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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"A chaos of yearning...love...hunger...bottomless grief.", 11 Aug 2005
An intense family drama which begins in 1935 and ends in 2035, the novel revolves around Constantine Stassos, a Greek who emigrates to the U.S. and eventually marries Mary Cuccio, an Italian girl who also wants to escape her home. He eventually fathers three children--Susan, who marries young to escape her father; Billy, who goes off to Harvard and an alternative lifestyle; and Zoe, who leaves for a hippie life in New York. When the children end up as parents themselves, their children's lives are also traced, as they, too, look for independence and a form of escape.Filled with passion, as each character tries to define his/her own life, often using love and sex as their springboards to new lives, the characters reflect the eras in which they live. This is both a strength and limitation in the novel: a wonderful sense of universality pervades the struggles of the characters through the various generations, but their specific struggles are typical of their periods and easy to predict. The characters themselves are well developed, but though they all possess unique qualities and eccentricities, they are also examples of cultural stereotypes. Constantine is an up-by-the-bootstraps success as a developer, but he is less successful as a husband. Mary tries to be the perfect wife and mother and becomes frustrated. Susan, a brittle striver in a tepid marriage, has one perfect child. Billy is gay, and Zoe dabbles in drugs and free love. Constantine's grandchildren are a perfect preppie and an interracial child living in a single parent household. The most vivid character in the novel ironically, is not a member of the family. S/he is Cassandra, Zoe's transvestite guardian angel, a character so vibrant and so full of life that she dominates the scenes in which she appears and is almost solely responsible for any humor in the novel. (A scene in which Mary has a phone conversation with her, not knowing she is physically a male, is darkly hilarious, and Mary's first meeting with her is unforgettable.) As the characters face discrimination, an almost-incestuous relationship, gay initiation, drugs, AIDS, divorce, illness, suicide, unplanned pregnancy, family rejection, and death, they also discover the forces which bring families together. Even those who "escape" find themselves inevitably connected to their family past. The search for love, the need for independence, the enduring connections of family, and the importance of memory enliven this generational saga. Written in beautiful prose and filled with perfect details, the novel revolves around honest characters expressing real emotion and learning real lessons. Mary Whipple
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by Michael Cunningham
by Michael Cunningham
by Michael Cunningham
by Michael Cunningham
by Jamie O'Neill
![A Home At The End Of The World [DVD] [2004]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/3167SIFxUjL._SL75_SS50_.jpg)
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