House and Home

Personally, I really enjoyed this book. At first I was uncertain as to whether I'd like it because it sounded a little far-fetched to me. I also got the feeling I wasn't going to like Ellen because, from the description, she seemed like an impetuous child - burning down her house because somebody else had bought it outright? Puh-lease! BUT I loved this book. I got through it quickly and what I found was that, despite the cover's description, the book was about much more than Ellen and her house.

House & Home is about learning to distinguish between what makes a house and what makes a home. The two words conjure up very different meanings in my mind, and I was glad that Ellen was finally able to see that what made her house a happy place show more was not necessarily the things that filled it, but the people.

I thought the characters in this book were really well developed and I loved every one of them. Sam was one of my favorites, despite his flaws (probably because he reminds me so much of my own beau). Some of Ellen's complaints about him really caught me off guard because I have had so many of those complaints myself.

I also found that I really connected with Ellen on a different level, in that she reminded me of my own mother in some of the passages. As a child I moved often, and I have to say I reacted much like her children. I threw huge tantrums every time we moved and would hold it against my parents for months afterward. Here is one passage that I highlighted in the text:

"And then Ellen simply refusted to move again. After years of putting off having children, and working endless hours to get her decorating business up and running in one town after another, she was done. She wanted to buy a house and paint the walls red, not some neutral rental color. She watned to get pregnant and have babies. She wanted to plant bulbs and know she'd be there in the spring to watch them bloom. She wanted to make friends and reminisce over shared memories that went back more than twelve months."

I think this one passage so encapsulates that desire, after years of moving, to stay put, to have some roots. I know I've felt this way as recently as March when I moved back to Sacramento from Paris. I absolutely had every intention of settling down here, finally. And I still dream of owning my own house and knowing it will be a place I can always come back to.

This book was very relatable in many ways. It's more than a story of a house - it's the story of a family. I really want that to come across in my review because I feel that some people may avoid this book as I did at first, thinking it was too far-fetched. show less

My Review of HOUSE AND HOME by Kathleen McCleary
Submitted by Karen Haney, August, 2008

Kathleen McCleary’s first novel, House and Home, reverberates with devotion and passion from the first page when we read about main character Ellen’s feelings about her house, her home: “…because of all this history with the house, all the parts of her life unfolding there day after day for so many years, that Ellen decided to burn it down.” Ms. McCleary draws the reader in right there! Raised in a home that later was mine when I married, I spent 45 years of my life there, so I fervently identify with Ellen’s feeling. Despite all the positives that came with our move, there was that feeling of personal possession just like Ellen had which show more made turning my house over to the new buyers a heart wrenching experience.

House and Home is about Ellen Flanagan’s marriage, which is at the heart of the story that lives in this charming yellow Cape Cod home in Oregon. Ellen’s years of loyalty to her husband Sam has led them all over the country to follow his dream of inventing THE next best discovery for mankind! Sam feels they need to live where the invention would be best used and so every mishap is followed by a new idea and a new address. Finally, Ellen convinces Sam to let them put down roots so they can have a family and she can fulfill her dream of owning a decorating business. That dream plays out in Portland in the very house that they now find they are forced to sell.

With his newest invention, a baby beeper, Sam wants to move again to a better test market, and this results in Ellen and Sam separating as Ellen can’t do it one more time. She does not want to give up all they have in their home, in their lives. The painful sale of the house is a result of Sam losing so much money on this newest project. It is at this point that the action really takes off, and you can’t put this book down as you live, laugh, and experience Ellen’s misguided, but desperately well intended, plot to keep her home after all.

Ann Douglas once said, “Home is an invention on which no one has yet improved.” Unfortunately, THIS is not the invention Sam made and so the house must be sold to pay off the debts. Ellen’s dealing with this and the new insufferable buyers is a fun ride and read. Kathleen McCleary does a splendid job of developing characters that the reader cares about and can relate to. The story is clever and funny, but also tugs at your heartstrings. The story contains delightfully unexpected twists and turns that lead to a surprise ending most will never see coming! This treasured first novel makes one eager for Ms. McCleary’s next book! show less

Ellen Flanagan seems to have it all - a handsome and loving husband, two beautiful little girls, a flourishing business, a best friend next door, and the perfect yellow house with a white picket fence filled with her most cherished memories. But when her husband Sam blows through their savings and uses a second mortgage to chase a far-flung inventor’s dream, Ellen must deal with the reality of losing her home. Forced to sell her house to uptight Jordan Boyce and Jordan’s quiet and alluring husband Jeffrey, Ellen believes she has lost everything - including her eighteen year marriage.

Kathleen McCleary’s debut novel is about family and what makes a house a home. McCleary’s lush descriptions of the Portland Oregon area, as well as show more the decor of Ellen’s home (filled with antiques and sunlight and personalized with hash marks on a door frame to document the growth of her children) are like comfort food.

As the novel unfolds, the reader is drawn into Ellen’s despair at losing her home, her doubts about aging (she is 44 years old), her grief at leaving behind the ghost of her dead child, and her struggle to discover what is truly important. Ellen’s story becomes more complicated as she develops an uneasy relationship with Jordan’s husband while wrestling with her still strong physical attraction to Sam. She clings to her memories of the house, contemplates burning it to the ground so that no one else can live there, and is forced to re-examine her priorities when an unexpected disaster strikes.

House and Home is a quick read which examines our attachment to “things” because of the memories they hold, and asks the simple question: What is really important in our lives? McCleary is an engaging writer who creates characters to whom most women readers will relate. Her sense of place is strong and beautifully presented. House and Home is an evocative novel that invites its reader to curl up in a comfy chair with a cup of tea and lose themselves in its pages.

