All the Way Home

by Ann Tatlock

From an abusive German-Irish family, Augusta informally adopts Sunny Yamagata's family as her own until the Yamagatas are sent to a Japanese-American internment camp in the 1930s, but they meet again in Mississippi in the 1960s.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Christian Fiction, Fiction, Christian, Historical, World War II, Adult

447 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Ann Tatlock is a novelist and children’s book author. Her books have received numerous awards, including the Christy Award, the Midwest Book Award and the Silver Angel Award for Excellence in Media. She also serves as managing editor of Heritage Beacon, the historical fiction imprint of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas. She lives with her family in Western North Carolina.

Reviews

[Sheila · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would not ordinarily pick up a Christian Fiction book because I'm no Christian and I have a problem personally reading religious type stories. But I read so many good reviews that I decided to read it...it was one of the best books I've read in a long time. I read 2-4 books a week too.

Don't miss this. I'd rather not give any spoilers but I will tell you that, even though this is a long book, it's worth every word, every minute, every chapter.

Excellent.

[Sharon Huether · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very moving story of family, love and acceptance; plus the consequences of prejudicial minds.
I highly recommend this book.

[Heather Lehman · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's been a long time since I enjoyed a novel this much. A sweet story of family, love, and sacrifice.

[Janelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall the story (stories) were decent. It felt like two books, almost like it could have been a series, but it was a two part book. The first half of the book took place with the two main characters as children living in southern California leading up to and during WWII. Sunny is a second generation Japanese American who has an incredibly loving and supportive family who feel they are as American as anyone else. Augie comes from a broken family and quickly comes to love Sunny's family when they quickly become best friends.

World War II erupts and Sunny's family is forced to leave their lives behind to live in Japanese internment camps. Augie is devastated as she had become so much a part of Sunny's family, she even thinks of herself as Japanese at heart.

Augie and Sunny's family lose contact and Auguie thinks they have abandoned her and is devastated by what she sees as betrayal.

Fast forward twenty something years and Sunny, now Helen, finds Augie and invites her to her home to write a magazine article about anti-civil rights Mississippi. Augie is shocked to learn that the invitation to Mississippi is from her childhood best friend; there is a weird twist there I won't spoil.

Augie is there to write a story about a school that prepares African Americans to register to vote. She meets a really great guy...blah blah blah, he turns out to be something completely different than she thought...blah, blah, blah...the KKK are everywhere, they are bad, horrible people. I do not mean to demean what happened there, it's disgusting, but the story dragged on too much for me to read every fine detail.

The second part started out good, but then I just lost interest. It could have been shortened substantially. I skimmed over many pages just trying to get to the end quickly.

Great basis for a story, just not as interesting as I think it could have been. And have I mentioned how much I HATE reading accents? It is one of the more annoying parts of this book.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a very timely read what with the Boston Marathon bombing and all the ensuing "round them up and kick 'em out" rhetoric coming from some factions of the U.S. population.

Augie is a lonely girl, from a sad home and an even sadder family untilt he day she meets Sunny, an American of Japanese descent who becomes her very best friend. In fact, Sunny's family become Augie's surrogate family and before too long she is essentially living there and becoming more and more enamored of the Japanese culture.

But remember, this is just prior to World War 2 and Pearl Harbor.

Sunny's family and everyone other citizen of Japanese descent, no matter how long it's been, is rounded up and shipped off to interment camps in the desert. Augie is left with only the option to go back to live full time with her drunken mother and her hateful uncle. Not only has the Yamagata family lost everything but so has Augie, everything that was in any way important to her.

Fast forward 20 years and Augie is now a writer going down to Mississippi to do a story on civil rights, voter registration and discrimination.

These causes and issues wind their way through this book without let up. It's a sobering reminder that we are not that much advanced then we were in the 40's or the 50's or the 60's.

Augie's experiences in the South bring her full circle...back to her family, back to her roots.

