Hachette Livre

Hachette Reading Group Guides

Welcome to our Reading Group guide for Home by Marilynne Robinson. We invite you to consider and discuss the following questions when reading this book:

  1. What does “home” mean to Robert Boughton and his children? What does the Boughton house signify to his family? With whom do they feel most at home?
  2. How does Glory’s opinion of Jack change throughout the novel? What enables them to trust each other? In what ways is that trust strained? How does their relationship compare to yours with your siblings?
  3. How is the Boughton household affected by the presence of a television set? How does this reflect a shift that took place in many households throughout America in the 1950s? Were you surprised by Robert Boughton’s comments about African Americans, and by his reaction to the televised race riots?
  4. Why do you think Robert loves Jack best, despite Jack’s shortcomings? What is your understanding of Jack’s wayward behavior? How would you have responded to his theological questions regarding redemption?
  5. Discuss the friendship between John Ames and Robert Boughton. What has sustained it for so many years? How did they nurture each other’s intellectual lives, approaching life from Congregationalist and Presbyterian perspectives?
  6. What did Glory’s mother teach her about the role of women? How was the Boughton family affected by the death of its matriarch?
  7. How do the Boughtons view prosperity and charity? What is reflected in the way Glory handles the household finances, with leftover money stored in the piano bench? What is the nature of Jack’s interest in Marxism? What is demonstrated in the incident of the book on England’s working classes (the stolen library volume that Robert Boughton considered dull)?
  8. How do the themes of deception and integrity play out in the novel? Are all of the characters honest with themselves? Which secrets, in the novel and in life, are justified?
  9. What does Jack do with the memory of his out-of-wedlock daughter? Does his father have an accurate understanding of that chapter in Jack’s life?
    10. 10. How are Glory, Jack, and Robert affected by Teddy’s visit? What accounts for the “anxiety, and relief, and resentment” Glory feels regarding Teddy’s arrival (p. 253)?
  10. Discuss Ames’s provocative sermon, which Jack paraphrases as a discussion of “the disgraceful abandonment of children by their fathers” (p. 206) based on the narrative of Hagar and Ishmael. To what degree are parents responsible for the actions of their children, and vice versa?
  11. What aspects of romantic love are reflected in Home? How does Glory cope with her ill-fated engagement? Is Jack very different from Glory’s fiancé? What do the Boughtons think of John Ames’s marriage to Lila?
  12. How did you react to Della’s arrival? What legacy and memories will define her son? What common ground did Jack and Della share, fostering love?
  13. Hymns provide a meaningful background throughout the novel. What do their words and melodies convey?
  14. In terms of religion, what beliefs do Glory, Jack, and Robert agree upon? What do they seek to know about God and the nature of humanity? What answers do they find?
  15. What distinctions did you detect between the way John Ames described Jack in Gilead and the portrayal of Jack in Home? What are the similarities and differences between the Ames and Boughton households? What accounts for the fact that families can inhabit nearly identical milieux but experience life in profoundly different ways?
  16. Do towns like Gilead still exist? Are pastors like Ames and Boughton common in contemporary America?
  17. Discuss the homecomings that have made a significant impact on your life. How much forgiveness has been necessary across the generations in your family?

Current Reading Group Titles

  1. The Irresistible Inheritance of Wilberforce by Paul Torday
  2. The Disappeared by Kim Echlin
  3. The Luminous Life of Lilly Aphrodite by Beatrice Colin
  4. Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
  5. The Other Hand by Chris Cleave
  6. Testimony by Anita Shreve
  7. Home by Marilynne Robinson
  8. The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti
  9. City of Thieves by David Benioff
  10. Remembering The Bones by Frances Itani
  11. The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton
  12. Lies by Enrique de Heriz
  13. Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaardner
  14. Sorrows of an American by Siri Hustvedt
  15. Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
  16. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
  17. The Sisterhood by Emily Barr
  18. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
  19. The Rose Labyrinth by Titania Hardie
  20. The Return by Victoria Hislop
  21. A Small Part of History by Peggy Elliott
  22. A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley
  23. Scapegallows by Carol Birch
  24. Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
  25. Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat
  26. Radiance by Shaena Lambert
  27. Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon
  28. The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell
  29. Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott
  30. The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
  31. Golden Age by Tahmima Anam
  32. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
  33. The Keep by Jennifer Egan
  34. The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther
  35. Pirate’s Daughter by Margaret Cezair-Thompson
  36. The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrezvani
  37. April in Paris by Michael Wallner
  38. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday
  39. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink
  40. Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
  41. Red River by Lalita Tademy
  42. The Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
  43. Rosetta by Barbara Ewing
  44. The Mathematics of Love by Emma Darwin
  45. The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld
  46. The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O’Farrell

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