Unsheltered
Ratings22
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings22
Average rating3.8
Willa Knox has always prided herself on being the embodiment of responsibility for her family. Which is why it's so unnerving that she's arrived at middle age with nothing to show for her hard work and dedication but a stack of unpaid bills and an inherited brick home in Vineland, New Jersey, that is literally falling apart. The magazine where she worked has folded, and the college where her husband had tenure has closed. The dilapidated house is also home to her ailing and cantankerous Greek father-in-law and her two grown children: her stubborn, free-spirited daughter, Tig, and her dutiful debt-ridden, ivy educated son, Zeke, who has arrived with his unplanned baby in the wake of a life-shattering development. In an act of desperation, Willa begins to investigate the history of her home, hoping that the local historical preservation society might take an interest and provide funding for its direly needed repairs. Through her research into Vineland's past and its creation as a Utopian community, she discovers a kindred spirit from the 1880s, Thatcher Greenwood.
Reviews with the most likes.
Any time an author can keep me interested in both perspectives in a dual perspective story, I feel they deserve 4 stars. While this was heavy-handed and really spoon feeds you, I enjoyed the writing style a lot and mainly remember it for that. I want to check out more from this author.
Every time I start reading a book I love I find myself slowing down, setting the book down in the middle of a chapter, rereading a page or two, going back and reading an earlier chapter again—-doing anything, in short, in order to prolong the experience, to avoid the inevitable last page.
That's how I felt about Unsheltered.
There is so much to admire about this book. The structure of the novel is brilliantly constructed. Kingsolver tells two stories, one in present day, and one just after the Civil War, both set in the same location. In both stories, the people living in the house find that at the same time their lives are collapsing around them, their house is also collapsing. Both sets of characters live in times in which rational thought, scientific thought, faces off against thought weakly supported yet widely believed, and both sets of characters struggle to stand on scientific high ground. The characters are deeply human, with both great strengths and great flaws. The dialogue between characters is snappy and clever, full of thoughtfulness. But the book is even more than just brilliant structure, fascinating characters, and snappy dialogue; it's a book that leaves its readers thinking about the big ideas in life, thinking about relationships where two people are unevenly yoked, thinking about how a ne'er-do-well child can sometimes show strength of character greater than the shining star child, thinking about the importance of struggle in life, thinking about so many things....A fabulous book that everyone who feels the deep dismay about the world so common today among thoughtful people needs to read.
I consider myself a Kingsolver fan, but this is by far my least favorite of her books. It has a jumble of intentions, I think. It is anti-Trump and pro-science, which is to be expected and admired, but even more heavy-handed than usual. There are two stories here that connect loosely, one a contemporary account of a family living in a ramshackle house in New Jersey just as Trump is being elected and another family living on the same street in the late 19th Century when the Darwin controversy is still raging.