All The Way Home made me think, made me angry, made me sad and made me wish that humans were much smarter and tolerant than they really are.

[Lori Hershberger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book around 15 years or more ago and loved it. Coming back around this time, I loved it just as much and was able to see some of the powerful themes woven throughout the book. Beautifully written, this stays on as a favorite. The book tackles racism and loss, to name only two of the main themes.

[Gale · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book. It pulled me in slowly, and didn't let me go.

Ever read a book that does something so well that it makes other books seem to fall short in comparison? That what this book did for me with character and history. I love historical fiction, but I realized after reading this that so many of the books of that genre I've read just seem to grab characters with modern viewpoints and thrust them back in history...or, on the opposite extreme, take historical stereotypes and build a character around that. This book did neither. The characters in her book were fleshed out and real...so real that I felt like they could be someone I knew. And yet they inhabited their time period so naturally and believably.

One thing you should know about this book: the first half and second half, though both well written, are nothing alike. The first half, seen through a child's eyes, draws you in slowly to the character's world. It's a gentle climb that grows in emotion. It has a "to kill a mockingbird" feel in some way, only with California as a backdrop (having grown up there this brought up vivid memories for me, even though this was a generation before my time). The drama slowly becomes intense--but the intensity is mostly internal: there's not a lot of cliffhangers.

The second half of the book, on the other hand, is full of them. It reads like a mystery suspense adventure. Same characters, and excellent writting, but a different mood.

I loved both sides of this book...but just be prepared for two totally different reads in one volume.

[Jeni Enjaian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tatlock's wordsmith ability increases tremendously with each book she writes.

I really enjoyed this story though I would have enjoyed it more had she spent more time developing the first half of the story, the part describing Augie and Sunny's childhood friendship. That likely would have required a second book since this book is already quite long. I wouldn't have been adverse to that though I understand why Tatlock chose to structure the book as she did.

Once again I am amazed at how capably Tatlock makes her narrator's voice appropriate to the age of the character. Young Augie and Sunny behave as nine-thirteen year old girls would and should have acted in that time period.

I also appreciated how Tatlock chose to end the story. (Mild spoiler alert) More specifically, I love that she had Augie return to see her Uncle Finn.

While this book is not quite good enough for five stars, I did thoroughly enjoy it and highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

*Update*
While others did not like the "split narrative" aspect of the book, I appreciated it. Unlike other of Tatlock's books, the narrative didn't suffer any confusion in narration. She also limited the number of characters in comparison to other works.

I absolutely loved the implicit comparison between the bigotry Sunny and the Yamagata's experienced to the racism of the Civil Rights Era south. That comparison draws unmistakable parallels and highlights the ugliness of bigotry in any form.

This book survived round two of the "purge."

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great book. I found this one browsing through the historical fiction section at my library. I'd never heard of the book nor the author, but I'm glad I picked this one up.

I was intrigued by the idea of a white American girl being adopted into the home of Japanese Americans right before WWII. The little girl fell in love with the family and with the Japanese culture. I'm studying the Japanese language and a bit of the culture and I can understand the fascination.

The novel tugged at my heartstrings all the way through, dealing with issues of prejudice and racism. It was timely reading this book only days after watching the movie "My Name is Khan." In the past week, I've seen or read stories about Muslims, Hindus, Japanese, and African Americans all being treated unfairly because of the color of their skin or facial features. As a white woman, I've never had to deal with those types of issues and my heart hurt seeing the undeserved hate people have to deal with on a daily basis, even now.

I was a bit worried about the second half of this novel, wondering if the author could pull off a seamless transition from WWII to the civil rights movement. The plot was well done and believable. Also, though this book is Christian fiction, I didn't feel preached at. The "conversion scene" didn't really exist but the issues of faith were delicately weaved through the story. I highly recommend this book.

