Goldengrove by Francine Prose

A short review as we’re on the slopes. Goldengrove is my first Francine Prose novel and compared to John Irving’s “Last Night in Twisted River’’s sweeping decades long drama and “In a Perfect World’s’ fascinating premise, this one was a sloooow as molasses. Devastated by the death of her older sister, whom she idolized, Nico, aged 13, spends the summer after Margaret’s tragic drowning accident moving through life with her parents in slow motion. None of them are quite able to function correctly, every room they enter, every day that goes by, reminds them that their daughter/sister has disappeared from their lives. “Our house had always been neat before, but now our possessions had taken advantage of our moment of weakness. … The only semi-comforting part was that we didn’t have to talk. We all dreamed of her. The mystery of death, the riddle of how you could speak to someone and see them every day and then never again, was so impossible to fathom that of course we keep trying to figure it out, even when we were unconscious.”

Nico becomes entangled with Margaret’s boyfriend Aaron, who, obsessed with the loss of his girlfriend, meets secretly with Nico, asking her to wear her sister’s shirts, put on her favorite perfume and watch the same movies they would watch. At first she finds Aaron a comfort, he’s the only one who truly understands what has been lost, but she soon realizes that this unhealthy relationship is turning into something very twisted. Maybe this particular subject matter during this happy holiday season wasn’t the best choice, but it was worth the time and I would recommend it to fans of good writing and intriguing topics.

Thirteen Reasons Why

I have been on a Middle Grade /Young Adult novel kick for a while now, beginning with the book Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which I read to forget I ever read Twilight (sorry fans). It continued with Kate DiCamillo’s Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and Cornelia Funke’s Igraine the Brave. I have read a bunch of Sharon Creech novels. Love that Dog. Hate That Cat. Granny Torelli Makes Soup. I actually read this one to my kids; it’s beautiful. In one part, Creech writes “Grandma’s eyes shine with tears” and I just pointed to my own to explain it to them. Walk Two Moons – how did I go so long without reading this book, the Newberry winner? Like the previous Kate DiCamillo post, there is really not a book here that would disappoint you. I am in the midst of When you Reach Me, which is intriguing so far. I think I could read at least three books a week if they were YA, but I will try to be a grownup next time, and attack the large and growing pile of yet-to-be-read books in my house.

But first let me tell you about Jay Asher’s debut novel Thirteen Reasons Why. This is a book I wish I had read freshman year of high school. It may have changed the way I looked at people; it may have helped me be a better person.

Hannah Baker has already committed suicide when the story begins, and her friends are left with this – a shoebox full of cassette tapes she made, that they must listen to and pass along. The author says in an afterward that he specifically chose cassettes since they would already be dated, as opposed to a CD that is current now but will date the story later and distract from the plot. Receiving the package is not a gift – there are thirteen painful sides to listen to, and, if you got them, you are one of the thirteen reasons Hannah is dead.

You listen to the tapes along with Clay, who gets them pretty late in the game, and cannot imagine why he is implicated. He has always had a crush on Hannah, and he is one of the few people to be devastated by her death.

The conceit the author uses to move the tapes along is the threat that there is an identical set that will be released to the public if someone breaks the chain. For some people, this will cause humiliation, shame, and even legal troubles. I found this device intriguing, though I didn’t really think it was necessary. The person Hannah chose to insure the tapes move along was an interesting character, but I could have done without the storyline. It was fascinating to read how seemingly little things could cause and effect a much larger problem. In Hannah’s words, the “snowball effect”.

The rest of the story develops in tandem – we hear Hannah’s voice as Clay hears it, but we also have the benefit of his reaction, which is sometimes agreement and sometimes clarification. The differences in their reconstructions of the same events allow you to intimately see how a person’s perspective can become skewed.

