What do you think?
Rate this book
Call Me Home
Call Me Home has an epic scope in the tradition of Louise Erdrich’s The Plague of Doves or Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping and braids the stories of a family in three distinct Amy, who leaves her Texas home at 19 to start a new life with a man she barely knows, and her two children, Jackson and Lydia, who are rocked by their parents’ abusive relationship. When Amy is forced to bargain for the safety of one child over the other, she must retrace the steps in the life she has chosen. Jackson, 18 and made visible by his sexuality, leaves home and eventually finds work on a construction crew in the Idaho mountains, where he begins a potentially ruinous affair with Don, the married foreman of his crew. Lydia, his 12-year-old sister, returns with her mother to Texas, struggling to understand what she perceives to be her mother’s selfishness. At its heart, this is a novel about family, our choices and how we come to live with them, what it means to be queer in the rural West, and the changing idea of home.
292 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2015
About the author
Megan Kruse
10 books33 followersMegan Kruse is the author of Call Me Home, a novel from Hawthorne Books (2015), with an introduction by Elizabeth Gilbert.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews
January 8, 2016
Update 1/08/2016: Megan Kruse named a PNBA Book Award Winner 2016! Brava, Megan! http://www.pnba.org/2016-book-awards....
The power of desire. The first flush of lust that takes us to trembling bodies we hope will shelter us, bodies that might become home. Megan Kruse, in her debut, Call Me Home writes of desire and of home, and the vast space that separates them. In her world, that space is filled with violence, betrayal, and smoldering, heart-twisting longing.
Amy, barely out of high school and adrift in a tiny central Texas town, marries Gary a few months after they meet on a blind date. Gary is sure of himself, a man with a plan. He takes her immediately to Washington state, where he attempts to farm five acres of forest in the moss and mud of rural Skagit county.
Although there are early, frightening signs of instability, Gary isn’t immediately abusive. The first blows come several years into the marriage, when the couple has become a young family, with a five-year-old and another child on the way. In retrospect, we see what a skilled manipulator Gary has become, a sociopath who holds the puppet strings of his family in a tight grip. In one wrenching scene, many years into the marriage, we also see how skilled Amy has become in responding to the abuse. The week her children are at a school camp, she forces Gary into a blowout, knowing that there is a period of peace—weeks, months even—that follow a bad beating. If she can bring down violence upon herself now she will spare her children, at least for a little while.
With non-linear flashbacks that drift in and out of the main story, Call Me Home focuses on the year that Amy leaves Gary and this time, the leaving seems to stick. With her in flight is her thirteen-year-old daughter Lydia. Left behind is her eighteen-year-old son, Jackson. Amy and Jackson cover most of the narrative ground in anxious, searing chapters and Lydia, whose clear and plaintive voice is the book’s only first-person point-of-view, provides a counterpoint of hope.
Jackson, left behind after a heart-rending betrayal of his mother and sister, doesn’t remain long in the depressing double-wide, where his father Gary is a bomb that explodes again and again, without warning. Jackson lights out for Portland, where he hustles for a few dollars, a warm bed, drink or drugs. Offered a way out by a social worker, he takes a job cleaning up debris at a construction site in the Idaho panhandle. He lives alone, deep in the dry Alpine forest, shacking up in the sleeper cab of a long-haul sem. Jackson, reserved, lonely, nearly invisible, falls in love with his crew boss, Don, a beautiful man in his mid-thirties. Don is married, but during their trysts in half-built A-frames, his promises to leave his wife tumble out of his mouth like starlings from a barn.
While Jackson kicks his way into adulthood with steel-toed boots in a tiny, depressed mining town, Amy and Lydia find shelter in New Mexico. They change their names and prepare to rejoin the world, on guard but looking forward with hope and relief. Inexplicably, Amy returns them to her hometown, where fear that Gary will seek them out is overcome by Amy’s desire to be within the shelter of the family she left nearly twenty years earlier.
Megan Kruse writes with piercing clarity and a profound understanding of poverty, abuse, maternal love and the physical intoxication of lust. Her prose is spellbinding, unflinching, and vital. Call Me Home is one of the year’s most important debuts, for it signals the arrival of a singular, forceful narrative voice.
The power of desire. The first flush of lust that takes us to trembling bodies we hope will shelter us, bodies that might become home. Megan Kruse, in her debut, Call Me Home writes of desire and of home, and the vast space that separates them. In her world, that space is filled with violence, betrayal, and smoldering, heart-twisting longing.
Amy, barely out of high school and adrift in a tiny central Texas town, marries Gary a few months after they meet on a blind date. Gary is sure of himself, a man with a plan. He takes her immediately to Washington state, where he attempts to farm five acres of forest in the moss and mud of rural Skagit county.
Although there are early, frightening signs of instability, Gary isn’t immediately abusive. The first blows come several years into the marriage, when the couple has become a young family, with a five-year-old and another child on the way. In retrospect, we see what a skilled manipulator Gary has become, a sociopath who holds the puppet strings of his family in a tight grip. In one wrenching scene, many years into the marriage, we also see how skilled Amy has become in responding to the abuse. The week her children are at a school camp, she forces Gary into a blowout, knowing that there is a period of peace—weeks, months even—that follow a bad beating. If she can bring down violence upon herself now she will spare her children, at least for a little while.
With non-linear flashbacks that drift in and out of the main story, Call Me Home focuses on the year that Amy leaves Gary and this time, the leaving seems to stick. With her in flight is her thirteen-year-old daughter Lydia. Left behind is her eighteen-year-old son, Jackson. Amy and Jackson cover most of the narrative ground in anxious, searing chapters and Lydia, whose clear and plaintive voice is the book’s only first-person point-of-view, provides a counterpoint of hope.
Jackson, left behind after a heart-rending betrayal of his mother and sister, doesn’t remain long in the depressing double-wide, where his father Gary is a bomb that explodes again and again, without warning. Jackson lights out for Portland, where he hustles for a few dollars, a warm bed, drink or drugs. Offered a way out by a social worker, he takes a job cleaning up debris at a construction site in the Idaho panhandle. He lives alone, deep in the dry Alpine forest, shacking up in the sleeper cab of a long-haul sem. Jackson, reserved, lonely, nearly invisible, falls in love with his crew boss, Don, a beautiful man in his mid-thirties. Don is married, but during their trysts in half-built A-frames, his promises to leave his wife tumble out of his mouth like starlings from a barn.
