Housekeeping

By: Marilynne Robinson

Narrated by: Becket Royce

Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

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.

©1980 Marilynne Robinson (P)2005 Audio Renaissance, a division of Holtzbrinck Publishers, LLC

Critic reviews

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

Housekeeping

I absolutely loved this book! It is a story of nature vs nurture.What is inherited.Is suicide?Is mental confusion and vagrancy? A family loses a father/grandfather to a train accident,then a mother to suicide.The girls are raised by an aunt that was disowned,but why?A family destined to be torn asunder.A fabulous story told wonderfully by Becket Royce.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.'

Haunting, but a bit depressing

Housekeeping is a rich story, even though I found it somewhat depressing. Biblical themes abound, but at times it is hard to believe that the sophisticated narrator is a high-school aged girl. The narration, while generally good, is occasionally rather flat and too obviously read. There is a mystical touch here, but all in all I much preferred Robinson’s more recent Gilead. Still, this is a wondrous story, and I will likely return to it again someday for a better understanding of its many themes. The overall theme, however, is that the world is not my home: I’m just passing through.

A poignant theology of memory, transience, and loss

This is a beautiful gem of a novel. In part a compassionate, intricate description of characters living at the boundaries of individuality, eccentricity, what is socially acceptable, and mental instability. Also a kind of theology of memory, loss, and transience. Powerful in the end despite its shorter length.

I found no problem with the narrator. She distinguishes the characters well but does not over interpret, which would not fit the tone of the novel. She speaks the meditative passages in a calm, direct manner that draws attention to the ideas instead of the oration. I do not mind her slightly quicker pace.

Wonderful

Would you consider the audio edition of Housekeeping to be better than the print version?

I love this book. I also really like the readers voice - with one criticism. She reads a little too fast for the reflective nature of the material. Still a very enjoyable book though.

Some review made me expect more.

Some review made me expect more. Well written, somewhat captivating but at the end i just don't see enough arguments or personally have any insight into to struggles presented to appreciate the outcome.

Maybe better with another reader

My first Marilynne Robinson's book was somewhat of a disappointment. I suspect I'd have enjoyed it better had I read it in paper format. The reader rushed through each sentence so much that I had to slow the speed down, a first for me as I usually listen at 1.25 or faster. Also, her cadence was so monotonous that I longed for Xe Sands, who could make a thesaurus sound sexy.

Disappointed

I liked the writing style but was sorely disappointed by the very simple plot. I listened patiently to many descriptions and kept waiting for something to change. This was a strange book as its potential was not realized.
It is the first book I've read by this author but I will try one more.

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Bored out of my mind

Had a hard time staying awake through this one. I'm glad I didn't spend any money.

Greater work than Gilead

I read this directly after Gilead and although I liked Gilead very much, I thought this work was even better. The writing and characters are absolutely remarkable--way beyond what one expects from a first (or even tenth!) novel: so many subtle and masterful passages and insights drawn more or less from within the characters. As often is the case with such poetic writing, her one pitfall is some rather painful bouts of overwriting (where the heck was the editor??): however, in Gilead, the rapturous eulogizing about the Daily Miracle of Life has the excuse that the speaker is a preacher and so is fairly relentless; whereas in Housekeeping, she just seems to get inebriated midway through by her own prose and kind of beats her metaphors into a watery pulp (well, the main one is a lake, but still--) That said, this is still one of the best books I've read in the last few decades and I will definitely reread it (and reread Gilead because of it--)

A book of uncommon grace and painful beauty

"Housekeeping" stands as a quiet masterpiece of 20th-century fiction. It encompasses a world of childhood memory, social awkwardness, wanderlust, family love, and silence.
This book deserves to be read, listened to, and the movie version (with Christine Lahti) seen.