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Marilynne Robinson

Housekeeping Paperback – July 19 2004

by Marilynne Robinson (Author)

1,132 ratings

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THIS HIGHLY ACCLAIMED and award-winning novel is the story of two orphans: Ruth and her younger sister, Lucille, growing up haphazardly under the care of various bumbling relatives. The two girls finally end up in a small town nestled next to a glacial lake in Idaho, under the guardianship of Sylvie, their odd and rather remote aunt. Ruth’s and Lucille’s struggle to define themselves as women beautifully illuminates the price of loss and survival, and the dangerous undertow of transience. Written in Robinson’s vibrantly poetic prose, Housekeeping reaches the orphan in all of us and transforms everyday life into a sacred experience.

PRAISE FOR HOUSEKEEPING
“Brilliantly portrays the impermanence of all things, especially beauty and happiness.” Time

“So precise, so distilled, so beautiful that one doesn’t want to miss any pleasure it might yield.”The New York Times Book Review

“Extraordinary.... Marilynne Robinson uses language so exquisitely.... Every sentence [is]made just right.... Housekeeping proves that fine fiction is still being written.”
The Washington Post Book World

“I found myself reading slowly, then more slowly—this is not a novel to be hurried through, for every sentence is a delight.” Doris Lessing

Print length

224 pages
Language

English
Publisher

HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date

July 19 2004
Dimensions

13.49 x 1.42 x 20.32 cm
ISBN-10

0006393748
ISBN-13

978-0006393740
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Product description

About the Author

MARILYNNE ROBINSON is the recipient of a 2012 National Humanities Medal, awarded by President Barack Obama, for “her grace and intelligence in writing.” In 2013 she was awarded South Korea’s Park Kyong-ni Prize for her contribution to international literature. She is the author of Lila, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and a finalist for the National Book Award; Gilead, winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award; and Home, winner of the Orange Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and a finalist for the National Book Award. Her first novel, Housekeeping, won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award. Robinson’s non-fiction books include The Givenness of Things, When I Was a Child I Read Books, Absence of Mind, The Death of Adam, and Mother Country, which was nominated for a National Book Award. She lives in Iowa City, where she taught at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop for twenty-five years.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ HarperCollins Publishers (July 19 2004)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0006393748
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0006393740
Item weight ‏ : ‎ 181 g
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 13.49 x 1.42 x 20.32 cm

Best Sellers Rank: #42,765 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #2,587 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
1,132 ratings

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Marilynne Robinson

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Marilynne Robinson is the author of the bestselling novels "Lila," "Home" (winner of the Orange Prize), "Gilead" (winner of the Pulitzer Prize), and "Housekeeping" (winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award).

She has also written four books of nonfiction, "When I Was a Child I Read Books," "Absence of Mind," "Mother Country" and "The Death of Adam." She teaches at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

She has been given honorary degrees from Brown University, the University of the South, Holy Cross, Notre Dame, Amherst, Skidmore, and Oxford University. She was also elected a fellow of Mansfield College, Oxford University.

Customer reviews

5 star		55%
4 star		20%
3 star		12%
2 star		7%
1 star		7%

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Top reviews from Canada

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Tom Gray

Windows and Reflections

Reviewed in Canada on March 11, 2019

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Housekeeping is a remarkable book both for the beauty of its language and for the extended metaphor of the house as the representation of human relationships. The novel’s language is poetic in that it is sparse and evocative. The language evokes the character of the principal character Ruth as she attempts to understand the people around her. The novel is close because Ruth is close and isolated within her relationships. The title ‘Housekeeping’ evokes these intimate relationships. The house metaphor is extended to the windows which provide a viewpoint form both within and without the house. The window can both allow light to pass and to reflect light back to the source. The metaphor casts the perception of people within a close relationship. They live within that relationship and looking out from it they see the world only in terms of that relationship. Thus, on a dark night the windows of a house do not allow the inhabitants to see out but to see their own lives reflected to them. The windows also those outside to see within the lighted house but not to enter it

2 people found this helpful

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Quiet Mind

Each sentence of this novel is perfect.

Reviewed in Canada on December 11, 2018

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I found myself highlighting and re-reading many of the sentences in this book for the sheer pleasure of the words and meanings. Beautifully written and highly recommend for the experienced reader.

One person found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Housekeeping

Reviewed in Canada on February 11, 2021

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I read the book. I was fascinated by the title as Housekeeping seems such a mundane thing to do. Yet, we cant live without it, can we. We need to put our house in order. In this story, the house is broken, the relationships tenuous and fractured. Its a good read.

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Jeanie

Knockout start to finish - don't miss it.

Reviewed in Canada on July 14, 2017

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Glorious writing, excellent characterization. Loved it from start to finish. Descriptive writing at its very best. I will never look at a homeless person in the same way again. So pleased to have discovered this author - can't wait to read Gilead and Home.

Reviewed in Canada on March 10, 2020

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Received as described and on time.

