A Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures production directed by Bill Forsyth, starring Christine Lahti, Marilynne Robinson's novel is about family and transients, people who are happy in boxcars and people so lonely they are conspicuous in bus stations. National opening: October 16th.
Read More
A Screen Gems/Columbia Pictures production directed by Bill Forsyth, starring Christine Lahti, Marilynne Robinson's novel is about family and transients, people who are happy in boxcars and people so lonely they are conspicuous in bus stations. National opening: October 16th.
Read Less
Add this copy of Housekeeping to cart. $5.02, very good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Brownstown, MI, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by Bantam Books.
Add this copy of Housekeeping to cart. $5.02, fair condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by Bantam Books.
Add this copy of Housekeeping to cart. $5.04, good condition, Sold by Once Upon A Time Books rated 1.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Tontitown, AR, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by Bantam.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
This is a used book in good condition and may show some signs of use or wear. This is a used book in good condition and may show some signs of use or wear.
Add this copy of Housekeeping to cart. $7.01, fair condition, Sold by BooksRun rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Philadelphia, PA, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by Bantam.
Add this copy of Housekeeping to cart. $8.00, good condition, Sold by Best and Fastest Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wantage, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by Bantam Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good solid paperback with moderate reading/age wear, may have some light markings, pages may have some mild tanning. We take great pride in accurately describing the condition of our books and media, ship within 48 hours, and offer a 100% money back guarantee. Customers purchasing more than one item from us may be entitled to a shipping discount.
Add this copy of Housekeeping to cart. $8.00, fair condition, Sold by Best and Fastest Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Wantage, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by Bantam Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fair. 1987 7th printing. same cover from listing. Back cober has heavy wear and tear. Reading copy only, has significant to heavy reading/age wear and tear, may have some staining or water damage, pages may be tanned or fragile, may have loose hinges, may have light to heavy markings, not collector/gift quality. We take great pride in accurately describing the condition of our books and media, ship within 48 hours, and offer a 100% money back guarantee. Customers purchasing more than one item from us may be entitled to a shipping discount.
Add this copy of Housekeeping to cart. $29.70, good condition, Sold by Robinson Street Books rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Binghamton, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1987 by Bantam.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Good. Size: 6x4x0; Prompt shipment, with tracking. we ship in CLEAN SECURE boxes Contemporary Fiction; Good mass market with creasing, foxing, nicked, and prompt shipping with tracking.
Add this copy of Housekeeping to cart. $33.80, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by Bantam.
Add this copy of Housekeeping to cart. $101.17, new condition, Sold by GridFreed rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from North Las Vegas, NV, UNITED STATES, published 1984 by Bantam.
Was anxious to see what all the hype was about-----well it is a story of a dysfunctional family, with 2 young sisters caught in the middle. In some ways it is frightening to know that some people even exist, and can live off the grid quite serenely, taking along young psyches, who cannot make a conscious choice. I found it mind boggling!
KassandraPhoenix
Jul 23, 2008
Can you hear the trains?
I bought this book for a graduate class Fall of 2007 but I didn't have to read it so it lingered on my shelf for quite some time. I'm not entirely sure why but I always told myself when I had the time I was going to read this novel. Perhaps it was because of the haunting picture on the cover, with train tracks fading into the fog, but I had a feeling it was going to be different than other novels I have read.
Well, I was definitely right about that.
Told through the viewpoint of Ruth or "Ruthie", this novel discusses the importance of family, transience, loss, and the importance of communication. Ruth and her younger sister Lucille lose their mother Helen (she drives off a cliff) and live with their grandmother, then their two great-aunts, then finally with Sylvie their eccentric and transient aunt. The entire time they live in their grandmother's home by a glacial lake. Their grandfather died in a train wreak and drowned in that same lake before they were born.
The entire novel centers around trains. Sylvie never knows what time it is unless she hears a train go by, there are hobos hanging around the trains, and they talk about the people at the bottom of the lake that died in the train wreak. The town of Fingerbone lives and dies around the world of trains. Also, what I did like about Robinson's writing style is that her sentences are long and full of syllables, much like the cho-cho-choo of a locomotive keeping pace.
The title for the novel Housekeeping comes about when Sylvia realizes that she may lose custody of Ruth (since Lucille willingly decided to leave and live somewhere else) and attempts to clean herself and her life up. The town feared that her transient lifestyle began to affect Ruth (and they were correct). So she began to do all methods of housekeeping in an attempt to clean up and look presentable to society, in the process she tries to change her very nature.
I don't think I would recommend this novel to a friend just because I didn't personally feel any sort of connection with it. Robinson's connections with the lake, family, people, nature, and darkness are all very clever and written in a unique style, but I personally did not enjoy it. One critic remarked that Robinson wrote about the most ordinary things in her own perspective, and I do agree, but at times she drones on and on and on which makes it is very difficult to connect to the characters; at times it feels she is just trying to make her own point in Ruth's voice.