I have now finished rereading Marilynne Robinson’s Home for the third time. Late last year, I’d read Robinson’s newest novel, Lila, which includes a number of the same characters as her two previous works of fiction, so I wanted to check back with my friends. All three of her 21st century novels, the two mentioned above and Gilead, are masterworks, or so I believe. If there is a finer writer of fiction in this century, I don’t know who it would be.
I was only a few chapters into Lila when I knew I would read the book again. There is so much to savor in Robinson's exquisite writing, that it's impossible to fully appreciate her work in one reading...or two or three, for that matter. Jack Boughton, as portrayed in Home, is one of the great tragic characters in 21st century fiction, and Glory, Jack's sister, and their father, the Reverend Robert Boughton, follow close behind, not quite so tragic as Jack, though all too human and real and weighted with sadness. In testament to Robinson, all her principal characters come alive to me and seem like people I know.
I could probably make a list for 2014 without too much difficulty, but maybe it's better to make a new start.