Recommended for readers who love Women’s Fiction. show less

By outside appearances, Ellen Flanagan had it all: a loving husband, two beautiful daughters, a house she decorated and maintained with love and dedication, and Coffe@Home, a business that merged her passion for antiques with her interest in coffee and fine tea. All was not what it seemed. Sam, her adventurous and creative husband, had a passion for inventing. When he created a baby beeper he thought would make it big, the couple put a second mortgage on their home. When the baby beeper didn’t pay off, that second mortgage cost them the home Ellen so dearly loved and her 18 year marriage. As time got near to vacate the house they sold, Ellen found she couldn’t part with it. She decided that she’s rather see it burn than to allow show more another family to call it home.

The opening paragraph to this novel, after explaining Ellen’s attachment to the home, ends by saying that she would burn it down. I was instantly curious, especially since this seemed pretty hard core for a novel with such a beautiful and inviting cover. That paragraph brought to mind the song “Sunny Came Home” by Shawn Colvin. I was eager to find out what it was about Ellen or the house that drove her to even think about arson. When at first I couldn’t find any logical explanation for her planning something so destructive, it was frustrating. Ellen wasn’t mentally ill, she and Sam were on amicable terms despite the fact that they were divorcing, her business was thriving, and she had the most thoughtful and supportive best friend in the world. Why? Then it occurred to me. As much as she loved that house, her fixation was a protective cover. She believes that burning down her house will keep others out. Truthfully, if not subconsciously, what she’s doing is making all that she has lost and all that she is losing tangible and visible, especially to Sam.

This is really a novel about relationships, both the good and the bad. Sometimes there is a cost to starting them. Sometimes there is a cost to losing them. There are times when the cost may be too high; but in the end, you can’t live your life fully without them. Be they with your best friend, your lover, your family, business associates, or even mere acquaintances, your interactions with other people teach you how to play, work, love, hurt, forgive, learn, laugh, cry, hold on, and to let go. Ellen spent the first 44 years fighting to control her life. House and Home is the story of how she learns that what makes life worth living requires you to constantly take leaps of faith.

Kathleen McCleary is a clear and concise writer and she brought some wonderful characters to life. You can feel Ellen’s pain and the anxiety brought about by her need to be in control from the start, even if you don’t completely understand it at first. You can see how it blinds her to what she has. House and Home is a reminder that when life feels like one crisis after another, the only way not to get lost in it all is to focus on your friends and loved ones. It is a celebration of friendships, relationships, and family. If you’re like me, you’ll find this novel every bit as heartwarming as the cover suggests.

http://literatehousewife.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/100-house-and-home-my-100th-re... show less

Ellen Flanagan has a sexy, carefree husband who is crazy about her, two beautiful girls she adores, a small business she enjoys and a great place to call home. But when times get tough and money is tight, she makes a decision that snowballs and goes wildly out of control. In order to shock her inventor husband into the reality of their financial situation, she tells him they need to sell their house. What she didn’t expect was for it to go so far. Deep down she really didn’t want to sell the house at all, but is it too late?

HOUSE & HOME by Kathleen McCleary is a beautifully written story about one woman’s obsession with a house she so lovingly made into a home for her family and what that obsession almost cost her. Through many show more twists and turns Ms. McCleary weaves a story of friendship, love, lust, dreams and the reality of everyday life. Set in picturesque Oregon, she paints vivid pictures in the reader's mind of the cozy town they live in and the beautiful house that causes so many people so much turmoil. And it begs the question: What makes a house a home? Is it the physical house itself or is it the family inside who make the memories that makes it a home? That is the question Ellen must answer.

I enjoyed this book very much and liked the writing style of this first time author. However, there were things about Ellen that did bother me, but not to the point that it took away from the story or made me dislike her. It was simply a feeling of What is she thinking? Especially in the beginning, I felt she cared more for the house and put it before her family. And I felt she didn’t give her husband and their marriage a fair chance. That being said, I enjoyed this book and I look forward to reading more from this author. I think HOUSE & HOME would be a great reading choice for a book club. show less

Ellen and Sam Flanagan are getting a divorce. Sam is an inventer, and his latest invention emptied their bank account, they are losing their home, and Ellen has had enough and calls it quits on her marriage. Ellen and her two young daughters are devastated at the thought of moving out of their house in 2 weeks. It has been sold to a couple who have issues of their own. So rather than let someone move into her house, Ellen, a successful and intelligent businesswoman and mother, decides to burn it down. It just gets more ridiculous from that point, and the inconsistencies pile up and also the unbelievable coincidences. Hopefully, this author will have more success next time around.

This book was a fast read. But was it a "good" read?

Well, I alternated between feeling empathy & contempt for Ellen Flanagan.

Ellen Flanagan is 44 years old & she has had enough. Her husband, Sam, has lived their entire marriage going from one dream to another. None of his inventions bringing in the money, or security that Sam has promised. Ellen did get him to settle down & they have lived these last twelve years in Portland raising their children.

But when the money runs out & they are forced to sell the house, Ellen demands a divorce. How can she stay married to a man who has forced her to sell her home? Her beloved home with the growth marks in the door jams?

On the one hand, I can empathize with Ellen, having gone through my own show more "home" issues in the last year. But on the other hand I have nothing but contempt for a woman who is willing to throw away her marriage because her husband was not as successful as she had hoped. The only redeeming quality is that I think Ellen feels a little contempt for herself.

House & Home is a well written story. It is not a horrible book, there is a plot & it is well developed. I want to say it is a good book, but my dislike for Ellen just makes me want to reach through the pages & slap her silly. Maybe I have read too many "girl" books this week. Too many books where the women want it all & can't understand why they can't have it all.

Blah. show less