Camino a casa (The Journey Home)

Escrito por Olaf Olafsson

Narrado por Adriana Sananes

En esta exquisita novela, el autor islandes Olafur Olafsson cuenta la conmovedora historia de una mujer que emprende un singular viaje emocional hacia el pasado. Durante anos, Disa y su companero Anthony han administrado, con placer y sosiego, una casa de huespedes en la campina inglesa. Cuando Disa se entera de que le quedan pocos meses de vida, decide volver a su pueblo natal en Islandia. Con maestria y sensibilidad, Olafsson conduce al lector por este dificil y heroico viaje. Poco a poco, van surgiendo los recuerdos que tanto costaron a Disa olvidar: los enfrentamientos con su madre, la muerte de su joven prometido en manos de los nazis, la mansion donde se refugio- -y trabajo como cocinera-, germen de la violencia sexual y politica. Historias que han dejado huellas.

• Idioma: Español
• Editorial: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Fecha de lanzamiento: 4 feb 2008
• ISBN: 9781449801328

Olaf Olafsson

Olaf Olafsson was born in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1962. He studied physics as a Wien scholar at Brandeis University. He is the author of six previous novels, The Journey Home, Absolution, Walking into the Night, Restoration, One Station Away, and The Sacrament, and a story collection, Valentines. He spends his time in New York City, Sag Harbor, and Reykjavik.

Comentarios para Camino a casa (The Journey Home)

[nyuriko · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

He sentido en algunas parte o cap, que la narrativa era muy confusa y me perdia entre el tiempo actual y sus recuerdos,tambien se me hizo muy dificil empatizar con la protagonista y con algunas de sus decisiones tomadas.

[Jose Ortiz Elias · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Argumento circular perfecto: la línea de tiempo se rompe y desmenuza desde el comienzo, y converge al final con perfección.

[Joaquin Bueno Cuevas · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

Si me deja una sensación de bien escrito, en algunas partes parece poesía, sus relatos salen de la novela y nos llevan con palabras elegantes fuera de un texto novelado a uno poético, es elegante y se escucha con atención, al final estamos seguros de que se trató de una historia corta, quizá sin muchas pretensiones, pero siempre con frases que nos llevan por bonitos caminos. Gracias.

[Ana Loera Sanchez · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

No sé si el audio libro sea la mejor forma de llegar a este libro. El texto me parece bello pero hubo Partes en las que dejaba de poner atención... y no por el narrador sino que... no sé quizá es un texto que deba disfrutarse leído más que escuchado.

[snash_44 · Calificación: 5 de 5 estrellas]

A masterful telling of a woman's complicated life smoothly shifting from present to past delivering surprises throughout. Excellent

[cahallmxj · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Title: The Journey Home: A woman makes one last journey home to face what she left behind.Story:Disa is at the end of her life. Her doctor has given her, at the outside, a year to live. The disease that is killing her doesn't matter, its finality makes her realize that she can no longer put off dealing with a past she did not want to relive. So Disa sets off on a journey to her native Iceland to see the outcome of that terrible time during WW2 when she found happiness for a while and then lost it when the horrible realities of war became all to real to her younger self.Along the way we learn about what led her to start her successful bed and breakfast with her friend Anthony, her attempt to fix a falling out with a old friend, and finally what caused her to move to England. -*-This was a nice departure from my usual staple of Sci-Fi and action / adventure stories. I like these kinds of books every now and then especially when they are done well. In this case, at least to me, it was done well as the author succeeds in moving the story along by bringing the past alive and by making the conversations between characters interesting. The way the story is written almost reminds me of an old sci-fi book I read called “Cuckoo's Egg by C.J. Cherryh”. In that story the conversations are almost more interesting and tense than any of the battles that occur throughout the story. In this story it's more the recreation of what it was like for those that were affected by WW2 and what the atmosphere was like at the time. When it comes to Disa she can come off as a little stiff and frosty on occasion but in the end it's understandable why she trys to keep everyone and everything at arm's length. If I have one complaint with this story its that it does have the “whiplash” effect occasionally as the story can bounce back and forth around the time line abruptly sometimes. All and in all I recommend this to anyone who is looking for a story that takes the reader to the past and tells a story about why someone became who they are. m.a.c

[hayduke_1 · Calificación: 3 de 5 estrellas]

A very good book, but not a great book and I guess I was hoping for great. The story of a dying woman in Scotland who decides to journey home to the village in Iceland where she grew up. In the process she faces many demons from her past. My main problem was that the character wasn't entirely likable, which I suppose made her more human, but I was thinking that with all she had been through she would have been more humane.

