Helpful Score: 4
A multi-generational saga centered around the semi-dysfunctional Michelson family. Dolly, a 1950's housewife, comes to town and falls in love with their vacant house. She begins to clean it and enters into the lives of the Michelsons. The narrative reaches as far back as the 1890's and as far forward as the 1950's and covers many generations. The book is as much a statement about the power of conformity and the pressures of familial life as it is a reflection on the limitations of a woman's role in marriage. In this sense, the book works.
My problems with the book were more related to the writing than the content. Huge chunks of narration violate the old "show, don't tell" rule of writing. And at 500 + pages, this book is a doorstop. At page 250, I was scratching my head and asking myself, "Why has it taken so long to move the story so little?" This is a book I had to encourage myself to finish.
My problems with the book were more related to the writing than the content. Huge chunks of narration violate the old "show, don't tell" rule of writing. And at 500 + pages, this book is a doorstop. At page 250, I was scratching my head and asking myself, "Why has it taken so long to move the story so little?" This is a book I had to encourage myself to finish.
Helpful Score: 3
This book has it all: history, romance, family dynamics, scenic descriptions. I loved the excerpts from the 1930's - 1950's ladies magazines and articles that started the chapters regarding the main character, Dolly. It really helped me understand the society she was living in at that time, and in turn her actions. The author includes so many little details that paint the picture of the decades she's writing about. Really well done.
Helpful Score: 2
Loved this book. Baker is a talented writer & I look forward to more of her. This novel follows a 1950's era housewife struggling with her new marriage and life in a new town. She falls in love with an abandoned house in the neighborhood and learns about the owners and their scandals/secrets through stories of other housewives. Very detailed and rich.
Helpful Score: 1
At the beginning, I liked the story. But as the main character, Dolly, got entranced with the big beautiful house, JJ (war hero and drunk), and the Mickelson family and their past, so did I. After that, I hated putting down the book. The ending let me down though and technically left open the door for a sequel. Overall, there was one interesting question that lingered with me as it traveled through the 1917-1950, was it the family or the critical eyes of the town (society) that was the problem?
Helpful Score: 1
This book has it all: history, romance, family dynamics, scenic descriptions. I loved the excerpts from the 1930's - 1950's ladies magazines and articles that started the chapters regarding the main character, Dolly. It really helped me understand the society she was living in at that time, and in turn her actions. The author includes so many little details that paint the picture of the decades she's writing about. Really well done.
When a young bride moves to a small Wisconsin town in the 1950s, she becomes obsessed with the vacant mansion that once belonged to the town's most prominent family.
Baker uses the character's fascination with the house to tell the story of its inhabitants from 1897, when another young bride arrived on the scene, moving through the generations as they grow up and deal with two world wars, the family's changing fortunes, and the restrictive view of women prevalent in the era.
Using quotes pulled from actual women's magazines, cookbooks, and marriage-advice manuals of the era, Baker paints a quaint and almost laughable picture of the advice being peddled to 50's women; yet a careful reading has to bring up the question of whether all that much has changed. Yes, women have made advances in legal equality and wage equality (sometimes in a two steps forward, one step backward pattern), but many still look outside themselves for approval or direction. Is today's young woman, struggling to advance her career, nurture her personal relationships, and rear her children in the effortless way presented by the media really any better off than the 1950s housewife who was instructed to always and only put her husband's wishes first? Is wanting a career but being told you can't have one any more stressful than being told you must have a career when you would prefer to take the Mommy Track?
Most of Baker's female characters manage to find a balance (though that balance is not the same for all of them, nor does it arrive at the same point in each one's life). Meanwhile, most of the men in the book seem to have a bit of difficulty keeping it in their pants. There's plenty of fence-jumping, unwise hookups, and rash decisions to complicate the already-Byzantine relationships set out over half a century.
It's an interesting read for all of that, even if this reader particularly wanted to smack a couple of the male characters upside the head, and occasionally became a bit impatient at the number of love-at-first-sight romances folded into the book's 500+ pages. (Hint: Some of them turn out better than others.)
Baker uses the character's fascination with the house to tell the story of its inhabitants from 1897, when another young bride arrived on the scene, moving through the generations as they grow up and deal with two world wars, the family's changing fortunes, and the restrictive view of women prevalent in the era.
Using quotes pulled from actual women's magazines, cookbooks, and marriage-advice manuals of the era, Baker paints a quaint and almost laughable picture of the advice being peddled to 50's women; yet a careful reading has to bring up the question of whether all that much has changed. Yes, women have made advances in legal equality and wage equality (sometimes in a two steps forward, one step backward pattern), but many still look outside themselves for approval or direction. Is today's young woman, struggling to advance her career, nurture her personal relationships, and rear her children in the effortless way presented by the media really any better off than the 1950s housewife who was instructed to always and only put her husband's wishes first? Is wanting a career but being told you can't have one any more stressful than being told you must have a career when you would prefer to take the Mommy Track?
Most of Baker's female characters manage to find a balance (though that balance is not the same for all of them, nor does it arrive at the same point in each one's life). Meanwhile, most of the men in the book seem to have a bit of difficulty keeping it in their pants. There's plenty of fence-jumping, unwise hookups, and rash decisions to complicate the already-Byzantine relationships set out over half a century.
It's an interesting read for all of that, even if this reader particularly wanted to smack a couple of the male characters upside the head, and occasionally became a bit impatient at the number of love-at-first-sight romances folded into the book's 500+ pages. (Hint: Some of them turn out better than others.)
I can't believe I slogged through this whole book. I found it to be boring, written in a sort of plodding way that just did not compel me to read on. But I did. I guess the story was somewhat original, but all of the relationships seemed predictable and there were no surprises. I would not recommend this book.
I really did love this book. It is the type of book that I prefer. I love books that go back and forth between generations, an old house full of memories, and characters that you fall in love with! My one complaint was that until about half way through the book, I was VERY confused about who was who, what time period we were in, who was related in what way...etc. Once you catch on about half way through, that gets a little easier. The whole family tree and dynamics had me confused the whole first half though. I was constantly confusing what generations Jinny, Elissa, and Henry were in. Was their dad Jack of John? BUT once you get the hang of that...you will love it! Loved the mystery. Loved the love stories, and the reality of "the grass is always greener." I hope she writes many more!!
Keeping the House by Ellen Baker is about a newlywed who moves into a new town where her husband opens a car dealership with an Army buddy in 1950. Dolly beings her married life there and starts to make friends while trying to please her husband, which is not always so easy. Byron is a veteran of WWII who continues to build a wall around him that Dolly has a difficult time penetrating. With the help of popular magazines such as the Ladies' Home Journal, she strives to make her marriage work with tips like: "Take an interest in his appearance. Keeping his clothes in order is your job; encouraging him to look his best and admiring him when he does should be your pleasure." As amusing as this suggestion may be, it was sound and serious advice for the times, but it is still not quite doing the job in making their marriage work. As Dolly becomes more disillusioned with her husband, she also becomes more intrigued with the big abandoned home in town. She dreams of living in it and fixing it up'a true HGTV woman before her time. It becomes an obsession with her. Through the Ladies' Aid quilting group she attempts to learn more about generations of Mickelsons who lived in the grand home since the late 1800s. The book meanders back and forth through the Mickelsons' family history as well as Dolly's current life. I found the book to be an interesting trip back in time and a fun read. I enjoyed Dolly's enthusiasm both in her marriage and her mansion mania. My book club liked it, too. Read other reviews at http://readinginthegarden.blogspot.com
