* NO Spoilers were used in the writing of this review! *

This is an example of a well written and engrossing plot about a cast of annoying characters. I couldn't relate to these people or care very much about them because they're glaring examples of the negative qualities plaguing modern society: self-centered slackers drifting aimlessly through life, choosing an unconventional lifestyle but still unable to be honest with each other (or themselves) due to an ingrained fear of upsetting the status quo. The female character becomes even more self-centered and insensitive as a mother. After investing almost 350 pages into the lives of these characters, the ambiguous ending was a disappointment. Still, Cunningham's gorgeous prose held my attention riveted, despite its lack of true enlightenment or substance. ( )

This was a very interesting book for me to read. I loved how the author has each chapter from a different characters point of view. The end was a little disappointing but realistic. ( )

This was a strange little book. I enjoyed it, because the characters were interesting and well written, but the whole plot was a little ...umm...different. Maybe it's because I lead a sheltered life and have never been around the kinds of subcultures this book discusses. It was hard for me to understand the life of a bi-sexual man, his gay friend, and their straight female roomate. To say that the relationships got a tad complicated in this book would be an understatement. But honestly, I did enjoy it. It opened my mind to new things and sub-cultures and because of that I give it 3 stars. ( )

One of my favorites! Movie, of course, was not nearly as good as the book. ( )

Very rich character studies of three friends who are realistically depicted as ever-changing souls searching for purpose and connection. Beautifully written prose details the relationships between these friends which takes various forms and evolves with their knoweledge and acceptance of themselves. ( )

http://hansel25.livejournal.com/19213... ( )

A stunning literary achievement, A Home At the End of the World explores the universal need for witnessing by challenging conventional ideas of family. Cunningham examines three lives brought together by love in all its incongruent and mysterious forms. He masterfully composes a literary symphony of discordant moments balanced with the rich sonority of exquisite joy.

The characters are vivid and step outside unilateral definition as they strive to find meaning within a world that is largely dependent on orthodoxy. Through sex, fashion, music, and travel, Bobby, Jonathan and Clare take a journey, sometimes together and sometimes apart, to finally be at home in their own hearts. ( )

Ooh, this book is lovely. I like this author very much as well. He also wrote "The Hours", which was made into a movie starring Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Claire Danes, and Ed Harris. Wonderful book, and movie.

This book was also made into a movie, and I must admit that I watched the movie first and liked it so much that I got the book. And then of course, you know what 'they" say, that the book is always better than the movie. Well, in this case, the "they" is me, and the movie is good, but the book is better.

While I'm on that subject, there was one case where the movie was better in my humble opinion, and that is Lord of The Rings, in one sense. In another, I would have appreciated it more, and not been so suspicious, had the only black people in the movie not been the orcs. Peter Jackson, what were you trying to say? Huh?

For some reason, as I'm reading this book, I'm having a huge sense of deja-vu. Now I know I watched the movie, but I keep thinking that all the stuff I'm reading couldn't have been in the movie. There are two possible explanations. One that I read the book before, but then why do I not remember having read it? The other is that the movie was done really well.

Anyway, I love when an author gives such life to the characters! Also love it when they change the narrators in every chapter. That way I get to hear the thoughts of all the characters, and end up with a very good impression of all of them.

What sets this story apart from other stories is that the 4 main characters are all very different, very unique people. Their lives are ordinary, yet out of the ordinary. We have Bobby, who from childhood, seems to have a personality that is dependent on others. It's as if he needs other people to prove to himself that he is alive. Then there's Jonathan who hasn't been in love with anyone since he's been in love with Bobby when they were children. Having said that, he's in a strange platonic relationship with Claire, an older woman, and they're planning to have a baby, even though they're not doing anything about it since he's gay. The three of them enter into a relationship, and decide to raise a child. This book and film is about people living their lives unconventionally, and making no excuses about it. It's about living your dream, and doing what you think is best for yourself, first. And also, about what happens when you don't.

The movie stars Colin Farrell as Bobby, and Robin Wright-Penn as Claire. Good performances from both of them, and the third unknown (to me) guy who played Jonathan. ( )

Cunningham has an excellent ability to force his readers to pay attention to his characters. Here we have three, and we get them from three different first person POV's, which from a lesser writer would've failed horribly. The story focuses on three friends/lovers who are dealing with love, life, relationships, family, and what does to each of these. Not a traditional story about traditional relationships, these are real people bleeding on the page, and sometimes, it hurts to see them act so believably. ( )

I don't reread books very often, but this is one of those books where you read a passage and it so succinctly captures a moment, scene, or character, that you have to read it again just to take the whole thing in. Then you want to look up from the book for a minute to absorb it, read it again, and then dive back into the story to find out what happens next. This is the first book I've read by Michael Cunningham and I'm afraid to read any more. But, I'm going to anyway.