While Jackson kicks his way into adulthood with steel-toed boots in a tiny, depressed mining town, Amy and Lydia find shelter in New Mexico. They change their names and prepare to rejoin the world, on guard but looking forward with hope and relief. Inexplicably, Amy returns them to her hometown, where fear that Gary will seek them out is overcome by Amy’s desire to be within the shelter of the family she left nearly twenty years earlier.
Megan Kruse writes with piercing clarity and a profound understanding of poverty, abuse, maternal love and the physical intoxication of lust. Her prose is spellbinding, unflinching, and vital. Call Me Home is one of the year’s most important debuts, for it signals the arrival of a singular, forceful narrative voice.
January 1, 2016
Beautifully poetic yet emotionally brutal at times, Megan Kruse's
Call Me Home
is absolutely fantastic. I stumbled on it when it was recommended by a columnist on a blog I read faithfully, and it really blew me away; clearly the last book I'll read in 2015 is one of the best I'll read all year.
Amy is growing up in the small Texas town of Fannin, and she dreams of something better in her life. She thinks she has found it in Gary, who is mercurial but passionate, and whoo dreams of getting away from Texas and the disregard of his family. The two move to rural Washington, and it isn't long before Amy realizes that Gary's passion quickly turns violent.
The couple raise two children, Jackson and Lydia, and Amy bargains with herself that if she lets Gary continue his periodic abuse of her without reprisal, he won't turn his eye onto the children. But Jackson and Lydia know all too well what is going on, and Jackson tries to protect his younger sister from the realities of their parents' marriage. As Jackson's homosexuality becomes more apparent, both Amy and Lydia realize that they must do what they can to protect him as well.
After several thwarted attempts to escape, Amy finally succeeds in leaving Gary, taking Lydia with her, and hoping Jackson will find the freedom to live the life he wants. As Amy returns to her hometown to try and retrace the steps that took her into the life she has fled, Lydia tries to understand what would keep her mother tethered to her father for so long, and whether she has any of her father inside her.
Meanwhile, Jackson, after a period of hustling, decides to go to Idaho, where he gets a job on a construction crew. He is conscious of being different from the other men and tries to keep his sexuality a secret, but it's not long before he embarks on a potentially dangerous relationship, which tests his heart in ways he has never experienced.
Call Me Home is about what we do for love, and how sometimes we put our own self-interests last, much to our detriment. It's about the pull of family and those we choose as our family, and the importance of belonging and feeling a sense of security. And, of course, it's also a book about the destructive effects of abuse on all of those who witness and live through it.
Megan Kruse is a tremendously gifted writer. Her storytelling is lyrical, poetic, and mesmerizing, as she weaves the story through different points in time, narrated by Amy, Jackson, and Lydia. Jackson's story is probably the most fleshed out and he is the most fascinating character, and at times I found myself nearly reading with my hands over my eyes, afraid something might happened to him. This is a moving book that packs a powerful punch, and I hope Kruse's talent finds itself a wide audience.
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
Amy is growing up in the small Texas town of Fannin, and she dreams of something better in her life. She thinks she has found it in Gary, who is mercurial but passionate, and whoo dreams of getting away from Texas and the disregard of his family. The two move to rural Washington, and it isn't long before Amy realizes that Gary's passion quickly turns violent.
The couple raise two children, Jackson and Lydia, and Amy bargains with herself that if she lets Gary continue his periodic abuse of her without reprisal, he won't turn his eye onto the children. But Jackson and Lydia know all too well what is going on, and Jackson tries to protect his younger sister from the realities of their parents' marriage. As Jackson's homosexuality becomes more apparent, both Amy and Lydia realize that they must do what they can to protect him as well.
After several thwarted attempts to escape, Amy finally succeeds in leaving Gary, taking Lydia with her, and hoping Jackson will find the freedom to live the life he wants. As Amy returns to her hometown to try and retrace the steps that took her into the life she has fled, Lydia tries to understand what would keep her mother tethered to her father for so long, and whether she has any of her father inside her.
Meanwhile, Jackson, after a period of hustling, decides to go to Idaho, where he gets a job on a construction crew. He is conscious of being different from the other men and tries to keep his sexuality a secret, but it's not long before he embarks on a potentially dangerous relationship, which tests his heart in ways he has never experienced.
Call Me Home is about what we do for love, and how sometimes we put our own self-interests last, much to our detriment. It's about the pull of family and those we choose as our family, and the importance of belonging and feeling a sense of security. And, of course, it's also a book about the destructive effects of abuse on all of those who witness and live through it.
Megan Kruse is a tremendously gifted writer. Her storytelling is lyrical, poetic, and mesmerizing, as she weaves the story through different points in time, narrated by Amy, Jackson, and Lydia. Jackson's story is probably the most fleshed out and he is the most fascinating character, and at times I found myself nearly reading with my hands over my eyes, afraid something might happened to him. This is a moving book that packs a powerful punch, and I hope Kruse's talent finds itself a wide audience.
See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....
February 8, 2015
I’m not sure how Megan Kruse did it. Her first novel manages to be a swift yet contemplative story of how a family can love each other fiercely even when every heart involved gets broken. Through its cast of characters, she is able to focus on what makes a human life shine with joy or ache with conflict. Her writing is cinematic—going from intense close-ups to beautiful sweeping wide shots. Call Me Home is a multi-layered and deeply felt wonder.
July 7, 2015
RICH, ELOQUENT, HEARTWRENCHING
Nothing prepared me for the heart, body and mind immersion I’d take when reading Megan Kruse’s debut novel Call Me Home. From lyrical language, to living breathing characters; from vivid landscapes to exquisite detail; from gut-wrenching scenes to epic themes, Call Me Home is one of my favorite novels of all time. I escaped with Lidia and her mom, Amy, from an abusive relationship. I sweated with Jackson at his Idaho job and with his lover. I yearned to have this family reunited and heading toward healing. Big novels—the timeless ones that feel both human-small and humanly-epic—stick with you. You remember the characters names, not as characters but as people you’ve come to know and love. You immediately want to pick up the phone and talk to someone about them. Megan Kruse created a world so rich and alive, you want to reread the novel as soon as you finish it. Lush, lustrous, nerve-wracking, painful, glorious, deep, disastrous, uplifting—the list goes on and on when describing this deceptively simple story of a family damaged by abuse, yet held together by their love.
