Home

If I think too hard about the fact that this is the first work of fiction I've finished since January, I'll get really sad. Grad school, BAH.

So instead I'll sing Marilynne Robinson's praises. I read “Gilead” in 2007, and some of the same characters from the town of Gilead reappear here, in this retelling of the story of the prodigal son. Robinson has a real knack for writing about faith without being either cheesy or preachy, and gives a simultaneously delicate yet incisive voice to family dynamics–present, past, and our memories of both, even as the present unfolds and the past is dredged up. She is one of those novelists who I will always want to read what she has thought fit to write.

I had checked out Home when it first came out but turned it quickly back when, thinking it was too much like Gilead. The reviews for Home continued to pour in and all of them were good. So I went back to it. And loved it. Robinson knows the Prodigal Son.

Sigh, Marilynne Robinson, you are so good at writing. I actually bought this a year ago and then was scared to read it because I've been reading so much YA lit that I didn't think I was up to tackling this. But, duh, it was great. It had enough tiny suspenses and it was so well-written that I moved through it much faster than I had anticipated. (When I think of MR, I think of beautiful writing, but also a very leisurely pace.)It's been awhile since I read [b:Gilead 68210 Gilead Marilynne Robinson http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1316637613s/68210.jpg 2481792] so I'm not sure how closely this ties into it, except that Ames is in it as a peripheral character. I just don't remember how much the Boughtons were in Gilead. But it didn't really hinder my enjoyment of the book at all, so, yay.