3.5 stars — Classic case of right book, wrong time?

Didn’t do this any favors by reading it in disrupted, distracted spurts spread across a busy two weeks of summer travel and time spent with family. It's episodic and ephemeral enough as it is, and my staggered reading no doubt made it even more of a struggle to connect with these characters and their respective journeys.

I think the main thing that kept me from adoring this as much as some of my other GR friends, was the lack of a clear, compelling plot. Not that I need every book to include an action-packed storyline, but I do prefer a stronger and more balanced "story to emotion" ratio than this.

There just wasn't enough narrative momentum in this loosely structured story of unconventional love and friendship between Jonathan and Bobby, two boyhood friends, and a woman they both meet later in life, to sustain my interest or make me care about what happened to them on any kind of deep or lingering level.

Amidst this frustrating aimlessness, however, there's some truly beautiful writing and lovely character development to savor and enjoy. I didn't necessarily like most of these characters, but I finished the book feeling like I knew them on a sometimes uncomfortably intimate level.

At times the prose feels strained and overwrought, which shouldn’t come as a surprise considering it's one of Cunningham's early novels. But there are also passages of pure genius scattered throughout, the kind of lyrical perfection and punch-to-the-gut relatable life wisdom that left me tossing the book aside and gasping for air several times.

The childhood and adolescence chapters were my favorites, especially those told from the point of view of Alice (Jonathan's mother). She was the most complex and interesting character for me, and Cunningham seems most confident and insightful when exploring the complicated, fraught relationships between parents and children.

There's an aching vulnerability and raw honesty in these chapters about a young mother struggling to connect with her lonely and sexually confused teenage son, that really resonated with me in a way the rest of the book didn't.

По-перше, це дуже добре написано — і перекладено. По-друге, ця книжка заворожує. Не розумію, чим і як, але від неї неможливо відірватися, вона заколисує, обіймає, і в її світі хочеться залишатися якнайдовше.

Це історія чотирьох людей — Джонатан, його матері Еліс, друга Боббі й подруги Клер. Вони дуже різні і за характером, і за віком, і за бекграундом, але їх об'єднує якась розгубленість у цьому світі, нерозуміння, куди себе приткнути, коли стандартні способи, здається, не працюють.

Кожне тут несвідомо шукає дім. Не чотири стіни й дах над головою, а концепцію спокою, затишку й буття на своєму місці.

І в кожного навіть виходить.
Для когось це той самий дім на краю світу — дах над головою і людина поряд, з якою ти ніби одне ціле.
Для когось — дитина.
Для когось — можливість нарешті вдихнути на повні груди й вирватися з полону чотирьох стін.

Думаю, це буде одна з найкращий книжок року ❤️

Tik skaista un plūstoša valoda! Pateicība gan autoram Maiklam Kaningemam, gan tulkotājai Silvijai Bricei par fantastisko baudījumu.

UPD 26092024: Почалося передзамовлення перекладу, тому оновлюю і причесую відгук!

Джонатан росте з матір’ю, яка оповиває його задушливим коконом своєї невротичної нажаханої любові, і з батьком, що весь віддається роботі – безнадійно підупалому кінотеатру. Він певен, що нізащо не виросте таким, як батьки, - ані таким нудним і дрібнобуржуазним, ані таким невдахою.
Боббі росте спершу зі старшим братом, який змалечку водить його закинутися кислотою на цвинтарі, а потім, коли брат гине, з батьками, які не витримують тягаря цього горя і сповзають дедалі глибше в розпач і алкоголізм. Він теж певен, що не виросте таким, як батьки – ані таким побутово розхристаним і неприкаяним, ані таким емоційно нездалим.
Клер росте у нібито взірцево-показовій заможній сім’ї зі своєю дозою дисфункції за лаштунками – і тому бунтує проти всіх правил, як має поводитися добра дівчинка. Вона таки не виростає такою, як батьки, й не відтворює їхніх правил, як має протікати правильне доросле життя – але тепер, коли їй під сорок, замислюється, чи правильним був цей вибір, і чи можна його переграти.
Усі ці троє люблять один одного, просто дуже по-різному, і так само запекло бісять один одного – якщо ви любите читати про складних людей у складних стосунках і про любов, яка не вирішує всіх проблем, то вам сюди!
Джонатан, Боббі і Клер разом мурують свій дім на краю світу, де зможуть створювати власні правила дорослішання і життя. Водночас їхній дім стоїть не тільки на краю світу, а й наприкінці світу. Навколо них проминає час і закінчується світ, про який вони мріяли – скажімо, двоє з трьох не встигли у Вудсток, а останні рештки гіппівської свободи тануть під тиском епідемії СНІДу, яка розгорається навколо.