Images that melted my heart:
Amy, the mom
“She knelt by the old metal storage locker in the torn-up garden plot, and the water soaked the knees of her jeans. She could see the house through the dark winter brush. She could hear the hard crack of the axe and the sound of the rain dripping from the trees, a soft and intermittent staccato.”
Lidia, her daughter
“In August, the pig escaped again and my father called the butcher. I was sad but didn’t say it. I stared at the square white packages, lined up like coffins in the freezer. I held one in my hand until it burned with cold. I tried not to look at the empty place in the pasture where the pig had been.
“When my father broke my mother’s nose, I made his sandwich out of the bacon I would never eat myself. … I poured the glass dust into my hand and looked at it shining, and then I laid it between the mayonnaise and the meat.”
Jackson, the son
“His life looked more and more like a stranger’s. They’d never said that at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, that it was possible to have a life you’d never imagined. One you’d never wanted. A quick prayer for Lydia to any God that might be listening—let her be happy, let be at a slumber party, let her have friends—then he pushed the thought of her away before he felt sick and drank off of the whiskey instead.”
Call Me Home is a novel of uncommon beauty, reading at times like memoir, shifting back and forth in time, holographic in point of view, sad yet hopeful throughout, poetically uplifting and quietly heroic at the end.
Nothing prepared me for the heart, body and mind immersion I’d take when reading Megan Kruse’s debut novel Call Me Home. From lyrical language, to living breathing characters; from vivid landscapes to exquisite detail; from gut-wrenching scenes to epic themes, Call Me Home is one of my favorite novels of all time. I escaped with Lidia and her mom, Amy, from an abusive relationship. I sweated with Jackson at his Idaho job and with his lover. I yearned to have this family reunited and heading toward healing. Big novels—the timeless ones that feel both human-small and humanly-epic—stick with you. You remember the characters names, not as characters but as people you’ve come to know and love. You immediately want to pick up the phone and talk to someone about them. Megan Kruse created a world so rich and alive, you want to reread the novel as soon as you finish it. Lush, lustrous, nerve-wracking, painful, glorious, deep, disastrous, uplifting—the list goes on and on when describing this deceptively simple story of a family damaged by abuse, yet held together by their love.
Images that melted my heart:
Amy, the mom
“She knelt by the old metal storage locker in the torn-up garden plot, and the water soaked the knees of her jeans. She could see the house through the dark winter brush. She could hear the hard crack of the axe and the sound of the rain dripping from the trees, a soft and intermittent staccato.”
Lidia, her daughter
“In August, the pig escaped again and my father called the butcher. I was sad but didn’t say it. I stared at the square white packages, lined up like coffins in the freezer. I held one in my hand until it burned with cold. I tried not to look at the empty place in the pasture where the pig had been.
“When my father broke my mother’s nose, I made his sandwich out of the bacon I would never eat myself. … I poured the glass dust into my hand and looked at it shining, and then I laid it between the mayonnaise and the meat.”
Jackson, the son
“His life looked more and more like a stranger’s. They’d never said that at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, that it was possible to have a life you’d never imagined. One you’d never wanted. A quick prayer for Lydia to any God that might be listening—let her be happy, let be at a slumber party, let her have friends—then he pushed the thought of her away before he felt sick and drank off of the whiskey instead.”
Call Me Home is a novel of uncommon beauty, reading at times like memoir, shifting back and forth in time, holographic in point of view, sad yet hopeful throughout, poetically uplifting and quietly heroic at the end.
February 4, 2016
I'm so grateful I got to spend a few days with these courageous, flawed, mistake-prone but profoundly inspirational, human characters. It's not so often I read a book where every detail feels genuine to me, even the words of dialogue. And I think the author did an especially remarkable job with the gay character. A simple but affecting story, involving and moving from start to finish, which will stay with me.
January 1, 2017
This is a dark story that brings a few words to mind: abuse, dirt, sweat, sex, childhood, uncertainty, family.
On the surface it's about the beating of a wife and the two children who have to deal with it. On the inside it's more about the kids making sense of it. And dealing with their own lives. The writing was great, I loved how easily I got sucked in. It read to me like a short story even though it's a full length novel.
The only gripe I have with it, as trivial as it is was the over use of the word electric. It seemed to pop up every 20 pages or so and to me only so many things can be called electric.
On the surface it's about the beating of a wife and the two children who have to deal with it. On the inside it's more about the kids making sense of it. And dealing with their own lives. The writing was great, I loved how easily I got sucked in. It read to me like a short story even though it's a full length novel.
The only gripe I have with it, as trivial as it is was the over use of the word electric. It seemed to pop up every 20 pages or so and to me only so many things can be called electric.
June 5, 2015
A novel written from three different perspectives, three separate voices, all exploring the blueprint of a fragmented family. This book dives deep into the body of trauma, the anatomy of bad decisions, the concept of ownership. What happens when we fall in love, how far does one person over own another person. Heartbreaking, hypnotic, visceral raw and real.
April 2, 2015
This novel had my heart in its hands for 300 pages. A tremendously moving narrative, whose characters will stay with me. Can't wait to read what Megan Kruse does next.
April 19, 2015
It's been a long while since I've finished a book this quickly, so that by itself shows that this is a good book. I loved the flow of it, I loved the way that time line jumped around to slowly fill in the back story.
Jackson's story was really interesting. Part of me wanted to hate him for being a little shit, but with everything that happens to him, it's really hard to. I really wasn't prepared for the sex to be as graphic as it was though. It doesn't really bother me, but it's more what I would have expected from a romance novel.
I absolutely loved Lydia. She has a lot of spunk, even if she's afraid of it. She's very deep and intelligent for her age, taking the time to see and understand what's going on around, rather than being a normal, self absorbed thirteen year old.
