Homebody

By: Orson Scott Card

Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki

Length: 10 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Damaged Houses
A master craftsman, Don Lark could fix everything except what mattered, his own soul. After tragedy claimed the one thing he loved, he began looking for dilapidated houses to buy, renovate, and resell at a profit, giving these empty shells the second chance at life he denied himself.

Damaged Souls
Then in a quiet Southern town, Lark finds his biggest challenge: a squalid yet sturdy mansion that has suffered decades of abuse at the hands of greedy landlords and transient tenants. While two charming old neighbor ladies ply him with delicious cooking, they offer dire warnings about the house's evil past. But there is something about this building that pushes Lark on, even as its enchantments grow increasingly ominous. Will finishing the house offer Lark redemption, or unleash the darkest forces of damnation upon him?

©1998 Orson Scott Card (P)2006 Audible Inc.

Critic reviews

"A powerful tale of healing and redemption that skillfully balances supernatural horrors with spiritual uplift". (Publishers Weekly)

If you [re]build it, [s]he will come

I enjoy science fiction. I don't care much for fantasy. I make some exceptions for stories like "Field of Dreams". That is fundamentally a story about fathers and sons. "Homebody" is pure fantasy. It was still a satisfying story. The key characters were all seeking something. Some were fulfilled. Some were not. There were plenty of plot twists. The ending was satisfying, but not what I expected.

Bob Villa writes a book

If you like Bob Villa and home fix it shows you may love this. If you are a fan of Lost Boys the novel not the short story you will like this. The first half of the book is all about renovating an old house and you get much of the detail.

The main character Dan Lark is a no nonsense he-man. He wants to be a hermit and just work. He can not escape society though and people are consistently tangling themselves in his life. I thought this was an interesting lesson. Many times we may want to ignore the world and other people, but that is not as easy as it sounds.

Most of the characters in the book are women and they are some of the most flawed women you will ever meet. Dan comes off a little too perfect, almost a super hero. The whole book reads like a romance novel written by a man. Even though Dan wants to avoid women he finds himself kissing them almost as soon as he meets them and they love it and him, but he always does the right thing and he never sleeps with them.

I like Card's writing and he can write about anything and I would enjoy it. This is proof as I did enjoy the book, but very little happened, especially the first half. I would have loved the book, if he would have put more fantasy into it and I feel kind of cheated that he didn't.

unexpected

Not what I expected from O.S.Card, even from the Audible synopsis, and an unfamiliar genre for me. In any case, it maintained my interest and made credible jumps to incredible places.

My favorite author.

So I forgive the obvious ending. Still a good story. Enough of the believable to hold on to as the fantasy played with my mind.

Lame

If you're looking for a twist, you're wasting your time. Solid, plodding story. No surprises.

Not Ender's Universe OR is it?

For people who have read through the Ender series and through Children of the Mind, though these characters in Homebody are very different, it turns out souls intertwining is not unique to the future. Homebody takes place on Earth about twenty years ago when pay phones were still common. If it isn't a Jane or Miro taking different physical forms in the Enderverse, maybe back in that 20th century things out of the ordinary happened. People had different words for it. Ghosts? Possession? Haunting?

Orson Scott Card creates characters I love and are so memorable in the Enderverse that it's taken me a while to BREAK OUT and away from the entirely familiar. Card is so accomplished, he can write something very different as if its what he's done it for years. And its wonderful, if not on a scale where say, the human race faces extinction or something like that. No, its just a few characters here, well developed that I've grown to care about quickly in Homebody.

It is not the Enderverse. Or is it? Homebody is published after Children of the Mind, and it probably doesn't hold the ideas it does without the Enderverse. It'd be a bit like looking back at a time when human kind was limited to one world and no one spoke Stark.

The performance? Its read by Stefan Rudnicki. If you've enjoyed any of the Ender books on audio, there isn't really much more you need to know, except this is a solo performance. 5 stars.

The best story tellers of today.

After being a whole hearted follower of the Enderverse, I finally dipped my toe into more of Orson Scott Card’s work and I was happily surprised.
As the reader, I didn’t want to be pigeon holed. I wanted something that was creative, thoughtful, and didn’t take a cheap dive into the smut category. Homebody was a wonderful stand alone (that I know of…I think it’s god by itself) story that dared to be just that. And I enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much, that I stayed up listening to it until 2AM to hear the ending when I’d only bought it to listen to while working.
Narrated by the wonderful Stefan Rudnicki (one of the many and all fabulous cast from Orson Scott Cards previous works) is a wonderful break from the ordinary.
Thank you for releasing this. I’m very excited for more of your stand alone stories and I think I’m ready to dive into another.

Good premise but weak execution

Mr. Card is an obvious graduate of the Dean Koontz School of Superfluousity. I found the incessant and schizophrenic navel contemplation by the two main characters to be unbearably grating and often hit the fast forward button. Early subplots were dropped so abruptly that it appears Mr. Card decided to change the direction of the book, but did not want to go to the effort of a re-write. The book did have some plot twists and an ending that could have been entertaining if they had not been telegraphed chapters before they were actually revealed. One line early in the book was very prophetic. It went something like “Books are either stupid or they’re not. If they’re stupid, you just find yourself getting angry.” I never got angry, but I sure did get exasperated on numerous occasions. The only reason I finished the book was out of a curiosity to see just how bad it could get.

protagonist that you could careless about...

I struggled to finish this and I really like the author and the narrator. The protagonist in this story is boring. I think this is what made just go meh?

Tedious!

The first three quarters of the book are totally tedious! The main character is ridden with guilt and pain of having failed as a MAN-the protector and provider, and that is repeated throughout the book ad nauseam. If not for the last part of the book (where something actually starts happening), the whole thing would be a complete waste of time. Quite disappointing.