It's the story of two childhood friends, Jonathon and Bobby, who drift apart and together again throughout their lives because they can't quite admit to being in love with each other. They find various ways to be together, along with Clare, who becomes the mother to a baby that is biologically Bobby's but emotionally just as much Jonathon's child. They build a life together. But the brilliance in this book is the way it presents the characters in all their imperfections, the way they don't do what you want them to do and you understand why. No, the briliance is how it's written, actually. The plot is secondary. I need to go read it again. ( )

The most beautifully written gay themed book that I have read. I was deeply moved by the story and Cunningham's development of characters was exquisite. ( )

Incredibly beautiful book. My favorite gay themed novel. Highly recommend it for anyone!!!!!!!!!!! ( )

Does not live up to Flesh and Blood. As always, Cunningham creates complex believable characters. I found the plot a little weak however and part bordered a little too much on the political correct above the real. ( )

I am not sure I really got the point of this motley cast of characters -- it was just OK. ( )

A touching tale of two young boys, each from a troubled background, who grow up togerther and enjoy a brotherly love and a sexual relationship. One then the other moves to New York, there are new charcacters, new relationships and finally a new location, but it is the love between the two that forms the basis. Highly recommended. ( )

i didn't want this book to end. the lives of three very complex people are intertwined by a baby. ( )

Good, 2 boys growing up, in love with each other, one is gay. Lyrical, sad and touching. ( )

I was inspired to re-read this novel when I read someone's review of the film based on the book. I saw the film myself in September 2005 and realised that I no longer trusted myself memories of either the film or the book which I had read years ago. I had the vague idea it probably had more about Alice and Clare in it. So I rented the film on dvd and bought the book. The film was as good as I remembered, the book... well, this might be - along with Cunningham's prize-winning The Hours - one of those rare books that make better films than the books are.

A Home at the End of the World is essentially about the love of Jonathan and Bobby for one another. They meet in the first day of high school when Bobby practically forces himself into Jonathan's company. Bobby's mother and older brother died when he was young and he is never close with his father - Jonathan's family becomes Bobby's family too, to the extent that when Jonathan heads for New York for college, Bobby eventually moves in with Alice and Ned, Jonathan's parents. Their bond nearly breaks but then Alice and Ned move to Arizona for Ned's health and Bobby, who simply cannot be alone, who needs a family around him, joins Jonathan in New York. Jonathan lives with Clare and they talk about having a baby together - not that they have ever been lovers. Clare and Alice are, along with Bobby and Jonathan, focal characters in the book but ultimately their role is to witness and frame the love between the men.

While watching the film, it was extraordinarily difficult to determine, whether Bobby and Jonathan had been intended as lovers in the physical sense. There's no denying that they are in love but suggestions of sex are ambivalent in the film - dancing on the roof one night, they kiss but the scene does not end there - if it had, it would have been easy to assume that things would have progressed from there. The book is clearer - the film leaves out Erich, Jonathan's casual lover, who towards the end of the book is dying from AIDS and who Bobby is adamant should stay with them until his end. There is also a passage in which Bobby reflects that there is sex between him and Jonathan during one afternoon but that they did not have sex in the ordinary sense of the word. Ultimately, their relationship excludes Clare who leaves with their daughter (who biologically is Bobby's but who is Jonathan's as much as Clare's and Bobby's). Another reason for her leaving is that she has come to realise she is more conventional than she thought - she is not Bobby who makes the people around himself into his family.

While I quite like the book, I have always found it lacks something I thought I would have wanted to find in it. I am not sure what that is. ( )

Beautifully captures the feeling of coming of age in the late 70s and early 80s. Then peters out in midlife existential angst. Excellent prose quality, though.
http://egretplume.livejournal.com/161... ( )

Many reviews of this brilliant book perplex me. Some have commented that the action was slow or characters were introduced that didn't contribute enough to the overall plot, as if this were supposed to be a fast-paced thriller starring Tom Cruise (further evidence to me that even some readers have fallen prey to a short attention span paradigm). Others comment that it was poor because Jonathan wasn't the ideal of what a gay man should aspire to be in terms of strength of character. Since when has strenght of character been a yardstick for great literature?

Michael Cunningham delivered in terms of breathtaking prose and the creation of characters that were alive--not just stereotypes. At the same time, he captured archetypal characteristics in Bobby, Jonathan, and Clare that mirror the faults and strengths of people in our own lives. Fear of abandonment. Fear of death and aging. Fear of responsibility. Hope for a better future.

If you are in the mood for fluff (as we all are sometimes) save this for later. If not, don't miss it. ( )

Stiff characters and a made-for-TV movie plot line. Not a fan. ( )