This is a well-written book. However, I found some parts verbose, and I hard time finishing it.
Though I am completely uninterested in "quiet, little lives of desperation", I did find that Housekeeping is a book I shall reread - multiple times. Comparisons of the structure and language feel to The Great Gatsby is the highest accolade I can give. Tremendous. My caveat is the last 2 chapters; my opinion is that Ms. Robinson didn't know how to end the story. I resent the intrusion of the christian and biblical references, which are certainly her personal heritage and interest. Her prerogative, but I cannot find that this coda to the book adds anything; I feel it takes away from the impact and value of the story and lessens the long term weight of the oeuvre.
Ruth and Lucille grew up with their grandmother after their mother drove her car into the same lake that their grandfather's train derailed and sank into years earlier. When grandmother passed away two great aunts were called in to raise the girls. This didn't work out too well as they were not used to children and both the girls and their great aunts were uncomfortable together. So now an aunt (their dead mother's sister) is mustered in.
Aunt Sylvie is a bit of a strange duck and for the better part of the book we don't know why. She doesn't say much, she hoards tin cans, magazines and papers; she likes to be in the dark, she sleeps flat on her back with her shoes on, etc.
The first half of the book was a fairly cozy, comfy read. The second half is quite a bit darker. The closeness of the sisters begins to erode and discomforting activities begin to occur with the girls and with the aunt.
All in all, I give this one fair marks. It held my interest and I cared about the characters to a degree, but never became immersed in their lives. It was good enough that I will look for more of her work and had I been able to connect more closely with the characters it would have garnered a higher mark.
I have been a big fan of this movie for years. I watch it once a week!!! And was so excited to finally find the book. I loved it. This style of writing is what I love.
This book was very well written but I found it a little dark and a bit depressing.
lyrically written, spellbinding imagery.
This book was listed as one of the 10 best book in the past 25 yrs.
So I decided to see for myself.
NW
Exquisitely poignant and sad, masterful writing.
Beautifully written, I was surprised by the untypical character development.
From Publishers Weekly
Their lives spun off the tilting world like thread off a spindle," says Ruthie, the novel's narrator. The same may be said of Becket Royce's subtle, low-keyed reading. The interwoven themes of loss and love, longing and loneliness"the wanting never subsided"require a cool, almost impersonal touch. Royce narrates natural and manmade catastrophe and ruin as the author offers them: with a sort of watery vagueness engulfing extraordinary events. Occasionally this leads Royce to sound sleepy or to glide over humor. But she expresses Ruthie's story without any irksome effort to sound childlike, and she avoids the pitfall of dramatizing other characters, such as the awkward sheriff, the whispery insubstantiality of Aunt Sylvie or the ladies bearing casseroles to lure Ruthie away from Aunt Sylvie and into their concept of normality. Originally published in 1980 and filmed in 1987, Housekeeping is finally on audio because of Robinson's new Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Gilead. The novel holds up remarkably and painfully well, and the language remains searching and sonorous. Anatole Broyard wrote back then: "Here is a first novel that sounds as if the author has been treasuring it up all her life...." And because the author's rhythms, images and diction are so original and dense, this audio is a treasure for listeners who have or haven't read the book.
i have to admit- i am on the fence about this book. it was ok. not good enough for me to make a note of this author and read her next book. not bad enough for me to put it down unfinished. i also admit i skimmed through several times- for me, this is a sign of a dull read. maybe you will like it more than i did.
Housekeeping is told from the perspective of a child trying to make sense of the chaotic hand she's been dealt. It sounds tragic, and of course it is, but also kind and warm. I was bowled over by this book years ago, and waited forever for more from Robinson. She finally came through with Gilead, which was well worth the wait.
