The Way Back

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Yehuda Leib and Bluma journey into the Jewish land of the dead.

The story centers around an event -- the wedding of the rebbe's granddaughter. Yehuda Leib is traveling to Zubinsk to see the rebbe when he is waylaid by a dark stranger and enters the land of the dead. He encounters the demon Mammon and loses his memories of the living world.

For Bluma, cemetery gates are where the land of the living meets the land of the dead. She visits the graveyard and enters the "Far Country" with Lillith and her sisters (the Lileen). She is able to avoid the demons with the help of a magic spoon that makes her face unrecognizable.

Both Yehuda Leib and Bluma have lost a family member, and leaving the Far Country is a physical journey and a spiritual one. When the Angel of Death enters the realm of the living, the two children's stories converge.

The book is slower than I would expect from a spooky story for younger readers. It may not deter older teens, but younger teens may grow bored with the novel before the excitement begins. The main characters have hardly any backstory, so it's hard for the reader to become attached to them or care about their actions.

The tale reads like an unknown person telling you a story, or as if a campfire tale was put into written words. Gavriel Savit is a thespian, which explains the overall feeling of a storyteller as the narrator. It would have been interesting to hear the audiobook in his voice since he is a performer who knows the story better than anyone else.

Allan Corduner has a fantastic voice and his narration is flawless. His voices for characters are so different from his narration that it's easy to distinguish dialogue. I would listen to a book narrated by him again.

Recommended for teens with longer attention spans who aren't afraid of ghost stories. Teens and adults with East European or Jewish heritage will identify with the story's foundations.

Gavriel Savit is a performer and bestselling author. He studied musical theater at the University of Michigan.

Publisher: Listening Library (audio), Knopf Books for Young Readers (print)

Narrator: Allan Corduner

Running Time: 10 hours, 53 minutes

Length: 368 pages

Release Date: November 17, 2020

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I received an electronic galley copy of this title from the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and a librarian review audiobook from Libro.fm. I listened to the latter. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.