Marilynne Robinson's first novel, “Housekeeping,” was published in 1980. It was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, among many other awards. Her next novel wasn't published until 2004, when “Gilead” won the Pulitzer Prize.
Many people hoped that they wouldn't have to wait another 24 years to read one of Robinson's poetic novels. They were rewarded when “Home: A Novel” was published this past year.
“Gilead” is narrated by John Ames, a minister living in Gilead, Iowa. It is a small rural town, and the story is set at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. The story consists of letters that Ames is writing to his young son about his life, and the lives of his family before him.
“Home” has the same setting as “Gilead” at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. But this story is narrated by Glory Boughton, the youngest child of the Rev. Robert Boughton, best friend to John Ames.
Boughton is elderly and in failing health. Glory, 38 years old, has come back to the family home to care for him, after a broken engagement and leaving her teaching position in another city. But for the company of her beloved father, she spends her days alone, reading old books, listening to the radio.
It is a lonely, sad existence. “What an embarrassment that was, being somewhere because there was nowhere else for you to be. All those years of work and nothing to show for it.” Robinson's words are quiet poetry.
She is alone until the day her brother Jack walks in the door. Jack has had no contact with any of his siblings for the past 20 years. Glory is shocked, having no idea if Jack had even been dead or alive.
Jack left home many years ago, a fact that surprised no one. He was a troubled youth, always off on his own, committing acts of petty theft and vandalism along the way. Jack worried his family constantly.
When he was 12 years old, Glory said of him, “he was himself already then, solitary when he could be, gentle when the mood was upon him, a worry to them all as often as he was out of sight.”
Jack was a teenager when he fathered a baby with a girl from town. This was a source of sorrow for Jack's family. They felt responsibility for this baby, whereas Jack felt none, and Glory and her parents attempted to befriend the young girl to little avail.
Boughton is thrilled to have his prodigal son home. Jack is a mess, pale, thin and weary. Glory wonders what awful things had befallen her brother over the years. She is glad to have someone there to share the care of her father, yet at the same time, she is a little envious of Jack because her father is so excited to have him home, much like the biblical story.
Glory and Jack are wary of each other. They are both fragile souls, wounded from the arrows of life's difficulties, yet neither will share the details of their hurt with the other. Their father expresses a desire for them to talk to each other, to be loving to each other. He sees that they each need the comfort of the other.
They settle into a routine, Jack working around the house, fixing things and clearing brush. Glory cooks and cleans, and they share the care of their father. As they grow more comfortable with each other, they slowly open up their hearts and share confidences.
Everyday Jack would mail a letter, and eventually he confides to Glory that he is writing to a woman he loves back in St. Louis. He tells Glory that he has hurt this woman, and her family wants him out of her life completely. His hope is that she will forgive him, and he dreams that they might be able to start a life back home in Gilead.
“Home” is a novel meant to be read in a quiet place, somewhere where you can savor the eloquence of Marilynne Robinson's beautifully poetic words without distraction. This novel is filled with big ideas, many expressed in conversation among Jack, his father and his father#'s best friend, the Rev. John Ames.
They discuss the concepts of predestination versus salvation, and how it relates to the plight of black Americans and the burgeoning civil rights movement. Forgiveness and understanding are compared as when Boughton tells his children “you must forgive to understand. Until you forgive, you defend yourself against the possibility of understanding.”
Robinson's characters feel real, and that is why they touch our hearts. We feel for someone as lost as Jack, a man who feels so out of place in his own skin, within his own family. Glory describes him as “a stray, learning the terms of domestication.” He struggles with his personal demons everyday, sometimes winning, other times not. Jack is one of the most well-written, complex characters in recent literature.
Glory's sadness and loneliness is palpable. She walks on eggshells around her brother, fearful of driving him away again. Boughton's love for his family is deeply moving. Teddy is a doctor, successful and responsible, almost the opposite of Jack, yet he loves and wants to help his brother even when he senses it will not work.
But at the heart of this novel is the concept of home. What is home? Is it a place, a feeling, a memory, a wish? “Glory always thought home would be a house less cluttered and ungainly than this one, in a town larger than Gilead, or a city, where someone would be her intimate friend and father of her children.”
“But the soul finds its own home if it ever has a home at all.” Is that why Jack came back home after 20 years away, and why Glory returns home after her embarrassment? Is their home Gilead or is it elsewhere? Will Jack and Glory ever find their own home, will their souls find peace?
The last 50 pages of “Home” will break your heart. This is not a novel to race through, but one that must be contemplated deliberately to reflect on its many layers. One thing I will always remember from this novel is Boughton's instruction to his children on prayer. He advises them to “pray for patience, for courage, for kindness, for clarity, for trust, for gratitude. Those prayers will be answered.”
