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De: Toni Morrison

Narrado por: Toni Morrison

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A New York Times Notable Book • From the acclaimed Nobel Prize winner: an emotional powerhouse of a novel about a modern Odysseus returning to a 1950s America mined with lethal pitfalls for an unwary Black man

"Powerful. . . . Jaw-dropping in its beauty and audacity. . . . Brims with affection and optimism." —San Francisco Chronicle

When Frank Money joined the army to escape his too-small world, he left behind his cherished and fragile little sister, Cee. After the war, he journeys to his native Georgia with a renewed sense of purpose in search of his sister, but it becomes clear that their troubles began well before their wartime separation. Together, they return to their rural hometown of Lotus, where buried secrets are unearthed and where Frank learns at last what it means to be a man, what it takes to heal, and—above all—what it means to come home.

wonderful read - lyrical!

1993 Nobel Prize. A taut precisely written novel about Frank Money, an African-American Korean War veteran fighting insanity (PTS) whilst working his way back to his sister Cee in their home in Alabama. Many locks fit his key – why? Frank’s and Cee’s travels are at once heart-wrenching and universal. This book was more accessible than Beloved.

It's OK

Story ok, but less than I expected. Difficult to listen to Toni Morrison for any length of time. Her voice is clear, as is her enunciation. But it is S_L_O_W. I needed her to move on, I found myself impatient. I'd rather draw my own conclusions of characters' moods, etc., from the writing --- not from the author's/reader's insistence on setting it.
Still, I like to keep up with Morrison's work, so I'm glad I listened to it. But this is one book I'd probably have enjoyed more by reading it at my own pace.

A Must Read for our children and all

What did you love best about Home?

May I skip the ?, have trouble writing that way, thanks. I am reading this for many reasons, I love the author, have followed her for years. I am a white man, I have twelve grand kids and eight of them are children of color. In many ways a blended family.I am making sure my kids read this book and have their children read it as well. It is a painful story we all need to meditate on and act. I have been a community organizer like my president and a pastor in the African American Community for most of my parish life. Terri's characters are real, I sometimes think as I am reading, I met this person, she has such a wonderful way to make you feel you are part of the story. Following the soldier has been hard. I read one chapter at a time, I find that helpful for my experience, which keep barging in, and because his life is so hard and so real to me. I have friends who are dancing all over about the book"Work" or something like that. I am not, this book makes me shout for freedom and justice and dance a jig of sorrow and grace.Maybe to wax like a poet that I am, you might say Terri has called me "Home"when you are called home, it is importantit often is life changing, and isthe journey home is always hard, long, and often painfulyet at home there is a strange kind of love there, all embracing.Terri I am coming home, thanks for the call!ko shin, Bob Hanson, a Warrior Poetin the middle of a revolutionary state, Wisconsin

Outlandishly beautiful

Hilarious to read complaints about the reading. The entire book was like listening to the most perfectly pitched poem. I am listening to it again. Just because it was so beautiful. Good enough for Jesus. Good enough for me.

Home -- For Your BookClub or Classroom, or Brain!

Would you consider the audio edition of Home to be better than the print version?

Both are excellent. I listened first, then went and read it in order to study it and learn from a master.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Cee, she learns to stand tall and believe in herself regardless of her childhood and the wrong done to her.

Which scene was your favorite?

Hard to pick, but three come to mind. First, the opening poem, it brings chills down the spine. Next, when Cee tells Frank that she has a right to cry. And finally, the ending poem and all its potential meanings. I'll give you the first just so you don't miss it on the audio version:

“Whose house is this?
Whose night keeps out the light
In here? Say, who owns this house?
It’s not mine. I dreamed another, sweeter, brighter
With a view of lakes crossed in painted boats;
Of fields wide as arms open for me.
This house is strange. Its shadows lie.
Say, tell me, why does its lock fit my key?”

I don't know about you, but this resonates deep within me. It's the story of growing up, of finding yourself. Of finding out that home, for good or bad, has made a lasting impression on you, and, just maybe, you can reconcile yourself with that. Perhaps, on a grander scale, it is also a reconciliation to the awareness and owning of our country, good and bad.
Finally, perhaps you can reconcile yourself with you, good and bad

Any additional comments?

I love the book for the imagery of the time that it invokes, and for the depth of each character that the author gives us. I love the use of many literary styles, and the fact that the book is still very accessible. I love the ending.

Here is the low down:

Frank is a Korean vet who was treated equally in the war but slips back into segregated America as it if it is still the norm, which is a good subtle shock for the modern reader, so far away from it. But Frank has bigger worries, mainly that he is haunted by the war. This book is the story of his quest to find his sister, and during his travels he finds himself. This is a very American theme, in the fashion of Mark Twain and Charles Frazier (Cold Mountain). Frank breaks through and speaks to the reader, and occasionally to the author; this is a highly effective, somewhat twisted, way to jar the reader out of the story itself and into deeper thought. Toni Morrison is skilled enough to pull it off.

Cee (Ycidra) is Frank's sister, who thinks that maybe she'd have learned to think for herself if Frank hadn't been there to constantly protect her. She is an accident waiting to happen, a consummate victim, although she doesn't try to be, so trouble finds her when Frank leaves for the war. She and Frank bind each other to this earth, and eventually save each other, once they learn their own self worth. Something in that reminds me of Celie in the Color Purple, and Cee's story is very much an American girl coming of age story, with the honest portrayal of the plight of the black woman.

There are other memorable characters, some snapshots, some deeper, and plenty of themes, all delivered in a punch at 160 pages on my Kindle. Morrison trueists don't like this book very much because it doesn't use the magical realism style that they all love. If that includes you, know that this is American realism fiction, and take the time to think deeper than the story. Ask yourself how the author is so talented to make us care in such a short time. Look at the wording and sentences, and see how she shows rather than tells. Search for all those little details that make the writing so good. Learn from a living legend, who makes you dissatisfied with the humdrum.