Review – Housekeeping

Housekeeping by Marilynne Robsinson

From the back cover -

Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her sister Lucille, who grow up haphazardly, first under the care of their competent grandmother, then of two comically bumbling great-aunts, and finally of Sylvie, their eccentric and remote aunt.  The family house is in the small Far West town of Fingerbone, which is set on a glacial lake, the same lake where their grandfather died in a spectacular train wreck and their mother drove off a cliff to her death.  It is a town “chastened by an outsized landscape and extravagant weather, and chastened again by an awareness that the whole of human history had occurred elsewhere.”  Ruth and Lucille’s struggle toward adulthood beautifully illuminates the price of loss and survival, and the dangerous and deep undertow of transience.

My thoughts -

In all honesty, I found this book, to put as simply as possible, boring.  It started pretty interesting, with the tale of how their grandfather came to be in this crazy train accident followed immidiately by the story of when and how their mother killed herself by driving into that same lake.  And when Sylvie came to take care of them, I really thought the novel would take a very interesting turn.  Unfortunately for me, it just didn’t.  I felt nothing for any of the characters, I was not a fan of the storytelling, and it just never grabbed me like I wanted it to.  The good thing is that this is a very short book, slightly over 200 pages, so I didn’t waste too much time or energy on it.  I feel like there’s a captivating story in there somewhere, I personally just did not find it.  I’ve heard great things about this one though, so maybe it’s just not for me.  I also have her second novel on my TBR pile and I think I’ll keep it there; even though this one disappointed me I still have hopes for this author.

Rating – 5/10

 

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