Helpful Score: 2
When We Were Romans is a relatively short but very moving novel. Lawrence is a 9 year old boy, and the narrator of the tale. When the story begins, Lawrence is living with his mother and younger sister in a cabin following his parents' divorce. He is uprooted abruptly when his mother decides to move the family to Rome, where she once lived. The children each are allowed one box full of toys, Lawrence brings along his pet mouse Herman and they set off in the family car for Rome.
Once in Rome, they rely on the kindness of the mother's friends for lodging. Eventually they move into a rented apartment, and Lawrence's mother finds a job. However, she gets restless again and the reason for the initial move to Rome is revealed.
This book is very sad because of the young narrator's naiveté - it becomes clear to the reader that Lawrence's mother is struggling with mental illness, but of course Lawrence is too young to realize this. Instead he is drawn into his mother's paranoia, and bravely tries to please her and defend his family from his mother's many perceived enemies.
There are a couple of things in this book that did not work for me. Because of the first person narrative, there are misspellings throughout the text. This seemed like a gimmick to me, because simple words were often misspelled whereas complex ones were not, and the misspellings did not appear consistently throughout the book. Also, there are a number of lengthy stories about Roman emperors, etc. that I found distracting - the side discussions of astronomy did much more to add to the story. However, these gripes are very minor.
Overall this is a well-written and very unique book. Fans of The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Nighttime will find much to appreciate here.
Once in Rome, they rely on the kindness of the mother's friends for lodging. Eventually they move into a rented apartment, and Lawrence's mother finds a job. However, she gets restless again and the reason for the initial move to Rome is revealed.
This book is very sad because of the young narrator's naiveté - it becomes clear to the reader that Lawrence's mother is struggling with mental illness, but of course Lawrence is too young to realize this. Instead he is drawn into his mother's paranoia, and bravely tries to please her and defend his family from his mother's many perceived enemies.
There are a couple of things in this book that did not work for me. Because of the first person narrative, there are misspellings throughout the text. This seemed like a gimmick to me, because simple words were often misspelled whereas complex ones were not, and the misspellings did not appear consistently throughout the book. Also, there are a number of lengthy stories about Roman emperors, etc. that I found distracting - the side discussions of astronomy did much more to add to the story. However, these gripes are very minor.
Overall this is a well-written and very unique book. Fans of The Curious Incident of a Dog in the Nighttime will find much to appreciate here.
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