A review by kell_xavi
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

This is a somber novel flush with strangeness. It is narrated by Ruthie, and begins with a story of her grandfather taking a train into Fingerbone and staying there, where her grandmother would raise four daughters alone, and the daughters would flee and some would return to wander through and leave parts of themselves behind. Two main themes are home and family, and how melancholy can pervade these both—the story takes place mainly in Fingerbone, between its train and its river, and often within the walls of the house Ruthie’s grandfather built. Both place and lineage hold tragedy, mental illness or neurodivergence creating spaces between people, silences, dissociative hazes, passivity or disinterest or simply desires for elsewhere and other people. 

Robinson writes in beautiful language that reads like clear water. Though some parts of this book are heavy, full of filth, discomfort and neglect that made me anxious and sad, the writing binds them together with crisp imagery, reflection on religion and memory, a sense of peace within the creeping fear. I look forward to reading more by her. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Suicide, Abandonment, Death, and Death of parent