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Marjorie W. (Bonita Springs, FL)
The Good House
What a good read! I found it hard to put down and read it in two afternoons!! It is funny, but also explores the secrets that people harbor - so there is some sadness in the story. We all know people like this - such an accurate portrayal of small town life. I think it would be a good book for discussion as book clubs.
Susan S. (Lafayette, CA)
A classic unreliable narrator
I became delighted with this book about 20 pages in when I realized that Hildy Good, the main character, is a classic unreliable narrator. She seems to have a pretty accurate take on those around her, but is utterly deluded about herself. The story is witty, insightful, and surprisingly complex, with a mix of great characters and several different but overlapping story arcs that tie together by the end, touching on real estate, New England small towns, infidelity, psychiatry, autism, late-in-life romance, and alcoholism.
Carol N. (San Jose, CA)
The Good House by Anny Leary
This was a good weekend read – chock full of wonderful, flawed characters with some pretty wicked senses of humor. The protagonist, Hildy Good is a 60-year old real estate agent who having survived her Hazelden invention two years earlier needs to prove she is neither an alcoholic nor a witch. She is truly an "original" that is irresistibly likeable but very untrustworthy. As a longtime resident, she pretty much knows everything (good or bad) that happens in the small New England town of Wendover. Having befriended a recent client, Rebecca McAllister, she becomes involved in her torrid affair with the town's
…more resident psychologist. Soon her life goes into a tailspin and the tone darkens with approaching tragedy. This book is funny, poignant and terrifying. I believe that Ann Leary has achieved her goal – to write a legitimately funny novel about alcoholism without getting too preachy. (less)If the primary goal of a novel is to entertain, and I think it is, then Ann Leary's The Good House performed this task admirably. I felt like I was in Wendover, Massachusetts, and meeting all of its delightful citizens. Of course they were all flawed; perfect people make for very dull stories. Hildy Good is a very flawed narrator and I loved her realness. She is blunt, unsentimental, self un- aware, manipulative and at times funny as hell. The author's portrayal of her struggles with alcohol are spot on and truly tragic. Not a story to change your life, but a fun, intelligent read that I enjoyed thoroughly. I
…more plan to read other works by Ms. Leary. (less)The Good House is very good! Ann Leary has hit the nail on the head with Hildy Good with her snarky portrayal of a real estate agent doing her darndest to get listings and sell homes. The fact that Hildy is also a full-blown alcoholic trying to kid her kids into believing their intervention and "incarceration" at an addiction center has worked and dried her out when, in reality, she is becoming more wily by the day is - sorry - funny. Hildy can come up with some absolutely logical (to her) reasons why she is no longer an alcoholic, but at the same time, the story shows her tiptoe-ing through the tulips as she
…more enjoys more and more the sauce that will surely kill her. Her drunken logic is right on, and gets her into a peck of trouble. I enjoyed her relationship with Frankie, a local and old boyfriend, while her girls really irked me with their righteousness. The horse scenes were well written, obviously by a person who knows the ropes with owning, showing, and loving a horse. Leary has written a good story of things she is informed about, probably has done a bunch of research, and put together an interesting life story for a middle-aged woman with a few foibles and lots of denial.
Again, a truly good story, well written, well told, that held my interest more and more as it went on. I absolutely enjoyed this book! (less)The Good House was an easy read. It was nice to find a local New England author to add to my reading list. The setting was familiar in the community of locals and the wealthy newcomers. The characters reflect a mix of lives of the professional business person to the locals with sparks of romance and everyday involvements.
Hopefully someone will read Hildy's palm and direct her future.
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
…more 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 (less)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
…more 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. (less)
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