A home at the end of the world door Michael Cunningham

Summary

PART I- This book is told from different persons. It starts with two boys. Jonathan and Bobby. They are telling about their lives when they were children. It is told from memories of those different people. They both live in Cleveland, a small village in America in the sixties. Jonathan has got a big baby-doll. His father tells him that it is okay and he should take care of the baby very good but that he better can keep it silent to his friend because they might not understand him and his toy. Bobby and his brother are taking drugs and their parents don't know about it. His brother, Carlton, is sixteen at that moment. And Bobby is nine. When their parents have a summer party, Carlton dies. He's got a piece of glass stuck in his neck, because he didn't see the glass of the closed door. He walks trough it and dies. (very dramatically: in the arms of his girlfriend.) Later, when the boys are both somewhere eleven, and in the firs class of highschool, they meet for the first time. They are getting friends. Jonathan tells stories and Bobby listens. Jonathan is falling in love with Bobby. Bobby's mother dies. It is very early spring and Jonathan is going to swim. He jumps into the water (there is still a thin sheet of ice.) and Bobby has to get Jonathan out because the boy is almost freezing. They're getting home to Jonathan and they make love. They don't say anything. Bobby loves to be with Jonathan. Not just because they are really close friends, but Jonathan's mother (Alice) is a very sweet woman and makes him feel comfortable. He brings over stuff and stays for the night a lot. Bobby's father is drunk most of the time. Here does the chapters told by Alice start. She tells about her life in Cleveland (she was from Ohio originally), about raising her son alone because her husband Ned runs a theatre and he is just at home in the nights and at dinner. She tells about her relationship. Alice smokes joints with the boys and dances on their music. At a certain moment, she is searching them and finds then both naked in the car. She thinks herself as a bad mother. Jonathan doesn't want her to join them anymore. Bobby and Alice are cooking together a lot. Because Alice is good in it and Bobby wants to learn it. After the graduation Jonathan is going to an University in New York. Bobby stays with Alice and Ned. Bobby's father dies because he fell asleep with a burning cigarette- half the house got on fire and burnt down.
PART II- New York. Jonathan lives in an apartment together with a woman who is eleven years older. He is twenty-five than. They aren’t partners, they just love each other. Jonathan works at a news paper and writes columns about food. Clare has got lot's of money from an inheritance. Jonathan has got a boy friend, Erich, who he just uses for his sexual pleasure. Because they don't talk and both don't feel enough for each other to live together. Than Bobby comes over to New York and stays at Jonathan- and Clare's. There is still something between Jonathan and Bobby. They like to pretend they are a little family. They are like, in love with each other, the three of them. Then Clare talks Bobby into her bed. When they tell Jonathan, he is pretty upset. He doesn't know what to feel anymore. And he talks with Erich for the first time. (those things have nothing to do with each other). Alice and Ned are going to live in Arizona. In the desert because that would be better for the health of Ned. Jonathan is paying his parents a visit there. His father is quite sick than. They talk a lot. Jonathan feels like he isn't living. He doesn't feel comfortable with it, he had something totally different in mind and his life doesn't feel like it's his. It isn't complete. When he is in New York again, he is thinking to get out. He is unsatisfied with the situation in which he lives. Clare and Bobby have each other, that's how Jonathan sees it. He disappears and they don't hear from him anymore. Bobby and Clare left over. They miss him much. Than, suddenly, Jonathan calls to tell his father died. The three of them meet again at the funeral. They drive back to Cleveland in a car. (that is a long way to go.) Clare tells them that she is pregnant. From Bobby. It has been for a long time and she didn't told earlier.
PART III- Bobby, Jonathan and Clare buy a house. In the country. The baby is born and is called Rebecca. Jonathan and Bobby start a café. It is a good time. They are (seem) very happy. When Jonathan is visiting Alice, she gives him the ashes of Ned. He should put them somewhere. When Jonathan is back home, Erich comes to visit. He has got Aids. Jonathan is afraid. It is possible he has got it too. Bobby tries to make Erich feel all right but Erich doesn't appreciate it. Erich comes to live with them. Jonathan and Bobby work, Clare, Erich and Rebecca are at home. Clare wants to get out with Rebecca. Jonathan and Bobby love Rebecca very, very much. When Rebecca starts learning how to speak, Clare leaves and takes Rebecca with her. Bobby and Jonathan know, that, when Clare says she leaves for her mother, She won't return. But they doesn't say anything. In the middle of the night they put
Ned's ashes away.
EPILOGUE- in the early spring (no ice) Jonathan, Bobby and Erich are going to a lake. A few months before Erich is going to die. They stand in the water (after a hesitation from Bobby). They hold hands and stand there. Surrounded by trees. Jonathan realises he his living and he feels good.

Characters

Jonathan: He is a gay man. He is very sweet. Clare says that he got the good qualities of both sexes. He is very sensitive. In a way he is uncertain about his life but he knows what to do. When he thinks something is right, he does it immediately. He has got a great self control. When he feels like screaming, he still stays calm. He is confused of his feelings for Bobby when he is younger, but later, loving boys, isn't a problem to him. When he was a kid he was a bit in love with his father. (I think). He is a nice guy. He is friendly and honest.
Bobby: Bobby is sweet. He had a hard life. But now things are better. When something terrible happens he is like, getting away of his self. Than he lives for a while like he is dreaming. That is his way to handle his distress. He is a quiet guy. He was very confused when he and Clare had slept together. Because before he was sure he was gay, but after he has fallen in love with Clare. He is afraid of loosing the people he loves. Because he lost too much family. He is kind and friendly and sensitive too. He is a very nice person.
Alice: Alice married Ned when she was seventeen because he had beautiful brown hair. And from about that moment she thinks about leaving the guy but she doesn't do it. When Ned dies (she's, of course, older than) she feels free. She feels much younger than she is. Like she missed a bit of her youth. She wants to be a good mother and when she spends much time with the boys she feels great. She gets along with Bobby very good. They have got the same passion: cooking (and Jonathan).
Clare: She is lost. (That is the best way to describe her) She has got a lot of money from her inheritance so she doesn't have to work. She wants a baby but all her relationships didn't work out. So she is "alone". And she knows that she is getting older. I think that is why she wants to sleep with Bobby so badly. (Clare and Jonathan were planning a baby but than Bobby came). When she wants something, she thinks about the best way to do it, than she actually does it. She hasn't got a lot of contact with people her age or friends. She is creating her weird life.

Theme

Love is the central power in life. Everyone survives in her or his life because of love. When they 're down or depressed or sad or they have a problem, they still have each other. Some people in this novel are very different but they still can get along very well. And some times love isn't the best, it can make your life very complicated. But all sorts and kinds and ways of love are good.
Opinion
I think this was a very good book. It was not difficult. It was good to read. When I started I was guessing about the end. My guesses changed every chapter. At every single page something is happening. I was pretty addicted. Every body should read it. It is written clear, honestly and intelligent. It shows good and bad sides of the characters. There were a lot of things I wanted to remember (and learn).