The Good House

By: Tananarive Due

Narrated by: Robin Miles

Length: 21 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher's summary

Tananarive Due, author of The Living Blood won the American Book Award and is praised as Stephen King's equal by Publishers Weekly. In The Good House, Due sets a story of ancient powers and modern retribution in a small Pacific Northwest town. When a young woman returns to her grandmother's empty mansion, she is pitted against demonic forces that have poisoned her family for generations.

©2003 Tananarive Due (P)2004 Recorded Books, LLC

Critic reviews

"Due handles the potentially unwieldy elements of her novel with confidence, cross-cutting smoothly from past to present, introducing revelatory facts that alter the interpretation of earlier scenes and interjecting powerfully orchestrated moments of supernatural horror that sustain the tale's momentum....[Due is] a writer who grows better with each book." (Publishers Weekly)

Interesting story, not too scary

The characters and setting of The Good House were beautifully done, but for a horror story I didn’t find it to be as scary as I was hoping for.

Fantastic Modern Gothic

Very long and slow but a good build to the awesome climax. I feel like I know the families and other characters. No spoilers, but finish it. It’s worth it.

My favorite listen

It is incredibly hard to find a story like this and even more so to find a narrator who brings it to life. The narrator has a soothing voice. I have listed to this book countless times and is too my go to when I need to through in a Bose ear bud and try to sleep. I wish I could find more. I’ve tried over TD books, but none are as engaging as this one. I try to find more with the same narrator and it’s a miss since I can’t get into other books. Le sigh. This book is a must have

enjoyably twisty horror

It's unusual to get a Haitian influenced story in the Pacific Northwest (the South East states are the usual) but this is a fun story of Voudoun horror set in the rainy cool forests. It's a pleasure to immerse in a story that plays the Voudoun elements straight, where the horror arises from the foolishness and poor choices of the characters who don't respect the world the world they exist in. It's a linear descendent of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein in that. Dive into the creative world and work of an amazing Afro-SF and horror writer telling a very American story.

Wonderful Performance

What an amazing narrator! She really brought this story to life! I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed this in physical form quite as much, so glad my first audiobook experience was such a success!

Great story, great narrative

I loved this story. It was a little repetitive at times, so it did drag a little in places. Some of the fluff could have been cut out, but overall it was a great listen, the narrator brought such life to the characters.

Long but worth the journey

As hard as the listen can get (not from poor storytelling, but from due’s aching prose and empathetic writing) the journey toward the end was well worth it. Quality horror and the narration is fantastic.

Smiles

I really enjoy the idea of the story but felt like it was quite drawn-out. I can honestly say that if I had to read this book instead of listen to it I don't think that I would have finished it. However, contrarily, I liked how descriptive the author was as each line was entertaining and sometimes comical (no doubt contributing to the lengthy chapters). The detailing allowed me to easily imagine the brilliant picture that she painted with her words and grasp the whole story. I'll definitely read and or listen to more of her work.

Different and great

This was a great book. Its part mystery and part supernatural.
It deals with elements of voodoo, which I am unfamiliar with and made it very interesting.
Even though this story talks about voodoo its not scary book, only a little spooky.

The story did drag a little in a few places, however since its 20 plus hours its too be expected. Even though its a long book it has a good pace and the author does a good job of introducing new elements that keep the story moving.
My only complaint about this book is the ending- I still don't understand what the ending means.

The narrator did a good job. She was very convincing and was fun to listen to.

Overall, this is a good book. The story is long and has a solid plot with a great narration. Even though it is 20 plus hours, it goes by fast. The only negeative aspects of this book are the ending and a few slow spots in the story.

Try it out for something interesting and different.

Big Overture, Little Show

I chose this book because of its length, and it kept me throughly engrossed through most of it. I had hoped that the final showdown between "good" and "evil" would be more thrilling, but it ended with little more than a whimper; then it became a Dallas episode (when Pam saw Bobby in the shower).

The beginning and middle were outstanding and the narrator fantastic, but in the end, perhaps more time should have been given to the finale than to the many background stories.

Nevertheless, it was worth the listen.