Home in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Jun 02, 2012 MacDuff added it

Shelves: 2012

A writing teacher once told me that "The act of fiction is in and of itself an exorcism." An author realizes that a story or character has fermented in the mind, and the only way to get rid of it is to put it to the page.

I was reminded of this throughout reading Toni Morrison's 150-page novella Home. Her main protagonist, Frank Money, has clearly implanted himself into her brain and begged to have his story, and the story of his younger sister Ycidra, told. And Morrison tries to, although Frank A writing teacher once told me that "The act of fiction is in and of itself an exorcism." An author realizes that a story or character has fermented in the mind, and the only way to get rid of it is to put it to the page.

I was reminded of this throughout reading Toni Morrison's 150-page novella Home. Her main protagonist, Frank Money, has clearly implanted himself into her brain and begged to have his story, and the story of his younger sister Ycidra, told. And Morrison tries to, although Frank himself steps in as the narrator several times throughout and narrates it himself, to make sure the author understands him, understands the truth.

Frank Money is a child when his family is run out of Texas by men in white hoods. They end up in Lotus, Georgia, where they end up with his grandfather and cruel step-grandmother, Lenore. Frank and his sister Cee are traumatized children already: Lenore does nothing to help them. When Frank is old enough, he enlists in the army and heads off to Korea, promising his sister that she will be fine.

She's not, and neither is Frank.

Morrison's craft lies in wrapping up one person's history with the history of American Blacks, and she does this so eloquently in Home. Frank and Cee are faced daily with trials that you and I can't imagine in today's world: scenes I'm too hesitant to discuss here because I really want you to read the book for yourself. But the story leaves the reader wishing for their reunion, so that these two battered people can begin to make some sense of their lives, despite the ongoing torment.

I have incredibly vivid memories of reading each of Toni Morrison's novels: I read The Bluest Eye in the back of a freshman English classroom, when I should have been studying. I read Beloved in the Kathmandu airport when I had a 6-hour delay. And I found myself waking earlier than usual to read Home, getting up before there was another distraction to my day and I could fully focus on Frank and Cee, and the host of other characters all tormenting Toni Morrison, begging to be let out. It's an amazing story, one that leaves you breathless and questioning at the end.
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