Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: The Way Back by Gavriel Savit

Image: Penguin Random House

The Way Back by Gavriel Savit. Unabridged e-audiobook, ~10 hours, 54 minutes. Read by Allan Corduner. Listening Library/ Random House Children's Books/ Penguin Random House, September, 2020. 9780593286128. (Review of e-audio borrowed from public library.)

Happy Thursday! I hope that you are enjoying your summer break and that books and reading are a part of that enjoyment. I wish the weather would improve.

Teen Tuesday features The Way Back by Gavriel Savit. This historical fantasy feels like a dark and ominous folk tale. Yehuda Leib and Bluma are young teens who live in the tiny shtetl of Tupik in eastern Europe in the 1800s. Bluma lives in comfort over the bakery her parents run. Her grandmother, whom we meet as a girl in the beginning of the book, resides on the top floor. Yehuda Leib lives with his mother and his life is less secure. He's scrappy and an accomplished thief. He longs to learn more of his father. The entire town whispers of him, but no one will share.

Each separately have an encounter with the Messinger of Death one fateful evening and they end up in the Far Country, a parallel universe just past the graveyard where the walls between the worlds are thin. The Far Country is filled with demons, Lilith and her followers and a grotesque army of the dead. At the center of it all is the House of Death, which is both Yehuda Leib and Bluma's destination. Though each are on separate paths, they cross from time to time. There is constant danger and trickery as a variety of demons attempt to ensnare/ enslave them to do evil things.

The setting is vivid and atmospheric. Some characters are nefarious; others are harmless. All are fascinating. Danger lurks everywhere, but there are many moments of humor to lighten the load. Be patient, as the story unfolds slowly and is richly layered and filled with Yiddish sayings and proverbs. Teen readers who enjoy complex storytelling will love The Way Back.

The Way Back is available at Closter Public Library and also in e-book and e-audio formats through eBCCLS. I read this one with my ears. It was narrated by Allan Corduner, a favorite, who, in addition to narrating Mr. Savit's earlier story, Anna and the Swallow Man, also narrated The Book Thief. The Way Back was a National Book Award Finalist last fall.