I really liked the small details about Texas. Calling it Corpus instead of Corpus Christi. The HEB and The Watermelon Thump. Also, as an Austinite, calling San Antonio a sad place made me giggle. I'm just not sure why she made it seem like Fannin and Lockhart were so close to each other. They really aren't. It's almost a 2 hour drive from one to the other. Not exactly 'just down the road'. Fannin is much, much closer to Victoria, but I guess you can't exactly get that same small town feel from Victoria. She also kept referring to Fannin as South Texas, when it's definitely East. But I guess things like this would only get picked up on by someone who actually grew up in South Texas, like I did.
It's a really good book, but the ending though....I expected a little more drama for the ending.
I'm not saying the ending was BAD, just that I thought it would be better.
Jackson's story was really interesting. Part of me wanted to hate him for being a little shit, but with everything that happens to him, it's really hard to. I really wasn't prepared for the sex to be as graphic as it was though. It doesn't really bother me, but it's more what I would have expected from a romance novel.
I absolutely loved Lydia. She has a lot of spunk, even if she's afraid of it. She's very deep and intelligent for her age, taking the time to see and understand what's going on around, rather than being a normal, self absorbed thirteen year old.
I really liked the small details about Texas. Calling it Corpus instead of Corpus Christi. The HEB and The Watermelon Thump. Also, as an Austinite, calling San Antonio a sad place made me giggle. I'm just not sure why she made it seem like Fannin and Lockhart were so close to each other. They really aren't. It's almost a 2 hour drive from one to the other. Not exactly 'just down the road'. Fannin is much, much closer to Victoria, but I guess you can't exactly get that same small town feel from Victoria. She also kept referring to Fannin as South Texas, when it's definitely East. But I guess things like this would only get picked up on by someone who actually grew up in South Texas, like I did.
It's a really good book, but the ending though....I expected a little more drama for the ending.
I'm not saying the ending was BAD, just that I thought it would be better.
December 1, 2015
I read a sentence and felt eight emotions at once. Its rare to find a book that can deliver that sort of complex reaction once, and yet it happened at least once a chapter with Call Me Home. I want to invite all these characters over for a hug and a bowl of hot soup - I feel we've bonded after I've seen all they've been through. They're so well written they could show up tomorrow and it would be no surprise.
March 1, 2018
Un livre très bien écrit.
Peut-être que la structure qui mélange différentes époques et différents points de vue m'a gêné pour m'attacher davantage aux personnages.
Mais j'ai trouvé que l'auteure traitait parfaitement des conséquences qui découlent d'une famille dysfonctionnelle et l'énergie que cela demande pour s'en sortir.
J'ai aimé avoir les points de vue des enfants et de la mère de famille sur la manière dont ils ressentaient et absorbaient la violence de leur mari et père.
L'auteure a parfaitement su décrire les conséquences désastreuses sur le long terme que peut avoir la perversité d'un individu sur ses proches.
Le roman n'est pas totalement sombre, il dépeint avec brio les différentes étapes, souvent difficiles mais nécessaires pour se reconstruire.
Peut-être que la structure qui mélange différentes époques et différents points de vue m'a gêné pour m'attacher davantage aux personnages.
Mais j'ai trouvé que l'auteure traitait parfaitement des conséquences qui découlent d'une famille dysfonctionnelle et l'énergie que cela demande pour s'en sortir.
J'ai aimé avoir les points de vue des enfants et de la mère de famille sur la manière dont ils ressentaient et absorbaient la violence de leur mari et père.
L'auteure a parfaitement su décrire les conséquences désastreuses sur le long terme que peut avoir la perversité d'un individu sur ses proches.
Le roman n'est pas totalement sombre, il dépeint avec brio les différentes étapes, souvent difficiles mais nécessaires pour se reconstruire.
July 26, 2015
A haunting family drama, Call Me Home explores themes of abuse, safety, love, longing and home. Amy, Lydia and Jackson are on the run from Gary, Amy's abusive husband. Separated from his mother and sister, 18-year-old Jackson experiences his own idea of home: a coming-of-age story that is so beautifully written, it will make your heart ache. Kruse has mastered the language of fear and love so well here. One of my favorite books this year, Call Me Home is an absolutely gripping read from this amazing debut author. Excellent.
December 28, 2018
A deeply moving book whose characters grabbed hold of me from the very first page. The two children, Jackson and Lydia, living in fear of their abusive father, are compelling and real characters you can't help feeling drawn to. The author also gives us a wonderful sense of each of the places the novel takes us to. From places I've been to those I now feel like I do know but each unique and far from the usual stereotypes of fiction.
July 30, 2015
CALL ME HOME by Portland writer Megan Kruse follows three members of a family fractured by abuse. While this sounds bleak, it is not, as she immerses us in the hearts of these characters, their longings, their views of the world, their fears. The language is stunning, and the book delivers all the satisfactions of characterization and story that I seek in a great novel.
September 20, 2015
This is a book about loneliness and beauty and family and place and what grounds us there, about all the ways we hurt and find our fumbling way back to each other. I loved this so much and Megan Kruse is so good.
August 15, 2017
Call Me Home touches on so many subjects that are, in all honestly, common in today's society. Although a work of fiction, it is a raw and open look into a family dealing with abuse, homosexuality, and generational dysfunction. While I found it difficult to read at times because of those things, the honest content was also the thing that made me appreciate this first novel by author Megan Kruse. There is no pretense in the storyline, and Kruse uses wonderfully descriptive, and at times graphic, scenes to show the reader that real life happens. And when it happens, there is a ripple effect that reaches deep into the lives of others. Our lives and our hearts are affected by our choices and our experiences.
I also enjoyed this book because it is set almost in its entirety in the Pacific Northwest, which is home to me. So, familiarity with locations always adds interest to a storyline for me.
While I might recommend this book to others, I would do so with a bit of caution due to the graphic content that is found throughout much of the book
I also enjoyed this book because it is set almost in its entirety in the Pacific Northwest, which is home to me. So, familiarity with locations always adds interest to a storyline for me.
While I might recommend this book to others, I would do so with a bit of caution due to the graphic content that is found throughout much of the book
June 5, 2023
This book was a beautiful and heartbreaking account of how domestic violence effects those in its wake and highlights a path to healing. I love the complexity of the characters, and their search for self, truth, and love.
