The Returning Analysis

If you've ever wondered what medieval times were like, look no further than The Returning. It takes place in a make-believe land of Upland and Downland, where old customs and rituals are valued. We...

The narrator of The Returning is one of those godlike narrators who sees everything and can skip around between different characters and between the past, present, and future. In fact, you might ge...

Sometimes genres are tricky with books, but this book ain't one of those. It's written toward a young adult audience—a lot of the characters are teens themselves and the language is pretty straig...

The narrator of The Returning uses several different tones over the course of this book, but throughout everything he or she is always formal. This isn't a chummy, chatty, nudge-you-in-the-ribs kin...

There are a couple of things we need to cover when we talk about style in The Returning. One important aspect of the novel's style is the way it takes into account each character's personal history...

This one's pretty easy. The book is about Cam returning home from war and dealing with the aftermath in his family and community. And it's called The Returning. Yep, we told you it was simple. But...

Did you think that just because Cam is heroic, virtuous, and brave, that he was going to live happily ever after? Not so much, Shmoopsters. Which isn't to say he gets an unhappy ending—instead, i...

We're not going to lie: There's a lot going on in this book, and very little of it is directly to the point, plus there's a lot of unfamiliar material to process. For example, we didn't really know...

Homeward Bound Cam returns from war after twelve years and expects to be greeted by his friends and family—but instead he's kind of on the outs, and no one trusts him. He's the only person to sur...

The Returning actually has an alias. It was called Bloodflower in other countries. Which title do you like better? (Source.) Christine Hinwood's debut novel won a Michael L. Printz Honor Book for...

You might think that since the characters are fighting for their lives they wouldn't have a whole lot of time left for intimacy, but you'd be wrong. Sex is still very much a part of the characters'...