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.
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