Read A Long Way Home A Memoir edition by Saroo Brierley Politics Social Sciences eBooks
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First it was a media sensation. Then it became the #1 international bestseller A Long Way Home. Now it’s Lion, the major motion picture starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman, and Rooney Mara—nominated for six Academy Awards!
This is the miraculous and triumphant story of Saroo Brierley, a young man who used Google Earth to rediscover his childhood life and home in an incredible journey from India to Australia and back again...
At only five years old, Saroo Brierley got lost on a train in India. Unable to read or write or recall the name of his hometown or even his own last name, he survived alone for weeks on the rough streets of Calcutta before ultimately being transferred to an agency and adopted by a couple in Australia.
Despite his gratitude, Brierley always wondered about his origins. Eventually, with the advent of Google Earth, he had the opportunity to look for the needle in a haystack he once called home, and pore over satellite images for landmarks he might recognize or mathematical equations that might further narrow down the labyrinthine map of India. One day, after years of searching, he miraculously found what he was looking for and set off to find his family.
A Long Way Home is a moving, poignant, and inspirational true story of survival and triumph against incredible odds. It celebrates the importance of never letting go of what drives the human spirit hope.
Read A Long Way Home A Memoir edition by Saroo Brierley Politics Social Sciences eBooks
"I'm not giving much away by quoting a stranger the author met as a grown-up on his mission to find the family he lost at age 5. Finding his former home unoccupied and having no idea where to look next, he encountered a man who said to him, "Wait here. I will take you to your mother."
At age 5, Saroo Brierley fell asleep on a train in India and couldn't find his way home. By luck he was placed in an orphanage and adopted by an Australian couple. He spent years combing his memory of places and landmarks in India, tracing them on Google Earth from his home in Australia, and finally solving the mysteries of how he got lost, traveling back to India, and finding his way home. As the title says, "ALong Way Home."
This may be the most fascinating book I ever read. I couldn't put it down, even though I myself have never been to India or Australia. It is an amazing story."
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A Long Way Home A Memoir edition by Saroo Brierley Politics Social Sciences eBooks Reviews :
A Long Way Home A Memoir edition by Saroo Brierley Politics Social Sciences eBooks Reviews
- As a lover of a good story, I give this short but powerful book a solid five stars. As a mother, there aren't enough stars available.to express my admiration for the way Brierley processed and portrayed his relationship with his two families. He honored and loved them both, and regardless of which mother I might have been in this circumstance, my heart would be full, and I would not have felt shortchanged.
- I'm not giving much away by quoting a stranger the author met as a grown-up on his mission to find the family he lost at age 5. Finding his former home unoccupied and having no idea where to look next, he encountered a man who said to him, "Wait here. I will take you to your mother."
At age 5, Saroo Brierley fell asleep on a train in India and couldn't find his way home. By luck he was placed in an orphanage and adopted by an Australian couple. He spent years combing his memory of places and landmarks in India, tracing them on Google Earth from his home in Australia, and finally solving the mysteries of how he got lost, traveling back to India, and finding his way home. As the title says, "ALong Way Home."
This may be the most fascinating book I ever read. I couldn't put it down, even though I myself have never been to India or Australia. It is an amazing story. - This book tells an amazing story. There is simply no other way to describe it. It is the real-life story of Saroo, a five-year-old child in a village in central India, who gets lost and finds himself transported all the way east to Calcutta, some 1800 kms away. Young Saroo, all of five, penniless and illiterate, does not even know the name of his village and knows little else about where he was from. He gets off at the bustling, crowded Howrah train station and survives for six weeks in the intimidating bad and mean streets of Calcutta by his instincts and luck. He ends up at a benevolent orphanage called ISSA, where the kindly Ms.Saroj Sood - tries to find his family and re-unite him. But all Saroo can tell was that he was from Ginestlay, which is what he remembered as his village's name. He also mistakenly says that he travelled just overnight by train when in reality he had travelled almost 24 hours to get to Calcutta. After a couple of moths' futile effort, Mrs.Sood pronounces him 'lost' and organizes him to be adopted by Sue and John Brierley, a young couple from Tasmania, Australia.
