Synopses & Reviews
For the first time, an audio production is available of Michael Cunninghams critically acclaimed novel—published to coincide with the release of the feature film starring Colin Farrell and Dallas RobertsM ichael Cunninghams celebrated novel is the story of two boyhood friends: Jonathan, lonely, introspective, and unsure of himself; and Bobby, hip, dark, and inarticulate. In New York after college, Bobby moves in with Jonathan and his roommate, Clare, a veteran of the citys erotic wars. Bobby and Clare fall in love, scuttling the plans of Jonathan, who is gay, to father Clares child. Then, when Clare and Bobby have a baby, the three move to a small house upstate to raise “their” child together and create a new kind of family. A Home at the End of the World masterfully depicts the charged, fragile relationships of urban life today.
Review
"Lyrical . . . Memorable and accomplished."—
The New York Times Book Review"Novels don't come more deeply felt than Cunningham's extraordinary four-character study . . . The writing [is] a constant pleasure, flowing and yet dense with incisive images and psychological nuance."—Matthew Gilbert, The Boston Globe
"The story of Jonathan, Clare, Bobby, and Alice is also the story of the 70's and 80's in America—and vice versa. It is destined to last."—David Leavitt, author of The Marble Quilt
"Cunningham has written a novel that all but reads itself."—The Washington Post Book World
"Once in a great while, there appears a novel so spellbinding in its beauty and sensitivity that the reader devours it nearly whole, in great greedy gulps, and feels stretched sore afterwards, having been expanded and filled. Such a book is [this one]."—Sherry Rosenthal, San Diego Tribune
"Luminous with the wonders and anxieties that make childhood mysterious . . . A Home at the End of the World is a remarkable accomplishment."—Laura Frost, San Francisco Review
"Brilliant and satisfying . . . As good as anything I've read in years . . . Hope in the midst of tragedy is a fragile thing, and Cunningham carries it with masterful care."—Gayle Kidder, San Diego Union
"Exquisitely written . . . Lyrical . . . An important book."—Charleston Sunday News and Courier
"Cunningham writes with power and delicacy . . . We come to feel that we know Jonathan, Bobby, and Clare as if we lived with them; yet each one retains the mystery that in people is called soul, and in fiction is called art."--Richard Eder, The Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
From Michael Cunningham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of
The Hours, comes this widely praised novel of two boyhood friends: Jonathan, lonely, introspective, and unsure of himself; and Bobby, hip, dark, and inarticulate. In New York after college, Bobby moves in with Jonathan and his roommate, Clare, a veteran of the city's erotic wars. Bobby and Clare fall in love, scuttling the plans of Jonathan, who is gay, to father Clare's child. Then, when Clare and Bobby have a baby, the three move to a small house upstate to raise "their" child together and, with an odd friend, Alice, create a new kind of family.
A Home at the End of the World masterfully depicts the charged, fragile relationships of urban life today.
About the Author
Michael Cunningham is the author of two other novels,
Flesh and Blood and
The Hours. He lives in New York.
Blair Brown has narrated a number of audiobooks, including works by John Grisham, Michael Cunningham, Stephen King, and Anne Tyler. Brown is an accomplished theater, film, and television actress. She has acted in numerous films, including The Astronauts Wife, The Sentinel, Space Cowboys, Loverboy, and Continental Divide, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. Browns stage work includes acting in the Tony Award-winning play Copenhagen on Broadway.
Reading Group Guide
1. Discuss the significance of the title
A Home at the End of the World. Does it suggest hope, despair, or both? Explain.
2. Consider the structure of the novel. Why do alternating narrators work for this particular story? How would the story differ if an omniscient narrator or only one character told it? Is there one narrator whose voice you found especially compelling or identified with most? Why?
3. If youve read The Hours or Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham, what similarities do you notice in Cunninghams narrative style or themes with A Home at the End of the World? What distinguishes this book from his two later novels?
4. The third chapter was an award-winning short story, entitled White Angel, published in The New Yorker prior to the novel. What makes that chapter particularly effective as a separate story? How does the rest of the novel deepen and expand on that story?
5. On page 6, Jonathan mentions his fathers “beauty.” Do you agree with him that it is unusual to speak of a father in that way? Why? Is male beauty or behavior portrayed in similarly unexpected or surprising ways in the novel?
6. As a young mother, Alice says of her relationship with her son Jonathan and his best friend Bobby: “Sometimes in those days I thought of Wendy from Peter Pan—an island mother to a troop of lost boys” (p. 87). What do you think she means? How does the theme of “lost boys” figure into the novel as a whole? What role do the women play in relation to this theme?
7. Discuss the eroticism fueling Jonathan and Bobbys childhood friendship. Do you think they view their shared sexual experiences differently? Explain. How does the erotic component of their relationship change as the novel progresses? Is there anything that remains constant?
8. On page 179, Jonathan says, “We become the stories we tell about ourselves.” How might this observation apply to Jonathan, Bobby, Clare, and Alice? Do you view the stories these characters tell themselves as a form of selfpreservation, self-delusion, or both? Explain with specific examples.
9. Do you think Jonathan, Bobby and Clares attempt to redefine family succeeded or failed? Why? What do you think defines a family? What do you think the novel is ultimately saying about family?
10. What role does Erich play in the characters lives? In what ways do you think he is a catlyst for change? Discuss the significance of death in the novel.
11. In Bobbys final chapter, he thinks he spots a vision of Clare. “What I saw was just the wind blowing,” he realizes. “It was either the wind or the spirit of the house itself, briefly unsettled by our nocturnal absence but to old to be sur prised by the errands born from the gap between what we can imagine and what we can in fact create” (p. 336). What do you think he means? Discuss the significance of this statement to the story as a whole.