Home

A Novel

By: Toni Morrison

Narrated by: Toni Morrison

America's most celebrated novelist, Nobel Prize-winner Toni Morrison extends her profound take on our history with this twentieth-century tale of redemption: a taut and tortured story about one man's desperate search for himself in a world disfigured by war.

Frank Money is an angry, self-loathing veteran of the Korean War who, after traumatic experiences on the front lines, finds himself back in racist America with more than just physical scars. His home may seem alien to him, but he is shocked out of his crippling apathy by the need to rescue his medically abused younger sister and take her back to the small Georgia town they come from and that he's hated all his life.

As Frank revisits his memories from childhood and the war that have left him questioning his sense of self, he discovers a profound courage he had thought he could never possess again. A deeply moving novel about an apparently defeated man finding his manhood - and his home.

©2012 Toni Morrison (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Profound . . . Morrison's portrayal of Frank is vivid and intimate, her portraits of the women in his life equally masterful. Its brevity, stark prose, and small cast of characters notwithstanding, this story of a man struggling to reclaim his roots and his manhood is enormously powerful.” (Stephan Lee, O, The Oprah Magazine)

“Morrison’s perfect prose [is] immaculate...Beautiful, brutal.” ( Publishers Weekly)

“A deceptively rich and cumulatively powerful novel.” ( Kirkus)

A Must Read for our children and all

What did you love best about Home?

May I skip the ?, have trouble writing that way, thanks. I am reading this for many reasons, I love the author, have followed her for years. I am a white man, I have twelve grand kids and eight of them are children of color. In many ways a blended family.I am making sure my kids read this book and have their children read it as well. It is a painful story we all need to meditate on and act. I have been a community organizer like my president and a pastor in the African American Community for most of my parish life. Terri's characters are real, I sometimes think as I am reading, I met this person, she has such a wonderful way to make you feel you are part of the story. Following the soldier has been hard. I read one chapter at a time, I find that helpful for my experience, which keep barging in, and because his life is so hard and so real to me. I have friends who are dancing all over about the book"Work" or something like that. I am not, this book makes me shout for freedom and justice and dance a jig of sorrow and grace.Maybe to wax like a poet that I am, you might say Terri has called me "Home"when you are called home, it is importantit often is life changing, and isthe journey home is always hard, long, and often painfulyet at home there is a strange kind of love there, all embracing.Terri I am coming home, thanks for the call!ko shin, Bob Hanson, a Warrior Poetin the middle of a revolutionary state, Wisconsin

wonderful read - lyrical!

1993 Nobel Prize. A taut precisely written novel about Frank Money, an African-American Korean War veteran fighting insanity (PTS) whilst working his way back to his sister Cee in their home in Alabama. Many locks fit his key – why? Frank’s and Cee’s travels are at once heart-wrenching and universal. This book was more accessible than Beloved.

It's OK

Story ok, but less than I expected. Difficult to listen to Toni Morrison for any length of time. Her voice is clear, as is her enunciation. But it is S_L_O_W. I needed her to move on, I found myself impatient. I'd rather draw my own conclusions of characters' moods, etc., from the writing --- not from the author's/reader's insistence on setting it.
Still, I like to keep up with Morrison's work, so I'm glad I listened to it. But this is one book I'd probably have enjoyed more by reading it at my own pace.

Home -- For Your BookClub or Classroom, or Brain!

Would you consider the audio edition of Home to be better than the print version?

Both are excellent. I listened first, then went and read it in order to study it and learn from a master.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Cee, she learns to stand tall and believe in herself regardless of her childhood and the wrong done to her.

Which scene was your favorite?

Hard to pick, but three come to mind. First, the opening poem, it brings chills down the spine. Next, when Cee tells Frank that she has a right to cry. And finally, the ending poem and all its potential meanings. I'll give you the first just so you don't miss it on the audio version:

“Whose house is this?
Whose night keeps out the light
In here? Say, who owns this house?
It’s not mine. I dreamed another, sweeter, brighter
With a view of lakes crossed in painted boats;
Of fields wide as arms open for me.
This house is strange. Its shadows lie.
Say, tell me, why does its lock fit my key?”

I don't know about you, but this resonates deep within me. It's the story of growing up, of finding yourself. Of finding out that home, for good or bad, has made a lasting impression on you, and, just maybe, you can reconcile yourself with that. Perhaps, on a grander scale, it is also a reconciliation to the awareness and owning of our country, good and bad.
Finally, perhaps you can reconcile yourself with you, good and bad

Any additional comments?

