2008 Woodie Awards
Home shows life through material eyes
By: Kayla Bryant
Issue date: 2/7/07 Section: Entertainment & Features
Kayla Bryant
Editor in Chief
Bronwyn Peters is a bohemian hippie going on 30, living in a rented hole-in-the-wall, working on her doctorate in Women's Studies and realizing that she hasn't really lived life right at all. If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now by Sandra Tsing Loh tells the story of a woman (Bronwyn) who has been living with her boyfriend, Paul, for seven years on the promise that he would marry her as soon as he sold his first major movie script. The couple, along with Paul's freeloading brother, lives in a decrepit rented home in the outskirts of Los Angeles. Paul struggles paycheck to paycheck, trying to make it as a screenwriter in big Hollywood. Bronwyn's attempt at achieving a doctorate in Women's Studies is shot when her grant at the university is taken away and given to the Ethnic Studies department.
The idea of marriage not being that important and material things a waste of life are not as romantic to Bronwyn as they once were when she realizes that she has absolutely nothing to show for the life she has lived.
Loh's writing style makes Home an easy read, although she does tend to bog down the flow when she goes into too much detail of the material things Bronwyn wishes to have in her life.
The novel is worth the read and proves a good point in the end. Bronwyn allows her desire to have nice things and to be seen in an acceptable light by her peers pull her completely away from the life she has at the beginning of the novel. She realizes, however, that despite how depressing she thought her former life was, she was much happier in that time than she becomes when she pushes all of her energy into looking better in other's eyes.
Although Home is secular in morals, I think it is a great book for Christians to read because it shows in detail the reasoning behind the type of life Bronwyn lives. The book is not written from Bronwyn's point of view exactly, but from the point of view of someone who knows everything about Bronwyn, but is not Bronwyn herself. The story shows her desperate need to fill the void she feels in her soul, and her failure to find anything the truly makes her happy.
I recommend If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now to anyone in a transition stage in life or anyone thinking that life in Hollywood is all glitz and glamour.
Editor in Chief
Bronwyn Peters is a bohemian hippie going on 30, living in a rented hole-in-the-wall, working on her doctorate in Women's Studies and realizing that she hasn't really lived life right at all. If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now by Sandra Tsing Loh tells the story of a woman (Bronwyn) who has been living with her boyfriend, Paul, for seven years on the promise that he would marry her as soon as he sold his first major movie script. The couple, along with Paul's freeloading brother, lives in a decrepit rented home in the outskirts of Los Angeles. Paul struggles paycheck to paycheck, trying to make it as a screenwriter in big Hollywood. Bronwyn's attempt at achieving a doctorate in Women's Studies is shot when her grant at the university is taken away and given to the Ethnic Studies department.
The idea of marriage not being that important and material things a waste of life are not as romantic to Bronwyn as they once were when she realizes that she has absolutely nothing to show for the life she has lived.
Loh's writing style makes Home an easy read, although she does tend to bog down the flow when she goes into too much detail of the material things Bronwyn wishes to have in her life.
The novel is worth the read and proves a good point in the end. Bronwyn allows her desire to have nice things and to be seen in an acceptable light by her peers pull her completely away from the life she has at the beginning of the novel. She realizes, however, that despite how depressing she thought her former life was, she was much happier in that time than she becomes when she pushes all of her energy into looking better in other's eyes.
Although Home is secular in morals, I think it is a great book for Christians to read because it shows in detail the reasoning behind the type of life Bronwyn lives. The book is not written from Bronwyn's point of view exactly, but from the point of view of someone who knows everything about Bronwyn, but is not Bronwyn herself. The story shows her desperate need to fill the void she feels in her soul, and her failure to find anything the truly makes her happy.
I recommend If You Lived Here, You'd Be Home By Now to anyone in a transition stage in life or anyone thinking that life in Hollywood is all glitz and glamour.
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