[akeela_8 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Middle-aged Asdis "Disa" Jonsdottir has been living in England for many years but on learning that she is terminally ill, decides to go on a journey to Iceland, the land of her birth. The story is the narrative of her life and her loves, as she quietly reflects on her past, sharing her greatest disappointments, and joys. This was a good, atmospheric read.

[whisper1_1 · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

This is not a gut wrenching, page turner. This is not a fast paced emotional story.This is a poetic, marvelous tale of Disa who recently received word that she has a year to live thus prompting her to travel back home to Iceland.Living in the English countryside, managing a lovely bed and breakfast, Disa is content with her life. The author paints a calm, aesthetic portrait of flowers and rolling hills, of food prepared well, of clean, quiet restful rooms and a tranquil lifestyle.Leaving her well-defined comfortable environment, traveling by ship affords Disa time to reflect on her life as she slowly approaches her destination.Her memories flicker and, even though some events experienced were painful, we observe her life as through a panoply of color where patterns change and shift and the kaledscope turns prismatic with each tiny nudge.We are taken back to WWII and Nazi occupation of Europe, of Disa's Jewish lover, of her mother's disapproval of her career and choice of partner, of friendships made and friendship lost, of events out of her control and then, of choices intentionally made.Highly recommended.

[punxsygal · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

Disa is taking her final trip back home to Iceland. She knows it is her final trip as she has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Disa has spent many years residing in England managing a country-home hotel. As she had chosen to go by boat, she is left a lot of time to reflect on her childhood and previous journeys home. And in those reflections the reader learns the story of her life, her love, disappointments, and hopes for resolution.

[moniquereads · Calificación: 4 de 5 estrellas]

The novel is told in first person style. The main character Disa, kind of reminds me of the butler from "Remains of The Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro. Both of the characters are very proper and English (except that Disa is really Icelandic). The other similarity is that the stories take place in roughly the same time period. Spanning the beginning of WWII and its after math. I wanted to like Disa's character, but just like the butler (I can't remember his name) in "Remains of The Day" they were both to detached for me to really like or care about."The Journey Home" is also written in vinaigrette style, sort of like "The House on Mango Street" but Olafsson pulls it off much better. The littler vinaigrette's are like diary entries and lets the reader not only into parts of Disa's current and pass life but also her thought process. Once I got use to how dry her personality was the reading became easier. The only problem that I had with the writing is that there is a lot of back and forth between pass and present. There was never a clear indication when Disa was reflecting on her past. So, I had to pay close attention to the details to see what time frame she was talking about.The story really picks up when Disa starts her journey back to Iceland and starts to reflect on her pass experiencing and how they all ended up interconnected to one another. I began to look forward to her when she talked about her time with Jakob (the German-Jew lover) and even though I knew what happens to Jakob, I wanted to know how Disa would deal with the final outcome.I also like how Olafsson put little "clues" to what happened in Disa's past in the story. There are times that you know what the final outcome is going to be, like with Jakob and what happens at the employer's house, but when you get to those moments its nice to finally get a little detail to the whole event.Olafsson has this great way of ending each little chapter with great sentences. that really got to me. I ended up looking forward to them. They were great little closing to each chapter. For example. Lonely notes drifting through the emptiness, futile - completely futile. I took a long time descending the stairs. I reach for my photo of him. The lines are so simple but say so much. All the writing in the book is like that, simple yet elegant.I was only going to give this novel about 3 stars (or 3.5) What pushed this book over the top for me was the last about 50 pages or so. I couldn't put it down. And I almost cried and anything that makes me cry (and not because the book is just that bad) deserves a nice rating.Pros: Writing, Plot, StyleCons: Slow at First, Detached Main CharacterOverall Recommendation:I am going to recommend this book. I think that people who enjoyed "Remains of the Day" will really like this one. But expect it to be sort of slow in the beginning and stick to it. You will be rewarded.