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Dec 16, 2009

Lee rated it:

This book was my introduction to Michael Cunningham, and when I finished it I cried. And then went out and bought everything he'd ever written.

I fell in love with this book. At that time in my life I could relate to its characters and their story in a unique way, but it was also Cunningham's writing: spare, lovely, gorgeously aware of minutiae, devastatingly honest. There is a sadness in his work that fills me with a profound loneliness that I find myself both overwhelmed by and gra More...

4 comments like (14 people liked it)

Jun 06, 2007

Punk rated it:

Fiction. This is the story of Bobby and Jonathan -- best friends, almost brothers, almost in love -- how they grow up together, how they grow apart, how they meet Clare, and how they all try to make a home together. It sounds cozy -- I love self-made families -- but this is an exceedingly lonely book. No one's able to make any lasting connections and everyone's alone in one way or another. It's sad, but written so well. Cunningham has an easy way with language; his prose is simple and honest, wi More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Feb 10, 2009

Fabian rated it:

This is the "Less than Zero"-like novel of this popular NY writer, and just like Bret Easton Ellis' depiction of the derelict children of sunny Cali in the 80s, Cunningham encapsulates the latter 80s in the East Village (and early 60s, 70s in the stark midwest) with lost souls, unique individuals.

The plot is this: Two guys and a gal play house together because they are (equally?) in love.

Obviously there is more to it as it differs somewhat from the pretty damn g More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Aug 21, 2011

Lavinia rated it:

I love New York stories, I love the '80s. The plot is captivating, and for someone coming from Eastern Europe, such a story taking place while they grew up, - in a different part of the world, of course - seems pretty unbelievable.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 29, 2011

J.S.A. rated it:

This was much better than I expected, given my loathing of The Hours--kind of like Cunningham's Mysteries of Pittsburgh. It was handy during two nights of bad insomnia and I rather doubt I'll ever read it again. But some evocative descriptions. Particularly, and unexpectedly, of Arizona:

"I'm glad you came home for a little while," my father said. "You're looking a little pale, if you want to know the truth."

"Everyone in New York is pale this time of year,"

More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 20, 2007

Taylor rated it:

I only sort of liked this, so I honestly don't have too much to say about it. It wasn't remarkable, but it wasn't awful.

It basically follows a set of three friends - one women, two men - and examines their relationships, both with each other, and with people from the outside world (mothers, fathers, girlfriends, boyfriends).

It reads almost a little blandly. I suppose you could say it's more of a character study and less about the plot. But then I couldn't say that it was More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 26, 2007

Paula rated it:

This book was very personal for me. Not in terms of the characters so much, but more in terms of what was going on in my life and where I was with myself. I can close my eyes and feel how vulnerable and hurt I was at that time. I think that's why this book touched such a unique and special spot in my heart. I will never forget reading it and sharing my thoughts on it with someone very special to me. I have moved so far from where I was at that time, but I will never forget this book and how More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 25, 2011

Juushika rated it:

The story of a relationship between two childhood friends and a woman who enters their lives in adulthood, A Home at the End of the World is difficult to summarize because its plot is wide, rambling, and only half the point. Meandering from the childhood deaths that leave Bobby bereft, distant, and desperate for connection, to Jonathan's burgeoning sexuality and his fixation on Bobby, to the entrance of world-weary Clare and the fragile three-way relationship that forms on the basis of the share More...

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Apr 04, 2011

Amy rated it:

I am such a fan of Michael Cunningham's (The Hours, Specimen Days) that I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. He is a very good writer, and he fleshes out characters well. The main characters in this one are "two boyhood friends: Jonathan, lonely, introspective, and unsure of himself; and Bobby, hip dark, and inarticulate." We follow Bobby and Jonathan through their awkward adolescence and as they make their way into manhood, grappling with the complicated relationships More...

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Jan 30, 2011

Tancredi rated it:

Se dovessi definire questo romanzo con una sola parola, userei inevitabilmente il termine "strano".
Strani sono i personaggi, tanto per cominciare: due gay poco convinti ed una donna divorziata che accetta un manage a trois con loro. Strana è la vicenda, strani sono i ragionamenti dei personaggi, con il loro contraddirsi continuamente, partire, fuggire, tornare, fuggire di nuovo. E strana è la via che scelgono, tutti e tre, per il loro futuro. Strani sono agli occhi della gente "no More...

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Jun 25, 2010

kimberly rated it:

"You don't necessarily meet a lot of people in this world."

