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Housekeeping

by Marilynne Robinson

Housekeeping Cover

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

A modern classic, Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her younger sister, Lucille, who grow up haphazardly, first under the care of their competent grandmother, then of two comically bumbling great-aunts, and finally of Sylvie, their eccentric and remote aunt. The family house is in the small Far West town of Fingerbone set on a glacial lake, the same lake where their grandfather died in a spectacular train wreck, and their mother drove off a cliff to her death. It is a town "chastened by an outsized landscape and extravagant weather, and chastened again by an awareness that the whole of human history had occurred elsewhere." Ruth and Lucille's struggle toward adulthood beautifully illuminates the price of loss and survival, and the dangerous and deep undertow of transience.

Review:

"So precise, so distilled, so beautiful that one doesn't want to miss any pleasure it might yield." Le Anne Schreiber, The New York Times Book Review

Review:

"Here's a first novel that sounds as if the author has been treasuring it up all her life...You can feel in the book a gathering voluptuous release of confidence, a delighted surprise at the unexpected capacities of language, a close, careful fondness for people that we thought only saints felt." Anatole Broyard, The New York Times

Review:

"I found myself reading slowly, then more slowly — this is not a novel to be hurried through, for every sentence is a delight." Doris Lessing

Review:

"An often comic novel that has become a certifiable classic. Her name is Ruth and she has the eye and ear of a poet." Hamill, Hungry Mind Review

Review:

"The language is so precise, so distilled and so beautiful one does not want to miss any pleasure it might yield up to patience." Charles McGrath. The New York Times Books of the Century

Review:

"....The language is so precise, so distilled and so beautiful one does not want to miss any pleasure it might yield up to patience." Charles McGrath. The New York Times Books of the Century

Review:

"I found myself reading slowly, than more slowly — this is not a novel to be hurried through, for every sentence is a delight." Doris Lessing

About the Author

Marilynne Robinson is the author of the novel Gilead and two books of nonfiction, Mother Country and The Death of Adam. She teaches at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 9 comments:

Almeda Roth, June 23, 2010 (view all comments by Almeda Roth)
A captivating, elegaic novel about family and transcience and what it means to be at home, filled with startlingly exact and illuminating moments of prose. I wore my pen out underlining sentences.
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(7 of 11 readers found this comment helpful)
Adrien-Alice, January 18, 2010 (view all comments by Adrien-Alice)
Oh, oh, oh. I just finished this book--it's short but potent with some of the most gorgeous prose I've read in a long time.
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(4 of 7 readers found this comment helpful)
bart, January 6, 2010 (view all comments by bart)
Unique and unforgettable, I find myself returning to this wonderful novel often. Such luminous prose that I gave up on my highlighter after only a few pages.

Reward yourself by reading of this book!
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(4 of 8 readers found this comment helpful)
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780312424091
Author:
Robinson, Marilynne
Publisher:
Picador USA
Subject:
General
Subject:
General Fiction
Subject:
Literary
Subject:
Family life
Subject:
Literature-A to Z
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Trade Paper
Publication Date:
20041131
Binding:
TRADE PAPER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Pages:
224
Dimensions:
8.40x5.52x.57 in. .43 lbs.

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Related Aisles

Housekeeping Used Trade Paper
0 stars - 0 reviews
$5.95 In Stock
Product details 224 pages Picador - English 9780312424091 Reviews:
"Review" by , "So precise, so distilled, so beautiful that one doesn't want to miss any pleasure it might yield."
"Review" by , "Here's a first novel that sounds as if the author has been treasuring it up all her life...You can feel in the book a gathering voluptuous release of confidence, a delighted surprise at the unexpected capacities of language, a close, careful fondness for people that we thought only saints felt."
"Review" by , "I found myself reading slowly, then more slowly — this is not a novel to be hurried through, for every sentence is a delight."
"Review" by , "An often comic novel that has become a certifiable classic. Her name is Ruth and she has the eye and ear of a poet."
"Review" by , "The language is so precise, so distilled and so beautiful one does not want to miss any pleasure it might yield up to patience."
"Review" by , "....The language is so precise, so distilled and so beautiful one does not want to miss any pleasure it might yield up to patience."
"Review" by , "I found myself reading slowly, than more slowly — this is not a novel to be hurried through, for every sentence is a delight."
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