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Marcia C. (Rancho Palos Verdes, CA)
Enjoyed it immensely
I am grateful to BookBrowse and to Berkeley Publishing Group for giving me an advanced reader's copy of a fabulous new book by first time novelist Colleen Hubbard entitled Housebreaking. The book is scheduled for publication in April 2O22. I enjoyed it immensely, despite the fact that few of it's characters have many redeeming qualities.
The protagonist is a young, headstrong, teenage girl who's parents have died and who has few friends except for the gay male friends of her late father. The only surviving family she has is her late mother's brother and his 3 sons, all of whom she detests, and his wife, whom she barely tolerates. She drifts from job to job and has no assets, until she learns that her mother's dilapidated, old house, in which she grew up and that which she inherited, is the only obstacle to her uncle's plan to subdivide the land upon which it sits and build a housing complex. To spite her uncle , she proposes to accept less money for the house in exchange for a small piece of land that isn't buildable and time to demolish the house herself.
She immediately sets to work dismantling the house piece by piece and dragging the pieces across a frozen pond to her newly acquired patch of land. Although she prefers solitude and rejects most people with whom she is forced to interact during this time, she finds that she has made a genuine friend in the end.
Courtenay B. (Ivor, VA)
The writing is so good, the reading is effortless!
Fast-paced, entertaining, and impossible to put down, a book so well written you simply glide through the chapters. As a reader, you cannot help but eagerly and vicariously explore all the heroine's experiences willingly. We are her. She is us. And we are invested in seeing our main character succeed. We are not voyeurs but, participants in the book. I was gripped from beginning to end. Superbly written!
Sara_S
A Worthy Book Club Pick....
Our "twenty-something" protagonist, 'Del,' finding herself in desperate circumstances after a series of losses - gets a call from a New England cousin which sets in motion an opportunity for her to look into her one remaining asset - her much neglected family home left to her by her long-deceased, divorced mother. She must make some decisions about a possible sale of the land beneath it to her mother's brother whose family's construction firm will roll it into a lucrative development.
Without giving away the plot, suffice it to say, this is literary fiction at its finest. Relationships are explored, characters are defined, and its rich, often humorous dialogue places this as a worthy book club pick. I read all 300-some-odd pages in one fell swoop, and rejoiced in it - board by board, stone by stone. Colleen Hubbard has written a masterpiece.
Carol_F
Strangely Good
Del sets out on the improbable job of tearing down her run-down family home piece by piece simply so that her uncle cannot bulldoze it as it stands. I found that the cast of unusual characters were so oddly believable that they became unforgettable. A compelling look at unexpected friendships, self determination and perseverance.
Kathleen W. (Cuyler, NY)
Highly Recommend
I must admit that I began this book expecting to be disappointed in its quality of writing and content; several recent books by longtime favorite authors have been letdowns and I was prepared to be underwhelmed. How wrong I was! Colleen Hubbard has gifted her readers with a compelling, complex protagonist in Del and fully fleshed out secondary characters (both living and deceased). Her settings, particularly the small town where most of the story takes place, ring true to me as someone born in the early 1960s who grew up in the country outside a small town. Del is a complex, angry young woman who often surprised me in unexpected ways, as did many of the people surrounding her. This novel is a rewarding read and you may find it as hard to put down as I did.
Karen S. (Allston, MA)
Classic New England and believably preposterous
My response to this overall quite enjoyable book includes an appreciation for the storytelling, and some reservations about the writing. I love it when an author can make me suspend belief and tell a story where the preposterous is believable enough. In the author's "behind the book" notes she explains her own story and why the setting in New England was quite real to her. The main character, Del, and her various friends/allies are engaging and complex.
At times I found the writing a bit over-determined when writing snarkily about certain antagonists, and the ending seemed a bit abrupt to me. Playing out the end for a story that carried me so easily would have improved the book for me. I will definitely recommend this to others, especially those in the mood for a triumph of spirit over adversity that is not maudlin.
Dominique G. (Plano, TX)
This was a treat!
The writing is assured and much attention is given to the characters and description. I was rooting for Del all the way, holding my breath at times wondering how I would feel living in my old home in the midst of dismantling, how would I handle this or that. Colleen Hubbard somehow managed to make Del's story so real – despite some really insane moves in my opinion – that I was running a parallel scenario on how real it sounded to me. It's a book and a story whose main character gets a hold of you and doesn't let go. I could not relate to her living conditions and some of her choices and yet somehow it made sense for her. It's one of those books that when you read about the cold peeking and the snow blowing you feel yourself freezing and you shiver inside. Del sets her own course, braves obstacles and we are lucky as readers to get an inside peek of her while the people in her life are held at a distance. Highly recommend! I can't wait to read what Colleen Hubbard writes next.
Vivian_H
Deconstructing Sorrow
Housebreaking is the story of Adela 'Del' who has inherited the dilapidated family home after the death of her father. She returns to her hometown and makes a deal with her uncle, which requires her to dismantle the house. To me this is the story of fractured families, loneliness, determination and ultimately the triumph of the human spirit. The book also illustrates why so many young people leave the small towns today because there are no jobs, little opportunity, the need to please family and too often 'settling' rather than taking a chance in the unknown.
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