Synopses & Reviews
With The Hole Were Ina bold, timeless, yet all too timely novel about a troubled American family navigating an even more troubled Americaaward-winning author and screenwriter, Gabrielle Zevin, delivers a work that places her in the ranks of our shrewdest social observers and top literary talents. Meet the Pomeroys: a church-going family living in a too-red house in a Texas college town. Roger, the patriarch, has impulsively gone back to school, only to find his future ambitions at odds with the temptations of the present. His wife, Georgia, tries to keep things afloat at home, but shes been feeding the bill drawer with unopened envelopes for months and never manages to confront its swelling contents. In an attempt to climb out of the holes theyve dug, Roger and Georgia make a series of choices that have catastrophic consequences for their three childrenespecially for Patsy, the youngest, who will spend most of her life fighting to overcome them. The Hole Were In shines a spotlight on some of the most relevant issues of today: over-reliance on credit, gender and class politics, and the war in Iraq. But it is Zevins deft exploration of the fragile economy of family life that makes this a book for the ages.
Review
Equal parts sharply funny and sobering, Zevins portrait of a family in financial free fall captures the zeitgeist.”
PeopleEvery day newspaper articles chronicle families battered by the recession, circling the drain in unemployment and debt or scraping by with minimum-wage jobs. But no novel has truly captured that struggle until now. . . . [Zevins characerts]flawed, devoted, cranky, impetuous, utterly relatablecome blazingly alive . . . [in this chronicle of] how a once-loving family reacts when times get bad.”Tina Jordan, Entertainment Weekly (A-)
In the provocative novel The Hole Were In . . . Gabrielle Zevin follows the Pomeroy [family] from 1998 to 2022 and addresses such issues as abortion, racism, and the emotional fallout of a stress-filled economy. Yet somehow the novel feels generous: We identify with the Pomeroys troubles while we gasp at their casual brutality and marvel at [youngest daughter] Patsy, who journeys from oppressive Bible schools to military service in Iraq and, finally, to becoming a more loving mother than her own could have dreamed of being.”O, The Oprah Magazine
The Hole Were In criticizes our rabid consumer culture, as well as the people whove bought into it without examining the actual or hidden costs. . . . Zevins writing is often surprisingly, if darkly, funny, thanks to her wry and astute cultural observations. . . . [Main character] Patsy is flawed like the rest of her family, but she also has complex thoughts and tries to live without hypocrisy . . . Zevin breathes real life into this tough-girl vet, a heroine for our times, recognizable from life but new to fiction.”Malena Watrous, The New York Times Book Review
Its hard to pinpoint exactly what is so compelling about Gabrielle Zevins new novel. Merely summarizing the plot doesnt do the book justiceits far more gripping than youd expect from a family drama about the consequences of falling deeper and deeper into credit card debt. The real force of the novel, aside from Zevins elegant, no-words-wasted prose, comes from her complicated, multifaceted characters, who have an astonishing capacity for extremes of both generous and selfish behavior.”Bookpage
"The Hole We're In is a story of financial lives, and it makes plain that the financial life of a family is just as important as, if not more important than, its religious life. Even more surprising: It's just as compelling as a novel that is primarily concerned with the emotional life of an American family. The Hole We're In feels current, like fresh journalism, a mirror held to modern times."Paul Constant, The Stranger
A sharp, funny, and timely look at a debt-ridden, God-fearing American family. . . . Zevin skewers a host of social issues from religious zealotry to the consequences of war to the entitlement mind-set of average Americans. What makes her book more than just a satire, though, is the deft way she thoroughly humanizes her characters. Readers will relate to and be moved by a beleaguered familys attempts to climb out of debt and dysfunction.”Booklist
Blazing . . . Sharp . . . The Corrections for our recessionary times. . . . [Zevin] establishes herself as an astute chronicler of the way we spend now.”Publishers Weekly (starred review)
An unforgettable novel about flawed characters desperate to get back to the garden of an idealized American Edenwhere debts are forgiven, family secrets remain buried, everyone gets a good credit rating and a higher education, and spiritual redemption can be achieved with a new coat of paint.”Stephanie Kallos, author of Broken For You and Sing Them Home
Gabrielle Zevins sentences burst like fireworks off the page. Smart, sassy, and wise, The Hole Were In is a delightful treat.”Amanda Eyre Ward, author of How To Be Lost and Love Stories in this Town
An unflinching depiction of an All-American family. Hypocritical, debt-ridden, God-fearingthere might not be much to admire about Zevin's characters, but there is much to love about them. The Hole We're In is a compelling read, and a true and honest novel.”Binnie Kirshenbaum, author of The Scenic Route
Synopsis
From an award-winning screenwriter and author comes this bold, timeless, yet all-too-timely novel about a troubled American family trying to navigate an even more troubled America.
About the Author
Zevin is the author of two award-winning young adult novels, ELSEWHERE and MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC. She is also the author of MARGARETTOWN, a novel. Her books books have been lauded everywhere from coast to coast by reviewers, and her work has been translated into 18 languages. She is also a filmmaker, and lives in New York City.