The Ethereal Beauty of Housekeeping

The Read Across Lawrence book, Housekeeping, by Marilynne Robinson, seems like a strange pick. Written in 1980, it is not current fiction and is a little obscure.  However, the publishing date is unimportant as events in the book are ambiguous. The narrator relates to experiences as if describing a dream or fantasy. Place and time era are muddled and nailing down facts about people are elusive.

This intangible quality makes the book haunting, including description of memory and what memory means, and the inside and outside worlds of both character and physical environments.

Housekeeping has been on 100 greatest novels of all time lists including the Guardian Unlimited and Time.  We recommend this short and thoughtful read.

Photo by Pat Connor