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There are currently 27 member reviews
for The Good House
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Melissa P. (Greenville, New York)
The Good House
Hildy Good is a descendant of Sarah Good, Salem witch. Hildy's curse is alcoholism. Her family stages an intervention and sends her to rehab. Little do they know that after rehab, Hildy drinks alone at night from the bottles in her cellar, while declaring herself alcohol free. But Hildy cannot pull off this farce forever, and it eventually all catches up to her. Along with Hildy's story, the novel also details an affair between Peter and Rebecca, the trials of a couple with an autistic son and the other happenings of the small town.
I liked the writing of this book. Leary is good at description of both character and setting. Hildy was a character that I went back and forth between liking and hating. Liking won out in the end. The book was a bit slow in the middle but quickly accelerated and kept my interest until the end.
I received a copy of this book from BookBrowse for review.
http://melissasbookpicks.blogspot.com
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Kathleen W. (Appleton, WI)
The Good House
The Good House is both enjoyable and well-written. It is the story of Hildy Good, the 7th generation descendant of Sarah Good, who was persecuted as a witch during the infamous Salem witch hunt. Hildy is the narrator of this book and I thoroughly enjoyed her insights and opinions about the people and events of her life. She refuses to admit, however, that she is an alcoholic in need of help. Despite this problem, she is a successful real estate broker, partly because of her ability to "read" people which she considers a party trick rather than a gift. Hildy is a complex character, whom I greatly enjoyed meeting. The plot feels contrived at times, but the book is well worth reading.
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Dee H. (Greenfield, CA)
Denial: Definitely Not a River in Egypt
I really did enjoy this book. The protagonist, Hildy, was so real to me, I wanted to smack her for some of her poor decisions. She reminded me so much of some of the people I worked with when I was a secretary/receptionist at a Chemical Dependency Unit at a local hospital. You really can justify almost anything to yourself rather than face the truth. Her daughters struck me as naive, though, in believing that she remained in recovery so easily.
I really like the sense of place this novel possesses. This, along with the author's wry sense of humor, kept me happily turning pages until, all too soon, I reached the end. The hints about the supernatural are also intriguing: Does Hildy have a gift? Is there something to the witchiness hinted at throughout the story? I would heartily recommend this novel to my "booky" friends and to anyone else who wants a good read.
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Wendy E. (Mechanicsville, VA)
The Good House: A Good Book
Hildy is a quirky, wonderful, if sometimes unreliable narrator, whose voice and stories immediately invite you into her life and her small town. She doesn't always see the truth of things, but then who among us does. The style of writing is light and easy, though there is certainly a message here, as well as some action and humor. The back of the book suggests it is "hilarious." I wouldn't go that far, but this is definitely an entertaining and inviting read.
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Grace W. (Corona del Mar, CA)
What the Good House Tells
My rating was a borderline between a 3 and a 4. The Good House interested me with its first sentence, "I can walk through a house once and know more about its occupants than a psychiatrist could after a year of sessions." Later, the storyline annoyed me with its disjointed, seemingly unresolved scenes and one-dimensional secondary characters. Then it dawned on me that this first person story is from the perspective of Hildy Good, an aging woman, who was the former town party girl, an independent business owner in a very charming New England town, and an alcoholic. From this perspective, the story was riveting, well-crafted, suspenseful, disturbing, and engaging.
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Steve B. (Spring, TX)
Hildy In Denial
Hildy Good is an alcoholic in denial. She has undergone one bout with rehab and although it was successful in curbing her drinking in the short term, she has reverted to drinking in "moderation". Her downward spiral with this affliction reaches the point where her addiction is the controlling influence on her entire existence and on the lives of everyone with whom she comes in contact.
All through the story, I was rooting for her to crush this demonic affliction and return to her productive, loving and rewarding life.
After sometimes comic and oftentimes tragic interactions with her friends, lover and neighbors, Hildy does face her demons and makes another try to eradicate them. We are left to wonder about the outcome.
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Dorothy M. (Maynard, MA)
A Wonderfully Honest (if deluded) Narrator
In The Good House Ann Leary has created an appealing although seriously flawed character who will have you rooting for her even as you are appalled by her behavior. Set in a upscale north shore Massachusetts town with it's townies and its wealthy newcomers and Hildy Good as the realtor who knows all the secrets, this book provides a realistic and often amusing look at a changing community. Hildy's lack of self knowledge and self delusion is only outweighed by her assurance that she can really read people. I read this in a single sitting - hoping that Hildy would finally get her act together.
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