Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson

The impression this book left me with is a mixture of confusion and disgust. Proclaimed as "brilliant and compelling" it is at the very most verbose in description of landscape and the author's odd thoughts on life.

The story is based around two sisters whose grandfather and mother both died tragic deaths in the lake near the small town they live in. All their lives they live in one house and the relatives take turns caring for them and dying.

Ruth is the youngest sister and the story is seen through her vision and feelings, her personality is hindered by the hints of odd behavior.

Lucille is the eldest she is not in the picture for very long because she moves into a spare bedroom of a teacher so as to escape the down falling of her family.

Sylvie is the last of their relatives, an aunt who has seen many roads and seems to be more at home sleeping on a park bench then in the house caring for the girls.

The town, represented by the sheriff, deems Sylvie unworthy of caring for Ruth and there is to be a court hearing, so Sylvie and Ruth decide to burn the house down and fake their own deaths by running away.

The storyline is strange and unclear, I had no idea where this was going but kept reading thinking that the "coming of age" plot was going to make a point.

And then I got to chapter 10. Here the story of Cain and Abel is used to point out that God might have created Man but He wasn't quite sure what He was doing and kept realizing along the way that some of the laws He came up with had more consequences then He thought. Cain is portrayed in such a way that we are supposed to blame God for becoming indignant over slight things and thus Cain killed his brother, giving the earth a voice. And because of this "second creation" of people God had to kill them with water to purge the earth making all water taste of human sorrow.
God is described as a very faulty creator and ruler, reminiscent of Greek mythology. I am repulsed by this weak way of asserting God as fallible, as in any argument against God it is stupid and inane, contradictions pop up in every turn of the page; she claims that God created the world but wasn't able to foresee that His creation wouldn't be perfect. That Jesus healed and performed miracles but died a young and tragic death. His resurrection is passed over as a figment of loved ones, His friends only "felt" his presence because their memories of Him were so poignant.

Now how this ties into the whole story I have no idea. Was she trying to tell us that the dead walk among us as long as we remember them? I don't think it's anything so deep. I think that the author has a lot of ideas and thoughts but lacks the creativity to put them into a book form in an understandable manner.

Sadly, I cannot say that it ended well, Sylvie and Ruth escape and spend the rest of their days wandering around in oblivion, there is an allusion to rape and an unwanted pregnancy but it does nothing to the story.

The aftertaste of this book is dreary and sad. There is no hope for a brighter day, no beauty of life, no laughter with the family you have, just dull and dreary life that gives nothing but heartache.

I am thankful for the reading of this book because it made me sit down and write out my thoughts but I wouldn’t recommend it and I would not own it.

PS I have absolutely no idea why it is titled "Housekeeping"