Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson
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Book Reviews of Home: A Novel
Book Review: bemused
Summary: 4 Stars
this book disappointed me. i loved housekeeping and gilead, her previous novels; housekeeping ravished me with her sense of the overwhelming horror of death, cold, unchanging and forever, contrasted with the evanescence of life. In gilead, what gripped me was the titanic, heroic struggle between the ideal life and the real world. in home death seems to have won. the wonderful ferocious old men of gilead are tired and dying, everybody seems defeated, going through the motions, only the reprobate jack, who has been alien to this since his birth, seems to have any genuine moral sense, which may be her point. her characters are always wonderful, real and round and (like eliot's) so morally complex the notions of "good" and "bad" are useless; her writing is (like james) so compact you can't miss a word or you lose the train of thought. for that, the 4 stars. but i wanted more from this book than i got.Book Review: Quiet Prodigal Son Story
Summary: 4 Stars
Marilynne Robinson won the Pulitzer for her book GILEAD. I still haven't read GILEAD but I was anxious to read her follow-up, HOME, after reading several glowing reviews. HOME is a prodigal son story. It revisits several of the characters from GILEAD but it is not necessary to read GILEAD in order to understand the plot.
Prodigal Jack Boughton returns home after an extended absence to visit his ailing father and sister and tries to find some sort of redemption. The story is a quiet one that is very character-driven. For readers that crave fast-moving plots and lots of action, this would be a very difficult book to get through. However, it offers a great deal of reflection on religion and family and whether people can truly change. Extremely thoughtful if sometimes a bit slow.
I'm looking forward to reading GILEAD for a different perspective and viewpoint on this tale.
Book Review: Worth It.
Summary: 4 Stars
I could relate to a certain extent with the reviewers who found the book thin and boring. But in the context of which the story was written, 1950's midwest, I found the tone and substance of the story quite fitting. So while I struggled to stay engaged, I kept moving forward with the expectation that my efforts would pay off. And they did. The ending was perfect. I re-read it and reflected on it for some time. I was particularly moved by Glory's acceptance of her fate as "preserver" of the home. For the sake of her family, particularly her brother Jack, she was finally willing to sacrifice her own life for the preservation of the past and of the nostalgic constancy which bound and defined their family. Something not so valued today, but, perhaps, should be. Sad, bittersweet, but so moving. Just what I had hoped for.Book Review: A bit too sloww, still worth reading...
Summary: 4 Stars
I was excited to see that this book had been released since I loved GILEAD so much. While I enjoyed HOME, I probably did not like it as much as it's predecessor.
Both books are very similar in tone and content (not surprising since they are parallel pieces to each other), but I found HOME to move at a much more slower pace then GILEAD and that's saying something considering how slowly placed GILEAD is. It took me several days to complete this book. That's not to say it's boring. It's not. It's just that I think there is a bit too much repetitiveness.
Still, I recommend HOME to anyone who loved GILEAD. Both books compliment each other very well. They are not plot driven stories, but beautifully written books about people.
Book Review: Rings very true to life
Summary: 4 Stars
Everything in this novel rings true from the complex dynamic between a minister and his black sheep son right down to the last detail of life in a small town. I felt like I was there and knew this family. Certainly I have met such families for real in small town Iowa! Enjoyable read!