May 31, 2015
Call me Home by Megan Kruse
It's 1990 and Amy Merrick is a shy teenager who hates her life. By chance she goes on a blind date with her best friend, Jennifer, and her boyfriend, Sam. There she meets Gary Holland. Gary becomes enchanted with Amy and woes her out of Fanning with promises of a better life in Seattle.
Amy leaves with Gary right after Christmas, 1990 and settles in Tulalip, WA. The couple buys a five acre lot in rural Washington and farm the land. Things go well at the beginning and Jackson is born in 1992. Five years later, Lydia follows. The abuse starts right after Lydia is born. Gary was very aloof about his parents and Amy did not realize that there was something wrong with her husband until after the abuse starts. Gary keeps losing jobs, drinks his pain away and takes it out on his wife.
It isn't until 2010 that Amy gets the courage to leave her husband. Every time she does, her husband drags her back home. Finally she reaches the Starlight motel - "Even now, he thought of domestic violence as a cheap motel" (p.206) - but Jackson goes back to his father and tells him where his mother and sister are hiding.
Next time Amy leaves, she must make the difficult decision of leaving Jackson behind. And so Amy and Lydia go back to Texas - to Amy's mother and they change their names to Lena and Ann Harris.
Jackson is gay, and has known it since puberty. He's aware that this causes a resentment on his father and he blames himself for their misfortune. At age 17, Jackson finds himself a "daddy:" Eric is a 60 y/o rich man who loves to pay Jackson for sex. But after Amy and Lydia leave him behind, Jackson moves in with Randy - the only true friend he's ever had. From there he moves to Portland where he lives on the streets until he finds work in Montana - in a construction company. There he meets Don Newlon, the crew boss who falls for Jackson looks. Unfortunately Don is married to Eliza and he keeps telling Jackson that he'll leave her for him. Eventually Jackson realizes Don will never leave Eliza so he reconnects with Randy who comes and picks him up and helps him find Amy and Lydia and they are finally reunited. "Everyone belonged to a place, I thought. It didn't matter if you'd gone forever. You might never come home, but it was still inside you." (p. 263)
This is a beautiful tale told in three voices: Lydia speaks from the first person point of view, and Jackson and Amy speak from the third person point of view. The timetable is not linear, but the writer purposely reveals the details of their lives as needed. The struggles of physical/mental abuse are shown by each voice as they perceive them and add up to the tragedy that is domestic abuse. The gay theme is masterfully told by both Amy and Jackson. At one point Amy goes to Seattle to participate in an LGBT rally because she wants the best for her son: "She wanted every promise that lit from these hopeful tongues, the warm and waiting streets they marched on. She wanted him to have what was owed to him, for the world to crack open for him. She did not want for him to feel the poor, small life that was already around him for a minute longer, when all of this was here, waiting."
There is also the relationship between Lydia and Jackson. more like siblings they are twins. They feel each other's presence even when they are apart: "...if Jackson lives as though he never knew us at all - it doesn't matter. I'll remember it for us, I thought; I will remember all of it; I will leave nothing out. I didn't know why it was important, but it was."
The character development is outstanding. They pop out of the page and speak to you. After a few pages you can't help but feel their pain.
This is the best novel I've read this year! At its heart, this is a novel about family, our choices and how we come to live with them, what it means to be queer in the rural West, and the changing idea of home and family.
It's 1990 and Amy Merrick is a shy teenager who hates her life. By chance she goes on a blind date with her best friend, Jennifer, and her boyfriend, Sam. There she meets Gary Holland. Gary becomes enchanted with Amy and woes her out of Fanning with promises of a better life in Seattle.
Amy leaves with Gary right after Christmas, 1990 and settles in Tulalip, WA. The couple buys a five acre lot in rural Washington and farm the land. Things go well at the beginning and Jackson is born in 1992. Five years later, Lydia follows. The abuse starts right after Lydia is born. Gary was very aloof about his parents and Amy did not realize that there was something wrong with her husband until after the abuse starts. Gary keeps losing jobs, drinks his pain away and takes it out on his wife.
It isn't until 2010 that Amy gets the courage to leave her husband. Every time she does, her husband drags her back home. Finally she reaches the Starlight motel - "Even now, he thought of domestic violence as a cheap motel" (p.206) - but Jackson goes back to his father and tells him where his mother and sister are hiding.
Next time Amy leaves, she must make the difficult decision of leaving Jackson behind. And so Amy and Lydia go back to Texas - to Amy's mother and they change their names to Lena and Ann Harris.
Jackson is gay, and has known it since puberty. He's aware that this causes a resentment on his father and he blames himself for their misfortune. At age 17, Jackson finds himself a "daddy:" Eric is a 60 y/o rich man who loves to pay Jackson for sex. But after Amy and Lydia leave him behind, Jackson moves in with Randy - the only true friend he's ever had. From there he moves to Portland where he lives on the streets until he finds work in Montana - in a construction company. There he meets Don Newlon, the crew boss who falls for Jackson looks. Unfortunately Don is married to Eliza and he keeps telling Jackson that he'll leave her for him. Eventually Jackson realizes Don will never leave Eliza so he reconnects with Randy who comes and picks him up and helps him find Amy and Lydia and they are finally reunited. "Everyone belonged to a place, I thought. It didn't matter if you'd gone forever. You might never come home, but it was still inside you." (p. 263)
This is a beautiful tale told in three voices: Lydia speaks from the first person point of view, and Jackson and Amy speak from the third person point of view. The timetable is not linear, but the writer purposely reveals the details of their lives as needed. The struggles of physical/mental abuse are shown by each voice as they perceive them and add up to the tragedy that is domestic abuse. The gay theme is masterfully told by both Amy and Jackson. At one point Amy goes to Seattle to participate in an LGBT rally because she wants the best for her son: "She wanted every promise that lit from these hopeful tongues, the warm and waiting streets they marched on. She wanted him to have what was owed to him, for the world to crack open for him. She did not want for him to feel the poor, small life that was already around him for a minute longer, when all of this was here, waiting."