It is a frustrating book; you can only imagine how devastating it would be to know that if you could have taken back a silly comment or a stupid teenage act, things could be different. Suicide is a tricky subject. Tons of books about it, clinically speaking, yet it’s still taboo. I was a little bit jealous of these thirteen kids; despite the sorrows they would suffer, they ultimately knew why she took her life. And, I should also mention, she does not fully blame them. She does admit it is her choice in the end, or else you would be left with the huge unfairness that most of the kids, while they behaved irresponsibly, were just acting like normal teenagers – mean, insensitive and sometimes selfish. Which made me realize how we all behave that way at some point or other, and how lucky we are that people don’t always take it the wrong way.

As an adult, this is the first book I have read in a very long time that made me forget I am a parent, and brought back so clearly all of the angst of being a teenager. It was not necessarily a great place to be, but, as they say, it was better than the alternative.

Catching up...

Excuses, excuses... you know them all so I won't bother to write them. I'm not quite on track with a book a week... close, but not quite. I think that 2010 is going to be the year though...

Over the past few weeks, I have read A Fearful Symmetry which Vanessa reviewed earlier on this blog. When I heard that this book had real ghosts in it, I was fairly sure that I wouldn't like it. I loved Time Traveler's Wife so much though that I decided to give it a try and I'm so glad I did. You can read Vanessa's well written review here so I'll just agree- it is worth a read!

My past week was spent reading The Unhealthy Truth- not a very Christmassy read but a worthwhile one. The author, a mom of a child with an egg allergy, takes the reader through her learning curve after her daughter's diagnosis. The book is both eye opening and alarming. As a mom who spends a lot of time learning about the best foods to feed myself and my family, I learned a lot of new and unhealthy truths.

In an attempt to get back on a weekly schedule, I'm going to stop writing so I can read (Angle of Repose- thanks to Lucy's mention of it in an earlier post!).

Happy Reading and New Year to all!

In a Perfect World by Laura Kasischke

I rarely read books that haven’t been personally recommended by a friend. If I’m in the 3rd floor Fiction section of the library with no list in my hand I’m completely lost. A Jodi Picoult read used to be a pretty good go-to in a pinch but I’ve picked through her books and found them unsatisfying. So when I spotted ‘In a Perfect World’ on the new fiction table I’m not sure what prompted me to pick it up, maybe it was the length. After last week’s massive read I could tell that this 300 pager would be a quick one. I’m happy to report that my random choice turned out to be a good one. This is the story of Jiselle, a flight attendant in her early 30s who has been the single bridesmaid in more than her fair share of weddings. So when handsome pilot Mark Dorn takes an interest and eventually asks her to marry him, life is very good. The fact that he is a widower with 3 children (including 2 hostile teenage girls) seems like an issue she will be able to easily overcome with her spunk and easy manner. And that Mark, as a pilot, travels 5 days a week doesn’t concern her much at first. Time now to mention the underlying theme of the book: The world is coming to an end. Not in a Will Smith “Independence Day” apocalyptic kind of way, no, in Kasischke’s telling, it’s much slower and more painful than that. The Phoenix Flu is beginning to spread throughout the country. It starts in a nursing home where all of the employees suddenly fall ill and die. Then it happens in pockets across the country, seemingly spreading overnight. Even Britney Spears is not immune to this deadly flu (or Martha Stewart or Donald Trump’s son). Animals begin acting strangely; rats appear unafraid in the middle of the day, birds circle in the thousands overhead. Seemingly strange species of creatures cross their paths. Americans are banned from traveling out of the country. The story moves us slowly into life with quarantines, then without hospitals, schools or law enforcement.

Left alone with her 3 stepchildren, Jiselle finds her resilient side, learning to deal with love, loss and sacrifice. It’s not a stretch to say that with the recent swine flu hysteria this becomes a fascinating read. What would you do if you were left with the responsibility of keeping your family alive? What lengths would you go to?

Kasischke is a poet and does a wonderful job of finding beauty in the demise of Jiselle’s crumbling world. Questions are left unanswered about her fate but she makes peace with her life. Wherever it takes her.

Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving

Reading 554 pages in a week was a challenge but I was determined and somehow found the time between writing and researching and doing mom stuff. But before I get to thoughts on this book I need to re-visit the inspiration for this blog. An article in the NYT this fall featured a woman who read a book a day for one year. Three hundred and sixty five books in 365 days, she for the most part limited her book lengths to 300 pages (and yes she does have kids but I believe they are in school full time.. well they’d have to be wouldn’t they?) but after taking on our ‘book a week’ experiment for just 5 weeks I’ve begun to believe that she is lying. Let me explain. My goal with reading 300 page books in a week is to read 50 pages a day. Doable for a stay at home mom who works a bit from home and makes her own hours (and is a night owl). But sometimes, life gets in the way, Take last weekend for instance. We went ski shopping in the morning, had a basketball game in the afternoon and dinner out, far from a full day but our schedule made my 50 pages a challenge. So HOW IN THE HECK does ‘book a day’ blogger read 300 pages a day EVERY DAY for a year. That whole year did she never skied for 3 hours, then cuddled up and watched a movie with her kids? Or spent the afternoon with her sister shopping and then later getting drunk at dinner. How about visiting her ailing aunt for the morning? I know she’s gotten book deals and has a blog on The Huffington Post now because of all her reading and hooray for her, but what else did she accomplish that year? My guess is not much

I’ve always been a John Irving fan. “Prayer for Owen Meany” is laugh out loud funny and I also loved “Garp”, “Cider House Rules” and “Until I Found You”. All of his books are epic in length and tone, spanning decades. This one was no exception. It’s the 5 decade long story of Danny and his dad Dominick (“the cook”) who lived in the logging town of Twisted River until the 12 year old Danny killed Dominick’s lover, Jane, mistaking her for a bear. Unfortunately Jane was also the lover of the local, evil town cop, Constable Carl. This act sets Danny and Dominick off on the run, moving from Boston to Colorado to Toronto, living incognito for decades, with Dominick working in various restaurants, always fearful that evil Constable Carl would find them. Their adventures are typical John Irving fare; grisly accidents, obsessions with quirky women, oddball characters and of course bears.

That Danny becomes a best-selling author who writes fiction but is in fact writing the book we’re reading, makes it all the more fun for those of us trying to have a go at writing ourselves. He (Danny) writes: "In any work of fiction weren’t those things that had really happened to the writer – or perhaps, to someone, the writer had intimately known – more authentic, more verifiably true, than anything anyone could imagine? (This was a common belief, even though a fiction writer’s job was imagining truly, a whole story – as Danny had subversively said, whenever he was given the opportunity to defend the fiction in fiction writing – because real-life stories were never whole, never complete in the ways that novels could be.)” He writes his novels by writing his last line first and first line last. So the book ended, appropriately, back at the beginning…

His characters are endearing, like Ketchum, cook’s best friend who spent his life in sadness because he couldn’t save the lives of those he loved and Ketchum’s sometime girlfriend Six Pack Pam, a ‘hooker with a heart of gold’ who could take down any male in town. Danny eventually goes through multiple tragedies because of his and his father’s actions decades earlier but his journey, living (and writing) ‘in a world of accidents’ was worth the few late nights and skipped meetings in order to finish.

The Book of Dead Birds by Gayle Brandeis

This Bellwether Prize-winning novel, The Book of Dead Birds by Gayle Brandeis is about survival and the complexity of mother-daughter relationships.

Korean-American, Ava Sing Lo, has been unintentionally killing her mother's birds since she was a little girl. Now as a young adult, Ava leaves San Diego, where she has spent the better part of her life, for the Salton Sea, to volunteer helping environmental activists save thousands of birds poisoned by chemicals from farm runoff. Surrounded by death and painful memories, she must face her demons; fortunately she has the help of some special friends.

Ava's mother, Helen, has been troubled by her own past for decades. As a young girl in Korea, Helen was drawn into prostitution on a segregated American army base. Several cruel and brutal years passed before a naïve, young white American soldier married her and took her to California. After giving birth to a baby with dark skin, she's quickly abandoned by her new husband, and left to make a life for herself and her daughter in a foreign country.

