- Mass Market Paperback: 597 pages
- Publisher: Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (December 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0743296168
- ISBN-13: 978-0743296168
- Product Dimensions: 17.3 x 10.4 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 68 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,860,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
From Amazon
In The Good House, acclaimed novelist Tananarive Due enters classic Stephen King territory. Her novel, set in a small Northern town, centres on a haunted house under a deadly curse. But don't let the comparison scare you: this dark, imaginative, skilfully written page-turner is a novel only Tananarive Due could write.
Early in the 20th century, a powerful voodoo priestess followed her guiding spirit from New Orleans to a small town in Washington State. But in pride and anger, Marie Toussaint unleashed a new--and very different--spirit. Now, ignorant of both her heritage and the curse, Angela Toussaint returns to her dead Grandmother Marie's house, seeking to heal her fractured relationships with her son and her husband. But the malicious spirit wishes only the destruction of the Toussaints; and as it did in her grandmother's day, it inflicts horrific death and destruction upon the isolated town. Soon Angela has lost almost everyone she loves; and she must somehow uncover the secrets of her unknown heritage if she is to have a prayer of saving her true love--and her own soul.
Tananarive Due has written the unconventional vampire novels My Soul to Keep and its sequel, The Living Blood; The Black Rose (a finalist for the NAACP Image Award); and The Between (a Bram Stoker Award nominee). With Dave Barry, Edna Buchanan, Carl Hiassen, Elmore Leonard and eight others, Due is coauthor of Naked Came the Manatee. --Cynthia Ward, Amazon.com --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
Using elements of the traditional haunted house story, Due (The Living Blood) constructs an ambitious supernatural thriller reinforced by themes of family ties, racial identity and moral responsibility. The Good House in Sacajawea, Wash., has belonged to four generations of the Toussaint family, but current scion Angela Toussaint hopes to sell it. Originally the home of her beloved grandmere Marie, who used vodou to heal the sick, the house has dispensed mostly pain to Angela, including the suicide of her mother when she was a child and the death of her son, Corey, who shot himself in the basement with a gun belonging to his father, Tariq. Angela's planned final visit dovetails with tragic incidents in town suggesting that a malignant force linked to the house is revving up. Then she discovers that Corey stumbled upon Marie's magic tools, and that, in a forgotten incident, Marie abused her healing powers to avenge an act of racism. Meanwhile, Tariq, who has become a demon incarnate under the house's influence, hastens to Washington for a showdown with his estranged wife. Due handles the potentially unwieldy elements of her novel with confidence, cross-cutting smoothly from past to present, introducing revelatory facts that alter the interpretation of earlier scenes and interjecting powerfully orchestrated moments of supernatural horror that sustain the tale's momentum. An ending that seems forced by an excess of sympathy for her characters is the only misstep in this haunting tale from a writer who grows better with each book.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
THE GOOD HOUSE is a Great Book!,
This review is from: The Good House: A Novel (Hardcover)
In THE GOOD HOUSE by Tananarive Due, Angela Toussaint inherits a house in Sacajawea, Washington from her Grandmother, Marie Toussaint, who had been a nurse, an herbalist, and a vodou priestess. Angela also inherits something else - a curse. This ultimately affects her son, her ex-husband, all her friends, and the town.I loved this book. It has a complex story structure; it traveled between time and character viewpoints. It had great characters. Due has a talent for making her characters real and for making you care about them. There were scary parts such as when the neighbor Leahy goes to collect herbs from Angela's land and the reader first encounters the thing full out. Due, in an afterword, notes that this book is not a book about voodoo, and that she wanted a religion based in the African-American experience. The book is about relationships and connections, there is the underlying theme of the connections between the living, the land, and the ancestors. I loved it. Putting aside all the hype, I have read three books by Tananarive Due, and I actually think she is the next Stephen King!
5.0 out of 5 stars
'Wish I Could Give it TWENTY STARS!,
By
This review is from: The Good House: A Novel (Hardcover)
When I see the name "Tananarive Due" on the dust cover, I have to read that which is contained within the book's pages. Having read five of her books, I leapt at the chance to be swept away by this superlative writer. And "The Good House" didn't disappoint me. Like her other literary creations, the female protagonist (Angela Toussaint) is forced to accept her mysterious past as she copes with the evil occurrences of her present. Due weaves an intense tale as all around Angela are dropping like flies and she seems powerless to stop until she realizes the power of her grandmother's ancient practices. That's when all "heck" breaks loose and she must confront the centuries-old demon bent on her destruction. Tananarive Due is destined to take her place among the great horror writers of this generation and I champion her cause immensely.
5.0 out of 5 stars
You Go Girl,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Good House: A Novel (Hardcover)
Ms. Due has done it again. The Good House is a very good read. I love the way she weaves her story slowly. She makes the climax of her story like a good movie. You are on the edge of your seat until the end. Some people have indicated they don's like the ending of the book. They think it was wrapped up to neatly (I won't say what happened in case you haven't read it). I think it is a cleaver way to end it and I really appreciated that there was not so much actual killing. I am not a true horror reader. However I like Ms. Due's work very much. I don't like Steven Kings or Dean Koontz. I like that Ms. Due present a very strong story. Usually a family involved. I hope she continued to write this way. You Go Girl!!!!!
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