The House at the End of Hope
Street is a novel about a magical house that shelters women in need for a set
number of days. Even better, the women who
have benefited from the house’s healing in the past, many of which became famous
for their accomplishments, linger in portraits that litter the walls doling out
encouragement to the current denizens.
Benevolent spirits of house guardians past provide the women with
whatever they need to nourish their souls and pick themselves up for a new
start during their hundred day stays.
During the time of the book, the
three women in need are Greer, a failed actress looking for a new path; Carmen,
a talented singer fleeing from an
abusive husband; and Alba, a humiliated ex-scholar from a dysfunctional family
of scholars whose secrets threaten to overwhelm her. Each finds refuge in the house with Peggy,
the aged house guardian, getting guidance from the photos on the wall, and in
Alba’s case, the spirit who lives in the kitchen.
I think I’m in the minority when
I say that I really didn’t like this book as much as I expected to like
it. Several bloggers I love and respect
very much enjoyed this one. For my part,
I was entranced by the house and its guardian, but the three women in need of
the house’s aid failed to captivate me.
By and large, I don’t mind when a
narrative switches focus among a few characters, in this case, however, I think
the tactic does a disservice to the characters.
The pace of The House at the End of Hope Street felt off
to me. Van Praag bounces too quickly
between characters not giving readers quite enough time to settle in with one
and feel sympathy for her before veering off to the next. Despite the fact that van Praag spends a good
amount of time developing each of her characters, the brevity of the time we
spend with each seems to undercut that and create a story that feels somehow shallower than what I'd hoped for.
There are some truly heartwarming
moments lurking inside The House as van Praag’s characters negotiate their
respective paths to self-discovery. The
House as a character unto itself is ripe with fun discoveries. In the end, though, the awkward pacing held
me at a distance and kept me from falling head over heels for this one.
(Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publicist in exchange for my honest review. Impressively, I've managed to review it before the paperback release date of March 25th. Rather less fortunately, they were probably hoping I'd get this in in time for the, um, hardcover release.)
Anyhow, we interrupt this moment of book blogger guilt to post the picture of the paperback cover which I might possibly prefer to the hardback cover (which is also quite nice). Which do you think?
I'm somewhere in between on this one. I read it at a time when I wanted something a little lighter, so it filled that role nicely. I didn't love it, and there were some narrative issues that you touched on, but I did like it. I definitely prefer the cover on the paperback!
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of this book so I'd still give it a try even though you didn't love it.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Kathy. The idea of this book sounds pretty compelling. I'm going to add it to my tbr list.
ReplyDeleteI truly believe that sometimes certain books come into our lives just when we need them most and this was that book for me. I think that's, in part, why I loved it so much. Looking back, I don't disagree with you about some of the flaws you point out. I do wish we'd gotten to know the characters a little more than we did.
ReplyDeleteGreat review, Megan!