The Book of Dead Birds is a very fast read, mostly because of its lyrical prose and engaging characters. It’s also a very intelligent, pungent and beautifully crafted novel. The relationship between mother and daughter is a complex one. This novel explores the deeply-rooted psychological exchange between women who share the same DNA. What passes between Ava and her mother is captured in Ava’s struggle to come to terms with her mother's terrible past while at the same time making a place for herself in the world.

The Book of Dead Birds was the second winner of the Bellwether Prize, established by Barbara Kingsolver. This award is the only major North American prize that specifically advocates literary fiction addressing issues of social justice. “It’s a thrilling search, every time we read the submissions,” Kingsolver said on the Bellwether website. “We always hope for a winner that perfectly embodies the standards and hopes of this endeavor: strong writing, a compelling voice, and clear moral vision."

Before beginning my book-a-week challenge, I also read Mudbound, which was the 2006 winner of the Bellwether Prize. Both of these novels were fabulous. I intend to read the remaining winning novels including The Girl Who Fell From the Sky, the 2008 winner.

When my daughters first began to read independently, I tried to screen which books made it into our home and into their hands. I wanted only wholesome books that entertained while showing respect for life, appreciation of beauty, and preference for goodness over evil. It wasn't long, though, before they began choosing their own books and their appetites for reading quickly outstripped my ability to keep up. I had to let go and trust their instincts for picking good books. Also, as they grew older, they were increasingly able to absorb and move on from bad books. That doesn't mean that I don't continue to come home from the library with a stack that I've selected for them, or ask them lots of questions about what they are reading. And, once in a while, I do like to pick up something they're reading and check it out for myself.

This week I read Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. My sister had recommended it from her mother-daughter book group, and I checked it out of the library for my thirteen-year old. She liked it, so I decided to crack it open. The main character is a fifteen-year old girl named Liz who begins Chapter One by dying in a hit-and-run bicycle accident. She travels by boat to Elsewhere along with all the other people who have recently died and is met at the dock by her maternal grandmother, who died before Liz was born. Grandmother Betty is in her thirties, even though she died at fifty, because in Elsewhere you live backwards, growing younger every year until you are a baby again and make the trip back to Earth to start a new life.

The premise of the book is unusual, and at times gave me the same creepy feeling I had while watching the movie about Benjamin Button, in which the main character was born old and grew young. While I could sympathize with Liz's struggles between holding on to her life and embracing her death/life on Elsewhere, I never quite bought into the concept nor became attached to any of the characters. Having said that, I did shed tears at a few points and found myself wondering What if...Also, the ability of humans to converse with dogs in Canine was cool.

I definitely think this book is appropriate for only a mature 12-yr. old and up, due to some mature topics. While I didn't race to finish it, I did feel like it made me think about life in a different, topsy-turvy way--and that's always a good thing. When I turned the last page, I felt warm and fuzzy and complete, yet looser in my outlook somehow.

Brangelina by Ian Halperin

My intention was to read this trashy book and give y’all the sordid details that everyone wants to know but doesn’t want to get their hands dirty by actually reading it. But ever hear the expression ‘there’s 2 hours of my life I’ll never get back again!’? This was probably more like 4 but that expression applies here. But the whole reason I stuck with it was to get to the best part. The question all true blue Jennifer Aniston/Brad Pitt/tmz.com followers just want to know: (raise your hand if you know what I’m talking about..) How was it that Jen and Brad were on a lovey dovey vacation on a tropical island with their best friends Courtney Cox and David Arquette, holding hands and hugging and like TWO days later announced they were getting divorced? Didn’t get the answer here but did find out the following useless information:

*As 14 year olds, Angelina had moved her boyfriend into her house (where her mom also lived) she was also cutting herself with her knife collection. Meanwhile, Brad was having ‘makeout parties’ with fellow middle schoolers in his basement in Missouri

*Angie was diagnosed as psychotic in high school. Brad was acting in school plays.