There is also the relationship between Lydia and Jackson. more like siblings they are twins. They feel each other's presence even when they are apart: "...if Jackson lives as though he never knew us at all - it doesn't matter. I'll remember it for us, I thought; I will remember all of it; I will leave nothing out. I didn't know why it was important, but it was."
The character development is outstanding. They pop out of the page and speak to you. After a few pages you can't help but feel their pain.
This is the best novel I've read this year! At its heart, this is a novel about family, our choices and how we come to live with them, what it means to be queer in the rural West, and the changing idea of home and family.
March 14, 2015
(In the days when this needs to be disclosed, Megan Kruse is my cousin. However, I purchased the book from Amazon. I did NOT receive it as a gift. This review was not requested or solicited by Megan or anyone connected with Hawthorne Books. This review is a genuine response by a seasoned book reviewer)
Amy and Gary grew up in Southern Texas, and Gary could hardly wait to leave. His story was that he was an only child, and being forced to work on the ranch was akin to being hired help for his parents. He couldn't tolerate it anymore. He talked Amy into going to Seattle with him, so he could find his dream. And Amy, an only herself with a disabled Father and a long suffering Mother, felt she'd never really amount to anything at home, so she hitched her fate to the first boy who crooked his finger, and off they went...not to Seattle per se, but to the edge of the Tualip Reservation, near the small town of Marysville.
While Gary never really gets beyond odd jobs and day labor, they have two children. At the time of the story, Jackson, a high school dropout, is on the cusp of his 20s, and Lydia, his sister, is a new teenager. Gary's psychological and physical abuse is just too much, and Amy leaves with the two kids, only to be found by Gary and brought back home, a scene repeated again, until Amy chooses to simply take her daughter and run, leaving Jackson with his Dad, whom he soon leaves behind in his search for a life beyond his homelife.
Amy and Lydia get help, and return to Amy's home town. Jackson, on the other hand tries to find himself in the shreds of his own identity. Being gay, and with a underlying fear of the blatent homophobia around him, he finds work in a building crew, where he can start over, sort of. He isn't used to being accepted fully, but here in this crew, he is as close to being "part of life" as we see. Lydia's Mom enrolls her in school with caveats to the faculty who all know Gary and what a screw-up he was. She and her Mom have new names, but Amy grew up here, everybody knows her. Can they hide in plain sight?
And what does that mean? In an emotional turn of events, Jack turns back towards his own life in order to search for his Mother and sister. And how he finds home is heartbreaking to watch.
I have been looking forward to reading this book since it was reported to be in the works. And after reading it, I kind of feel like I got kicked in the stomach. The story is raw, torn from the voices of the three victims, Amy and her two children, as they flee from the abusive husband in an oft-told story these days. Leave- Return. Leave-Return. Leave and don't return. Wipe any trace that was you away in a few pages. Change your name. Change your car. Change everything to be safe. However, memories can't really be changed. And the idea, the ideal of "home" is the metaphor that weaves throught the story.
Megan Kruse has written a powerful story of loss and redemption. She is a writer to watch out for. Read this book!
Amy and Gary grew up in Southern Texas, and Gary could hardly wait to leave. His story was that he was an only child, and being forced to work on the ranch was akin to being hired help for his parents. He couldn't tolerate it anymore. He talked Amy into going to Seattle with him, so he could find his dream. And Amy, an only herself with a disabled Father and a long suffering Mother, felt she'd never really amount to anything at home, so she hitched her fate to the first boy who crooked his finger, and off they went...not to Seattle per se, but to the edge of the Tualip Reservation, near the small town of Marysville.
While Gary never really gets beyond odd jobs and day labor, they have two children. At the time of the story, Jackson, a high school dropout, is on the cusp of his 20s, and Lydia, his sister, is a new teenager. Gary's psychological and physical abuse is just too much, and Amy leaves with the two kids, only to be found by Gary and brought back home, a scene repeated again, until Amy chooses to simply take her daughter and run, leaving Jackson with his Dad, whom he soon leaves behind in his search for a life beyond his homelife.
Amy and Lydia get help, and return to Amy's home town. Jackson, on the other hand tries to find himself in the shreds of his own identity. Being gay, and with a underlying fear of the blatent homophobia around him, he finds work in a building crew, where he can start over, sort of. He isn't used to being accepted fully, but here in this crew, he is as close to being "part of life" as we see. Lydia's Mom enrolls her in school with caveats to the faculty who all know Gary and what a screw-up he was. She and her Mom have new names, but Amy grew up here, everybody knows her. Can they hide in plain sight?
And what does that mean? In an emotional turn of events, Jack turns back towards his own life in order to search for his Mother and sister. And how he finds home is heartbreaking to watch.
I have been looking forward to reading this book since it was reported to be in the works. And after reading it, I kind of feel like I got kicked in the stomach. The story is raw, torn from the voices of the three victims, Amy and her two children, as they flee from the abusive husband in an oft-told story these days. Leave- Return. Leave-Return. Leave and don't return. Wipe any trace that was you away in a few pages. Change your name. Change your car. Change everything to be safe. However, memories can't really be changed. And the idea, the ideal of "home" is the metaphor that weaves throught the story.
Megan Kruse has written a powerful story of loss and redemption. She is a writer to watch out for. Read this book!
April 12, 2015
I received "Call Me Home" from Hawthorne Books through Goodreads 'giveaway' program. It's a thought provoking story about domestic abuse. One book can't begin to cover every aspect of such a difficult issue but Megan Kruse's first novel does provide a kind of trail from beginning to end for one particular woman and her 2 children. It's hard. It's complicated. The physical and emotional damage done to all is deep seated, far reaching and often self inflicted. How does it start? How does a girl wind up with someone like that? Why doesn't she leave? How much does it take before you leave?! It takes a lot, for a lot of different reasons. Many people don't understand that it's not always as easy as just walking out the door.
This man chose her from the beginning, tested to see how far he could push, staked his territory. Somehow he equated love with ownership and made it clear he owned her, those children, that family. They were his property. But that's another story ... and there are other stories. There's not just one way this happens.
