On the heels of Ceremonies last month, I was ready and willing to take in a book that read briskly. So, A Home at the End of the World seemed like a refreshing change at the start. And it provided a nice, easy-to-follow plot. And, it employs that nifty speaker rotation device that I’ve grown so fond of. Cunningham is not quite up to Paul Russell’s benchmarks, but he wallops Dwight Cathcart. He chooses 4 voices to present the plot, which flows very nicely.
The plot covers a lot of time, opening with Bobby and Jonathan as very young boys growing up in 1970s Cleveland and who have not met yet. Each develops his personality through the various events and stimuli of youth. Bobby has the advantage of an older brother who is happy to mentor him, but Bobby’s life is suddenly set adrift when he witnesses a freak accident that sets in motion the eventual destruction of his family. For most of the remaining plot, Bobby is in search of “home.”
Jonathan is a tougher nut to crack. In a way, he’s the opposite of Bobby because he appears to be trying to escape from home. That’s not really the case, but he has a great deal of trouble stating what he wants, going after it, and finding satisfaction in the pursuit. It seems to me that what Jonathan really wants is Bobby, but I’m not sure that Bobby ever picks up on this.
Clare arrives in the plot after a fast-forward to the 1980s, where she and Jonathan are roommates living the New York City life of small apartments and big fantasies. They want to move to Spain, to run their own business, and to raise a baby together. Thing is, they never have sex; each find that fulfillment in other men.
Bobby arrives after having spent 8 years with Jonathan’s parents, developing a most unique and healthy friendship with Alice, Jonathan’s mother. Clare seduces Bobby and gets pregnant; Jonathan escapes. Jonathan realizes later that this is as good as it gets, and the three buy a house and open a restaurant and raise their baby. It’s a bit like a 3-way, but without much sex. Near the end, Jonathan’s sex-friend Erik, who has advanced symptoms of AIDS, comes to live with them, and the family ultimately changes, or perhaps, falls apart.
This is not a happy story, but it’s not a tear-jerker either. What the story really is about, I think, is how you react to these character’s notion of family. I found myself a bit uncomfortable with the sheer apathy towards sex among all these fairly young characters. I always thought that a 3-way relationship was about exploring the HOV lane in life, going down roads not passable to simple couples. These guys are utterly bereft of any kind of physical need, which distracts me. So at the end, I wasn’t as happy with the book as I had hoped to be. Which is troubling when you consider the Cunningham has a splendid grasp of English. Perhaps his next book will put some of that talent to some spicy good use.
The story was made into a movie in 2004. I have not seen it, but I’ve been told by a very good source (a certain entertainment editor recently acquired by a reputable newsletter) that although Colin Farrell was filmed in all of his full-frontal glory, that footage ended up on the cutting room floor for the theatrical release, and was neither restored for the current DVD release nor selected for deleted scenes. I was bummed when I heard that too. Farrell plays the role of Bobby...it’s probably very good theater!