*Angie was very close to her dad Jon Voight right up until the time when he announced on TV that his daughter was mentally insane.

*There is a very good chance that her first adopted child (Maddox) was actually taken from his home and ‘sold’ to the person she adopted him from.. sad.

* She was seen full on making out with her brother Jamie at various Hollywood events.

*And the whole blood thing with husband Billy Bob? Yeah it’s that weird.. She once said “He signed a contract in blood with a notary public saying that we’d be together for eternity. Some people think a diamond is really pretty. My husband’s blood is the most beautiful thing in the world to me.” Not so much now, right Ang?

*Despite all of their fawning and disgusting sex talk to the cameras, Billy Bob told the press after their divorce that sleeping with her was like ("not a nice word for making love) a couch."

*Sweet and poor unfortunate (but maybe better off) Jennifer Aniston talked to a reporter early on about kissing Brad: “The first time he kissed me, I stopped breathing. He literally took my breath away.”

*But apparently Brad and Jen spent a lot of time smoking pot together…

*Of COURSE Angelina and Brad hooked up on the set of their movie Mr & Mrs. Smith, contrary to her saying she would never be with a married man..ha!

*Their relationship now, as 'Brangelina', is as much about their ‘brand’.. doing good works around the globe with their squeaky clean reputation and constantly seen leaving restaurants and toy stores with kids in tow… will keep them together long after it’s over, which it probably already is.. the author predicts they will break up within 18 months. .. I give it 6

I won’t go on….

The Year of the Flood, by Margaret Atwood

I was listening to NPR last week, and I heard Margaret Atwood interviewed on the subject of her latest novel, The Year of the Flood. The discussion piqued my interest since I truly loved the first Atwood book I read, The Handmaid’s Tale, although it might have had something to do with the fact that I read it while in college, majoring in women’s studies, political science and philosophy, during my radical feminist stage. I’ve mellowed a bit since then – so I wondered if I’d enjoy this book as much.

The Year of the Flood is a fantastical novel – you might even call it science-fiction. It takes place in a future time when the earth has been plagued by a pandemic that wipes out most of the human population. Untouched by the bio-germ, the two main women characters, Toby and Ren, tell their stories, alternating from past to present, describing how they were able to avoid contamination and survive. Both were former members of a back-to-nature religious cult called the Gardeners, who were founded by “Adam One”. During their time with the Gardeners, they learn how to live simply, organically, and without eating anything with a face. Expressing values diametrically opposed to the greedy, chemically- and physically-altered culture of the ruling “CorpSeCorps”, the Gardeners predict and prepare for the “Waterless Flood” by caching supplies, learning how to grow their own food and foraging for resources.

Atwood presents a chilling, yet possible, outcome for our future here on earth – one that is not that far-fetched based on the current environmental, political, cultural and economic realities. There is just enough legitimacy in this dystopic novel to make you feel that Atwood may be a visionary. She certainly does make you think about what we have been, and are, doing to the natural environment; climate-change, genetically-modified foods, cloning, and all the other human-derived alternations to the nature world. This is a thinker’s work. She compels you to think about how far we can, or should, go in our desire for control over our environment and each other.

Once again, Atwood presents enduring friendships between women as a central theme of the novel. These are real friendships that transcend dishonesty, disappointment and jealousy and forge strong bonds that leave the reader with a sense of hope for the future. My feminist-self was pleased to see this Atwood novel running true to form.

I want to believe that we can reverse the damage we have done to this planet; and get on a course that has a longer-lasting vision for sustainability (for generations to come). I thoroughly enjoyed reading this novel; maybe partly because I can relate to the Gardeners. I, too, don’t eat meat, live in a 100% solar-powered home, grow some of my own foods, and try to limit my carbon emissions – all in an attempt to undo some of the long-lasting harm we have done as a species. Maybe Atwood readers will be encouraged to follow suit in an attempt to avoid some of the outcomes in The Year of the Flood. I can only hope!