Megan brings us into the complicated lives of those kids as well, one of whom is a son who happens to be gay - which only further complicates an already difficult relationship with his father. Jackson's story almost seems like an unrelated off-shoot but not necessarily. He continually put himself in the position of being the victim in abusive relationships, as he perceived his mother to be. He was attracted to Don; he mistook sexual attraction with love; he knew it couldn't go anywhere. His liberation came in realizing that an honest loving relationship might actually be a possibility someday.
Now for my one objection which shouldn't keep anyone else from reading this book. While it was important to describe the homosexual relationship so we could understand this young man's turmoil, there were moments that slipped away from the story itself, coming too close to being pornographic. It was unnecessary and had no value to the story. Following the trend to titillate might be expected if this was a Romance Novel. It's not.
This is a book that begs the reader to think and maybe look at the world a little differently. There are unexplored stories still to be discovered in this book, so many questions still in this readers mind ... that of Amy's abuse and Jackson's self punishment, the possibility that Lydia's life could still go sideways .... and hopefully their growth into a healthier perspective of what life could hold for all of them ... and Gary's story. How does this happen? How do we keep it from happening? And when things happen, how do we heal?
This man chose her from the beginning, tested to see how far he could push, staked his territory. Somehow he equated love with ownership and made it clear he owned her, those children, that family. They were his property. But that's another story ... and there are other stories. There's not just one way this happens.
Megan brings us into the complicated lives of those kids as well, one of whom is a son who happens to be gay - which only further complicates an already difficult relationship with his father. Jackson's story almost seems like an unrelated off-shoot but not necessarily. He continually put himself in the position of being the victim in abusive relationships, as he perceived his mother to be. He was attracted to Don; he mistook sexual attraction with love; he knew it couldn't go anywhere. His liberation came in realizing that an honest loving relationship might actually be a possibility someday.
Now for my one objection which shouldn't keep anyone else from reading this book. While it was important to describe the homosexual relationship so we could understand this young man's turmoil, there were moments that slipped away from the story itself, coming too close to being pornographic. It was unnecessary and had no value to the story. Following the trend to titillate might be expected if this was a Romance Novel. It's not.
This is a book that begs the reader to think and maybe look at the world a little differently. There are unexplored stories still to be discovered in this book, so many questions still in this readers mind ... that of Amy's abuse and Jackson's self punishment, the possibility that Lydia's life could still go sideways .... and hopefully their growth into a healthier perspective of what life could hold for all of them ... and Gary's story. How does this happen? How do we keep it from happening? And when things happen, how do we heal?
August 28, 2015
Sometimes you need a book that you can curl up with and escape the world with and Call Me Home by Megan Kruse is just such a book. The short and skinny is that it’s about a woman named Amy who has tried to flee her abusive relationship several times, only to finally succeed when her son is 18 and her daughter is a young teenager. Life in an abusive home has affected each member of the family differently (such as her son’s newfound independence and her daughter’s growing resentment), but for Amy, escaping meant breaking up her family. The synopsis makes it sounds a bit like Sophie’s Choice and while it’s not nearly that dramatic, the implications of her choice set into motion a series of events that will leave no one untouched.
That said, this is really a book about Amy’s son, Jackson. A gay teenager who flees to Idaho after being left behind by his mother and sister, Jackson struggles to deal with both the aftermath of his newfound “freedom” and to chart out a new future for himself. Working on a construction crew and entering into an affair with an older man on the crew, Jackson spends his days learning all of life’s lessons at once, both the good and the bad. So while other characters are included, there’s an emphasis on Jackson’s story and it works (he’s really the most interesting character, anyway).
For the full review, visit The Book Wheel.
That said, this is really a book about Amy’s son, Jackson. A gay teenager who flees to Idaho after being left behind by his mother and sister, Jackson struggles to deal with both the aftermath of his newfound “freedom” and to chart out a new future for himself. Working on a construction crew and entering into an affair with an older man on the crew, Jackson spends his days learning all of life’s lessons at once, both the good and the bad. So while other characters are included, there’s an emphasis on Jackson’s story and it works (he’s really the most interesting character, anyway).
For the full review, visit The Book Wheel.
June 7, 2016
There are only a handful of novels that have brought me to tears, and this is one of them. In "Call Me Home," Megan Kruse pulls at the heartstrings as she describes the traumatic experience a family goes through when suffering from domestic violence. Told from the perspective of the spouse and the children, Kruse is able to describe the struggle, the heartbreak and the love that a family experiences. She describes the relationship between siblings in a way that hits home to anyone who has grown up with a brother or sister.
The additional themes of journey and homecoming are so elegantly presented that one feels the rush of emotions alongside the characters experiencing them in the story. On top of this, is Jackson's struggle growing up as a homosexual in a homophobic world. Megan presents a perspective that demonstrates challenges I had never previously considered a gay person having to face.
Kruse's work touches the heart in a way that few writers are able to do and I highly recommend this book to anyone who has grown up in a fractured household or with a distant sibling. Of course, those who haven't experienced these situations may gain just as much or more by reading "Call Me Home."
The additional themes of journey and homecoming are so elegantly presented that one feels the rush of emotions alongside the characters experiencing them in the story. On top of this, is Jackson's struggle growing up as a homosexual in a homophobic world. Megan presents a perspective that demonstrates challenges I had never previously considered a gay person having to face.
Kruse's work touches the heart in a way that few writers are able to do and I highly recommend this book to anyone who has grown up in a fractured household or with a distant sibling. Of course, those who haven't experienced these situations may gain just as much or more by reading "Call Me Home."
April 13, 2015
I met Megan at a writers' conference and based on what she had to say about writing, people,and living in the world, knew I would like her book And I did. The characters are instantly real, the prose is tight, and she throws in those tiny observances and descriptions (I call them Easter Eggs, although I think that might be a gaming term) that pull me in. As the four members of this broken family wander the west, trying to piece together a life and what they have meant to one another, I cared, which is basically how I sort my books into piles ("cared," "didn't care").
I shelved this under queer lit, so that this book could help find that readership, but while Call Me Home has a queer coming of age story in it, the character isn't solely defined (and therefore isn't limited) by that one storyline, and the novel is really a story about family. But I did find Jackson to me one of the most compelling gay male characters I've attached myself to.
