A Book Review: Janna McMahan's Calling Home

Janna McMahan, a Kentucky author, writes her first novel set 1980 in her hometown of Falling Rock, Kentucky, a town characterized by the fact that nothing ever happens. But this time something has happened. Family man Roger Lemmons left his wife Virginia and his high school aged children Shannon and Will. While Roger had never been a perfect husband and father, he loved his family. Now, everything about life has changed and seems to be falling apart.

The story, while told by each character, seems to focus upon the female characters in their day-to-day struggle. Virginia, like so many wives, has turned into a machine and fails to be sympathetic to her husband. She is unyielding to her children and wants things done by the rules. As the story unfolds, the reader realizes that Virginia feels trapped in a life she didn’t want. While Virginia loves her family, she had always wanted more than to work in a factory. Virginia seems like a cold mother. But this is a response to her feeling trapped in what she thought was a loveless relationship and from her past experiences with men. Meanwhile, Shannon wants to escape the small town and make something of her life. Shannon likes the boys she goes to school with but can’t abide by their willingness to stay and be farmers; she is smart and wants to go to college. Most of all, Shannon does not want to end up unhappy like her mother.

Guilt and regret take center stage as the story develops. Everyone has secrets. In this story, secrets become lies and then guilt and regret. Mistakes seem to drown the characters as they try to live normal lives. The characters know that families should stick together. The family longs to be a unit again. How to make amends and how to reclaim the past is a mystery that the characters try to uncover.

This was not an action adventure; the action was in the great development of characters proved to be action enough. I was reminded of my own life and felt a great kinship to the characters. They felt real, like they lived down the street from me or were friends from church. The characters had realistic struggles and faced current issues. While a novel that tackles current issues could be didactic this novel avoided that feeling by being well written. At times the book felt like poetry with winding metaphors and beautiful passages about human nature that proved a pleasure to read.

Kara Ripley is a librarian at the Warren County Public Library in Bowling Green, Kentucky. She earned her BA in English and Philosophy and her Masters in Library Science from Indiana University. Kara lives with her husband Matt, and spends most of her time reading and/or knitting.