Discovering Motherhood

While all you ladies are going out and reading real literature, I'm trying to clean out my bookshelves and return all the books people have lent me through the year. To that end, I read the book Discovering Motherhood by AnneMarie Scobey over the Thanksgiving break. Bet you can't guess the subject matter from the title.

The friend who lent this book to me also gave me the book The Shack to read. Which is why it took me about six months to pick this book up. I HATED The Shack from the first word to the last. The writing was contrived and painful and the strident spiritual message was grating. Having said that, I read every word of the book and still think about it. But that's a different review for another day.

Discovering Motherhood also heavily references the author's religion and spirituality. But in a less aggressive way. Her religion (which happens to be Roman Catholic - same as me) plays a prominent part in the book because it plays a prominent part in her life. At the end of each essay, she writes a one sentence prayer or devotion that relates somehow to the story she's just told. For her, I'm sure it would have been as strange to leave out her religion as it would have been to not mention her husband or one of her kids in the book. So, with that in mind, if any mention of religious beliefs or practices makes you uncomfortable, this might not be the book for you. And if you are not a fan of the RC church, this might not be the book for you.

But really, her subject matter isn't her religion, it's her kids. And her experience of motherhood from the time her second biological child was born through her experiences with the foster care system, ending after her family adopted one of the little girls entrusted to their care. The friend who lent the book to me said Scobey's writing reminded her of my writing, which frankly, also turned me off from reading the book for a while. What if I thought Scobey was a terrible writer - what would that say about my writing? My fragile ego couldn't take it. Luckily, Scobey isn't a terrible writer - she writes succinctly and introspectively. She delves deeper than I usually do in my writing. I aspire to write as well as she does but I'm flattered that someone thinks I already do.

She writes of watching her children grow up, of the toys she no longer has in her house, of the phases her children have passed through once and for all. She writes about tearing up while watching her son receive ashes on his forehead at Ash Wednesday mass. This story really hit home with be because I had the exact same experience when Christopher was a baby. When they trace the cross on your forehead with ashes, they say, "Remember you are from dust and to dust you will return". There's something about hearing someone say this to your kid that's just a little freaky. She writes about being afraid her kid(s) will be abducted. She writes about not wanting her sons to become priests. She writes about the pain of giving up a foster child she has cared for for over a year. She writes about the everyday, the commonplace, the ordinary. And, most importantly to me right now, she writes about parenting a newborn.

I'm not sure if I picked up this book knowing what it was about and needing to get some fortification for the road ahead or if I was led to this book by God or the Universe(depending on who you believe in). What I do know is that it was the right book for me to read at the right time in my life. The subtitle of this book is "An Extraordinary Journey through Everyday Life" and it was. It was a gift that has reminded me that I need to slow down and enjoy these last few days with my family of four, even as we eagerly wait for the day when we round ourselves out with our fifth member. It has reminded me that though my kids are so big these days, they will never be this small again. For the girl who, these days, has an attention span of no more than ten minutes, this book was a great choice. It almost made me forgive my friend for making me read The Shack.

Kate DiCamillo

Last week, our family shared coughs, fevers, ear infections, sinus infections and lot of time for reading. During that time, I became ambitious. I love reading children's books, almost as much as grown up books. Or maybe more? I guess that's a whole different blog post but anyway...

During our week of sickness, I began a Kate DiCamillo marathon. I decided I would read all of her books (not including the Mercy Watson series or Because of Winn Dixie which I had already read) and post here about them all. I envisioned a long and insightful post. I even thought this post could turn into an essay. I took notes. I underlined. I noticed striking similarities between each of the books and wondered if all authors share such strong themes among their books.

And then this week began. After being out of commission for a week, the week of catch up left little time for reading. I have spent the week trying to finish The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane while crafting my witty essay in my head.

The competitiveness in me requires that I write this post now- minus the wittiness in order to record that I have, in fact, read many more than one book this week.

