• House Rules

  • A Memoir
  • By: Rachel Sontag
  • Narrated by: Nicole Poole
  • Length: 7 hrs and 57 mins
  • 3.9 out of 5 stars (41 ratings)

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House Rules  By  cover art

House Rules

By: Rachel Sontag
Narrated by: Nicole Poole
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Publisher's summary

A compelling, at times horrifying work that is impossible to put down, House Rules will stand beside Running with Scissors and The Glass Castle as a memoir that cracks open the shell of a desperately dysfunctional family with impressive grace and humor. Rachel Sontag grew up the daughter of a well liked doctor in an upper middle class suburb of Chicago. The view from outside couldn't have been more perfect. But within the walls of the family home, Rachel's life was controlled and indeed terrorized by her father's serious depression. In prose that is both precise and rich, Rachel's childhood experience unfolds in a chronological recounting that shows how her father became more and more disturbed as Rachel grew up. A visceral and wrenching exploration of the impact of a damaged psyche on those nearest to him, House Rules will keep you reading even when you most wish you could look away.
©2008 Rachel Sontag (P)2008 Recorded Books, LLC.

What listeners say about House Rules

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

An echo of my hurt

Listening to this book was something that needed to happen. My friend had read the book and saw the echo of my family, and so she recommended it. My father, like Rachel’s, was mentally unwell. In listening to this, I cried, felt the hurt, but also the healing. The book helped to give closure to what if’s that I had held on to, second guesses that I’ve let haunt me. The book is beautifully written and truly and fully expresses the complicated nature of emotional abuse.

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

Disappointed

Seemed pretty narcissistic in the end. Others have had it way worse. Kept waiting for some kind of horrible story.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • DC
  • 06-10-18

Honest and understated memoir

A great look at what it’s like to grow up in an affluent household and still be abused even if no one ever lays a hand on you physically. Emotional abuse is real and has its own damages. I highly recommend this book for anyone who grew up with an emotionally abusive or personality disordered parent.

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