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Homebody  By  cover art

Homebody

By: Orson Scott Card
Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
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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)

What listeners say about Homebody

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

What a Home Indeed!!

Wow, this was an excellent book. Great descriptions and storyline. Nice surprise ending. Out of 200+ audiobooks I've read this one moves up to the top 20 (at least in the suspense genre). Don't expect Ender's Game or something like that. This is more in the Koontz catagory. Buy and enjoy!!

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43 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

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.

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

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.

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Refreshingly Good...

I normally read Dean Koontz, Stephen King, Anne Rice. I gave this book a try. It was slow to start but still interesting. Then it a has a wow moment and I couldn't stop listening. If you like Koontz or King, you'll enjoy this one.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

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.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Story

This was a great story that kept me interested until the very end. It would make a great horror movie. The character development was great. They felt very "real." But I think that a little too much time was spend developing minor characters. I kept waiting for them to become major players and they never were.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

An opinion

This book was totally unbelievable but enjoyable.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Pleasant story, great characters!

I've read and enjoyed several books by Card, and liked the sound of this one. I took it even though the reviews were somewhat underwhelming. I'm glad I did. The characters were great and the story held my interest right up to the end. I have three main observations about this book: 1) contrary to some other reviewers, I actually liked how he developed the characters and played them off against each other - thought that was ther best part of this book, 2) the change in romantic interest from the real estate agent to the homeless girl didn't work for me - he should have stayed with the agent ... she was hot, and 3) the ending was just a bit much - felt too much like a second rate Hollywood horror film, with gratuitous destruction. Yet, I've listened to much worse on here and this was a nice way to pass the time.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Wonderful

I find that I either love or hate Orson Scott Card's work. This was definitely one I loved along with Lost Boys and Enchantment. It was amazingly involving and I fell in love with the characters.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

Slow, slow, slow

I love Orson Scott Card. This was not at all what I expected. I was three quarters of the way through and I still kept wondering when it would get interesting. The last three hours are the only part worth listening to and I don't think it was worth listening to the first several hours.

There are so many other books written by him that are much better.

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2 people found this helpful