[Olivia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a long book. Set in two part, World War Two and the Civil Rights movement, the pages are filled with the reality of racism and struggles of the Japanese and Black people in America in history. It was tough to read but I really enjoyed getting Augie's perspective on these issues. The beauty of family and love are played out well in the story and characteristics felt deeply. Sadly, there was no spiritual redemption to the MC besides being happier and I do think the author missed out on that aspect. But I realize not every person experiences life the same and I have hopes Augie character did began to see God's hand in her life (if she had been a real person 😅). There were a couple uses of God's name that I felt were flippant, mostly from characters who weren't Christian.

Ann Tatlock's writing is engaging and poignantly deals with issues that authors more and more avoid because of backlash. She wasn't afraid to deal with the good, bad and the ugly!

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the first half of the book. I zipped right through it, however I really struggled with the second half. To be honest the whole book is well written but it almost feels like two separate books. I liked both stories and I understand why the author wrote it this way however I couldn't get past the feeling of reading two separate books. I wanted more of the first half of the book...

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredibly powerful story! At times heartbreaking, it's also filled with hope. Highly recommended for anyone who wants an unvarnished portrait of some of the more difficult times in American history.

[Gwendolyn Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read a book that made me question our world, who we are as a people and a country, and then weep and sob like this since Catherine Ryan Hyde's "Pay it Forward." If you haven't already, read Tatlock's book, "All the Way Home," it will be good for both your heart and soul, as well as your mind. The novel shines a light into the dark corners of our collective spirit, and illuminates the underlying causes and generational pain and suffering at the heart of so many of the issues and conflicts that we face as individuals and a country today. This is, quite simply, the best book I've read in many years. I will add, as a bit of a warning to the faint of heart, that there is both some language, and racial slurs, used by some characters in the book, that I found particularly disturbing. While I can never condone the use of these words in any setting, I do believe the author used them to illustrate just how hurtful, painful and evil these terms are when used, and to depict an era and a mindset that was all to real and common in this country for generations, and, sadly, in some parts of our country, it remains a vile and unjust reality today.

[Cheryl Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Matters

This story begins with Augie, a young girl who lives in a very dysfunctional home in the 1930’s. She meets a girl her age, Sunny, and Augie ends up living with this family for a time. While there is no prejudice in the girls, one is Japanese and one is American, the world around them is prejudice. When the bombing at Pearl Harbor happens, all Japanese Americans are sent to camps. The girls are separated and they don’t get back together until they are adults and the time of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s! What they try to do to help the ‘coloreds’ get registered to vote, showed bravery and courage.

It doesn’t matter what your background is, we all matter. Respect for others is lost among us, even in the year 2017! As I read this story, I couldn’t help but think we deal with the same issues as they did! We need to love others, respect them, and help each other.

The way Ann Tatlock weaves the characters together make for a great story! This is the first time I have read any of her books, but will definitely read more.

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

A timely story for 2022

Ann Tatlock has an amazing gift for taking historical events and making them personal. In All the Way Home, she weaves together the hatred of Japanese-Americans during World War II with the civil rights movement and hatred of Black-Americans in 1965. Her believable cast of characters seamlessly blends white, Japanese, and Black into a tapestry of unforgettable people who learn to love each other in spite of what society accepts. She exposes the best and the worst of America through the eyes of two childhood friends whose love for each other transcends race and the passage of time. You don’t want to miss All the Way Home!

[Kristy Hetzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fascinating historical read that I didn't really want to end. I would have given it five stars except that I didn't feel like her spiritual journey was clearly resolved compared to how it featured in the story. I will, however, be looking for more books by the same author.

[Chantelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a surprise for me. I loved it and read it all day today. The only thing that keeps it from five stars for me is the way the author writes the dialogue of the Black characters.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt like this book was a little tone deaf for today's social climate. I also didn’t like how it felt like reading two different books between part 1 and part 2. And I felt it dragged on too long for my liking.

[Sharon Diedrich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminds me of To Kill a Mockingbird. Good plot, with a telling that draws the reader into the story. Perhaps a but contrived, but just the thing when you want a book to pull you into another world for a couple of hours.

