A Home at the End of the World: A Novel

A Home at the End of the World: A Novel
by Michael Cunningham

A Home at the End of the World: A Novel
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Book Summary Information

Author: Michael Cunningham
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 1998-11-15
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Picador

Book Reviews of A Home at the End of the World: A Novel

Book Review: Compelling story of friendship and love
Summary: 5 Stars

A Home at the End of the World is an elegant study of how finding love in a world of fragile and impermanent relationships requires inventiveness, resilience, and a willingness to challenge restrictive notions of family. It was written circa 1990 by the acclaimed author of The Hours. The story is centered on Jonathan and Bobby, who become close friends and partners in sexual experimentation during their adolescent years together in Cleveland. Bobby is haunted by the loss of his adored older brother, his hero at 9 years of age, and then his mother a couple of years later. Yet he is less conflicted about what he wants in life. He has a strong need both to give and receive love. Jonathan is more bright and articulate than Bobby, but more uncertain of himself. He has an overly solicitous mother, who is prominently featured, and a mostly absent father. Jonathan, who is gay, falls in love with his buddy. Bobby sticks to him like glue but his deep devotion is more fraternal in character.

Jonathan moves to New York for college and stays on with his eccentric roommate Clare, who's eleven years older. They share a non-sexual sort of love. Bobby lives with Jonathan's parents until they move to Phoenix, then moves in with Jonathan and Clare in NYC. The three get along well until Clare does a make-over on Bobby and they become lovers. Jonathan's lingering feelings for Bobby leave him disquieted and he runs away. After Jonathan's father dies and Clare has a baby, the three come back together to move to a home outside Woodstock, NY (a childhood dream of Bobby's, passed down from his older brother). They open a restaurant, the "Home Caf?", which keeps Jonathan and Bobby busy and becomes a success. Clare is wrapped up in her child, whom Jonathan dotes on more than does Bobby, the father.

Bobby is the heart of the story, and was played by Colin Farrell in the film adaptation. He is the guardian spirit subtly driving the plot. He is the one who proposes moving to the "home at the end of the world", and he works the hardest to keep the family together. His attachment to Jonathan is remarkable, not least because it doesn't originate in sexual desire. Bobby winds up where he wants to be at the end. The "home at the end of the world" is his dream more than anyone else's, and it survives and will flourish because of the love he pours into it. (Although uncertainties are left at the end, extending the timeline of the novel a few years leads you to the strong likelihood of a happy outcome and lifelong love, given scientific progress over the course of the 90's.)

This is a moving work of literature which dazzles with its deft prose, but is most worth reading because it so powerfully evokes the deepest human emotions. Jonathan and Bobby aren't characters I'll easily forget.

Summary of A Home at the End of the World: A Novel

For the first time, an audio production is available of Michael Cunningham's critically acclaimed novel-published to coincide with the release of the feature film starring Colin Farrell and Dallas Roberts
M ichael Cunningham's celebrated novel is the story of two boyhood friends: Jonathan, lonely, introspective, and unsure of himself; and Bobby, hip, dark, and inarticulate. In New York after college, Bobby moves in with Jonathan and his roommate, Clare, a veteran of the city's erotic wars. Bobby and Clare fall in love, scuttling the plans of Jonathan, who is gay, to father Clare's child. Then, when Clare and Bobby have a baby, the three move to a small house upstate to raise "their" child together and create a new kind of family. A Home at the End of the World masterfully depicts the charged, fragile relationships of urban life today.
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