Monday, May 22, 2006

Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson

(May 30) Hmm. I got this out of the library because I liked Gilead so much and because several reviews of Gilead harked back reverently to the predecessor, Housekeeping, as an amazing book. My expectations were very high, and they were not met at all, at all, at all. This is one of those books in which semi-insane people float around lyrically, occasionally noticing details of their environments. Because what they do is so aimless, it’s hard to bond with such characters. I don’t find myself looking forward to “what will happen next” -- it could be anything (shrug) . The word “cold” must appear on every page.

-- John Everett Millais, Ophelia


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Oh, that's funny! It was not one of my favourite reads, although I didn't entirely hate it. Still, upon finishing 'Housekeeping' and shortly thereafter finding that I could not bring myself to finish the highly acclaimed 'Anil's Ghost,' I was beginning to think that I could not connect to modern writing and that I should just retreat to the classics. Your comments give me courage not to retreat too far back in time, or for too long. =)