A Novel at Home with its Pulitzer-Winning Predecessor. A Contrary review by Mike Frechette  For many contemporary characters–especially those from marginalized groups–home no more indicates a place (Ithaca, say, or Kansas) than it entails a struggle for identity, a struggle for an authentic self in a larger society that considers them outsiders. Marilynne Robinson populates her most recent novel, Home, with white Protestant characters who in no way inhabit the margins of society, but for whom home is nonetheless a complex notion, at once physical and metaphysical, both a place and a quest for identity and belonging. A companion novel to Pulitzer prize-winning Gilead, Home is a contemporary retelling of the prodigal son biblical tale. Glory Boughton, who seemed destined for a pious life as a teacher and mother, has returned to Gilead, Iowa, her childhood home, after a failed engagement. Soon thereafter, her brother Jack, a lost soul, an alcoholic, and the black sheep of their large family, arrives on the doorstep after twenty years of absence. A rebellious troublemaker since his youth, Jack’s recklessness has always puzzled his more pious, successful siblings, and particularly his father, an ailing, retired Presbyterian minister who now depends on Glory and Jack for his care throughout the novel. Though Glory and Jack are foils of each other in many ways, they now share one attribute–their need to return home because of their difficulty finding or creating one in the outside world. Reading Gilead is not a prerequisite for appreciating and understanding the plot, characters, and themes of Home. Set in the 1950s, Gilead focuses on another minister approaching the end of life, John Ames, who has recently married again and fathered a son. In Home, Ames returns as a supporting character as the focus shifts to the Rev. Robert Boughton, who lives nearby. The setting rarely extends beyond the confines of the Boughton homestead. Televised snapshots of the race riots in the South contrast to the relative and seeming calm of the Boughton household and the novel’s plot. Nevertheless, Robinson creates palpably dramatic tension as Glory, Jack, and their father awkwardly maneuver around their unspoken feelings and dark secrets. Jack and Glory slowly rekindle their sibling bond, with Glory acting as her brother’s keeper after a night of drunkenness. The most painful moments occur when Jack and his father try to attain some level of honesty with one another while also avoiding direct mention of the hurt Jack has caused. Over time, Robinson reveals the family’s past and each character’s secrets, withholding the best-kept one until the novel’s final pages. An early reviewer quipped that two consecutive novels about the ministerial life could land even an established author in the obscure shelves of a Christian bookstore. Such a fate seems unlikely for Robinson. Although the novel explores Glory’s consciousness–a Christian consciousness–it has universal appeal. With subdued tone, exquisite prose, and complex characters, Robinson’s novel meditates on the angst and confusion surrounding the concept of home: “In college all of them had studied the putative effects of deracination, which were angst and anomie, those dull horrors of the modern world.… And then their return to the pays natal.… Home. What kinder place could there be on earth, and why did it seem to them all like exile?” Each character struggles with this question to some degree, even the reverend, whose pending death makes his house feel less like a home and more like a passing illusion. As he confides to Glory and Jack one evening in a heartbreaking scene, “Why did I ever expect to keep anything? That isn’t how life is.” Such honesty from Robinson and her characters should establish her credibility with any reader of any creed who has ever struggled with the pain of impermanence and the search for home. Mike Frechette lives in Chicago with his wife Michelle. Index of Reviews...>Reviews.htmlshapeimage_1_link_0

Home

Marilynne Robinson

2008, FS&G

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