The Train Home

by Susan Richards Shreve

In Washington to avenge the senseless slaughter of his brother, a young actor catches the eye of lovely Annie Blakemore, who, on instinct, follows him through the city

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary, Novels

273 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Also know as Susan Shreve. Received the following awards: Jenny Moore Award, George Washington University, 1978; Notable Book citation, American Library Association (ALA), 1979, for Family Secrets: Five Very Important Stories; Best Book for Young Adults citation, ALA, 1980, for The Masquerade; Notable Children's Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, National Council for Social Studies and the Children's Book Council joint committee, 1980, for Family Secrets: Five Very Important Stories; Guggenheim award in fiction, 1980; National Endowment for the Arts fiction award, 1982; Edgar Allan Poe Award, Mystery Writers of America, 1988, for Lucy Forever and Miss Rosetree, Shrinks; Woodrow Wilson fellowships, West Virginia Wesleyan, 1994, and Bates College, 1997; Lila Wallace Readers Digest Foundation grant.

Reviews

[Linda C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annie Blakemore (nee Delores Ann Grainey) is an opera understudy, unhappily married to Adam and the mother of 2 children. Adam is in a wheelchair due to a car accident which occurred when Annie was driving. He is bitter, verbally abusive and, Annie fears, on the verge of violence. Over the course of her life she has had major events occur that have been somehow connected to priests. When she sees a priest on the subway she feels something is destined and begins to follow him. She basically stalks him for 2 days while her marriage reaches a final breaking point. The priest, Father James Grady, is really an Irish actor, Will Huston, in Washington to seek revenge against the man who killed his 6 year old brother 20 years ago in Belfast. Will has just located him and needs to release the anger that has eaten at him all these years. The story weaves back and forth between these two as we see things from both perspectives. The denouement is unusual but probably appropriate for these characters, for these were very unusual people.

[Dianna · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Train Home has two main characters, Will Huston and Annie Blakemore (aka Dolores Ann Grainey), who are peculiar. I see them both as stalkers - she stalking a priest seeking forgiveness for causing the accident where her mean husband ended up in a wheelchair; and he stalking the person and seeking revenge, who forty years earlier, had shot and killed his young brother. Neither one is who they seem. The author wants us to see this as a love story, but it was too quirky for me.

[Rosina · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel moved so slow just to have an ending that feels unfinished

[Vicky · Rating 2 out of 5]

It would take far better writing than SRS gives us in this book to convince me that a grown woman who packs her two small kids off to stay with relatives so she can be free to chase an unknown priest around the streets of Washington isn't simply demented, rather than (as Shreve evidently thinks) a great romantic.

[Sapna Kumar · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reads quickly - mostly because you want to get it over with. A completely contrived tale with unrealistic characterizations: Don't bother.

[Ellen Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had two hours to kill, so I picked up a book that wasn't too long and began reading. This novel was very interesting, quite delightful, and enjoyable. But. There were a few issues. Sensuality was one of them, and it was so little, it could have been done without. But it was there, and so one star had to go. Another problem was the unsettled ending. How can a book be ending when things are just beginning? Or in the middle of things? I felt like it needed another 100 pages to make a smacking good story.

[Lettie Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

I honestly don't know what to say about this book. Good story but unfinished ending. Odd characters. I can't say I'd recommend reading it.

[Clintoned · Rating 4 out of 5]

Per usual, Shreve weaves incredibly interesting characters together telling a story from various perspectives. Captivating and interesting to the end (which came too soon!)

[Linda Bouley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Train Home is a quirky book where its two main characters, Will Huston and Annie Blakemore (aka Dolores Ann Grainey) veer off from their everyday lives and emerge into something else. Will is an actor at the Abby Theater in Dublin Ireland who is in Washington DC impersonating a Catholic priest and introducing himself as Father James Grady. Annie is an understudy opera singer at the Kennedy Center and gets lesser roles in smaller productions. She has two children and is married to Michael who was crippled in an auto accident. He had gone to Texas to meet her family and after realizing they were far beneath his family's station decided, he broke up with her and bought a ticket back to NY. As a consolation prize, he gives her his car and asks her to drive him to the airport in Dallas - the accident happens during that ride. When it is determined that he will never walk again, he says she must marry him and she does out of guilt. Their marriage is a mess - he is close to mad and the children are afraid of him. Will who was brought up in Belfast Norther Ireland during the years of strife there is holding tightly to the grief of losing his six year old brother, Jamey, when the boy was 6. Will was 17 years older than they boy and loved him like a son from the moment he was born. The child was shot by Michael McGuire, a Protestant, as will brought little Jamey to their cousin's house and died moments later in his aunt's arms. Will had lost track of McGuire, but years later he sees an article in the paper saying the man had been appointed to a diplomatic position in America. He steals a cassock from the Abby's costume department and sets off to Washington DC to get revenge for Jamey by killing Michael. Annie is on the train heading to work when she seen the priest...she feels like her heart stops she thinks. Although brought up Baptist, she has always had a thing for priests, thought she's never acted on it. In this case the draw is strong and she follows him to the priest's residence where he is staying. Over the course of the book, they move separately, except for a brief encounter in a restaurant, but she is always following him, becoming aware that he has a connection at Michael McGuire's address. We follow them through their days...she with her children and her increasingly insane husband and he with his plotting and planning related to the murder he wants to commit. What plays out and how the dots are draw in a way that leads them to the train home is the fascination of this compact little novel. I really enjoyed reading it.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

This short novel -- really more of a novella in length -- follows a familiar premise, the paths of two deeply unhappy people cross, and then intersect again over the course of a few days as they each seek some kind of relief from what haunts them. For Annie Blakemore, vocal coach and Washington Opera understudy, it's her loveless marriage to her nasty wheelchair-bound husband. For actor and playwright Will Huston, it's the murder of his baby brother twenty years ago in Northern Ireland. He's come to Washington, donned the disguise of a priest, and seeks to kill the man who shot his brother in a sectarian rampage. Annie spots him on a train and is instantly attracted (although why this is never becomes all that clear, despite an attempt to tie it to a childhood fascination with priests) and follows him.

As Will stalks his prey, and Annie stalks Will, both their inner and past lives are offered up to the reader. In Annie's case, it becomes harder and harder to understand why she is still married (although they do have two children), until a dark secret is finally revealed to the reader. Despite Will's stated intent to kill, it's actually Annie's marriage that produces the lion's share of the tension in the story. It's the kind of story that sucks you along while reading, but doesn't provide an equally satisfying ending. It also doesn't help that it leans heavily on coincidence (such as Will deciding to kill time by going to see the very opera that Annie happens to be in), to make some of the connections. Stil, it's worth dipping into by readers that enjoy stories involving chance encounters and themes of romance and connection, without spelling it all out.

[Bonita Jewel · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting, but not spectacular.
Well written, but I feel like I was waiting for some kind of resolution/ redemption/ story arc that never happened.
The characters' actions were not entirely believable, even engaging.
I got the book for free and will probably move it along as it's not exactly a keeper.

[Sallie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved how the paths of the two strangers path's crossed as well as the many twists and turns. I started & completed this novel in one afternoon on the beach....simply couldn't put it down!!

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

A complicated tale of obsession, revenge, and justice and the minimal differences the separate the three.

She's a very good writer and I'd recommend this novel.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed the writing up until a weakly rendered climax and denouement

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A complicated story of revenge and obsession! I think I liked it!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun read. Unfortunately, I forgot to review it when I finished it and I can't remember when I finished it. So this review is over before it started.