The Longest Way Home

Kliatt, July, 2003 by Hugh M. Flick

THE LONGEST WAY HOME. Robert Silverberg. 2002. Read by Stefan Rudnicki. 6 tapes. 9 hrs. Fantastic Audio, American Audio Literature. 1-57453-517-x. $32.00. Plastic; plot, author notes. SA

This coming-of-age SF tale is set in the future on a planet colonized by humans. The young hero is visiting distant relatives when a civil war breaks out and he barely escapes with his life. Once he realizes what is happening, he begins the 10,000-mile journey southwards towards his home. A long the way he learns a great deal about himself and about the indigenous non-humans on his planet who help him in their own peculiar ways. The coming of age includes a fairly explicit sexual encounter.

Rudnicki's semi-voiced reading expresses the pain, exhaustion, and confusion that the young hero experiences along the way. The pace of the reading is excellent. Hugh M. Flick, Jr., Silliman College, Yale Univ., New Haven, CT