A companion volume to Robinson's luminous, Pulitzer-winning novel
Gilead (2004).The focus here shifts from John Ames, Gilead's
memorable protagonist, to his lifelong best friend Robert Boughton.
A widowed, increasingly frail and distracted former Presbyterian
minister, Boughton has eight children scattered across the country.
The story unfolds after two of them come home to Gilead, Iowa:
Glory, the unmarried youngest, who has resigned her teaching job so
she can care for Robert; and ne'er-do-well Jack, who for 20 years
has repeatedly broken his father's indulgent heart with his
irresponsible, sometimes criminal behavior and - worse - his
absence. "Why did he leave? Where had he gone? Those questions had
hung in the air," Glory thinks, "while everyone tried to ignore
them, had tried to act as if their own lives were of sufficient
interest." Robinson builds subtle sequences of questions and
answers, hesitant attempts at bonding and sorrowful revelations
articulated among the three reunited Boughtons as they edge toward,
then shy away from accusation and confrontation, feeling their way
toward the possibility of forgiveness and healing. This is an
inordinately quiet novel, and the patience with which even its most
arresting effects are calculated and achieved requires an equal
patience on the reader's part. There is, as there is in the life of
every family, considerable repetition. It's necessary, as Robinson
shows us the complexity and richness of Glory's stoical, though
scarcely saintly resilience, of Jack's arduous progression toward
genuine maturity, and of their father's seemingly naive, in fact
almost visionary forbearance. The result is a compassionate
envisioning of singularity and commonality reminiscent of the most
soulful and moving work of Willa Cather, William Maxwell and James
Agee.Comes astonishingly close to matching its amazing predecessor
in beauty and power. (Kirkus Reviews)
WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2009 Jack Boughton -
prodigal son - has been gone twenty years. He returns home seeking
refuge and to make peace with the past. A bad boy from childhood,
an alcoholic who cannot hold down a job, Jack is perpetually at
odds with his surroundings and with his traditionalist father,
though he remains Boughton's most beloved child. His sister Glory
has also returned, fleeing her own mistakes, to care for their
dying father. A moving book about families, about love and death
and faith, Home is unforgettable. It is a masterpiece. 'One of the
greatest living novelists' BRYAN APPLEYARD, SUNDAY TIMES 'A
luminous, profound and moving piece of writing. There is no
contemporary American novelist whose work I would rather read'
MICHAEL ARDITTI, INDEPENDENT 'Her novels are replete with a sense
of felt life, with a deep and abiding sympathy for her characters
and a full understanding of their inner lives' COLM TOIBIN 'Utterly
haunting' JANE SHILLING, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
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