This is the first of Michael Cunningham's books I've read, but I will be reading all of them. He just flat gets it. By the time I was halfway through, I more or less disliked two of the three main characters, but I wasn't tired of reading about them. I wanted to figure them out. I wanted to like them and if I didn't, I wanted to understand why.

This is one of those books that you read a sentence or a par More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 13, 2009

Antoaneta rated it:

В книгата повествованието се води от името на Боби и Джонатан, както и на две обвързани с живота им жени - Алис - майката на Джонатан, и Клеър - майка на детето на Боби и жената, в която Джонатан е влюбен. Звучи объркано, но книгата следва своята вътрешна логика. Започва в ранното детство на двете момчета и завършва в момента, в който двамата остават отново сами. Сякаш се е затворил кръг, в който са следвали предначертаната си съдба... Междувременно са търсили любовта, били са самотни, били са щ More...

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Sep 07, 2009

Adelina rated it:

Една жена на 40, която не е съвсем сигурна в собствените си желания, един гей и един мъж без особени амбиции живеят заедно като семейство. Все търсят нещо, все очакват любовта, обичат се един друг, обаче това май не я точно любовта, която искат... Все имат да кажат нещо, но не намират думи.
Недовършени, бедни диалози...
Ох, не бих казала, че не ми хареса, но определено не е по вкуса ми.
Трите звездички са за оригиналната конструкция на романа. И за това, че финалът не е типичен а More...

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May 24, 2011

Janny rated it:

Van de achterflap: Jonathan en Bobby leren elkaar kennen op de middelbare school, worden vrienden en later minnaars. Nadat zijn broer, moeder en vader zijn overleden, trekt Bobby in bij Alice, de moeder van Jonathan die inmiddels naar New York is vertrokken. Als Bobby na enige jaren in New York arriveert, blijkt Jonathan een puur fysieke verhouding te hebben met Erich en samen te wonen met Clare, die een kind van hem wil. Uiteindelijk zal Bobby de biologische vader worden. Aangezien een rustiger More...

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Feb 02, 2011

Kristen rated it:

I started this book last night. The first thing that caught my attention was a review from the Cleveland Plain Dealer on page one. I thought that was odd (usually it's the Times or another big publication writing reviews). Little did I know this book, which was also a 2004 movie, is set in Cleveland (though by part two it moves to NYC). Michael Cunningham is also the author of The Hours (another movie). I'm only 12 percent done, but so far I'm really enjoying this book. It's told through mut More...

2 comments like

Sep 05, 2010

Az rated it:

This book annoys me. I'm midway through and I'm finding it so annoying that I can't finish it -- but I want to know what happens, and chiefly I want to kvetch about it. So it must be doing something. I'm not a "fan" of Michael Cunningham but did think Specimen Days incredible, if ridiculously bleak. The writing was better. This reads like his first (possibly very juvenile) autobiographical novel that some publisher convinced him to "work on" after he became successful. It did More...

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Apr 30, 2009

Justin rated it:

For me, this book was a case of what-ifs and wasted potential. I really liked the beginning part about Bobby and Jonathan in their youth. By the time they both moved to New York City, it took a turn for the worse. A lot of that can be contributed to the character of Clare, who was incredibly unlikable - a shallow, cynical, hipster type. Suddenly, after not even appearing until over 100 pages in, she took on a key role in the narrative. The story moved on well enough with her, but I couldn't stop More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 13, 2011

Paula rated it:

I enjoyed 'A Home at the End of the World' and it was definitely a book for discussion. All of the characters are so different and I enjoyed how each chapter was told from a character’s point of view.

My favourite character was Bobby because he was so unselfish and cared about everyone and was happy with his life because he was where he wanted to be in his life. Jonathan was a well explored character too, he was so lost and I felt for him because he wanted someone to give him all th More...

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Jan 24, 2011

Tyler rated it:

Good novels often make me feel melancholy. I’m not exactly sure why, but I think it’s because they remind me that life can change quickly and unexpectedly, and that things rarely turn out the way we hope they will. Michael Cunningham’s A Home at the End of the World gave me that same melancholy feeling. So, in other words, it was a good novel.

Since I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction lately, at first I was thrilled by this book, pleased to be meeting new characters and watching them More...

