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Housekeeping  By  cover art

Housekeeping

By: Marilynne Robinson
Narrated by: Becket Royce
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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)

What listeners say about Housekeeping

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

It took an effort to finish.

Very bland reading and a story that has very little going for it. Could have been told more efficiently in 50 pages.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Beautiful Writing and Narrative

The author’s prose are gorgeous and the story is simple and stirring. It is a delicate but deep exploration of the trauma of loss and development of identity through needs and wants. I loved it.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

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.'

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

The only book I’ve listened to again and again and again

The best book I’ve ever read. Every line is beautiful and true. It reads like poetry, but not in an obnoxious way.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Chapters do not match book!

So frustrating, a total waste of time. Chapters don’t even match the book. I’m very upset

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

The Problem is Not Narration

All of those reviewers complaining about the narration should complain more about the quality of the writing. It is a very dull story written with too much ambition. The words are too high-dollar and the ideas too philosophic for this non-story.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful verse

A rich and fascinating story in maryanne Robinson‘a classic voice. Really made me think about the things we value or deem “necessary “ in our daily life. The reading was fluent and easily followed though one needed to pay close attention to the story due to the complexities of the language. Loved it!

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

What?

I never quite caught on to what was real in this book. I just listened for the second time.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Not Her Best Work

The reader ruined this for me. She didn't seem to understand what she was reading. There are several missed edits.

The story is different, yet fails to help you understand the motives and mindset of the main character.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Read a hard copy if possible

This book is gorgeous and should be read as slowly as possible. The narrator plows through it and it’s truly horrible. It’s about a million times better in print if you have the access.

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