Homecoming

The first in the Tillerman Cycle by Cynthia Voigt. This fictional story follows Dicey, the oldest of four children. Dicey is thirteen years old when her mother abandons the four children in a parking lot somewhere in the middle of Connecticut. Terrified that her family will be split up by foster care, Dicey chooses to make the journey to her Great-aunt Cilla's house in Bridgeport. The only relative that Dicey has ever heard her mother speak of. Just when you think that they've finally reached their happy ending, everything changes and they're forced to make choices that children shouldn't have to deal with. The choices they make lead to a surprising conclusion that leaves you in deep thought. As the oldest of a family of five children, I found Dicey a character that was easy to relate to. Cynthia Voigt made the characters and their pain seem so real that at times I wanted to just set the book down, but found myself unable to. She described everything in a way that kept me captivated and made me almost able to feel the characters emotions. Many of her themes are hard to understand because they're things that you really don't want to have to think about. For example, Dicey often wonders whether the only home her family will ever have will be after they die. I found the idea disturbing and heartbreaking at the same time. Another theme is the idea of whether you should stand by your marriage vows even if it hurts your children. However, there were other themes that I found easier to accept and understand. Such as, the importance of family. Dicey stays by the side of her brothers and sister through everything that happens and they manage to make it through their journey together. You also, see the impact of how their mother's family affected the choices of their mother. Because she was raised in an unhappy home she chose not to get married and cut herself off from everyone in her family. This left no support for her own children, except for each other. The book was intense and I did find elements that were kind of disturbing and depressing, but overall I found it a good book. I enjoyed reading about characters that seemed real and that I was able to become attatched to. This story made me think about things that I've never considered before and at times startled me because I could understand feelings from my own life. I would recomend this book to anyone who's willing to think about issues that are larger then your typical teenage novel. As difficult as it was at times to read I found that this book helped me to appreciate my own family and gave me a greater understanding of the motivations behind why people do things.