Home (Oprah's Book Club)

By: Marilynne Robinson

Narrated by: Maggi-Meg Reed

Length: 12 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

Hundreds of thousands were enthralled by the luminous voice of John Ames in Gilead, Marilynne Robinson's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. Home is an entirely independent, deeply affecting novel that takes place concurrently in the same locale, this time in the household of Reverend Robert Boughton, Ames' closest friend.

Glory Boughton, aged 38, has returned to Gilead to care for her dying father. Soon her brother, Jack - the prodigal son of the family, gone for 20 years - comes home too, looking for refuge and trying to make peace with a past littered with tormenting trouble and pain.

Jack is one of the great characters in recent literature. A bad boy from childhood, an alcoholic who cannot hold a job, he is perpetually at odds with his surroundings and with his traditionalist father, though he remains Boughton's most beloved child. Brilliant, lovable, and wayward, Jack forges an intense bond with Glory and engages painfully with Ames, his godfather and namesake.

Home is a moving and healing book about families, family secrets, and the passing of the generations, about love and death and faith. It is Robinson's greatest work, an unforgettable embodiment of the deepest and most universal emotions.

©2008 Marilynne Robinson (P)2008 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"Robinson's beautiful new novel, a companion piece to her Pulitzer Prize - winning Gilead, is an elegant variation on the parable of the prodigal son's return." ( Publishers Weekly)

Profound

Marilyn Robinson writes as powerfully about the American Heartland and its people as is possible. This is not a page turner, but a novel that overtakes you with its purposes, one of which is to intimately involve the reader in one family's grace and pain during mid-1950s America while examining the deeper roots of our culture. There is much to the book I haven't yet parsed since I finished it only moments ago. But I am eager now to read the next book' "Lila", and remain under Ms Robinson's spell a while longer. She's magnificent with both her craft and content.

Exceptional language and character development.

Loved the book. Her language was exquisite and good character development. Touched on many themes. I will read other novels by the author.

I am so moved

I write through tears. What a special story and such gorgeous writing by Marilynne Robinson. I'm especially glad I heard rather than read it. These incredible characters are now so vivid to me. Maggie-Meg Reed was outstanding, and thank you to her for sharing her vocal gifts. It was the perfect follow up to her first book in this trilogy, "Gilead, which also had a sensational narrator. I am eager to hear "Lila" now. This was/is a treat.

Another beautifully written novel

This is another wonderfully written novel by Marilynne Robinson, again shows her artistic use of language in order to bring imagrey to the listener/readers mind. There were parts toward the end where I felt the novel dragged on, but it had a wonderful vivid conclusion. And I understand the need for character development, of which she does an ingenious job of pulling off in the main characters Jack and Glory. Though right now "Housekeeping " was my favorite, this one rings in at a close second for now.

“Home” by Marilynne Robinson

The narrator reads in the voice of the characters, which took a bit of time to adjust to. She did a fine job. The story is exquisite. It is so human. It is about family. Jack and Glory are such rich, layered characters. Very moving.

A book club selection waste of time.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. A tedious book which is good for people who have too much time.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

The point of the book was supposed to have been racism, but the majority of the dialog was between two characters who constantly apologized for offending the other. While eventually we got what the subjects were that each was avoiding for fear of offending the other, there was nothing to give insight into why the author felt her characters developed as they did. The third main character was an extraordinarily aged old man who from the time line in the story should have been in his 70's, but the writing and reading made him seem about 100.

Did Maggi-Meg Reed do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

The reader made a good effort to differentiate the characters, but she couldn't help the dialog. It dragged. It seemed every other word was sorry. She did read a dying old man well, but he was not interesting for it.

Did Home inspire you to do anything?

Tell my book club, that the selection was a waste of time.

Any additional comments?

This book was favored by the religious members of our group who raved about the Gilead trilogy. It must have had some redeeming value for them, and I do not think it was as literature.

Wish that I had read this one

I loved Marilynne Robinson's last book, Gilead. As the mother of 3 sons and the only sister with 3 brothers, I read and reread Robinson's words in the voice of Ames, the Congregationalist minister, about the trust that parents must have before they, like Abraham, can send their sons into the wilderness. She writes beautifully, and she clearly has much theological thought and study behind her. This book, which included the same characters, shows what happens when that trust isn't enough. Jack Boughton, prodigal son of Ames' friend, Robert Boughton, comes home, bringing all his misery along with him. He seems repentant, but seems still to wallow, and perhaps even enjoy, his past transgressions. It gets rather tiresome and we lose patience with him. Robinson's beautiful theological reflections remain in this book, however, and, because I liked rereading and referring to them, I wish I had read the book instead of listening to it. Also, the reader's voice was a little too Charlton Heston for my taste. That too, got a little tedious.

Marilynne Robinson does it again

I love Marilynne Robinson writings and this is a wonderful book. I listened to Gilead a couple of years ago, and I think this one is even better. It is difficult to conceive both books separately once you have read (or listen) to them. The story is about family interactions and I am not going to spoil it for you. It is written in such wonderful prose that it takes your breath away.

The narrator of this book is good. It always takes me an hour or so to get accustomed to a new voice, so try to get over the initial hump and she becomes a convincing Glory. I did not like the characterization of Boughton the father, because his voice was a little annoying, but I suspect in real life I would have found his *real* voice annoying too.

Housekeeping was about sisterhood, Gilead is about fatherhood, Home is brotherhood. I am dying to see Marilynne Robinson talk about motherhood. I want to hear more about the stories of Della and her son Robert and Ames wife Lila and her son.

I cannot wait until Marilynne Robinson next book. I think she is one of the most gifted authors of contemporary American literature.

An Exploration in Acceptance and Kindness

This was my second exploration of the world of Gilead. Marilyn Robinson is a treasure. Her empathetic voice and style give her novels a rare realism and grace.
The opening of the book took a while to develop, but I appreciated the hints at things to be revealed in more detail later. I still think that Gillead is the better novel, but Home is a moving and intriguing addition to the world Robinson has created.
I didn’t love the voice of the Reverend Boughton, at first. But the reader did a great job capturing the nuance of the text, and I was able to distinguish the characters easily.
I wouldn’t want to live in Gilead, Iowa, but have loved reading/listening about the lives of the clergy of that town, and these books have expanded my capacity for acceptance and kindness.

Painful and Beautiful

another marvelous novel. While it stands alone, I think the book is richer if you've read "Gideon" first.