All the Houses: A Novel, by Karen Olsson
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All the Houses: A Novel, by Karen Olsson
Free Ebook All the Houses: A Novel, by Karen Olsson
A bittersweet, biting, sharply observed family drama from the author of WaterlooAfter her father has a heart attack and subsequent surgery, Helen Atherton returns to her hometown of Washington, D.C., to help take care of him and, perhaps more honestly, herself. She's been living in Los Angeles, trying to work in Hollywood, slowly spiraling into a depression fueled by hours spent watching C-SPAN-her obsession with politics a holdover from a childhood interrupted by her father's involvement in the Iran-Contra scandal. "I don't know whether to think of him as a coconspirator or a complicit bystander or just someone who was in the wrong place at the wrong time." Though the rest of the world has forgotten that scandal, the Atherton family never quite recovered. While living with her father in her childhood home, Helen tries to piece together the political moves that pulled her family apart.All the Houses is, at its heart, a father-daughter story. With razor-sharp prose, an alluring objectivity, and a dry sense of humor, Karen Olsson writes about the shape-shifting of our family relationships when outside forces work their way in-how Washington turns people into unnatural versions of themselves, how problematic and overbearing sisters can be, and how familial nostalgia that sets in during early adulthood can prove counterproductive to actually becoming an adult.
All the Houses: A Novel, by Karen Olsson- Amazon Sales Rank: #451844 in Books
- Published on: 2015-11-03
- Released on: 2015-11-03
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.46" h x 1.47" w x 5.72" l, 1.00 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 416 pages
Review
For readers anywhere, All the Houses offers a rich exploration of the stubborn strangeness of parents and siblings, but for Washingtonians, the book also provides the uncanny pleasure of seeing our town’s mores examined with precision and sensitivity . . . With its wry humor and gentle insights into the way we draw away from one another at exactly the wrong time, All the Houses is more than just an illuminating story about the nameless victims of political scandal. It’s a story about how our insecurities encourage us to smother our affections ― and a reminder that we’re running out of time to make amends. ―Ron Charles, The Washington Post
"In [All the Houses] Olsson never overplays her hand ― while there's plenty of emotional tension, she never succumbs to melodrama; every character is remarkably real . . . All the Houses isn't really about Iran-Contra; it's about a family trying to piece itself together after being broken in a public way. Olsson handles her subjects gently; she's not afraid to show her characters' flaws, but she treats them all with a real sense of sympathy. And she writes with a clear eye that's free from sentimental nostalgia, even though nostalgia is, in a way, a central subject of the book. It's a funny, sweet and beautifully written novel about a young woman trying to make sense of both her family and her nation's history, which have become more intertwined for her than most people would be able to understand. Olsson makes a wonderful case for dealing with the past and trying to move on, even when it's painful. ―Michael Schaub, NPR
“Karen Olsson's All the Houses is as grand as it is intimate-an exquisite, precisely layered, and somehow almost magically suspenseful portrait of a family, a city, and a political culture that's impossible to tear away from.” ―Dinaw Mengestu, author of All Our Names
“A patriarch's health falters. A lost daughter returns, stepping back into the long shadow of political scandal that has eroded her family. This is the stage Karen Olsson sets in her magnificent second novel, and she explores questions of loyalty and culpability, of secrecy and identity, with delicious complexity and knife-sharp humor. All the Houses is a stunning portrait of a family forced to reckon with their public legacy and, most of all, their private selves.” ―Laura van den Berg, author of Find Me
“Written with wry humor, penetrating insight, and big-hearted sincerity, Karen Olsson's All the Houses is a wise, contemplative book about the stories that shape a childhood, the traumas that shape a family, and the politics that shape a nation. But it is also something much more: the extremely rare kind of novel whose characters are so true-so richly drawn, subtly nuanced, and intimately observed-that you start to feel that it isn't a book you are holding in your hands. It's a living thing.” ―Stefan Merrill Block, author of The Story of Forgetting and The Storm at the Door
"Politics and family may make strange bedfellows, but in the knowing and amusing novel All the Houses, Olsson makes them inseparable. Add another name alongside those writers who have so effectively made Washington a literary landscape." --Bruce Jacobs, Shelf Awareness
"In today's world of 15 minutes of fame, Olsson (Waterloo) illustrates how the public may forget history, but, nearly 20 years later, the fallout of a political disgrace continues to affect families. The strength of Olsson's novel is her subtle unveiling of a small circle of Washington fathers whose long hours working behind closed doors impact their wives, children, and themselves." --Library Journal
About the Author Karen Olsson is the author of the novel Waterloo. She has written about politics, science, and popular culture for magazines, including The New York Times Magazine and Texas Monthly, where she is a contributing editor. She is also a former editor of The Texas Observer. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., she now lives in Austin, Texas, with her family.