I give “Home” five stars, and hope that Robinson visits these characters again soon.
Diane La Rue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her lifelong goal is to read one book per week. She can be reached at
laruediane2000@yahoo.com
“Gilead” is narrated by John Ames, a minister living in Gilead, Iowa. It is a small rural town, and the story is set at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. The story consists of letters that Ames is writing to his young son about his life, and the lives of his family before him.
“Home” has the same setting as “Gilead” at the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. But this story is narrated by Glory Boughton, the youngest child of the Rev. Robert Boughton, best friend to John Ames.
Boughton is elderly and in failing health. Glory, 38 years old, has come back to the family home to care for him, after a broken engagement and leaving her teaching position in another city. But for the company of her beloved father, she spends her days alone, reading old books, listening to the radio.
It is a lonely, sad existence. “What an embarrassment that was, being somewhere because there was nowhere else for you to be. All those years of work and nothing to show for it.” Robinson's words are quiet poetry.
She is alone until the day her brother Jack walks in the door. Jack has had no contact with any of his siblings for the past 20 years. Glory is shocked, having no idea if Jack had even been dead or alive.
Jack left home many years ago, a fact that surprised no one. He was a troubled youth, always off on his own, committing acts of petty theft and vandalism along the way. Jack worried his family constantly.
When he was 12 years old, Glory said of him, “he was himself already then, solitary when he could be, gentle when the mood was upon him, a worry to them all as often as he was out of sight.”
Jack was a teenager when he fathered a baby with a girl from town. This was a source of sorrow for Jack's family. They felt responsibility for this baby, whereas Jack felt none, and Glory and her parents attempted to befriend the young girl to little avail.
Boughton is thrilled to have his prodigal son home. Jack is a mess, pale, thin and weary. Glory wonders what awful things had befallen her brother over the years. She is glad to have someone there to share the care of her father, yet at the same time, she is a little envious of Jack because her father is so excited to have him home, much like the biblical story.
Glory and Jack are wary of each other. They are both fragile souls, wounded from the arrows of life's difficulties, yet neither will share the details of their hurt with the other. Their father expresses a desire for them to talk to each other, to be loving to each other. He sees that they each need the comfort of the other.
They settle into a routine, Jack working around the house, fixing things and clearing brush. Glory cooks and cleans, and they share the care of their father. As they grow more comfortable with each other, they slowly open up their hearts and share confidences.
Everyday Jack would mail a letter, and eventually he confides to Glory that he is writing to a woman he loves back in St. Louis. He tells Glory that he has hurt this woman, and her family wants him out of her life completely. His hope is that she will forgive him, and he dreams that they might be able to start a life back home in Gilead.
“Home” is a novel meant to be read in a quiet place, somewhere where you can savor the eloquence of Marilynne Robinson's beautifully poetic words without distraction. This novel is filled with big ideas, many expressed in conversation among Jack, his father and his father#'s best friend, the Rev. John Ames.
They discuss the concepts of predestination versus salvation, and how it relates to the plight of black Americans and the burgeoning civil rights movement. Forgiveness and understanding are compared as when Boughton tells his children “you must forgive to understand. Until you forgive, you defend yourself against the possibility of understanding.”
Robinson's characters feel real, and that is why they touch our hearts. We feel for someone as lost as Jack, a man who feels so out of place in his own skin, within his own family. Glory describes him as “a stray, learning the terms of domestication.” He struggles with his personal demons everyday, sometimes winning, other times not. Jack is one of the most well-written, complex characters in recent literature.
Glory's sadness and loneliness is palpable. She walks on eggshells around her brother, fearful of driving him away again. Boughton's love for his family is deeply moving. Teddy is a doctor, successful and responsible, almost the opposite of Jack, yet he loves and wants to help his brother even when he senses it will not work.
But at the heart of this novel is the concept of home. What is home? Is it a place, a feeling, a memory, a wish? “Glory always thought home would be a house less cluttered and ungainly than this one, in a town larger than Gilead, or a city, where someone would be her intimate friend and father of her children.”
“But the soul finds its own home if it ever has a home at all.” Is that why Jack came back home after 20 years away, and why Glory returns home after her embarrassment? Is their home Gilead or is it elsewhere? Will Jack and Glory ever find their own home, will their souls find peace?
The last 50 pages of “Home” will break your heart. This is not a novel to race through, but one that must be contemplated deliberately to reflect on its many layers. One thing I will always remember from this novel is Boughton's instruction to his children on prayer. He advises them to “pray for patience, for courage, for kindness, for clarity, for trust, for gratitude. Those prayers will be answered.”
I give “Home” five stars, and hope that Robinson visits these characters again soon.
Diane La Rue is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her lifelong goal is to read one book per week. She can be reached at
laruediane2000@yahoo.com
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