Birthday Book Recs 25/50 : Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
Birthday Book Recs: 25/50
Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson
OK, we all know that Marilynne Robinson is a national treasure, and I don’t know if this fate was cemented before or after Obama started singing her praises (I’d like to think before), but have you read her first novel??? I love the Gilead novels (although I haven’t yet read Jack), but Housekeeping — which was a Pulitzer finalist in 1980 — is my favorite. At the novel’s center is an exploration of what it means to reject one lifestyle for a more socially acceptable one after two sisters are orphaned in a dramatic fashion and must navigate shuttling between aunts — one of whom is viewed as “eccentric.” The idea of “appearance” and “being seen” saturates this carefully worded book; Robinson’s language and construction are exquisite. (I wrote about Housekeeping at length here.)
Two fun factoids:
1) Housekeeping was actually a wedding gift from a wayback friend who had taken a class with Robinson at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and has gone on to become a wildly successful author. She had already given us a setting of flatware but later lamented that this was too impersonal and sent us a couple of books. Haha. (Hi dear old friend…not sure if you’ll see this, but look, we still have this! We still have the forks and stuff too!)
2) In my haste to get all these books shelved before Thanksgiving, I guess I sandwiched Housekeeping between the two books that were the selected reads from the inaugural MetroWest Readers Fest. In 2021, I was delighted to have Jennifer De Leon participate as we read White Space: Essays on Culture, Race, & Writing (essays, obviously) and Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From (YA). Oh, Jenn was also a reader/panelist at my first Book Covers event, which btw, was something I just totally blindly decided to make happen — followed then by a mad quest to find interesting people. (Giving myself a little pat on the back for my gumption here 😂) Jenn’s the best!
You can find all my 50th Birthday Book Recommendations HERE.
originally published on instagram