While each of these books deserves a post of it's own and a reading by anyone who appreciates beautiful writing, each book will appear instead in a list to document that this week I read:

The Tale of Despereaux
Tiger Rising
The Magician's Elephant
And most of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

America America by Ethan Canin

My friend Kate, who has never let me down in the book recommendation department (Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose… need I say more?) told me Ethan Canin’s novel was a good read. 450 plus pages in a week is a stretch for me but I made it under the wire. This novel, set in the early 1970s Nixon era, tells the story of Corey Sifter, the only son of working class parents, who works as an errand boy on the estate of the town’s most powerful family, the Metareys. During his time there, as a young teen, then on weekends from boarding school (funded by the Metareys), he becomes involved with the campaign of their Ted Kennedy-esque senator friend Henry Bonwiller, who is running for president. Corey becomes intimately involved with the ins and outs (as well as the down and dirty) of the campaign while also becoming entangled in the lives of the two Metarey daughters. The Kennedy connection carries through the novel in the character of Bonwiller, a ‘for the working man’ beloved liberal whose fatal flaws, alcohol and the involvement in the death of a young campaign worker in a car accident, becomes the ultimate downfall of both his campaign and the dreams of those who believed in him. Canin’s story telling is amazing, he weaves no less than five different time frames of Corey’s life into the story, switching seamlessly (in no particular order) from his teens to the present day, to his boarding school years, college and post-college,. And he writes beautifully about being a son and later, a parent to three daughters: “I’ve watched our own girls move away now – first to sleepovers, then to summer camps, then to college and boyfriends, then to jobs and husbands. I wonder how we’ve fared with them. I wonder which of our idle words have wounded them and which, years later and a thousand miles away, have buoyed them; which of our hopes have lifted them over the daunting obstacles in their lives and which have pressed back against their own ideas of themselves.” This book is a wonderful mix of a compelling, page turner and the thoughtfully written story of a man’s reflection of his life.

Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson

As many of us prepare to go home for the holidays, Marilynne Robinson’s Home reminds us that there are times of both joy and pain when returning to the family and places of our childhood. This wonderfully written novel tells the story of the Boughtons, an Iowa family tormented by their past and unable to imagine a future. Glory, nearing midlife, returns to her childhood home in Gilead (the Gilead of Robinson’s Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of the same name) to care for her dying father. Her older brother Jack, the prodigal son, comes home to his family after a twenty-year hiatus to try and make peace with his plagued past. Jack and Glory form a new bond based on their shared family secrets, past and present; and as they watch their father slipping away they must come to terms with who they have been and who they could become.

Jack is a fabulous character; brilliant, endearing and rebellious. Perpetually at odds with his surroundings and with his preacher-father, this black sheep of the family struggles to return home to face his demons. Jack is one of those people who is loved greatly but constantly disappoints those who love him. Glory and her father make great effort to help Jack forgive himself and in the process heal themselves. Home is a memorable story of the deepest and most common emotions; love, compassion, obligation, pain and fear.

I was surprised to have enjoyed this novel as much as I did because Robinson’s Pulitzer-prize winning novel Gilead was one of the few Pulitzers that I didn’t like at all. Home definitely has that religious-speak that forced me to abandon Gilead before I was finished, but Home is less religious and more reflective in its nature, more readable. Maybe it’s the fact that I’m about to embark on my own return for the holidays, which gave me such empathy and compassion for the characters of Home.

Robinson writes, “And then their return to the pays natal, where the same old willows swept the same ragged lawns, where the same old prairie arose and bloomed as negligence permitted. Home. What kinder place could there be on earth, and why did it seem to them all like exile?” For many, and perhaps for Jack and Glory, we are no longer the people we were when we all lived at home with our families. We are different; different in ways that are not fully understood. Distance, time and life experience can sometimes create a disconnection that is keenly felt when returning home. Home is a universal paradox: where a familiar place intersects with an unfamiliar you.

May we all feel reconnected in the healthiest ways with home, family and ourselves this holiday season!