The Longing for Home

July 1, 1996
For most people, home is a place of arrival, a place of departure, and a place of return. In these graceful autobiographical meditations, novelist Buechner (The Hungering Dark, HarperSanFrancisco, 1985) explores the wide variety of meanings that home holds in our search for spiritual identity. Buechner returns to many of his writings to examine the longings that both he and his characters have felt for the physical and spiritual homes from which they have departed. Focusing on selected biblical passages, Buechner also reflects upon the spiritual homes to which many believers yearn to return. Buechner's lyrical prose creates simple, elegant masterpieces. Highly recommended.

August 1, 1996
This is a collection of short pieces loosely gathered around the theme of home. The first part is mostly memoir, the second mostly homily. Chapter five, "Of Whipples and Wheels," captures the spirit of the collection most effectively: starting "at a point that appeals to you," mentioning "only the spokes you know a little about and feel like mentioning," and stopping "where it seems like a good place to stop." Buechner mixes metaphors a bit, but whether he's spoking a wheel or weaving a story, he has a faithful audience that will feel at home in this as in his earlier work. ((Reviewed Aug. 1996))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1996, American Library Association.)