The Hundred-Year House

Posted on 19 March 2017 by Rebecca Makkai

Meet the Devohrs Zee, a Marxist literary scholar who detests her parents wealth but nevertheless finds herself living in their carriage house Gracie, her mother, who claims she can tell your lot in life by looking at your teeth and Bruce, her step father, stockpiling supplies for the Y2K apocalypse and perpetually late for his tee time Then there s Violet Devohr, Zee s great grandmother, who they say took her own life somewhere in the vast house, and whose massive oil portrait still hangs in the dining room The Hundred Year House unfolds a generational saga in reverse, leading the reader back in time on a literary scavenger hunt as we seek to uncover the truth about these strange people and this mysterious house With intelligence and humor, a daring narrative approach, and a lovingly satirical voice, Rebecca Makkai has crafted an unforgettable novel about family, fate and the incredible surprises life can offer. Read The Hundred-Year House Author Rebecca Makkai – kino-fada.fr Zee wondered, in brief amazement, if it had all been true, if she d simply set things in motion But no, this was her own creation, her own monster She had willed this into being.I grudgingly have to admit that this book was brilliant.It is about a house that was built in 1900 and eventually became an artists colony...A good book from a clever writer which suffers from a sluggish last act and a rigidly conceived format Her characters are believable if occasionally detestable, her comedic tone is consistently on without coming across as frivolous, and she plays some interesting games with the house as character element seen in a lot of classic horror n la huuuuv drama novels from far and away, way back in stuffy dresses fancy hair times Unfortunately, as the book moves along its reverse chronological path A good book from a clever writer which suffers from a sluggish last act and a rigidly conceived format Her characters are believable if occasionally detestable, her comedic tone is consistently on without coming across as frivolous, and she plays some interesting games with the house as character element seen in a lot of classic horror n la huuuuv drama novels from far and away, way back in stuffy dresses fancy hair times Unfortunately, as the book moves along its reverse chronological path, the scenes get shorter and the characters less developed, resulting in ever decreasing tension and fewer invest in able plot points or people until before long you just want things to wrap up as quickly and painlessly as possible, preferably yesterday Most of the parts when Laurelfield was an arts colony were ...4.5 In a brilliant postmodern take on two classic genres, the country house novel and the ghost story, Makkai traces backwards the story of a Chicago area house, once an artists colony, throughout the twentieth century.The first thing you ll notice about this novel is that, like a crazy house, it s upside down That is it opens in 1999, that near contemporary storyline taking up about half the text follows it with sections set in 1955 and 1929 and finishes with a prologue set in 1900 4.5 In a brilliant postmodern take on two classic genres, the country house novel and the ghost story, Makkai traces backwards the story of a Chicago area house, once an a...I was very excited to receive an advanced galley of this book The early reviews called it dazzling and the premise sounded intriguing Indeed, it was creative, unique, and well structured, but I felt like something was missing Actually, a few things were missing WHAT WORKED The novel is broken up into parts that take place in 1999, 1955, 1929, and 1900, in that order It never revisits any of the later time frames it just keeps taking you back in time However, because of the author s cl I was very excited to receive an advanced galley of this book The early reviews called it dazzling and the premise sounded intriguing Indeed, it was creative, unique, and well structured, but I felt like something was missing Actually, a few things were missing WHAT WORKED The novel is broken up into parts that take place in 1999, 1955, 1929, and 1900, in that order It never revisits any of the later time frames it just keeps taking you back in time However, because of the author s clever and well thought out writing, you can con...My dearest Laurelfield,Your tale started out as a short story about male anorexia The author have no idea what the hell happened next, and neither do I, sorry to say The first woman, Violet Saville Devohr, to step over your threshold, understood the meaning of doors when she said to her husbandYou may shut me in, but I can shut you out There are two sides to every door, AugustusAnd then she proceeded to commit suicide by her own rules She defined the rest of your story as a paintin My dearest Laurelfield,Your tale started out as a short story about male anorexia The author have no idea what the hell happened next, and neither do I, sorry to say The first woman, Violet Saville Devohr, to step over your threshold, understood the meaning of doo...Review originally published at Learn This Phrase.The hundred year house is Laurelfield, a grand, English style manor house built in Illinois for the Devohrs, a family of eccentric, upper class Canadians Makkai s second novel tells the story of the house through its various incarnations a prison for an unhappy wife an artists colony the setting for an ultimately tragic tale involving swapped identities the backdrop for an affair that never was and a search for lost files that may not exi Review originally published at Learn This Phrase.The hundred year house is Laurelfield, a grand, English style manor house built in Illinois for the Devohrs, a family of eccentric, upper class Canadians Makkai s second novel tells the story of the house through its various incarnations a prison for an unhappy wife an artists colony the setting for an ultim...Rod Stewart once sang, The first cut is the deepest, and although Makkai doesn t channel Rod Stewart in her intrepid, ambitious, darkly witty and astringent second book, that line has been embedded in me since I closed the last page The deep cut goes back almost 100 years, to 1900, but you have to get backwards via forward progression of pages Makkai did a bold and brave thing ... I received an arc copy of this book from Goodreads in exchange for an honest review This was my first GR Giveaway win and I had read a lot of great reviews so I was super excited to read it Let s just say that my anticipation was not rewarded Thank you Firstreads for the opportunity Synopsis As the name implies, this novel is about a one hundred year old house, Laur...3.5 This was a very slow starter for me, but there was just enough intrigue and strange occurrences happening to keep one reading The book starts in the present, in 1999 just before the supposed Y2K Two couple re living in the coach house and Grace and he hubby live in the house shepherded from her mother At one time an artist s colony the house has seen many deaths of those that have stayed there.This novel does in fact go backwards, though the first ...This book might be a nod to The Haunting of Hill House Laurelfield has been used intermittently as an artist colony And I think there s a ghost The story is told in reverse, so we start with the current day which is the end of 1999 and the Y2K stuff was moderately entertaining, but so dated, perhaps it s just too soon to be a good joke yet The writing was good, the idea was solid, the structure was interesting so why only generously 2.5 stars The characters They were AWFUL ther This book might be a nod to The Haunting of Hill House Laurelfield has been used intermittently as an artist colony And I think there s a ghost The story is told in reverse, so we start with the current day whic...

19 March 2017

Rebecca Makkai