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Howard

Personal preferences in evidence

Reviewed in Canada on May 11, 2015

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Both Housekeeping & Lila were thought to be well constructed with good story lines. The lower rating is due to regular scripture references which negated the overall enjoyment of the books. Others may of course disagree.

2 people found this helpful

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Charlene D. Jones

Best Read in a Long Time

Reviewed in Canada on January 3, 2016

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Nothing to add to the enormous and rightly done recognition of Marilyn Robinson's elite talent except to say thank you. Here is a book worthy of every moment spent and then some.

Reviewed in Canada on May 25, 2019

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Very good

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Top reviews from other countries

Bobbie

Best read when your life is overcrowded rather than empty

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 20, 2021

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In the small, desolate, lakeside town of Fingerbone, northwest America, two orphaned sisters find themselves in the care of their remote and enigmatic aunt.
I enjoyed this a lot in 2007, but re-reading it now as a book-group choice, I found it a good example of how the same book can captivate at one time and not at another. It is beautifully written, but its tone and mindset are precisely those I am currently taking pains to hold at bay. In busy, crowded times of social noise and accompanying obligations and stresses, the protagonist’s dreamy, at times hallucinatory, passive withdrawal into silence, nostalgia, mystical thinking and eventual vagrancy would be soothing and mesmerising. In my current extended self-isolation from the pandemic, it actually lowered my mood, I skimmed rather than savoured, and turned the last page with relief.
Don’t let me put you off. It is a beautiful book. Just choose your psychological moment to read it 

13 people found this helpful

Petie

Lyrical and beautiful book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 29, 2020

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What a beautiful story, the descriptions of the lake, mountains and small town are perfect. A refreshing change to read a book with a strong female cast. The male characters tended to be relevant by their absence – fathers, grandfathers and husbands. Take your time to read and absorb the atmosphere. This is a book about mental health and about how you chose to live your life. Yes it is sad in parts but also very accepting. The author did not succumb to the temptation to sensationalise the very simple plot which in my opinion made it even more powerful. Highly recommend.

7 people found this helpful

Anne

Compelling but strange

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 29, 2017

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Lucille and Ruth, who is the narrator of this novel, have been orphaned and are being cared for haphazardly by various female members of their family when their aunt Sylvie, who is a drifter, becomes their carer. The live together in the family home in the town of Fingerbone which is almost surrounded by water - water has taken the lives of previous family members. Sylvie is not a born housekeeper or guardian and the two sisters grow up strangely, fitting in nowhere - one sister takes to this way of life and the other finds it more difficult and finds her own way forward.

This is a strange but compelling book. It is full of images of water and eventually the water that killed the family members will try and overcome this little family too. The book is a little detached from reality and everything just a bit exaggerated but we can also see and understand that the women in this family are trying to live their own lives away from their traditional roles but that it isn't always easy. The tensions between the different ways of living are interesting and I am absolutely sure that I would not like to live as the sisters do with Sylvie yet I understand that this may be comfortable for her and them.

It is difficult to describe this book because the key to it is the writing which is elegant and clever. I am also not entirely sure what the message is, if any, that the author is putting across unless it is that we must all do our own thing and what way of life suits us best. Nevertheless I very much enjoyed this book and maybe a future rereading will reveal more of the author's purpose to me.

12 people found this helpful

K. Storch

A long essay on effects of abandonment

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 27, 2021

Verified Purchase

It was, of course , about more than abandonment but rightly or wrongly, that was the theme that stood out for me in this novel.
Marilynne Robinson is such a gifted, talented and insightful writer whose books I do, for the most part, thoroughly enjoy and appreciate her ability to draw a story out.
I did find it hard though, at times, to persevere with this book. It just seemed to go on and on for far too long before getting to what it seemingly was setting out to express on a number of occasions throughout the book.
I am glad I persevered though because of the after effect of having read it. Which is often the way with her writings.
It is quite a harrowing tale really of events which take place down the line of one family, all involving some form of abandonment of being left behind through an accidental or suicidal death by a parent or a child and the long term effects that this has on different members of the family through the years.

A slow burn but worth it in the end of you can persevere.

One person found this helpful

JennaK

Exquisite prose, transcendent themes, nuanced narrative

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2018

Verified Purchase

This clearly isn't to everyone's taste (having read some of the 1-star reviews) but I have to say that it is one of the most exquisite and satisfying reads in a long time (and it was her first novel!). It needs space and focus to get the most out of it - and it is not a light read. But it brings its main characters (including the locality) to intense life, and many of the descriptive passages still resonate in my mind. Her writing style is like nothing I have come across before - technically skillful and "otherworldly".

6 people found this helpful

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Follow the Author

Housekeeping Paperback – July 19 2004

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Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Product description

About the Author

Product details

What other items do customers buy after viewing this item?

About the author

Marilynne Robinson

Customer reviews

Top reviews from Canada

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Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

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