Загалом, якщо вам навколо тридцяти, то є шанси, що ця книжка зажене вам усі голки під нігті душі. Бо це зокрема книжка про той період життя, коли ти ще нібито перспективна молодь з FOMO і знаєш, що перед тобою відкриті всі можливості, ти можеш стати ким завгодно і робити що завгодно, проблем не так і багато, дороги широкі, сонце яскраве, арка історії повільна, але хилиться до успіху. Ти не зобов'язана commit до якогось одного сценарію (одних стосунків, однієї професії, однієї мрії), ти ще все встигнеш, ба більше, прив'язати себе до чогось одного - це відмовитися від усього цього потенційного огрому можливостей, отак і живуть герої:

I followed the ragged lives of four individuals with a myriad of conflicting feelings: anxiety, unrest, exasperation, abhorrence, sympathy. At the end, the title of this novel made perfect sense. While collecting my thoughts about this book, it dawned on me that all four characters were seeking a home and going to the end of the world to find it for themselves.

Jonathan, a homosexual; Bobby, likely a bisexual; Alice, Jonathan’s mother; and Clare, a heterosexual woman took turns to narrate the paths they each chose to take before they eventually found what they thought they wanted out of life.

‘This is what you do. You make a future for yourself out of the raw material at hand.’

Making that future was not easy for all four of them. Their quest included an acceptance of one’s sexuality, hard lessons on friendship, a thirsting after love, and a longing to find a true home (even if an unconventional one).

None of these characters was likeable; none was happy. Whatever semblance of happiness they experienced had in it a grudging quality. They all seemed to live messed up lives and I found it hard to fathom how dangerously they willed themselves to teeter on the brink of self-destruction.

Clare, a jewelry designer in her thirties, had many lovers, was married, had an abortion, and was divorced. When we met her, she was living as Jonathan’s half-lover and wanted a baby with him even though their love was not physical. She said, ”People who’ve been well cared for can’t imagine the freedom there is in being bad.” She could well be right.

Jonathan, a journalist in his twenties, had a ‘random sexual life with strangers.’ He lived recklessly. As a five-year-old, he played with dolls and was told by his father not to do this in public. Jonathan revealed, “I felt my first true humiliation. I recognized a deep inadequacy in myself, a foolishness.” He claimed that Clare was his main love. He also loved Bobby, his first teenage lover and close friend. It is possible that Jonathan’s sense of inadequacy stalked him even as he abandoned himself unreservedly to his physical desires.

Bobby, born to parents who were teachers, was introduced to drugs and alcohol at age 9 by his 16-year-old brother. A string of family tragedies left him practically an orphan, and he spent a lot of time with Jonathan’s family. His deprivation made him hungry for an orderly home and home-cooked meals. Alice, Jonathan’s mother observed, ”He looked at our house with such open, avid greed.” He picked up cooking from Alice and became a chef. Unlike Jonathan, Bobby was passive and compliant in an annoyingly sweet way. He went with the flow and let things happen to him.

Alice, married to Ned who ran a movie theatre business, was thrifty and sensible. She loved Jonathan but was unhappy in her marriage. Her sense of duty bound her to Ned and she lived with a nascent longing for a different life. Her conversations with Jonathan over his love life were painful to listen to. That episode of what she wanted Jonathan to do with his father’s ashes made me quite riled at her selfishness.

In years to come, Jonathan, Bobby and Clare left New York City for Woodstock and set up a home and a café business in the country. They became parents to Clare and Bobby’s baby, Rebecca.

