Reviews

The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai

apatrick's review against another edition

4.0

This was good enough for me to recommend to people who like contemporary fiction. It tells the story in three parts. First, in the late '90s, Zee and her husband move into the family mansion's guest house. Various secrets are uncovered, and just when you start thinking you'd love to know more about the generation before this one, Makkai obliges you by telling that story in the second section of the book. Naturally, more secrets are identified, finally explained in the last section of the book, set twenty years prior to the second section.

I like this approach to telling a story, and the story itself is good, too.

laurenosb's review against another edition

2.0

I was so confused by this book. There were parts that were readable and enjoyable but the book was just meh overall. I don't think the writing style was bad but I just did not understand the point of it and I was very lost. Anyways, I would not read it again, I just found it boring and confusing.

xtinevs's review against another edition

4.0

I really enjoyed this book - great story, love her writing. I could have used a bit more clarity, I find myself now (after finishing the book) having to look for some kind of character map on the internet because I’m still unsure who ended up being connected to who.

thebibliophage's review against another edition

emotional mysterious sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

lovepoem4000's review against another edition

This is a sad one bc i enjoyed the first third so much and devoured it in a couple days. Then the perspective shifted, and i just could not get into it again. I tried and tried and it sat around my house for a month before i finally officially gave up. I would try this author again, but i just couldnt enjoy this particular novel as a whole. 

kristinana's review against another edition

4.0

The structure of the novel is the main thing readers will focus on, and rightfully so — I liked seeing the pieces of the puzzle fall in place and the little moments when you see a piece of information get lost to time. But what I admire more is how tonally, stylistically, the parts seem distinct. I want to study Makkai’s sentence structure to see how she did that (though some of it is the difference between, say, the comedy of the first part versus the tragedy of the second.) I enjoyed the first part, which was found refreshingly funny, but for gothic tragedy the second part can’t be beat.

Overall, a bit uneven and somehow not quite deeply felt enough for me to love it, but very clever.

cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition

5.0

"The Hundred-Year House'' by Rebecca Makkai gets a rave review from Jo.
Read it here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/918290439?book_show_action=false&ref=ru_lihp_up_rv_5_mclk&uid=1806871785

Check our catalog: https://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__SThe%20Hundred%20Year%20House%20makkai__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=pearl

kbratten's review against another edition

5.0

Barely 5 stars. The last 15% felt very disconnected and kind of boring. I thought for sure we had done enough looking back and wondering about the past that when we got there I'd care about their stories, but all the characters from the colony felt empty.

Otherwise, what a beautiful story. I'm hooked on Makkai's writing. She has a sharp and natural way with words.

dessa's review against another edition

5.0

This novel is written chronologically, but backwards - which is really, really cool and effective. But also the sections became smaller and smaller as the narrative went further and further back in time, which meant spending less and less time with each set of characters, which meant spending the least amount of time with the characters I found most compelling.

Reread July 2019: what quibbles I had in my original review. This book is a masterpiece full stop. And now also I really want to open an artists’ colony.

gabywheezereads's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0