[Bluejay44 · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 1rst of Ann Tatlock's books I have read and it certainly won't be the last. It goes straight into my favourites folder. Right from the 1rst page to the last, it held my attention. Bringing vividly into life the differences and attitutes of Augie and Sunny's familys, it brought both smiles and tears to my face. Such indifference and then such love and understanding.
And then their meeting years later, the world around them still in turmoil, this time between races rather than between nations. But still tolerance, compassion and understanding shine out against brutality and intolerance.
Seeing difficult times from different sides and perspectives, through childish eyes and then though adult ones.
A wonderful book, thanks to the author for giving us a look through these eyes.

[JLib · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not sure why I chose this book when I did. Something in the title, and the brief description of an unlikely friendship withstanding skin color, cultural chaos and the fundamental need to and for love. It took me back to a lot of the ironies and problems of my childhood as a 'half-breed' myself. At one point in the book I became slightly discouraged because I felt the book had taken an irrelevant turn and focus - from one world into another. But, as I read on I realized how everything intertwined and really did matter to the other, with the basic message of forgiveness - even if not out loud. Thumbs up!

[Denise Ballentine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Christian historical fiction. Good story, a few slow points, but over all I really liked it. I look forward to reading more of this author's work. My kindle edition had some missing punctuation and other moments of random awkwardness, but I'm putting the blame on the those who formatted this and not the author, at least this time. There are two distinct parts to this story the become interwoven. Unique and well written, I'm glad I took a chance on this.

[Michelle Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't really know what to expect from this book. I loved the childhood friendship before WWII in the first part of the book, and was therefore taken by surprise when so much of the book actually took place during the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Once I got used to that, though, I was again pulled in by the wonderful characters. I felt so close to Augie throughout the book--she really came alive for me.

[Samantha Parrish · Rating 5 out of 5]

You must read this book!

There is simply not one thing about this book I didn't like. It left me breathless and aching in my heart at the cruelty and injustice of people. I honestly think this would.make a great addition to a required reading program for high school students. This book made me think and question my beliefs about race and equality. Definitely worth the time to read!!

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous read. I don't normally like historical fiction, but this powerful book set in the WWII and Vietnam eras will have you reflecting on how humans should be treated and what "family" really means. It was a long read, but absolutely necessary to tell this story.

[Emmy de Reus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prachtig, meeslepend verhaal over vreemdelingen-, volkeren- en rassenhaat, racisme, eenzaamheid, vriendschap en liefde, geloof en vergeving.

Het verhaal speelt deels vanaf 1938 tot na de Tweede Wereldoorlog, wanneer de jonge Augie Schuler (met een Duits-Ierse emigrantenafkomst) na de dood van haar vader door haar moeder wordt meegenomen naar Los Angeles om intrek te nemen bij het gezin van haar broer Finn O'Shaughnessy. In het gezin van Oom Finn ontbeert ze elk greintje liefde en aandacht; ze is dan ook dolgelukkig als ze als extra gezinslid wordt opgenomen in het gezin van haar klasgenootje en hartsvriendinnetje Sunny Yamagato. Sunny's ouders (van Japanse afkomst maar in Amerika geboren/opgegroeid en met Amerikaans staatsburgerschap) geven haar als speciaal verjaardagscadeau voor haar 9e verjaardag zelfs een Japanse naam: Musume, dat 'mijn dochter' betekent. Augie, die zich ondanks haar rode haar en Ierse uiterlijke kenmerken van binnen volledig Japans voelt, is dan ook wanhopig als de familie Yamagato begin maart 1942 net als vele duizenden anderen van Japanse afkomst - of dat nu eerste, tweede of derde generatie is - wordt gedwongen huis en haard achter te laten en te vertrekken naar interneringskampen, omdat na de Japanse aanval op Pearl Harbor in december 1941 iedereen met een Japanse achtergrond in toenemende mate werd beschimpt, uitgejouwd, gewantrouwd, beschouwd als potentieel landverrader en zelfs gehaat door de burgers van Europese afkomst. Ondanks beloften over en weer om via brieven contact te houden, verneemt Augie niets meer van haar Japanse 'familie'. Als na de Tweede Wereldoorlog Augies oudste broer Lenny, die op de Filippijnen als militair door de Japanners was krijgsgevangen gemaakt, als een gebroken man terugkeert, gekweld door voortdurende nachtmerries, en bekend wordt op welke afgrijselijke manieren de Japanners hun krijgsgevangenen uitbuitten en martelden, slaat Augies mening over Japan en de Japanners om en bant zij alle liefde uit haar hart om niet opnieuw te worden gekwetst.