This is a book that raised some difficult questions. The characters were flawed but real and honest. Who can decide for anyone what is right for him or her, who to love, what love is, and what makes a family? A Home at the End of the World is written in impeccable prose. It is a difficult story but not one without hope.

I wish we could do half stars -- I would like to give this book 2.5 stars to rate it a C.

I really wanted to like it more than I did; however, I felt there was not enough internal distinction among the characters to make the shifting viewpoints work. Each person's narrative voice sounded like all the others, resulting in homogenous characters that did not seem sufficiently fleshed out.

Я мабуть ще ніколи не ліпила стільки стікерів. Я загалом не часто таке робою, але як же воно гарно написано. Проза сповнена ліричності, а персонажі — живі, вразливі й справжні.

щемко, емоційно і так боляче

This is the story of four people who call themselves family, set in late 1970-early 1980 Cleveland, NYC, and Phoenix.
Bobby, childhood friends with Jonathan, has lost his immediate family -- brother, mother, and father within a very short time.
Jonathan, emotionally detached and searching for that "click" into the present...
Alice, Jonathan's mother, married and started a family for the simple fact that there really was no reason not to.
And Clare, hippie wanna-be Woodstock goer, failed in an earlier marriage and becomes mother figure to Bobby and Jonathan.

What's most memorable are the brief moments of honesty each character has with themselves in his or her own narrative. For example, Jonathan's father/son conversation and his last chance to ask questions about life (pg. 198); how Clare's cold comfort toward Alice upon losing her husband to a sudden death (pgs. 238-243); how Clare understands the need to abandon Bobby and Jonathan for the sake of their child, Rebecca's, development (pg.322); and finally Jonathan's realization in finding himself (pg. 342)

I read this gorgeously evocative novel 20 years ago, and can still remember indelible moments in the most vivid manner.

Comecei a leitura achando que não fosse gostar, pois tinha lido seu aclamado As Horas que não curti. Mas esse me pegou desde o início, achei a narrativa muito envolvente.
Nada de tão extraordinário acontece. Cada capítulo é narrado em primeira pessoa por um de quatro personagens: Bobby, Jonathan, Clare e Alice desde a infância dos dois até a vida adulta, com início nos anos 60 trazendo muito da música e contracultura da época.
Através dos acontecimentos de suas vidas o autor nos fala de família, afeto, lar, amor, perdas, etc e a busca que cada um empreende para obtê-los. Com toda essa temática seria fácil cair na pieguice mas isso não ocorre em nenhum momento.



Histórico de leitura
21/12/2019

"Certa vez meu pai comprou um conversível. Não me pergunte. Eu tinha cinco anos. Ele o comprou e veio dirigindo até em casa com tanta naturalidade como se estivesse trazendo um balde de cascalho da estrada."

My heart is so heavy. Cunningham has a way of embedding characters and setting directly into each capillary in your body.

It was still the face of a man who believed human differences could be resolved by a pilgrimage to famous geological phenomena.

é muito louco como os romances estadunidenses têm, em geral, a capacidade de comunicar coisas que extrapolam o contexto daquela sociedade. esse é mais um daqueles livros cujo enredo é meio difícil de precisar, a não ser que um grupo de pessoas vive a sua vida e temos acesso aos seus anseios, sonhos, medos e por mais absurdas e extravagantes que sejam as suas vidas, em Cleveland, Nova York ou próximo a Woodstock, essa passagem nos importa. é um romance sobre uma família atípica? sim, em vários níveis as coisas já começam bem diferentes e seguem assim meio sem rumo até o final. não somos surpreendidos por reviravoltas que nos façam dizer "meu deus, como pode isso?" mas nos comovemos com o resultado de certas atitudes e comportamentos.

quatro vozes narram esse romance: bobby, jonathan, alice (que é mãe de jonathan) e clare. o drama desse pessoal todo gira em torno de vida, ambições, traumas, sexualidade, ideia de sucesso. cada página ensina uma dessas lições gerais, frases que dá vontade de transcrever tudo no facebook se mostrar super cool.

é um livro que flui. e nesse fluir incerto aprendemos um pouquinho mais sobre o que somos e o que queremos.