"Home" is the sequel to the award winning book Gilead. Hannah gave the novel to me to give to Dad when I was in TX whilst visiting her. The author made an appearance at her school and is an exquisite story teller. So, did i like Home? hmmmm... I first started reading it in November 2010 but then it got packed away and I got interested in other books. Then in Jan 2011 Russell and I tried to read it together... but did not get far. Almost every time I picked the book up I fell asleep reading it, but I could not stop picking it up again and again. Actually, there is good insight all the way through the book but the last 1/5 of the story is wonderfully well-crafted. I never laughed nor did I cry as I turned the pages, and I was hoping for more closure than what was offered, but I found myself caring deeply for the three man characters (Jack, Glory and their father-Reverend Boughton) and I wanted the best for each of them. I'm not sure if I have encountered the word "flummoxed" before this book, but I read it a few times within the 300 plus pages. Here are some of the choice quotes, in my opinion, "How oddly holiness situated itself among the things of the word, how endlessly creation wrenched and strained under the burden of its own significance." Then a little further, "Weary or bitter or bewildered as we many be, God is faithful. He lets us wander so we will know what it means to come home." Midway through the story Jack and Glory are getting to know each other as adult siblings and they were talking about kindness. Glory said, "I know a little bit about that," and he nodded, and the lilacs rustled, and the sun shone, and there was quiet between them, a calm that came with being of one mind. This is just one example of how you can wonderfully feel the place as you read the words. Then their father, at the end of his life, says some very meaningful things about family on page 261. Home has no fairy-tale bits to it, but is a slow, real life read as life really happens and all the pondering that goes into guarded reflection of what makes a person who they are.
Home
author: Marilynne Robinson
325 pages; paperback
2009