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Most helpful customer reviews
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful. And All These Nights, You Know, In All These Houses By prisrob "And all these nights, you know, in all these houses." Franz KafkaComing from a Washington, DC family where the patriarch was an assistant secretary in the State Department, Helen Atherton had the inside scoop on DC, or so she thought. Helen has returned to DC to check on her father after his cardiac surgery. She was also leaving LA after a breakdown of sorts. She found her father was doing well. He could pretty much take care of himself. He still lived in their big old home where she grew up. Tim Atherton had left his job in the State Department after the scandal in the Iran/Contra debacle. He had taken another job that paid him very well, and now he had retired. It is not stated, but referred that the scandal contributed to the divorce from Helen's mother.Helen's two sisters, Courtney and Maggie kept close tabs on their father. The relationship these girls had as children was disjointed. They loved each other but like their parents kept a distance and secrets were kept. As Helen settled in she discovered her interest in her father's involvement in the Iran/Contra affair had increased, she decided to write a book about these times. Her father had never discussed that time, she never really knew what occurred. Tim was reticent, so Helen researched this time on her own, spoke to everyone she could find, read books and started writing.At the same time the holidays approached, the family came together, the disappointments that expectations were not met, relationships renewed, quarrels between Courtney and Helen recurred, a new man enters Helen's life but seems to follow in the same old patterns. New neighbors come into Helen's life with issues of their own. Tim Atherton appears on a panel about politics and becomes agitated by the conversation. This does open an avenue where Helen can talk more openly with her father about his past. The people past and present who had some involvement in her father's life are open for discussion. A fascinating story evolves and intermingles with real life events.This is a book about relationships, father/daughter, sisters, friends and how life changes when outside issues forces change. The growth from child to adult can be so difficult, and often never materializes. The writing is superb, concise and sharp. This is a family story we can understand, good, loving people who came apart and were trying to put the pieces back together. This book will hold your attention, though I did find the move from present to past a little disjointing at times. A lot of first rate knowledge went into the Iran/Contra scandal and the people involved, it brought back a lot of memories of this time in our history.Recommended. prisrob 09-23-15
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. One Of The Best Books I Have Read This Year By Falkor ALL THE HOUSES is an excellently rendered novel. It is a book for those who love Washington D.C., politics and family drama. It is a coming of age novel of sorts though Helen, the heroine is in her thirties. This is very readable literary fiction that I highly recommend for its sense of time and place, sympathetic and real characters, universal themes and intriguing plot line.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful. A thoughtful book featuring interesting subject matter. By Ladybug Helen isn't getting anywhere in L.A. She's trying to write screenplays, but her ideas aren't great (even in her own opinion), and no one is interested in her work. Her personal life isn't exactly flourishing either, and she's been spending a lot of nights alone, falling asleep to C-SPAN. So when her dad gets sick, she decides to move back home to DC to help him out as much as she can. Over the next few months, she spends time trying to connect with him while simultaneously attempting to process certain important events from her childhood and teenage years.This is definitely one of those books that you have to mentally prepare yourself to read. At 400+ pages, All the Houses is long, thoughtful, and melancholy. It isn't that the subject matter is depressing--tedious maybe, at points, but not especially sad--it's more the overall tone of the book. Helen, the main character, is lost and ambivalent. She's often sullen, unmotivated, and restrained (though not in a dishonest way). Much of her behavior has to do with how her parents raised her: ever so politely and with plenty of emotional distance. She's a well-meaning, but aloof, main character who is trying very hard to give us everything she's got...without understanding that it's impossible to communicate to others what is going on when you yourself are walking through a haze.But if you, the reader, can will yourself into a relaxed state and commit to taking a slow and searching journey with Helen through her past, you will be rewarded! There is a lot I actually love about this book: the unique Iran-Contra subject matter, the complicated relationships between Helen and her sisters, and Helen's muted but still caring relationship with her father. I also appreciated where Olsson chose to take the story. The ending was very satisfying and complete, in my opinion.More importantly, the writing in here is really wonderful. For example:"He was telling me this, at last, and as he did I felt something in myself unlock, because it seemed to me that once he told me enough of the story, I would be released, finally, from needing to know it."Or, "[There is a] difference between people as we come to know them and people as the subjects of the stories they tell about themselves, which are not about the lives we see them living but about their most cherished departures from regular life."All the Houses isn't a book that flies by, but it is definitely interesting, reflective, and layered. It was like a nice long chat with a good and thoughtful friend. Once I mentally settled in for the long haul, I really enjoyed it.
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