When We Were Romans, by Matthew Kneale

September 3, 2008

When We Were Romans is narrated by nine-year-old Lawrence. His mother clearly has a mental illness, largely marked by paranoia. Convinced that her ex-husband, Lawrence’s father, is out to get her, she packs up Lawrence and his little sister Jemima and leaves England for Rome. The story yo-yos between the good times and the bad times. Sometimes the mom is okay and goes to work and takes the kids to parks and restaurants. Other times, the mom is so confused about reality that she holes up with the kids for weeks.

My major complaint with this book is the frequent and obnoxious spelling and grammar errors. I guess Kneale was trying to channel his nine-year-old narrator, but I didn’t buy it. The errors were distracting and inconsistent. The narrator manages to use quotation marks and periods correctly, but can’t spell or use contractions? It just didn’t work.

Still, the story itself was compelling – and heartbreaking. The writing, other than the aforementioned errors, flows along as if you’re in a nine-year-old’s head. This book is ultimately worth the read for those who can get past the errors and can endure the tragedy of mental illness. Kneale is a good writer, and I’ll be keeping an eye out for his other books.

When We Were Romans, by Matthew Kneale

Other Reviews:
She Reads Books
Medieval Bookworm
Fashionista Piranha
In the Shadow of Mt. TBR
A Striped Armchair

Buy When We Were Romans at Amazon.com.

Tagged as: 3 Star Reviews, Contemporary Literature

{ 5 comments }

1 Christine September 3, 2008 at 5:16 am: The spelling, grammar etc. actually really worked for me — once I figured out what was going on it didn’t irk at all. I thought it was quite authentic, actually — you see, I have lots of things sitting around that I wrote at about that age, and that’s exactly the way I wrote: some big words right, some short words wrong, and with general grammatical inconsistency.

Case in point: when I was eight, my friend Kelly taught me to correctly spell antidisestablishmentarianism … but I was still writing “liberry” and messing up homonyms.
2 Care September 3, 2008 at 5:47 am: I don’t know why but the title of this book does nothing to inspire me, and then I see the wonderful cover.
3 Eva September 3, 2008 at 8:07 am: I agree with Christine: once I adjusted to Lawrence’s writing, it worked. For the first few pages, though, I was incredible annoyed!
4 Meghan September 4, 2008 at 7:53 pm: Thanks for linking to me!

I think Lawrence got the punctuation wrong just as much as everything else. It read exactly like some of my brother’s youthful essays, so it never really bothered me. It helped me sink in way more than a book which was written correctly would have.

Care – not sure if you’ll come back to see this comment, but underneath the dust jacket this book has a gorgeous drawing of Rome! It’s one of the nicest covers I’ve ever seen.
5 Jena September 5, 2008 at 11:13 am: I’m a quarter of the way (or more) through it. I knew right away that this was a nine-year-old’s voice/spelling/grammar, but what I’m having a hard time with is the “and then… and then… and then…” style. This is how 9-year-olds tell stories, I know, but there’s also a reason that adult writers don’t, and I find it less than charming. I think I know what’s coming in the plot, so I think I’ll be calling it quits. Too bad–I had been looking forward to this one.