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Book Reviewed by:Following a long-standing feud and looking to settle the score, a woman decides to dismantle her home—alone and by hand—and move it across a frozen pond during a harsh New England winter in this mesmerizing debut.
Home is certainly not where Del's heart is. After a local scandal led to her parents' divorce and the rest of her family turned their backs on her, Del left her small town and cut off contact.
Now, with both of her parents gone, a chance has arrived for Del to retaliate.
Her uncle wants the one thing Del inherited: the family home.
Instead of handing the place over, and with no other resources at her disposal, Del decides she will tear the place apart herself—piece by piece.
But Del will soon discover, the task stirs up more than just old memories as relatives—each in their own state of unraveling—come knocking on her door.
This spare, strange, magical book is a story not only about the powerlessness and hurt that run through a family but also about the moments when brokenness can offer us the rare chance to start again.
Chapter One
On an unseasonably warm afternoon in late September, Del did something that she could not explain to herself and would not explain to others. In the months to come, when she considered the moment that changed everything, she would reach no conclusion as to why she did what she did. In the short term, it was stupid; but in the long term, it was nothing less than catastrophic.
The cleaning of South Elm started as it normally did. Del picked up the keys from the agency and checked the paperwork to see if there were any add-ons. Sometimes the owner wanted the fridge cleaned or the oven scoured. Other cleaners wouldn't do that sort of filthy work and tried to trade jobs, but Del didn't mind. She got paid fifteen dollars out of the agency's fifty-dollar fee for extras. On this occasion, a note indicated that she needed to change the sheets in the top-floor guest suite.
South Elm was fairly straightforward. She had cleaned it twice a week for more than a year without ever meeting ...
When Elizabeth Strout and Ottessa Moshfegh are referenced in media reviews — as in "if you like..." — I have possibly unrealistically high expectations. Which were met! The requisite off-kilter, unlikeable yet believable family members, the impossible task... I'm looking forward to more from this first-time author (Maggie R). Great debut novel. Fun to read and ideal for book club discussion (Windell H). I hope we see more from this author (Mary Ann S)...continued
Full Review
(707 words)
(Reviewed by First Impressions Reviewers).
Eleanor Brown, New York Times bestselling author of The Weird Sisters
A wry and unexpectedly tender story of finding the family we need when we least expect it. Perfect for fans of Olive Kitteridge and The Good House. Emma Hooper, bestselling author of Etta and Otto and Russell and James
Deliciously witty and deeply poignant. Sharp, surprising and memorable, this is a book I know I'll keep mulling over for a long, long time. Sharlene Teo, award-winning author of Ponti
Darkly funny and brimming with pathos...For fans of Elizabeth Strout, Ottessa Moshfegh...This is a humorous and life-affirming trip through the fraught, weird heart of America, exploring the granular details that make and break a life.In Housebreaking by Colleen Hubbard, protagonist Del finds herself in the position of having inherited her family's home and being tasked with what to do with it. Inheritance, whether of a home, money, information or an object of unique value, has long proven to be a fertile plot point in fiction. The revelation of an inheritance can spark jealousies among family members, unearth buried secrets or put a wayward character in an uncharacteristic place of responsibility, as in Del's case. Below are some other novels featuring an inheritance of some kind for you to explore.
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The promise of an inheritance drives the main action in Vanessa Veselka's The Great Offshore Grounds, in which half sisters Cheyenne and Livy mean to claim a ...
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