Away, by Amy Bloom

Life is not a series of isolated ponds and puddles; life is a river. Only in the most literal sense are we born on the day we leave our mother's womb. In the larger, truer sense, we are born of the past - connected to its fluidity, both genetically and experientially.

The novel Away is a clear example of how people are connected to the past. It characterizes three generations of a family of women. These women are connected through their experiences. They are all women of extremes; they are passionate about everything they do. They have the characteristic of going away. They follow their hearts into a land dominated by their imaginations. Nature is a part of each of the women. They follow the constant change in landscape throughout the novel, from Ireland, to the Atlantic Ocean voyage, to Upper Canada, and finally to Loughbreeze beach. Each woman in the novel is connected to the water; it draws them in and will hold them there forever. The women have relationships with men that they are drawn too because of the man's individuality. Away portrays three women from different generations and shows how similar they are. The women are strong and passionate about their causes; they are bound together through generations of going away. They leave their surrounding environments in an inner search for peace, compassion, beauty and love. Each woman connects to the other through her uncontrollable passions. The women in the novel are connected throughout each generation by their experiences of the past and present.

The women, in the novel Away, are connected by their experiences of being away. They are conne...

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...hree women of one family as being women of extremes. These women are bound together through generations of being away. Someone who is away is there in body, but not in mind, they know only of their new state of mind. The women are connected to each other genetically and spiritually. They connect through their distinct landscapes and where they have lived. They are all connected to the water and the forest and they continue to live the life of the tortured Irish. The women all share relationships with men. They are very similar, but Eileen is the only one who gets to be with her man for an extended period of time and is the only one that bares a child from that man. The women of the family are connected through their experiences in life. The women are connected both genetically and experientially.