Housekeeping (40th Anniversary Edition)

A Novel (Picador Modern Classics)

By: Marilynne Robinson

Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer

"[Narrator Therese] Plummer's talented performance is both illuminating and poignant." -- AudioFile Magazine

Winner of the Pen/Hemingway Award
Fortieth Anniversary Edition

This program includes a bonus conversation with the author.

A modern classic, Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping is the story of Ruth and her younger sister, Lucille, who grow up haphazardly, first under the care of their competent grandmother, then of two comically bumbling great-aunts, and finally of Sylvie, the eccentric and remote sister of their dead mother.

The family house is in the small town of Fingerbone on a glacial lake in the Far West, the same lake where their grandfather died in a spectacular train wreck and their mother drove off a cliff to her death. It is a town "chastened by an outsized landscape and extravagant weather, and chastened again by an awareness that the whole of human history had occurred elsewhere."

Ruth and Lucille's struggle toward adulthood beautifully illuminates the price of loss and survival, and the dangerous and deep undertow of transience.


A Macmillan Audio production from Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Critic reviews

<p>“So precise, so distilled, so beautiful that one doesn't want to miss any pleasure it might yield.” —<i>The New York Times Book Review</i><br><br><i>"</i>These tiny little titles are pocket-sized, shiny, and gorgeous. Featuring authors like Marilynne Robinson and Jeffery Eugenides, they're the kind of books you'll have to own the entire set of, because they're just that pretty — and it happens to be lovely that they fit in just about every bag you own. You can't be caught anywhere without a book, of course<i>." </i>— Julia Seales<i>, Bustle</i><br><br>"Our books today are the neatest little things you’ll see in the rest of 2015’s book-year: a set of Modern Classics from Picador Press, done up in a neat bow!" — <i>Open Letters Monthly</i></p>

A breathy monotonous reader

I really tried, but I couldn’t pay attention or follow the story because the reader was without any distinction or cadence in anything she described.

I appreciated it, but I didn’t like it

The writing is gorgeous, the imagery is amazing, and the symbolism is what elevates it to literary fiction. I’m not sorry I read it, but the meandering plot was frustrating, and the resolution was not what I was hoping for.

The narrator’s voice is perfect, but she had a few very annoying mispronunciations, including “CAT-sup” instead of ketchup. Who in the world says “catsup,” even if that spelling is used.

Magical and poignant vivid memoir.

This intriguing memoir is the true and inspiring story of a girl who grew up on a chicken farm in rural New Jersey. The narrator (who is the author) is the child of struggling, immigrant Holocaust survivors. The story is told through very compelling vignettes in which the author views her child self, re-living formative experiences. Usually, I think it's a mistake when an author reads their own work on Audible. But in this case, Tuzman’s childlike and confident voice is the perfect vehicle for this visionary narration. The author's eloquent revelations of beauty and grace provide a redeeming, lucid contrast to the difficulties described. This story shines as a vivid recollection of childhood experiences, which grew into the author's unique and stirring spiritual path. It will appeal to anyone who appreciates aspirational accounts about overcoming adversity. Yet more than that, I highly recommend it for its compelling narrative, depth of insight and magical vision to steer a guiding path through troubled times.

Narrator reads too fast

For me, the narrator read too fast, as if she was in a hurry to get to the end. In doing so, she diminishes the allegorical power of the lake and river, and the deliciousness of language, of the woods and flowers and birds, sky and water.

Elegant, haunting

To my delight, the audio version is a wonderful accompaniment to the novel. Glorious distilled prose tells the story of Ruthie, Lucille and their aunt, Silvie. While set in the last century in an austere and rugged setting, the threads of loss and heritage and resilience are vibrant today. Beautiful.