviewer said about this being a backwards mystery and honestly it was a backwards mystery. I wish that Penny had just decided to not loop in two mysteries for the price of one in this book since neither one of them were carried off very well.
Other books in the series
‘Patron,’ Jean-Guy started to say, but Gamache put his hand on Beauvoir’s arm to stop him. You begin your latest Gamache novel in the rural, serene setting of Three Pines. Humor is liberally sprinkled along with mouthwatering descriptions of the frequent meals enjoyed by all. I soon felt like I was hanging out with good friends, having a great time, sitting around and shooting the breeze. I need some time to see how I feel about all these changes and hope the next novel continues to aid in that transition. The whole group of friends from Three Pines get involved in the search, including Ruth and her sidekick Rosa the duck.
Another social custom that has been violated because of the war is respect for the elderly. He is shocked when the rebels capture and torture an old man who hardly has the strength to stand. To further scare the old man, the rebels fire a bullet near his ear and laugh when he thinks he's actually been shot. His pain and despair seems to entertain the rebels, but it causes members of Ishmael's group to cry and to vomit. This shows the lack of humanity that has broken down among the rebels and the humanity that still exists for Ishmael, Junior, and their friends.
Saroo Brierley
It's gone from being an engaging mystery series with a great deal of hidden insight to false insight being crammed in at every other line. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar and an ugly painting is ugly no matter how many hundreds of times you turn it over. Armand Gamache, is the retired chief inspector of homicide from the Surete du Quebec. He moved to Three Pines with his wife Rene Marie to heal physically and spirituality. With the help of Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his former protégé, they attempt to retrace Peter's steps as he moved across the globe.
Aside from the annoying characters, the plot is less than compelling. Penny always has the action of her novels develop from her characters; it’s always more about character development than a suspenseful plot. Much of the novel is the Three Pine main characters looking at Peter’s bad paintings and trying to find a hidden message in the paintings.
At first, Tasmanian law prevents them from adopting if they can have their own children; however, 16 years after their decision to adopt, they realize the law has been changed. Since ISSA puts children with families the fastest, they send their file to the organization, and Saroo arrives three months later. Saroo says that he’s grateful to his adoptive parents for the life they gave him. His adopted mother wishes more Australians would sponsor and adopt children and that Australia would simplify adoption laws.
Saroo’s Australian parents have a passion for adoption and give other families advice on adoption. They treat Saroo well, taking him on family vacations and being patient with him as he adjusts to a new culture. Saroo lives a happy and peaceful life in Australia. Their family ends up adopting another Indian boy called Mantosh who has a mental disorder which puts some strain on their family.
The Long Way Home takes itself way too seriously, is boring, and written in a choppy, annoying style. The characters are tedious in their charming quirkiness, Three Pines sounds like a French-Canadian Disney village, and I hope freaking Gamache finally reads the whole damn Balm of Gilead book. More words were devoted to his habit of reading this book than developing the less-than-compelling non-plot.
Saroo’s Indian family was thrilled to see him again, and they were grateful for Saroo’s Australian family having cared for him for so long. Sadly, Saroo learned that Guddu never came back for him at the station all those years before was because Guddu had been killed by a train. During his second visit to India, Saroo decided to follow his route as a child to Calcutta by taking the train. Having made peace with the past, Saroo looked to the future. Though Saroo possesses no religious belief, he does believe in fate. He believes that everything that has happened to him has happened as it should for him to be where he is in the present.
After months of no success, one day by coincidence Saroo clicks on a part of the map where he recognizes a bridge and familiar overpass. He traces the path back to his hometown and confirms that it is his hometown through a Facebook group. The city ended up being almost on the other side of the country, a lot farther than Saroo originally thought it was. He finds out his town is actually named "Ginesh Talai" instead of "Ginestlay" as he remembered it.
As Saroo grows older and goes off to university his curiosity about his birth mother and sibling begins to grow. He finds himself distracted and constantly thinking about his childhood, trying to remember all of their details of his life in India. With the encouragement of his Indian friends he met in university and his girlfriend Lisa, he decides to begin his search for his hometown. He uses google maps and for several months spends hours every day carefully combing and possible routes he could have taken to Calcutta, trying to remember details of names and landmarks.
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