I love the book for the imagery of the time that it invokes, and for the depth of each character that the author gives us. I love the use of many literary styles, and the fact that the book is still very accessible. I love the ending.

Here is the low down:

Frank is a Korean vet who was treated equally in the war but slips back into segregated America as it if it is still the norm, which is a good subtle shock for the modern reader, so far away from it. But Frank has bigger worries, mainly that he is haunted by the war. This book is the story of his quest to find his sister, and during his travels he finds himself. This is a very American theme, in the fashion of Mark Twain and Charles Frazier (Cold Mountain). Frank breaks through and speaks to the reader, and occasionally to the author; this is a highly effective, somewhat twisted, way to jar the reader out of the story itself and into deeper thought. Toni Morrison is skilled enough to pull it off.

Cee (Ycidra) is Frank's sister, who thinks that maybe she'd have learned to think for herself if Frank hadn't been there to constantly protect her. She is an accident waiting to happen, a consummate victim, although she doesn't try to be, so trouble finds her when Frank leaves for the war. She and Frank bind each other to this earth, and eventually save each other, once they learn their own self worth. Something in that reminds me of Celie in the Color Purple, and Cee's story is very much an American girl coming of age story, with the honest portrayal of the plight of the black woman.

There are other memorable characters, some snapshots, some deeper, and plenty of themes, all delivered in a punch at 160 pages on my Kindle. Morrison trueists don't like this book very much because it doesn't use the magical realism style that they all love. If that includes you, know that this is American realism fiction, and take the time to think deeper than the story. Ask yourself how the author is so talented to make us care in such a short time. Look at the wording and sentences, and see how she shows rather than tells. Search for all those little details that make the writing so good. Learn from a living legend, who makes you dissatisfied with the humdrum.

Good Read!

I enjoyed this novel for the simple fact that is was written by Toni Morrison and read by Toni Morrison. I had to speed up the narrator though because she is a slow reader. I really enjoy her novels and this one did not disappoint. It isn't my favorite Morrison book, but it was a good story!

not a novel, but a collection of short stories

I adore Tori Morrison. Beloved is my favorite book of all time. I read A Mercy (her last book) when it came out in hard cover and it was just a mess. It was surprising to me that Ms. Morrison would write such a disjointed book. However, I am reviewing _Home_ and while it is a lovely collection of short, unrelated stories, I was expecting a novel. Nowhere in the description does it say it is short stories. So... if you love Morrison's way of putting words together (and that's what I'm letting myself concentrate on as I listen for the second time) and her reading voice (she doesn't "act". She just reads)...but the feeling is so intimate that I feel like a sweet fairy godmother is reading to me. But, some people don't like that and have complained.

If you like short stories (I'm not a big fan) and you have enjoyed Morrison's books in the past, then you may like this one. Her language is just spectacular and I don't regret spending a credit on such a short book.

Toni Morrison Does it again

What did you love best about Home?

I loved the language of the book, the natural flow and the way it was a story, a love story about our relationship with our families and how this love can bring us to peace and healing.

Who was your favorite character and why?

The brother, who needed to forget his pain in order to help his sister, He needed to forgive Himself and raise himself to life to save her.

Which scene was your favorite?

The opening scene giving you a mystery to make you want to read the book. Who were the men? Who was the man buried? Was it real?

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

when the brother came to get his sister from the Dr's house, and take her to the women in Lotus Georgia ,who he knew could save her.

Any additional comments?

The way we remember things. How we cope with life in order to survive. How even when we are given love we tend to be suspicious. But when we open up our hearts are filled.

Author should not read their own works

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not the best use of my time as the monotone voice of the reader did nothing to enhance the story. I would have preferred to read the book myself.

How could the performance have been better?

Another actor reading would have brought more life to the story.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

Stick to a physical book

I found the story and characters interesting and engaging. I would have rated the book much higher if it had been narrated by someone other than the author. Ms. Morrison wove an interesting story but her narration was monotone and she sounded bored. It was often difficult to hear or understand what she was saying. I will confine my future adventures into Toni Morrison's work will be in a physical book or e-book - especially if she chooses to narrate her own work again.

Hearing "Home" by Morrison.

The audio underscores the poetry but the dialogues in it need more animation. I highly recommend hearing this audiobook. What I understood more this third time learning this story was the necessity of Frank confronting his own emotions including shame of murdering a Korean girl who was foraging and prostituting herself for survival. Very relevant to the shame that the working class has to pay for making a living in an imperialist economy. -RF.