The Irresistible Henry House

A Novel

By: Lisa Grunwald

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 15 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

It is the middle of the 20th century, and in a home economics program at a prominent university, real babies are being used to teach mothering skills to young women. For a young man raised in these unlikely circumstances, finding real love and learning to trust will prove to be the work of a lifetime. In this captivating novel, bestselling author Lisa Grunwald gives us the sweeping tale of an irresistible hero and the many women who love him.

From his earliest days as a practice baby through his adult adventures in 1960s New York City, Disney's Burbank studios, and the delirious world of the Beatles London, Henry remains handsome, charming, universally adored and never entirely accessible to the many women he conquers but can never entirely trust.

Filled with unforgettable characters, settings, and action, The Irresistible Henry House portrays the cultural tumult of the mid-20th century even as it explores the inner tumult of a young man trying to transcend a damaged childhood. For it is not until Henry House comes face-to-face with the real truths of his past that he finds a chance for real love.

©2010 Lisa Grunwald (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Like T.S. Garp, Forrest Gump or Benjamin Button, Henry House, the hero of Grunwald’s imaginative take on a little known aspect of American academic life, has an unusual upbringing....Grunwald nails the era just as she ingeniously uses Henry and the women in his life to illuminate the heady rush of sexual freedom (and confusion) that signified mid-century life." (Publishers Weekly)

"Irresistible." (Kathleen Daly, Newark Star-Ledger)

"The Irresistible Henry House is a soaring, heartfelt novel that spans three decades and an entire continent. Grunwald, author of several novels including Whatever Makes You Happy, creates a wholly original and all too human character in Henry House. Despite his quirks and shortcomings (or perhaps because of them), Henry is one of the most likeable, relatable characters in recent memory." (Amy Scribner, BookPage)

fascinating story and a great listen!

Oliver Wyman does a great job of bringing this story to life, and what a story! If you are a mom or have one, I can't imagine not finding this tale of what happens when a charming little boy has too many mothers to be positively irresistible, even more so since the premise is based on real-life practices from our not-so-distant past. The writing reminded me of the best of John Irving, a latter day PRAYER FOR OWEN MEANY. I'm a big fan!

I would have sworn John Irving wrote this book!

I found this to be an "irresistible" read! I am a huge fan of John Irving and found the storyline and Henry so "Garp-ish." I hope the author considers that a compliment! Oliver Wyman did an excellent job with the various voices and accents and will search for other books he might narrate. I never found the story dragging or waning. Highly recommended!

Baby Voices with Grown-Up Gender Politics

I enjoyed the first few chapters of this book, and I admired Oliver Wyman's narration, which gave a documentary-like feel to the story. But I started to lose heart when young Henry and young Mary Jane started to talk: maybe there's not much a narrator can do with little kid voices. But I just don't buy the weird love triangle that Grunwald set up; it felt like a plot device. The children felt too much like stereotypical grown-ups: detached boy, lovesick girl. In a novel about the ways that theories of children get in the way of how we experience children, I found this to be particularly disturbing, and I lost my trust in the author.

Bad

Skip this book. The characters are dull. The plot is rambling and pointless, with idiotic references to "Mary Poppins" and "The Yellow Submarine".

Could have been a good book

This book had an interesting beginning. The idea of orphans being used as subjects for home economics classes at a university for a year or two before being sent out for adoption, conjurs up all sorts of possibilities. The character of Henry House who remained at at he university and suffered emotional problems could have been carried over to explore the effect of this program on other "house babies." Instead,the second half of the book, was devoted to Henry's sexual escapades. Enough Already! You can stop listening after the first half of the book as the second half consists of weak and boring sexual exploits.

Too slow and tedious

Two hours in and I had to give it up. I don't mind slow (just finished A Prayer for Owen Meany and that probably redefines 'slow' but found it an excellent book) but the tedious got to me.
However, this is not to say that, had I lasted the distance, I would have been able to write a more positive review.

Bland story with a blander narrator

Henry House is, actually, quite resistible. The idea presented at the beginning -- that Henry, like many others, is an orphaned child who starts his life as the "practice baby" for students in a college home economics program -- seemed very clever. However, the book falls off from there. The rest of the story is a very dull account of him going through life. Given it takes place in the 50's and 60's, and there's plenty of sex and drugs, you'd think that would help the tempo of the story, but somehow even those aspects of his life seem blah. Plus, his general indifference to everyone around him makes him an unsympathetic character. I almost didn't finish the book, but I kept thinking that something was going to happen to make it better. It probably would have seemed like less of a slog with a less monotonous narrator, but even the best of narrators would have had a tough time with this material.

What a disappointment!

I purchased this book after reading the glowing reviews and was thoroughly disappointed. It's a nice enough story, but it wanders all over the place ... just like Henry. A total waste of time!!

Disappointing

The story had and interesting start, but went downhill from there. I didn't feel as though I knew the characters. Perhaps the author was trying to make us feel Henry's detachment from other people, but I felt detached from the characters as well. The social changes that occurred through Henry's life were interesting. I had not been aware of "practice babies." I enjoyed the references to changes in expectations of women.

....tiresome....

The premise of The Irresistible Henry House is a good one; an orphaned infant is raised in a "Practice House" of a college Home Ec. program in the 40's. Unfortunately, my anticipation for a good yarn was extinguished after hours of the story meandering forward in time, with Henry House crossing paths with the cultural touchstones of the 40's, 50's and 60's. It was like Forrest Gump but without the whimsy and poignancy.
A goal of the story is to show how dispassionately Henry involves himself with the women in his life, indifferent to how destructive his detachment is. But Henry doesn't treat his conquests half as harshly as the author handles his main female characters. They are, for the most part, unattractive, distasteful, friendless women whose sin of aging is regularly pointed out.
The dialogue is not as revealing as it could be and if I was reading the text, I think I would have scanned the quotes to save time.
I would only recommend this if, for some reason, you specifically want a story with an obvious conclusion and that won't make many demands on your imagination. To be a bit misogynistic will help as well.