Coming home again
October 30, 2015 2:44 AM Subscribe
I'm interested in stories in which a character returns to his or her hometown or old neighborhood after a long absence.
Often the character left after some traumatic event or a difficult childhood. Revenge, reconciliation, and trying to show one has made good are all common plot points. Can you recommend good examples in novels and movies?
Often the character left after some traumatic event or a difficult childhood. Revenge, reconciliation, and trying to show one has made good are all common plot points. Can you recommend good examples in novels and movies?
Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath came home after four years in the penitentiary for murder.
posted by davcoo at 2:57 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by davcoo at 2:57 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Catcher in the Rye?
posted by kinetic at 3:09 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by kinetic at 3:09 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
This is an ancient, ancient trope. The word you're looking for is 'prodigal'. Here's the Prodigal Hero trope on TV Tropes, which has a bunch of related tropes and a gazillion examples.
posted by Happy Dave at 3:25 AM on October 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Happy Dave at 3:25 AM on October 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
Have you read The Odyssey?
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:43 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:43 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Colonel Chabert by Honoré de Balzac.
Everything Flows by Vassily Grossman.
posted by misteraitch at 3:52 AM on October 30, 2015
Everything Flows by Vassily Grossman.
posted by misteraitch at 3:52 AM on October 30, 2015
Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver
posted by spindrifter at 4:01 AM on October 30, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by spindrifter at 4:01 AM on October 30, 2015 [5 favorites]
Stephen King's The Stand also has this (although it's not the main focus of the overall story, I've always thought that thread of the narrative was quite evocative.)
posted by usonian at 4:07 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by usonian at 4:07 AM on October 30, 2015
The Bollywood movie Swades.
posted by pushing paper and bottoming chairs at 4:11 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by pushing paper and bottoming chairs at 4:11 AM on October 30, 2015
The TV show Playing House (no revenge, some unfinished business and reconciliation).
posted by mskyle at 4:24 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by mskyle at 4:24 AM on October 30, 2015
The Visitis a classic example of this.
Someone coming coming back in disguise-- or at least with a hidden agenda/bent on revenge-- is pretty common in mysteries and thrillers for obvious reasons. I've recently read books by Erin Kelly and Rebecca James that did that. (Not giving titles for fear of spoilers but the books I am thinking of make it fairly clear that is what's going on; the suspense lies elsewhere.)
Piers Paul Read's The Upstart is obscure and out of print but I found it delightful in this genre.
posted by BibiRose at 4:58 AM on October 30, 2015
Someone coming coming back in disguise-- or at least with a hidden agenda/bent on revenge-- is pretty common in mysteries and thrillers for obvious reasons. I've recently read books by Erin Kelly and Rebecca James that did that. (Not giving titles for fear of spoilers but the books I am thinking of make it fairly clear that is what's going on; the suspense lies elsewhere.)
Piers Paul Read's The Upstart is obscure and out of print but I found it delightful in this genre.
posted by BibiRose at 4:58 AM on October 30, 2015
Grosse Pointe Blank. Guy returns home for his high school reunion, his old girlfriend, his old radio show, and for a job.
posted by hydrobatidae at 5:00 AM on October 30, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by hydrobatidae at 5:00 AM on October 30, 2015 [6 favorites]
Good suggestion, though potentially triggering: Top of the Lake
Entertaining but terrible: Garden State.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 5:07 AM on October 30, 2015
Entertaining but terrible: Garden State.
posted by kinddieserzeit at 5:07 AM on October 30, 2015
Try Steinbeck’s East of Eden or Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom. For a little less trauma, try A Chef’s Life.
posted by musicinmybrain at 5:13 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by musicinmybrain at 5:13 AM on October 30, 2015
Alice Walker's The Color Purple. Both Shug and Nettie travel and return home.
posted by sizeable beetle at 5:13 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by sizeable beetle at 5:13 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Home by Marilynne Robinson
posted by Prunesquallor at 5:34 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Prunesquallor at 5:34 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's not a novel as such, but the first book of Jason Aaron and Jason Latour's Southern Bastards is an excellent recent example.
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:56 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish at 5:56 AM on October 30, 2015
Seconding sizable beetle’s suggestion of The Color Purple, which reminds me to suggest Toni Morrison’s Beloved: a less tidy fit into the category, but one with a lot of related themes. Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God also has a narrative arc that loops back to Eatonville where it begins.
Or try Gone with the Wind, aided with an awareness of its issues and with an independent historical perspective on the time it depicts. The film’s essential perspective is that of its principal characters, who are white, wealthy, socially elite slaveowners. It largely sweeps slavery under the rug, while presenting a mythologized and romanticized perspective on the Civil War and Reconstruction. It should not be the basis for anyone’s understanding of the era. That said, it is not a bad film, and it is an iconic movie built largely around this theme.
Heck, while we’re on movies, how about Sweet Home Alabama? It’s an okay movie (unless you have a thing for schmaltzy rom-coms) but a great example of the theme.
