The Shortest Way Home
“. . . a believable, engaging story of a family long in crisis.”
Sean Dornan has chosen to spend the bulk of his adult life outside the U.S. as a nurse in third-world countries. After 20 years, he’s burned out and finds himself at a loss, wondering if all the good deeds he’s done really amount to anything in the grander scheme of life.
A timely plea from his semi-estranged sister takes him back to Massachusetts, where the realities of an aging relative, a troubled nephew, and a dramatic sister draw him back into the life he thought he’d left behind him. Reconnecting with old lovers and old friends has Sean reflecting on the choices he’s made in his life and considering whether one really can come home again.
In The Shortest Way Home, Juliette Fay has crafted a believable, engaging story of a family long in crisis. When his mother is diagnosed with incurable genetic Huntington’s disease in his youth, Sean begins running away: first from his family, then from his potential future, and ultimately from himself. He buries himself in good works far away from the very real problems his family faces, leaving his unstable brother and very young sister to be raised by a cold, authoritarian aunt.
It is only when he himself is tired of running that he listens to his sister and comes home to find himself drawn into the everyday cares of the family he’d avoided for so long. He surprises himself by thriving in the role of caregiver to his aunt as she slips into dementia, and to his sensitive nephew.
Along the way, he learns to recognize how he’s masked selfishness in giving; he also learns to see the true beauty in women he encounters.
Sean’s struggles toward real maturity are fascinating and very realistic. There are themes of religious and personal angst that are captivating and thought provoking: can one be so close to their faith that they lose sight of their God? Is it right to deny oneself the possibility of a future because it might be a bad future?
Ms. Fay handles topics like these with a lovely sensitivity to nuance. Sean is allowed to defend himself, to present his logic in a fair manner. His explanation of why he and his siblings did not choose to have the test to determine if they do, in fact, carry the gene for Huntington’s disease is startling at first, but it makes sense. In the course of the book, he makes a journey of faith and love that is believable within the boundaries of his character. It is refreshing to see a personal turnaround that is neither complete nor ending in a perfect person. Sean is realistic to the end.
Ms. Fay’s other characters are just as well drawn and multifaceted, from his high school crush to his friend-turned-something more. Especially well drawn is Sean’s nephew, Kevin. His insights and his struggles with Sensory Integration issues are depicted sensitively and honestly; most importantly, Ms. Fay does not use him as a pathetic token character. His strength is obvious and touching. He is often the one to draw Sean up, to make him look at his own flaws and foibles as only a child can do without guile or agenda. Ultimately, it is Kevin who makes Sean face the selfishness in all his giving, and it is largely for Kevin’s benefit that Sean begins to effect changes in his life.
There is a romantic aspect as well. Sean avoids romantic entanglements—to spare a woman from having to deal with his presumed early demise. When that begins to look less likely, he struggles to find a reason to keep his detachment.
Enter Rebecca, an old friend who becomes important in his life at many levels. Her influence on Sean eventually comes to rival that of Kevin; again, a person who makes him take a close look at the way he’s run his life.
A subplot involving Sean’s long-departed father is less successful. As enjoyable as are some of their exchanges and as beautifully described as is their Irish adventure, Martin (the father) never comes into sharp perspective. As a means of Sean’s self-discovery, his characterization is much thinner than it should be. He settles as a paper man.
The Shortest Way Home is a beautifully written account of an older man’s journey to self-realization. Through it we see a character travel from one side of the world to the other geographically, and from one side of his soul to another metaphorically. In a story genre often limited to the self-discovery of young people, The Shortest Way Home is a refreshing reminder that growth is not limited to age, and coming home can both be the easiest and most difficult thing a human being can do—no matter how old we are.