Jaren later, in 1965, reist de dan 34-jarige schrijfster en journaliste Augusta Callahan - Augie heeft ondertussen haar Duitse achternaam Schuler gewijzigd in Callahan, de achternaam van de man van haar nicht Stella - naar het kleine plaatsje Carver in de zuidelijke staat Mississippi, om voor het tijdschrift One Nation een reportage te maken over de kiezersregistratie van de negerbevolking, want ondanks de 100 jaar eerder afgeschafte slavernij blijkt in Carver MS nog steeds geen enkele neger zich als kiesgerechtigd te hebben laten registreren... Het blijkt dat Augie is beland in een omgeving waar racisme nog volop leeft, waar de zwarte bevolking nog steeds als minderwaardig wordt beschouwd en waar de Ku Klux Klan er 's nachts op uit trekt om negers af te ranselen of zelfs te lynchen als ze zelfs maar de euvele moed hadden gehad een blanke recht in de ogen te kijken of aan te spreken. Hier vindt Augie uiteindelijk Sunny maar ook zichzelf terug, ontdekt ze dat geloof is gebaseerd op vertrouwen en weet ze haar hart weer open te stellen voor liefde en vergeving.

Een aanrader! 4½ ster.

[Barbara Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the novel All the Way Home by Ann Tatlock, Augie O’Shaughnessy‘s father has died by his own hand in the 1930s. Her mother takes what money they have left and moves her family in with her reluctant brother and his family. But Augie’s mother checks out and seeks respite in alcohol. Augie’s uncle is short-tempered and harsh; her aunt is a little more caring, but busy and distracted. Augie is mostly left to herself.

One day Augie wanders down to a park and meets a Japanese girl named Sunny, who invites Augie home. Augie becomes close with the whole kind and loving Yamagata family, spending more time with them than her own family. She even comes to consider herself Japanese.

Then Japan bombs Pearl Harbor, and the Yamagatas are sent away to an internment camp.

And Augie’s brother comes home from a Japanese prisoner of war camp and is never the same.

Fast forward twenty years, and Augie is a journalist specializing in civil rights stories. She has been asked to travel to Carver, Mississippi, to find out why no Negros have registered to vote even though the law allows them to. She finds more surprises than she bargained for.

I’ve read many WW2 novels, but none of them have touched on the Japanese internment camps. I had not known many details about them. It was interesting, but sad, to learn what happened to them. The fear was understandable: many experienced a similar fear of Middle Eastern people after 9/11. Like young Augie has to wrestle out for herself, no race of people is all good or all bad.

I’d like to tell him that there is no such thing as “they” or “them.” That there are only individuals with layer upon layer of experience, ideas, hopes, dreams, beliefs. That there are some Japanese who are really Americans, some whites who are really Negroes, some Irish-German-Americans who are really Japanese at heart. And that in spite of what a person appears to be or not to be, it’s the heart and not the face that matters.

I could begin again to differentiate, to see the faces of individuals rather than the blur of one large group. The Yamagatas had the eyes but not the soul of the people who had destroyed my brother. And that was what made them different.

Some of the civil rights era stories were both brutal and sad as well. Ann captured the struggles of everyone in the story in a realistic and heartfelt way. Her writing shines as well in a couple of turns of phrases I particularly liked:

I was already well aware of a hollow place inside of me, like an air bubble caught in a pane of glass.