I’ve found that art and literature from the American South is characterized by complex stories of wandering and returning home while carrying the weight of great tragedy. I think this flows partly from historical poverty and isolation in much of the region, but most of all from the deep scars of slavery.
posted by musicinmybrain at 6:03 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Or try Gone with the Wind, aided with an awareness of its issues and with an independent historical perspective on the time it depicts. The film’s essential perspective is that of its principal characters, who are white, wealthy, socially elite slaveowners. It largely sweeps slavery under the rug, while presenting a mythologized and romanticized perspective on the Civil War and Reconstruction. It should not be the basis for anyone’s understanding of the era. That said, it is not a bad film, and it is an iconic movie built largely around this theme.
Heck, while we’re on movies, how about Sweet Home Alabama? It’s an okay movie (unless you have a thing for schmaltzy rom-coms) but a great example of the theme.
I’ve found that art and literature from the American South is characterized by complex stories of wandering and returning home while carrying the weight of great tragedy. I think this flows partly from historical poverty and isolation in much of the region, but most of all from the deep scars of slavery.
posted by musicinmybrain at 6:03 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
An obvious choice - You Can't Go Home Again.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:12 AM on October 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:12 AM on October 30, 2015 [3 favorites]
The Corrections, by Jonathan Franzen, is about (among other things) three grown prodigal children coming back home for one last Midwest Christmas.
posted by teditrix at 6:17 AM on October 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by teditrix at 6:17 AM on October 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is a theme in both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Even though the bulk of both stories center on more of a quest narrative, the closing portions of each one do explore the extent to which the main character(s) are able to go home again.
posted by schroedingersgirl at 6:18 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by schroedingersgirl at 6:18 AM on October 30, 2015
Go Set a Watchman?
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 6:18 AM on October 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Lazlo Hollyfeld at 6:18 AM on October 30, 2015 [2 favorites]
The Return Of The Native by Thomas Hardy.
posted by SemiSalt at 6:28 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by SemiSalt at 6:28 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
K.J. Parker - definitely Bardas Loredan in The Belly of the Bow from his Fencer Trilogy and possibly (I don't have the books to hand) Ziaani Vaatzes in his Engineer Trilogy.
posted by inire at 6:32 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by inire at 6:32 AM on October 30, 2015
The wonderful TV series RECTIFY. It's produced by Sundance.
posted by DMelanogaster at 6:34 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by DMelanogaster at 6:34 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
The recent video game Life is Strange.
posted by vogon_poet at 6:37 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by vogon_poet at 6:37 AM on October 30, 2015
Stephen King's The Stand also has this
I'm reading The Stand right now, and started it last week when I was back home visiting my parents. The character who goes home again parts were a bit of a gut punch. Seconding.
posted by phunniemee at 6:45 AM on October 30, 2015
I'm reading The Stand right now, and started it last week when I was back home visiting my parents. The character who goes home again parts were a bit of a gut punch. Seconding.
posted by phunniemee at 6:45 AM on October 30, 2015
A story in 5-and-a-half minutes: "My City Was Gone," by The Pretenders.
posted by Sunburnt at 6:52 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by Sunburnt at 6:52 AM on October 30, 2015
You Can Count on Me, underrated indie with stunning performances by Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo
posted by deeparch at 7:08 AM on October 30, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by deeparch at 7:08 AM on October 30, 2015 [4 favorites]
The Monsters of Templeton, by Lauren Groff
posted by amarynth at 7:19 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by amarynth at 7:19 AM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
For a fantasy suggestion-- The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.
posted by fourpotatoes at 8:12 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by fourpotatoes at 8:12 AM on October 30, 2015
If TV is ok, Justified.
Lucky Number Slevin (Slevin is not a typo.)
posted by Room 641-A at 9:21 AM on October 30, 2015
Lucky Number Slevin (Slevin is not a typo.)
posted by Room 641-A at 9:21 AM on October 30, 2015
Just reading this now:
The Quiet Game - by Greg Iles
Kind of a legal thriller type book.
posted by bluejayway at 9:28 AM on October 30, 2015
The Quiet Game - by Greg Iles
Kind of a legal thriller type book.
posted by bluejayway at 9:28 AM on October 30, 2015
This should be a sub TV trope page just called High School reunion. Here's a typical one...
Beautiful Girls
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:30 AM on October 30, 2015
Beautiful Girls
posted by Potomac Avenue at 10:30 AM on October 30, 2015
As a contrast to the Odyssey, there's Aeschylus's Agamemnon.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 10:33 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by Huffy Puffy at 10:33 AM on October 30, 2015
In Thomas Harris's Hannibal Rising, later in the book Hannibal returns to his childhood home in Lithuania. The theme of revenge and childhood trauma definitely come up in that book.
posted by litera scripta manet at 11:20 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by litera scripta manet at 11:20 AM on October 30, 2015
This is the premise of both Iain Banks' excellent "The Crow Road" and his much less good "The Steep Approach to Garbadale."
posted by 256 at 11:32 AM on October 30, 2015
posted by 256 at 11:32 AM on October 30, 2015
Sweet Home Alabama for sure. Also, TV show Revenge is GREAT for this.