Saroo is lovingly brought up by the Brierleys and he grows up into a happy and well-integrated Aussie over the next 20 years. However Saroo always wonders about his origins, with clear memories of his birth mother Kamala, his kid sister Shekila and elder brothers Kallu and Guddu, whom he looked up to as a child two decades before. He starts working on trying to find where he was from by using the feeble memories of his childhood. All he had to go by was that there was a train station whose name was something like 'Berampur' , that it had a water tower, an overpass across the tracks and that the town had a fountain near a cinema. His village 'Ginestlay' was somewhere nearby and that they were all reachable overnight by train from Calcutta. Gradually, over five years, with incredible patience and perseverance , Saroo, at age 30, using Google Earth's satellite images and Facebook, miraculously locates the train station with the identifying features of his childhood. He notes that a nearby town is called Khandwa and that there is a Facebook group belonging to people from Khandwa. He contacts them and gets the key info that there is a nearby village called Ganesh Talai - the 'Ginestlay' of 5-year-old Saroo! Saroo soon goes to India and reconnects with his birth family to the great delight of his elderly mother Kamala and his siblings Shekila and Kallu, who are now married with children. Sadly, Guddu, his eldest brother whom he adored as a child, was killed in an accident just on the same day that Saroo got lost 25 years before. Otherwise, it is a happy resolution for Saroo.
Not only Saroo, but his Aussie parents, Sue and John as well, come off as wonderful, loving and caring parents and individuals. Sue herself was a WWII refugee from Hungary and her story is also inspring as told it in the book. Saroo's birth mother Kamala is another remarkable woman, who never gave up hope that her son Sheru (which is his correct name!) would return one day. Hence she never moved from the shack where she lived so that she will be there when Saroo comes back! The other heroes in the book are the internet, Google Earth and Facebook! It is a great tribute to these wonderful technologies which make it possible for the adult Saroo to sit ten thousand miles away in Hobart, Australia and exactly locate the water tower and overpass of his childhood memory and find out the correct name of his village. Let no one denounce technology again!
I found the book moving, inspirational and one of hope and the indomitable spirit of the humankind. It is a story of triumph against great odds. Going through the early chapters where Saroo survives for six weeks as a five-year-old in Calcutta, I had palpitations as I felt anxious that nothing terrible should befall young Saroo! The book also has a special appeal for me since I grew up in India and lived for 13 years in wonderful Australia. - It's both a heartbreaking and heartwarming story.
When 5-year-old Saroo is accidentally separated from his Indian family at a train station, he ends up surviving on the streets of Kolkata (Calcutta) on his own for 2-3 weeks before being taken to an orphanage. He's quickly adopted by an Australian family, John and Sue Brierley.
Fast-forward 25 years, and Saroo chooses to search for his biological family, which he does with the help of Google Maps, Google Earth and Facebook. In a country of almost 1.3 billion people, he manages to find the three he cares most about.
It's an inspiring story, and one I devoured quickly. My heart broke as he describe the poverty of India, and I cried as he described his adoptive mother and birth mother meeting and embracing for the first time.
The only reason I'm giving it 4 stars is because I feel the writing was bland at times, and some details are repeated over and over again. However, I credit that to Brierly being a first-time writer, and let's be honest—sharing your life's story, especially one as unique as his, can't be an easy task. All in all, I'd recommend the book to anyone. - Everyone can benefit from going on this amazing journey with a young man who exhibits tenacity, resolve and grace in his search for his birth family and his devotion to both his adopted and birth families.
- I wanted to read this before seeing the movie - very interesting and tugs on your heartstrings to hear how difficult life is for so many. How the author finds his family is truly amazing.
- I put off reading this book for fear it would be mostly a tale of abuse and a condemnation of Indian people. Well, I was wrong. While there are disturbing parts, necessary to the story, the spirit of this very young child helped me through. And the caring nature of most of the people he meets reflects my own interactions with the people of India. You have just Gotta read this story!
- As Americans we can scarcely imagine what a horrific experience young Saroo endured. Had it not been for his already desperate existence up to being lost, I doubt anyone would have the guile he did to survive the circumstances he found himself in at the age of five. A remarkable recounting and captivating story.