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 30, 2012

Lindsey rated it:

3.5

This one is a bit hard to review since the plot mostly revolves around three characters who are very difficult to get a firm grasp on. I think Bobby was the most likable of the lot, with his naive puppy-like nature that just made you want to both hug and shake him half the time. Jonathan was the strongest character, with all his intricacies and his struggle over his loves and what his life meant to him, but he could also be incredibly frustrating when he wasn't being amusing. I can' More...

0 comments like

May 12, 2011

Sam rated it:

This was a wierd book. I was expecting to be blown away and i really just wasn't. Whilst i think that Cunningham has some of the nicest prose, and occasionally the deepest of insight, here i was just a bit bored, and surrounded by characters who i couldn't really relate to, not because they were unrelatable, but because Cunningham seemed so intent on doing something different, for the sake of it.

This is his first novel, and it shows. I could almost see the cogs of his brain working a More...

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Jan 26, 2008

Amy rated it:

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.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 02, 2011

Elaine rated it:

Most humans need family, but that family needn't be a grouping of parents and cbildren. Humans need love as well, but it need not be sexual. Most humans want sex as well, heterosexual, homosexual or bisexual, but sex is apart from love.

Cunningham has written an elegant and heartbreaking novel of both the breakup of family and the formation of a new one,"new" in all its meanings. The new family is bonded by love, each love different from the other. There are parental love, chi More...

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Oct 12, 2010

Nezzo rated it:

За Кънигнам няма точни и неточни думи, за него просто няма подходящи думи. Никога. Като онези моменти, когато си останал безмълвен пред нещо много по-голямо и силно от теб. Знаеш, че е това. Това, което търсиш или си търсел, чувстваш се разочарован, разбит, смазан, обожаващ, открил, еуфоричен. Всичко едновременно.

Една книга ми беше достатъчна да разбера, че това е the author, сега просто продължавам да го повтарям, не ми трябват повече доказателства. Няма да обсъждам или поставям под в More...

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Feb 06, 2012

Mindy rated it:

This book took me longer to read than expected just because I found myself slowing down so much so that I could savor the language and the heart-achingly beautiful yet painful lives of the characters' portrayed therein. I usually devour books that I love but that was certainly not the case here…I loved just about every moment of the work and didn't want to miss anything. Another element that deterred me from my usual critique o a work was the ending; I normally hate endings that don't wrap up in More...

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Feb 25, 2010

Daniel rated it:

I've never read a novel before that has made me feel so unable to make some sort of sweeping generalization about it upon completion. Cunningham writes with a poetic beauty that is at times paralyzing. At numerous points throughout the book I found myself reading a sentence over and over again, simply overhwhelmed by its beauty and its ability to hit me right in the heart and the gut. Structurally, the novel is often ineffective. Written from the perspectives of four different characters, it mos More...

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Jun 08, 2011

Trish rated it:

some favorite quotes I want to save for posterity:
"Like a drug, repetition changes the size of things" 127.
"In my twenties I'd suspected that if you peeled away my looks and habits and half-dozen strong ideas you'd have found an empty spot where the self ought to be. It had seemed like my worst secret...I'd worked out a general policy of pliable sweetness toward people who eventually changed the locks over some unguessable offense of mine" 144.
"She worked More...

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Dec 06, 2011

Despina rated it:

Не мога да опиша с какво нетърпение дочаках края на работното време, буквално, за да се добера до дома и да започна жадно да прелиствам страниците й. Обожавам Кънингам и реалистичните му истории. Той е един от малкото автори, чиито творби, лишени често от хепи-енд, винаги успява да ме зареди с положителна енергия и да ме остави бездиханна, но при все това напълно доволна от прочита на книгата. More...

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Sep 06, 2010

Buried In Print rated it:

Like The Hours, this has some incredibly beautiful, amazingly poignant, and overwhelming sad bits. At first I wondered if I would get the various narrators' voices muddled (especially Bobby and Jonathan), but they quickly developed as separate entities in my reader's mind and I did not find myself wanting one perspective over another (even when Alice, Jonathan's mother, and Clare, joined the group) as often happens when a novel is told from more than one perspective. The insights on marriage, re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 04, 2009

Cindy rated it:

I really enjoyed this book, and devoured it in several days. The subject matter (figuring out who you are and what your place in this world should be) was universal, but it was told through the perspective of three main characters involved in an unconventional relationship. For me, this was what made this story unique.

I will say that it was hard for me to identify with the characters. Perhaps it was the way the story was narrated, but I found that the vast majority of the protagon More...

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