Also, The Best of Me (movie)
posted by Sara_NOT_Sarah at 11:53 AM on October 30, 2015
Also, The Best of Me (movie)
posted by Sara_NOT_Sarah at 11:53 AM on October 30, 2015
On second thought, scratch my suggestion for Lucky Number Slevin. To work, it probably requires a very broad interpretation of the question.
posted by Room 641-A at 12:27 PM on October 30, 2015
posted by Room 641-A at 12:27 PM on October 30, 2015
Weirdly related: Keith Laumer's short story, The Night of the Trolls.
posted by hanov3r at 1:15 PM on October 30, 2015
posted by hanov3r at 1:15 PM on October 30, 2015
Richard Russo's Empire Falls, Mohawk, and The Risk Pool are all worth a read.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 1:30 PM on October 30, 2015
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 1:30 PM on October 30, 2015
Tana French's Faithful Place
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 2:09 PM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by 2 cats in the yard at 2:09 PM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
Both Faithful Place and (to a lesser degree) In the Woods, both by Tana French.
posted by Violet Hour at 3:27 PM on October 30, 2015
posted by Violet Hour at 3:27 PM on October 30, 2015
Gone Girl is that for Nick.
posted by likeatoaster at 5:09 PM on October 30, 2015
posted by likeatoaster at 5:09 PM on October 30, 2015
The Shipping News, by Annie Proulx. She's better known for writing the short(ish) story that became Brokeback Mountain. The Shipping News was also turned into a movie with Kevin Spacey, but the book is better. Beautiful prose. Quoyle returns to his small home town in Newfoundland after a painful divorce and the near abduction of his daughter. He moves into the ancestral family home and starts from scratch.
posted by thenormshow at 5:48 PM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by thenormshow at 5:48 PM on October 30, 2015 [1 favorite]
I just finished Father of the Rain by Lily King and liked it a lot.
posted by primate moon at 6:12 PM on October 30, 2015
posted by primate moon at 6:12 PM on October 30, 2015
All The Way Home by Wendy Corsi Staub. Loved it.
posted by SisterHavana at 7:20 PM on October 30, 2015
posted by SisterHavana at 7:20 PM on October 30, 2015
The movie Cinema Paradiso is in a way about how you can never really return home. Mostly focuses on the story of the kid growing up, but is framed by him as an adult reflecting upon his life. It's presented as a story about the kid's childhood, the movie theater, and the projectionist that befriends him, but it's about more than that. Not sure how well I'm describing it... it's just a great film and totally worth watching! Here's the trailer.
posted by belau at 10:06 PM on October 30, 2015
posted by belau at 10:06 PM on October 30, 2015
An obvious choice - You Can't Go Home Again.
If you're into Thomas Wolfe (unusual, these days) I'd also recommend "The Return of the Prodigal" from his short story collection The Hills Beyond which has Eugene Gant returning, rather than YCGHA's George Webber.
posted by Rash at 10:52 AM on November 1, 2015
If you're into Thomas Wolfe (unusual, these days) I'd also recommend "The Return of the Prodigal" from his short story collection The Hills Beyond which has Eugene Gant returning, rather than YCGHA's George Webber.
posted by Rash at 10:52 AM on November 1, 2015
Dick Francis's mysteries had this as a theme, to a greater or lesser extent:
Crossfire: British soldier returns to his estranged, horse-trainer mother's stables to recuperate after an IED, must deal with mother's blackmailer (written with son Felix)
Decider: Architect son inherits shares of a racecourse from his mother's abusive first husband's father, must deal with his estranged half-sister and his mother's warring former in-laws
Comeback: Diplomat son returns to area where he grew up and his jockey father died in an accident; son has grown up abroad with his diplomat stepfather, and is the inside outsider who sees connections between current murders and those 20 years ago
Hot Money: Jockey son is contacted by estranged financier father when father suspects someone in the family is trying to murder the father
Bonecrack: Estranged art dealer son returns to trainer father's stables when father goes to hospital, must contend with extortion plot
Christie used this in Hercule Poirot's Christmas: Millionaire invites estranged family home, is then murdered.
posted by JawnBigboote at 9:53 AM on November 2, 2015
Crossfire: British soldier returns to his estranged, horse-trainer mother's stables to recuperate after an IED, must deal with mother's blackmailer (written with son Felix)
Decider: Architect son inherits shares of a racecourse from his mother's abusive first husband's father, must deal with his estranged half-sister and his mother's warring former in-laws
Comeback: Diplomat son returns to area where he grew up and his jockey father died in an accident; son has grown up abroad with his diplomat stepfather, and is the inside outsider who sees connections between current murders and those 20 years ago
Hot Money: Jockey son is contacted by estranged financier father when father suspects someone in the family is trying to murder the father
Bonecrack: Estranged art dealer son returns to trainer father's stables when father goes to hospital, must contend with extortion plot
Christie used this in Hercule Poirot's Christmas: Millionaire invites estranged family home, is then murdered.
posted by JawnBigboote at 9:53 AM on November 2, 2015
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posted by alchemist at 2:48 AM on October 30, 2015 [2 favorites]