A Home at the End of the World

infobox Book |
name = A Home at the End of the World
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Michael Cunningham
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre =
publisher = Farrar, Straus and Giroux
release_date = November 7, 1990
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
pages = 344 pp
isbn = ISBN 0374172501
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"A Home at the End of the World" is a 1990 novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning American author Michael Cunningham. It was adapted into a film in 2004 by director Michael Mayer; Cunningham also wrote the screenplay. The film stars Colin Farrell, Robin Wright Penn, Dallas Roberts, and Sissy Spacek.

Plot introduction

The book is narrated in the first person, with the narrator changing in each chapter. Bobby and Jonathan are the main narrators, but several chapters are narrated by Alice, Jonathan's mother, and Clare. An excerpt from A Home at the End of the World was published in The New Yorker, chosen for Best American Short Stories 1989, and featured on NPR's Selected Shorts.

Plot summary

Bobby had grown up in a home in suburban Cleveland, Ohio during the 1960s and 1970s where partying and drugs were a recurring theme. He had already witnessed his beloved older brother's death in a home accident and his mother's death by the time he befriends Jonathan, who comes from a sheltered, but loving family. After Bobby finds his father dead, Jonathan's family takes him in.

Bobby and Jonathan become best friends. Closer than brothers, they also experiment sexually. The two eventually lose touch, but meet up again in their twenties in 1980s New York, where Bobby moves in with Jonathan and his eccentric roommate Clare. Clare had planned to have a baby with Jonathan (now openly gay), but Bobby and Clare become lovers, while Jonathan still has feelings for Bobby. Clare and Bobby have a baby and move to a country home together with Jonathan.

The trio form their own unusual family, questioning traditional definitions of family and love, while dealing with the complications of their love triangle.

Film adaptation

Infobox Film
name = A Home at the End of the World

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caption =
director = Michael Mayer
writer = Michael Cunningham
starring = Colin Farrell,
Robin Wright Penn,
Dallas Roberts,
Sissy Spacek
producer = John Hart (producer)
distributor = Warner Independent Pictures
budget = ~ US$6,500,000
released = 23 July 2004 (USA)
runtime = 97 min
language = English
imdb_id = 0359423

Directed by Michael Mayer and adapted by Cunningham from his own novel, the 2004 film adaptation was nominated for several awards including the 2004 IFTA Award for Best Actor (Colin Farrell), the 2005 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Film and the 2004 National Board of Review Special Recognition award.

Cast

*Andrew Chalmers - Bobby Morrow (1974)
*Harris Allan - Jonathan Glover (1974)
*Matt Frewer - Ned Glover
*Sissy Spacek - Alice Glover
*Colin Farrell - Bobby Morrow (1982)
*Dallas Roberts - Jonathan Glover (1982)
*Robin Wright Penn - Clare

External links

*imdb title|id=0359423|title=A Home at the End of the World