Her painted eyelids were two blue robin’s eggs in a nest of clotted mascara.

The music filled what we would otherwise not have recognized as our parched souls, helping us realize the beauty that we longed for only when we heard it.

This book was a Christy award winner, and I can see why. A very good read.

[Christine Lowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweeping Saga From A Great Writer

There is always so much to say after reading any book written by Ann Tatlock. She is a master at portraying the heart of her characters and they all feel familiar even though it may be uncomfortable to acknowledge the ugly underbelly of humanity. All the Way Home begins with two lonely eight year old girls meeting in the park. They appear as a study of contrasts. Augie is Irish American with fair skin that freckled and curly red hair. Sunny is Japanese American with clear skin and straight black hair. Their lives were changed forever that day in 1938 when Sunny invited Augie to go home with her to play. Augie was enchanted by Sunny's life. Her parents were polite and welcoming and she thought Sunny was the luckiest girl in the world. Sunny had her own room and it was filled with books. Augie lived in an overcrowded house with too many loud people and her mother who escaped into alcohol when her father's car was hit by a train.

Augie loved being at the Yamagatas and they loved Augie like she was their own daughter. They were the first people to tell Augie she was special. Augie spent all the time she could at their house. Augie felt like she was finally home with the right family who loved her unconditionally. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the scene was set for the Civilian Exclusion Order in 1942. All the Japanese were rounded up and sent to internment camps. They lost their homes and businesses. They could take only what they could carry. Augie begged them to take her with them. They tried to explain it was not possible. The Yamagatas promised to write but Augie never received a letter. Sunny's heart was broken and eventually hardened. She kept herself safe from that type of closeness. She couldn't risk that kind of hurt again. She was lonely but she was safe.

This is a sweeping saga that takes us into the civil rights movement in Mississippi. Each section of this book takes the reader deeper into the story of Sunny and Augie. The characters are richly portrayed and the plot flows easily from the beginning to the conclusion. I loved every part of this book and highly recommend the author and this book.

[Jillaire · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book focuses on the friendship between Augie, a German-Irish redhead from a dysfunctional home, and Sunny, a Japanese-American girl from a loving family. They attend the same elementary school in Los Angeles in the years immediately preceding World War II, and Augie is practically adopted into Sunny's home and culture. However, the attack on Pearl Harbor changes things, and the girls are separated.

Fast forward to Augie being all grown up and a journalist covering Civil Rights issues in the 1960s. I won't spoil the story from here, but just say that I really liked the first half of the book and was invested in the characters and plot. The second half of the book--that which took place in the 1960s--felt forced. While the story was plausible, there were parts that were too conveniently constructed or plot elements that were not properly built up before they happened. It left me feeling disappointed in this book.

I did really like the overall message of finding kindred spirits and true friendship across racial and cultural barriers, but I felt let down by the second half of the book. I'm tempted to drop it to 2 stars for that "it was just okay" feeling that I was left with, but I'm keeping it at 3 stars because it was well written and well researched.

[Trina · Rating 5 out of 5]

LOVED the author's writing style as she told a beautiful story.

While the book addressed several topics of racial prejudice, I thought it was addressed in in the truly complex and multifaceted way I feel racism really is.

The author also put emphasis on main characters from several different races, that were genuine, gracious, and lovingly accepting of others of all races. The author showed that while there are some people that are racist, it's not a specific race that is mean and nasty to another. It's more about the person and their behavior and choices than it is about their skin color. While there's racist people of any race, there's also good people of all walks of life and race that earnestly try to change the unfairness of racism they see happening around them.

This author did an excellent job of focusing on the awfulness of many forms of racism and it's consequences, but also on those characters that are trying to combat that awfulness with good. On those characters that love and respect, no matter the skin color of the person in front of them. On those characters that see a person for who they are as a person, and not for their skin color.