When We Were Romans (edición 2008)

The story is narrated by 9 year old Lawrence and is a recount of the travels of he and his sister, Jemima, with Mum , Hannah, to Rome and back. Mum confides in Lawrence that their Dad is trying to get them and hurt them so they need to escape to somewhere he won't find them. Hannah decides to leave for Rome where she had once lived and worked. She imposes on numerous old friends and as each of these relationships turn sour, the reader becomes aware that all is not right with Hannah. the tension escalates as she commences on the return journey penniless and paranoid.
I found I grew tired of the relentless voice of Lawrence and the device of the text being peppered with spelling mistakes to authenticate the juvenile account became very irritating. It was a worthwhile tale but the structure of the novel was overdone and spoiled a potentially important observation of the mental collapse of a parent as viewed through the eyes of a child. ( )

I could take the point of view of the young man, I could take the juvenile references to many things, I could even take the story line/plot. What I could not take was the misspellings — you could tell many of them were so intentional, not an accident of youth. Too staged. ( )

Excellent. A lot like A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Millions. The "narrator" is a nine year old boy and the author conveys this through inconsistent spelling which I found distracting. ( )

Excellent. A lot like A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Millions. The "narrator" is a nine year old boy and the author conveys this through inconsistent spelling which I found distracting. ( )

Excellent. A lot like A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time and Millions. The "narrator" is a nine year old boy and the author conveys this through inconsistent spelling which I found distracting. ( )