Home (Vintage International)

A new novel from Toni Morrison is an event to relish. With a literary career spanning into its fifth decade, she continues to produce work as powerful and unforgettable as any fiction published in this day and age. In her most slender work of fiction to date, Home lacks none of the storytelling ingenuity and character depth that are hallmarks of every one of her works. A veteran of the Korean War, Frank Money returns to the states fortunate enough to have escaped physical wounds. More distressingly, though, he suffers from flashback moments of nightmarish anguish over the atrocities he committed as a soldier. He is also distressed over any thought of returning to his god-forsaken hometown of Lotus, Georgia. When a letter arrives from a resident of his childhood town telling him that his younger sister, Ycidra ("Cee"), has fallen victim to a crime, Frank bolts back to the place he despises in order to save her. The central story of Frank and Cee is compelling and tender, a recounting of life's struggle to survive and find ways to forgive and move on. Morrison packs surprises and shocks, and the ending is tremendously arresting, sad, and beautiful in its power to explore how any transgression can be faced with dignity and how solace can be found in a redeeming act of grace. The main plot is supplemented with side stories, full of their own intrigue. Even in such a short novel like Home, Morrison's range of narrative is extraordinary, how everything feels so authentic and every character, no matter how minor, feels so real. Her novels are never one straightforward story; they are canvases of insight, interwoven tableaus of places and people. Every detail is fascinating, her prose vibrant and fresh, reminding us how incredibly brilliant Toni Morrison is. In its brevity, Home is another testament that with each work Toni Morrison breaks new ground as an artist and re-establishes the measure of what every writer should do: challenge their self and continue to produce work that bristles with emotion, packs a punch, and evokes admiration.

I've read six Toni Morrison novels and this is by far her most approachable and "easiest" read. She has always been a master of prose, turning about some of the most eloquent sentences in the English language. "Home" is no exception exemplified by one of my favorite sentences in the novel :"From the windows, through the fur of snow, the landscape became more melancholy when the sun successfully brightened the quiet trees, unable to speak without their leaves". At the same time, Morrison often challenges the reader with her less than straight-forward style. I've often found myself reading pages several times to ensure I really understood both the substance and context of what is written. In most cases, the effort is well worth it as the larger themes and beauty of the language makes the investment worthwhile. "Home" doesn't follow the usual Morrison conventions but doesn't suffer at all from the simpler and more direct storytelling. The novel centers around Frank Money, African-American veteran of the Korean War (although Morrison doesn't directly note characters race, it is up to the discerning reader to decipher through context), returning home from the war after losing his two best friends in battle. Frank suffers from what today would be diagnosed as PTSD, struggling to come to grips with the impact of war on his psyche, often resorting to alcohol to numb the effects. Frank eventually makes his way to back to the small Georgia town he grew up in and never thought he'd return to help his sister Cee. Morrison covers a lot of ground and themes in a relatively spare set of pages -- a largely forgotten American conflict, the Jim Crow South right on the precipice of the Civil Rights movement, the lingering mental toll on veterans before conditions like PTSD were examined and even treated, unethical medicine like eugenics, conjuring memories of experiments conducted on African-Americans, just to name a few. Tucked inside these broader societal themes are those of family and home, the impact of childhood memories and the deeper call of a need by a family member that brings those back together. I've felt that Toni Morrison wasn't on top of her extraordinarily high game the last several novels, but "Home" marks a return to the work of a master. This is a novel that only someone as gifted and talented as Ms. Morrison could achieve and is worthy the highest of accolades.

Easy read

全章が、すこしずつ、前章の予兆を受けて、連なって進行し、最後に霧が晴れるように、全貌が明らかになる。各章が、互いにつながりのある人々の物語として進行する。 第一章の、不可解な、夢か幻覚でも見たのか？というおぼろげな少年の記憶が、最終章まで、なにかの余韻をともなってつながっていき、最後に、夕闇の中の幻想のような光景の正体がわかる。過去に封じ込めた恐ろしい記憶がよみがえり、謎が解ける。 第二次大戦ののちの、朝鮮戦争、東西冷戦の数々・・それらに転属された黒人兵士の処遇。その時代の黒人の生き方、強い迫害と人種差別の現実、黒人どうしの共感と友情、反目と苦悩、貧しさと無教養・・・ごく普通の黒人たちの日常を描いているが、根底には黒人の哀しみがあり、魂の鎮魂歌が漂っているような余韻がある。先に望みの見えない日々。朝鮮戦争で背負った心の傷を癒す場所のなさ、つかみどころのない生への恐怖。 劇のシナリオみたいでもあり・・・ 悲哀に満ちた人生。 ずしりと重い感触の小説です。 この時代の空気を表現しつくしている、巧い。黒人差別のなかで、それぞれの黒人の生き方と心情を文学的に表現して、かつ抒情詩のような余韻があるのは、作家が黒人で1950年代を体験したからだろう・・・構成が巧い。お勧めです。

I still haven't finished to read the book, anyway I found it very deep in the plot and in the portrait of the main charachters, in particular their emotional side and their thoughts! At the same time the book is simple also for no native english speaker, as me!

Le dernier livre de Toni Morrison nous conduit à travers une Amérique des années 60 moins connue que celle qu'il nous été donnée de voir habituellement. Comme toujours chez l'auteur, c'est un portrait douloureux de la vie de la communauté noire aux États-Unis, mais dénuée de haine, qui fait la trame du livre. Le héros après une enfance de misère et une participation à la guerre de Corée qui l'a complètement perturbé, comme beaucoup, retourne sur les lieux de son enfance pour venir au secours de sa sœur maltraitée. La langue est très poétique et si l'on est pas bilingue mais que l'on connait un peu l'anglais cela vaut la peine de faire l'effort de lire le livre en V.O.pour savourer le style, quitte à vérifier dans la traduction française quant l'on n'est pas sûr de ne pas faire de contresens.

Schöne Sprache, ganz gut verständlich. Eine dichte, anschaulich eingefangene Atmosphäre. Die Schilderung der Erlebnisse des Koreakrieg Veteranen gibt einen kleinen Einblick in die Gesellschaft der USA. Ich habe große Lust auf mehr von Toni Morrison bekommen.