As For Me and My House

I loved this seemingly quiet book...a book which packs a lot of powerful emotions and life challenges. This is the story of Mrs. Bentley, told through her diary entries spanning just over a year. Her husband, Philip, is a minister in a small prairie town. He struggles with his faith, with his artistic dreams; she struggles with him...to be a better wife. Her whole purpose in life is him, while he treats her largely with indifference. This story shows how lonely life can be, how hard it can be to communicate honestly with someone else, or even with yourself. The imagery is beautifully written. Mrs. Bentley is a strong character whom we come to know well despite the detachment she tries to maintain in her journal entries. Amazing book.

Sinclair Ross' first novel, As For Me and My House, is considered one of the milestone texts in Canadian Literature, and is often thought of as the definitive "prairie" novel. Set in the small town of Horizon (the province is never named, but in my mind I picture Saskatchewan) during the Great Depression, As For Me and My House is the diary of Mrs. Bentley, whose husband Philip is an unsuccessful minister. Mrs. Bentley is never given a first name, and this is one of the first indications that she is a woman whose life is not entirely her own.

In fact, Mrs. Bentley lives for her husband. Unfortunately, Philip does not live for his wife. He is an artist, a tortured soul, a man with a troubled childhood. Oh, boo hoo. I hated Philip - hated show more his personality, the way he treated his wife, and most of all, the worshipful way in which Mrs. Bentley loves him.

So, the characters of this book are certainly not the reason I enjoyed it. Instead, it is Ross' sense of place that is the star of this novel. No other author depicts the loneliness and the barren quality of the Canadian prairies the way Ross does. The reader hears the howling wind, sees the dust that covers every surface, and yearns for the day that rain will finally come. Though the prairies are wide open spaces, they feel claustrophobic. The town of Horizon is the same. Everywhere Mrs. Bentley goes, people watch her, and they comment on her actions. Her home is the same way - day in, day out, Mrs. Bentley and her husband circle each other in their tiny house, watching, wondering at the thoughts of the other, and rarely talking. Never has a novel evoked such a sense of strangulation.

This is a tiny novel - only just over 200 pages - but it contains a lot of food for thought. The form of a diary is well-suited to the narrative, and Mrs. Bentley has moments of insight that almost make her slavish love for Philip understandable. As far as Canadian Lit goes, Ross is one of my personal favourites. His short story collection, The Lamp at Noon and Other Stories, is compelling, and contains the brilliant "The Painted Door." His writing is far from cheery, but it showcases a sense of the Canadian West in the 30s and 40s. For anyone interested in the development of Canadian Literature, Ross is a must. show less

McClelland and Stewart contributed a lot to the literary landscape of Canada before they were bought out by Penguin. The New Canadian Library (NCL) was just one way that they kept great Canadian writing in print at affordable prices. Between 1958 and 1978 M & S published 152 titles in the NCL line but more were added after that. Now there is no mention of the New Canadian Library on the Penguin Random House website and, as far as I know, the only way to pick up NCL titles is at used book sales. This book was No. 4 in the New Canadian Library.

This book chronicles one year in the life of a minister and his wife. Reverend and Mrs. Bentley came to Horizon (a fictitious town in Saskatchewan) on April 8 in the 1930s. The Bentleys do not show more have any children although they have been married twelve years. There is mention of a still birth early in the marriage but no further details of pregnancies. Horizon is right in the middle of the Dust Bowl and the church seldom gets enough offerings to pay the minister his proper salary. The Bentleys have to scrimp and save and make do. If that wasn't enough hardship Reverend Bentley, who wanted to be an artist, doesn't believe what he preaches and he resents his wife for steering him into the ministry. Mrs. Bentley, an accomplished pianist, doesn't like to play the piano for fear of disturbing her husband. So each partner has given up what they love best and their marriage suffers. Then their quiet life is turned upside down by a series of events which could be the undoing of the marriage or could breathe new life into it.

The false fronts of the Main Street stores represent the lives of the Bentleys. They pretend to be devout, god-fearing people but have no belief in the preachings of the Bible. Reverend Bentley never indicates to his wife how much he resents being forced into the ministry or even how much he misses having children. Mrs. Bentley wears old clothes and deprives herself of her music and never tells her husband how much it bothers her.

I grew up with stories of what Saskatchewan was like during "The Dirty Thirties" but Ross's portrayal of the heat and the dust almost had me choking in sympathy. Equally his descriptions of the cold and snow of winter had me shivering in my boots. This book deserves to be read by every Canadian. show less

I have never read a book written by a man from a woman's perspective written as convincing as this one. In fact, I don't believe he wrote it without help from his wife. In a sense it's more accurate expression of a woman than many books written by women.

This book is not for the plot-based, cliff-hanger types. It's for those who enjoy dwelving deep into the hidden sorrows, struggles and perceptions that go on behind the facade of human beings as we try to understand each other and bridge our silent conflicts.

A book that will forever be dear to my prairie heart, but it can be gloomy and stark. About sticking it out, making it work, surviving.

A novel of the drought years in Saskatchewan, a canlit classic. "In this two-fold study, Ross describes the barrenness of the West through its varying effects on the consciousness of a man and a woman who long to escape from the taboos of their small prairie town. In its depth of insight this book has become a classic in Canadian literature." - jacket notes.
The man is Philip Bentley, a minister arriving in a new parish with Mrs. Bentley. The story is told in the form of journal entries written by her (we never learn her first name.) Themes of infertility, infidelity, marriage, adoption and change are developed through a realistic account of life in a small conservative town, strapped for cash and desperate to survive. The tone is show more bittersweet, angry and fierce sometimes, beautiful, painful and sorrowful at others. A compelling read. show less

Well-written and depressing.