At Home in the End of the World (1990)by Michael Cunningham

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

At Home in the End of the World (1990)

by Michael Cunningham

Woodstock, New York.

New York: 14/105

Upstate: 13/23

    The rest of the upstate portion of New York is from the Hudson River Valley, which runs north and south along the Eastern border area of New York state.  This was my second read of At Home in the End of the World- frankly, I forgot I had already read this book until I was writing this post- Cunningham is a two book member of the 1,001 Books to Read Before You Die list- this is the second book from that list.   Seems like this author has a decisive hold as a representative of the LGBT literary community based on his Pulitzer win for The Hours.

   In terms of the 1,001 Novels project,  At Home in the End of the World is another geographically suspect pick. There are strong arguments that this book represents Cleveland, the Village or the suburbs of Phoenix, all locations that have more scenes than the eponymous home at the end of the world, which is, in fact, a fixer farmhouse in Woodstock, NY- where editor Straight placed this book on the map. 

  Other than literally not remembering a single moment from my first time through, I don't have much to add to the 2017 review:

Published 7/11/17
At Home at the End of the World (1990)
 by Michael Cunningham

   At Home at the End of the World is a combination of a gay coming-of-age book and a contemporary relationship novel.  Each chapter is voiced in the first person by a different narrator.  The narrator rotates between the three main characters: Bobby, Jonathan and Clare with occasional appearances from Jonathan's mom.  The main childhood friendship is between Jonathan- essentially the main character and author stand in, Bobby- his straight friend, and Clare, who is the type of woman one might call a "fag hag" - in a non pejorative sense, of course.  

   Although these characters are 20 or so years older than I am, I recognized all of them, from the parents on down, as being accurate portrayals of urbanites in the late 1980's.   Unlike other gay-friendly lit titles from this time period, At Home at the End of the World explicitly deals with the AIDS crisis through the travails of a minor character who none the less features prominently in the unexpected resolution of the book.