Home

If I think too hard about the fact that this is the first work of fiction I've finished since January, I'll get really sad. Grad school, BAH.

So instead I'll sing Marilynne Robinson's praises. I read “Gilead” in 2007, and some of the same characters from the town of Gilead reappear here, in this retelling of the story of the prodigal son. Robinson has a real knack for writing about faith without being either cheesy or preachy, and gives a simultaneously delicate yet incisive voice to family dynamics–present, past, and our memories of both, even as the present unfolds and the past is dredged up. She is one of those novelists who I will always want to read what she has thought fit to write.

Sigh, Marilynne Robinson, you are so good at writing. I actually bought this a year ago and then was scared to read it because I've been reading so much YA lit that I didn't think I was up to tackling this. But, duh, it was great. It had enough tiny suspenses and it was so well-written that I moved through it much faster than I had anticipated. (When I think of MR, I think of beautiful writing, but also a very leisurely pace.)It's been awhile since I read [b:Gilead 68210 Gilead Marilynne Robinson http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316637613s/68210.jpg 2481792] so I'm not sure how closely this ties into it, except that Ames is in it as a peripheral character. I just don't remember how much the Boughtons were in Gilead. But it didn't really hinder my enjoyment of the book at all, so, yay.

Short Review: I have been reluctant to read Home because it is the last of Robinson's books of fiction. And now that I have read it there are no more fiction books by Robinson to read (although she hinted last year that she is working on another). Home is my least favorite of the trilogy, although it is not by any means a bad book. It is just that the other two are among my favorite books ever.

I am not sure whether this was really the intention, but this felt like a broken retelling of the story of the prodigal son. Rev Boughton, John Ames' best friend is the father of eight children and near the end of his life. His prodigal son and oldest child, Jack, has been gone for 20 years, but comes back home. Glory, the baby, after a failed relationship has returned to the town of Gilead to care for her father and heal her own wounds.

This is not a book of action but a book about people and ideas. There is a plot but it is the beauty of the words, the insight into people and ideas, mostly theological questions and insights that are what draws me to Robinson's fiction.

My full review is on my blog at http://bookwi.se/home/