I shelved this under queer lit, so that this book could help find that readership, but while Call Me Home has a queer coming of age story in it, the character isn't solely defined (and therefore isn't limited) by that one storyline, and the novel is really a story about family. But I did find Jackson to me one of the most compelling gay male characters I've attached myself to.
December 29, 2016
I received this book through an online international book exchange on Facebook and I am thoroughly impressed with Megan Kruse's Call Me Home.
This is an unforgettable story about family and siblings, and it is still resonating with me even though I finished it a few weeks ago. The story is told from three perspectives: Amy, a young mother of two who leaves her hometown with a man she barely knows, only to end up in an extremely abusive relationship, and her children Jackson and Lydia.
At 18 years of age, Jackson leaves home and finds work with a construction crew in Idaho, where he ends up falling in love with his boss, while his 12-year-old sister Lydia stays with her mother and seeks refuge with Amy's parents in Texas.
Jackson and Lydia are connected in many ways despite their difference in age, but what is most apparent is that they have both been completely traumatized by their parents' relationship and the choices they have made.
This is an unforgettable story about family and siblings, and it is still resonating with me even though I finished it a few weeks ago. The story is told from three perspectives: Amy, a young mother of two who leaves her hometown with a man she barely knows, only to end up in an extremely abusive relationship, and her children Jackson and Lydia.
At 18 years of age, Jackson leaves home and finds work with a construction crew in Idaho, where he ends up falling in love with his boss, while his 12-year-old sister Lydia stays with her mother and seeks refuge with Amy's parents in Texas.
Jackson and Lydia are connected in many ways despite their difference in age, but what is most apparent is that they have both been completely traumatized by their parents' relationship and the choices they have made.
Read
March 19, 2015I love Hawthorne Books, and Call Me Home looks to be a great addition to their catalog. The stormy sky on the cover of Call Me Home foretells the relations between the family members within. A young woman, Amy, leaves home at nineteen to start a life with a man who turns out to be a mistake; by the time she finally tries to rectify the situation, she has two kids and can’t seem to outrun her husband. Meanwhile, her son wants to explore a life outside of the one he has at home–a life made more difficult because he’s gay and surrounded by blatant bigotry. The family splinters–can they ever grow back together and be safe and happy?
From 4 Small Press Books to Read In March: http://bookriot.com/2015/03/19/4-smal...
From 4 Small Press Books to Read In March: http://bookriot.com/2015/03/19/4-smal...
July 8, 2015
I think I set expectations too high with this book. Based on some of the reviews I read prior to reading it, I was anticipating this book to be amazingly well written and thought provoking . . . kind of like All the Light We Cannot See (which I just finished). Call Me Home was a good book overall, the storyline had promise, but I found that I was really interested in only one of the characters. Without Jackson, and his personal struggle with his sexuality and how he'd betrayed his mom & sister, I don't know if I would have finished the book. Amy, as the abused wife, and Lydia, the daughter Amy runs off with, both seemed like supporting characters in Jackson's story. And I found myself rushing through their chapters so I could get to the next one about Jackson.
August 3, 2015
Call Me Home is a sad tale full of sad people and their sad, sad lives. Amy, Jackson and Lydia deal with an abusive husband/father; however, I found nothing in the novel to make me like or care about any of them. For me, the book just didn't go anywhere and I just wanted it to be over.
SPOILER: If a woman runs from her husband and goes to the effort to change her and her child's names, why would she run back to her parents' home and the small town where everyone knows her? Isn't that the first place he will look for them? Two teenage boys had no trouble finding them, why would Gary? Although by the end of the book, he has not come looking for them, history shows that these abusive men do not just let their families walk away.
SPOILER: If a woman runs from her husband and goes to the effort to change her and her child's names, why would she run back to her parents' home and the small town where everyone knows her? Isn't that the first place he will look for them? Two teenage boys had no trouble finding them, why would Gary? Although by the end of the book, he has not come looking for them, history shows that these abusive men do not just let their families walk away.
January 19, 2016
Entire, original review available at blog: HereWeAreGoing, here: https://herewearegoing.wordpress.com/...
This was brought to my attention and passed on to me by a friend who thought it worth a read. It has all sorts of blurbing going for it and an introduction by Elizabeth Gilbert. This is a story of abuse mistaken for love, the damage and disaster of dysfunctional families, and the power of forgiveness. The writing is quite skilled, the emotions spent and sputtered are often powerfully moving, but, finally, for me, it was a trifle self-conscious in execution and when I ought to have been entranced, I was, instead, put off by a sort of reportorial, researched tone. A debut novel, I look forward to her next work.
This was brought to my attention and passed on to me by a friend who thought it worth a read. It has all sorts of blurbing going for it and an introduction by Elizabeth Gilbert. This is a story of abuse mistaken for love, the damage and disaster of dysfunctional families, and the power of forgiveness. The writing is quite skilled, the emotions spent and sputtered are often powerfully moving, but, finally, for me, it was a trifle self-conscious in execution and when I ought to have been entranced, I was, instead, put off by a sort of reportorial, researched tone. A debut novel, I look forward to her next work.
October 11, 2016
This is the stories of a family in three distinct voices: Amy, who leaves her Texas home at 19 to start a life with a man she barely knows, and her two children, Jackson and Lydia, who are rocked by their parents’ abusive relationship. When Amy is forced to bargain for the safety of one child over the other, she must retrace the steps in the life she has chosen. Jackson leaves home and finds work on a construction crew in the Idaho mountains. Lydia, his 12-year-old sister, returns with her mother to Texas, struggling to understand her mother’s selfishness. This is an interesting story that narrates like Brokeback Mountain. It can be troubling and disturbing to read as you identify what we perceive as wrong choices with consequences. Not for everyone.
March 12, 2015
Wow. I received a copy of this book from the First Reads giveaway, and I was excited to read it. Dysfunctional family relationships are always interesting to me. I had some reservations, however: I'm not always a fan of multiple narrators and stories that jump around chronologically. Also, when I saw that the introduction was from Elizabeth Gilbert, of Eat, Pray, Love fame, I was extra cautious. I needn't have worried, however. Megan's novel is an emotionally-charged exploration of family dynamics. I'm shocked that this is her first novel, as it reads as if she's a veteran writer. I highly recommend.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 86 reviews