Synopses & Reviews
Winner of the Pen/Hemingway Award
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, the eccentric and remote sister of their dead mother. The family house is in the small town of Fingerbone on a glacial lake in the Far West, 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 transcience.
Marilynne Robinson is also the author of Mother Country, an examination of Great Britain's role in the radioactive pollution of the world's environment. She teaches as the University of Iowa Writer's Program.
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, the eccentric and remote sister of their dead mother. The family house is in the small town of Fingerbone on a glacial lake in the Far West, 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.
"So precise, so distilled, so beautiful that one doesn't want to miss any pleasure it might yield."The New York Times Book 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
"I found myself reading slowly, than more slowlythis is not a novel to be hurried through, for every sentence is a delight."Doris Lessing
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"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
"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
Review
“So precise, so distilled, so beautiful that one doesnt want to miss any pleasure it might yield.” --Le Anne Schreiber,
The New York Times Book Review
“Heres 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
“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
Synopsis
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.
Synopsis
An unabridged audio edition of this classic work on the 25th anniversary of its first publication
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 Lucilles struggle toward adulthood beautifully illuminates the price of loss and survival, and the dangerous and deep undertow of transience.
Synopsis
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.
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.
Becket Royce narrated Marilynne Robinson's
Housekeeping for Macmillan Audio. She has also appeared on television in
I'll Be Home for Christmas, The Kennedys of Massachusetts, As the World Turns, One Life to Live, and numerous commercials. Onstage, she has performed in New York and regionally in the plays
The Male Animal, Macbeth, and many others.