Book Review: "Home" by Marilynne Robinson
5/5 - one of the best examples of Marilynne Robinson's emotive writing...
As of writing this review, it is the 22nd of February 2025 and I am currently listening to a podcast episode about the Pizza Bomber. I'm planning to do a list of my favourite podcasts, putting them altogether rather than separating them by topic and subject. I've been using the library a bit in the last few weeks and I've even got an online account by which I can renew my books. One of the books I borrowed was Home by Marilynne Robinson. I've read some of her stuff before and so, this one will be especially interesting as she hasn't let me down yet!
The novel begins with Glory Boughton, the youngest daughter of Reverend Robert Boughton, returning to her childhood home in Gilead. Now in her late thirties, Glory has come back to care for her ailing father, a revered Presbyterian minister. Unlike her siblings, who have settled into stable lives elsewhere, Glory finds herself at a crossroads, nursing wounds from a failed engagement and uncertain about her future. Her return is not a triumphant homecoming but a quiet retreat, tinged with disappointment. She had once imagined a different life for herself; one filled with love and purpose but instead, she finds herself back in the house where she grew up, surrounded by memories of the past. I love how Marilynne Robinson portrays silence and quiet. Very few authors can write in this kind of emotion. It's quiet thought portrayed through facial expression and pacing rather than narrating the actual thoughts of the person.
Shortly after Glory’s return, her estranged older brother, Jack Boughton, also comes home after a twenty-year absence. Jack, the family’s black sheep, has lived a life of missteps and failures, marked by alcoholism, vagrancy, and a deep sense of alienation. His arrival is unexpected, and he is clearly uncertain about his place in the family and the town. Jack is a figure of quiet suffering, a man weighed down by his past but desperate for redemption. Despite his father’s unwavering love, he remains distant and uneasy, as if he believes himself beyond saving. His return sets the stage for the novel’s central emotional conflicts.
Reverend Robert Boughton is an aging man, physically frail but still deeply devoted to his faith and his family. He has always held a special place in his heart for Jack, his wayward son, but this love is mixed with sorrow and frustration. Boughton longs to reconnect with Jack, to bring him back into the fold of faith and family, but their interactions are fraught with tension. He wants so desperately for Jack to believe in grace and redemption, yet Jack remains distant, unable to fully receive his father’s love. Through Boughton’s character, Robinson explores the painful reality of parental love, the unconditional hope that a child will change, the refusal to give up, even in the face of repeated disappointment.
As the novel unfolds, it becomes clear that Jack’s troubles are not just the result of youthful rebellion or poor choices, there is something deeper at play. Eventually, he reveals to Glory that he has a wife and child, but they are Black, and given the time period (the 1950s), their relationship has been met with societal rejection. Jack’s isolation is not just self-imposed; he is a man caught between two worlds, belonging fully to neither. He knows that his family, despite their love for him, will struggle to accept his interracial marriage, and he fears the judgement of both Gilead and the world beyond it. I love the way Robinson writes in these internal conflicts and how they are initially misjudged as being something else. It is a fantastic achievement in her literature, especially regarding this novel.
So much more happens in this novel that I don't want to give away and yet, you've already heard me bang on about the really intense parts. I hope you too choose to read this book because it is truly moving. At its heart, it is about the way in which returning home can be a conflicting thing for both the memories within and the knowledge you have of your life outside. Both Glory and Jack come home and experience these different experiences of loss and grief and yet, they still have to come to terms with themselves.
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