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There are currently 25 member reviews
for Housebreaking
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Theresa P. (Arkport, NY)
Character connections hold Housebreaking together
I had a hard time accepting the life Del is living at the start of the book, or her decision to tear down the home herself, so I almost put the book down. The character connections were surprising and brought me back to the story. It was great to see how unexpected social connections can benefit someone who is so alone, surprising to imagine anyone moving in with Del when there was any other choice available, and amazing to think that Del, who had so little, was always ready to share what she had with others. The breakdown of the house helped to rebuild Del's life, and that is what made this a good read.
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Liz B. (Fairview, TX)
Housebreaking
This novel examines one young woman's struggle to come to grips with adulthood and being dealt a rough hand of cards. Returning to her childhood home and literally dismantling it board by board became her sole focus. I appreciate the harsh honesty of the writing but honestly, it became a bit repetitive to hear the details of the "housebreaking". I enjoyed Del's interactions with the quirky friends and family she met along the way. The ending left me wanting me a little more. Overall, the book fell a bit short for me.
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Vicki H. (Greenwood Village, CO)
Take the long way home
Family disfunction? Housebreaking offers the hard way of coping: literally dismantling your old life by tearing down your childhood home, shingle by shingle. The misanthropic Del here is so committed to making life hard on herself that I was reminded of characters like Eleanor in 'Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine' and May Attaway in 'Rules For Visiting.'
Read for the quirky moments as unwanted guests and family try to talk her out of it, then insist on helping and worm their way through her defenses. Del has her most human moments with the gay friends of her dead father, and with a young gay man: a nice window on gay-adjacent life.
Read for a coming-of-age moment when someone who quits all the time … learns she absolutely won't quit on this one thing.
Read for that liminal state between school and adulthood when one foot is in each world and strange things are possible.
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Molly O. (Centennial, CO)
Housebreaking a disappointment
While the tediousness of dismantling a house is clearly felt by the ad nauseum description of it, I was bored by the nearly unrelenting destruction of an empty life. Adela, now known as Del, finds that changing her name does not change her past. Faced with forfeiting her family home, she decides to taunt her treacherous family by moving it across a pond, piece by piece. Hubbard's writing is competent but her unbelievable plot and heavy-handed symbolic ending left me shaking my head.
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