book review: The Irresistible Henry House by Lisa Grunwald

-
The Irresistible Henry House: A NovelThe basics: Henry House, the titular character in The Irresistible Henry House, begins like as an orphan who soon becomes a home economics test baby. Female college students take turns spending a week caring for Henry and living in the home economics house.

 My thoughts: I was fascinated by the premise of this novel, but the execution didn't quite live up to my expectations. Because Henry is an infant as the novel opens, the initial focus is one the house mother and the seven women who care for Henry. I found the narrative a bit muddled with all of these characters.

As Henry aged, it became more clearly his story, but it still felt a bit disjointed at first. Overall, I found the pacing to problematic. At times, I wanted to know more about parts of Henry's life, while at other times the story dragged.

 The verdict: Despite a strong premise, The Irresistible Henry House fell a bit flat for me. Grunwald is a talented writer and storyteller, but somehow this novel never felt well-balanced. There's a lot of intriguing, entertaining and delightfully absurd in this novel, but there were a few too many dull scenes too.

 Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 5)
Length: 407 pages
Publication date: March 16, 2010 (it's out in paperback August 16, 2011)
Source: publisher, via TLC Book Tours

Want more? Connect with Lisa on her website or her Facebook page. See the full tour line-up for more reviews. Already convinced? Treat yourself and buy The Irresistible Henry House from Amazon in paperback or for the Kindle.

As an affiliate, I receive a very, very small commission when you make a purchase through any of the above links. Thank you for helping to support my book habits that bring more content to this blog!

Comments

  1. ZibileeAugust 15, 2011 at 10:13 AM

    I have been really interested in this book since first hearing about it, but it sounds like it might have been a bit poorly executed. I totally get what you are saying about bits seeming boring, and other bits not being as fleshed out as you would have hoped. I still want to check this one out, but I will have to temper my expectations, I think.

    ReplyDelete
  2. JennaAugust 15, 2011 at 11:00 AM

    Definitely a fair review. I'm reading this one now, and I have to agree with you about the disjointed feeling of the narrative. The whole idea of a practice baby is fascinating, but there have been too many parts where I found myself wanting to skip pages.

    ReplyDelete
  3. TiAugust 15, 2011 at 4:32 PM

    Too bad this one didn't work out. I have it. It's buried somewhere. I'll still read it for the premise alone.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AudraAugust 15, 2011 at 4:33 PM

    Very nice review -- I definitely felt like Henry's boarding school years dragged on and I could have lived without that entire section. Once he grew up and got to CA I was a little more interested, but in the end, I wasn't wholly onboard with this book.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AthiraAugust 15, 2011 at 6:35 PM

    I've been a little curious about this one, but now I'm not too sure. I think I will lower my expectations on this one and check it out sometime just to know the story of Henry House.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AmusedAugust 15, 2011 at 9:53 PM

    This is one of those stories that I am so fascinated by! I just can't believe this actually use to happen. It's too bad it's not executed so well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. (Diane) Bibliophile By the SeaAugust 15, 2011 at 10:12 PM

    Hmmmm...I have the audio on my iPod but haven't listened to it yet. I plan to but just not in a rush. Sorry it was just ok for you Carrie.

    ReplyDelete
  8. FlorindaAugust 15, 2011 at 11:27 PM

    This was actually one of my favorite books of 2010, and I felt that it didn't get enough attention, so I'm glad it's touring for the PB release. I'm sorry you weren't as enamored of it, though!

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousAugust 18, 2011 at 12:35 PM

    Darn, I'm sorry this one fell flat for you, but thanks for being a part of the tour.

    ReplyDelete
  10. WallaceAugust 20, 2011 at 2:05 PM

    Glad to know what you thought -- I've been teetering on the fence about this one for awhile. The plot sounds interesting, but I figured it could be a hit or miss.

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownAugust 23, 2011 at 5:06 PM

    I've wondered about this book for quite a while but the mixed reviews have kept me from picking it up. The premise sounds engaging but a disjointed occasionally boring narrative is tough to get excited about especially given all of the exciting books available for reading! Still, I have completely decided aginast this book. Thank you for your sincere, terrific review!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thank you for taking the time to comment. Happy reading!

Popular posts from this blog

book review: A Dangerous Place by Jacqueline Winspear

-
Image
The backstory: A Dangerous Place  is the eleventh historical mystery featuring Maisie Dobbs. My reviews of the other eleven (plus Winspear's stand alone historical novel) are in my Book Review Database . The basics: Set four years after the last Maisie Dobbs novel, Leaving Everything Most Loved , in A Dangerous Place , we meet up with Maisie in Gibraltar in 1927 during the Spanish Civil War. She gets off her England-bound ship in Gibraltar because she's not quite ready to return. Note: this review contains spoilers about what happened in those four years of Maisie's life between books, all of which are revealed in this novel's first thirty pages.  My thoughts: Sunday I wrote about the Maisie Mail I received. These postcards appear in the book itself, along with many others. After setting the stage in Gibraltar in the opening pages (Maisie stumbles upon a dead body), Winspear recounts the last four years of Maisie's life in the form of postcards, letters, an
Read more

book review: Run by Ann Patchett

-
Image
The backstory: After loving State of Wonder  ( my review ), I set out to read all of Ann Patchett's books. The basics: Run  is the story of the Doyle family: Bernard, an Irish Catholic ex-mayor of Boston, his deceased wife Bernadette, their adult son Sullivan, and their two adopted college ages sons, Tip and Teddy, who are biological brothers. My thoughts: I'm beginning to think Ann Patchett is my soul sister. Her writing reaches me deeply, and I've adored everything she's written. It was a special treat to read Run , the novel of hers I knew the least about going in. Although I had the framework of two of her novels and one memoir, I didn't know what to expect. Run  isn't as universally loved as some of her other works, so I was particularly curious to see how it measured up. Admittedly, Run  started off slowly for me. It took two chapters to really get into the heart of the story, but once it happened, I was hooked. One of the things I love most about
Read more

book review: Gilead by Marilynne Robinson

-
Image
The backstory: Gilead  won the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, the National Book Critics Circle Award in 2004, and was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2006. The basics: As Rev. Ames nears the end of his life in the 1950's, he begins a letter to his young son because Ames realizes his son is too young to really know him. Gilead  is that letter. My thoughts: Gilead  is a novel I'm been meaning to read for years. It's a character-driven, Midwestern narrative by one of our best contemporary writers. It should be a novel I love, yet I struggled to finish it and admit I was wowed by neither the story nor the writing. Gilead  seemed almost stream-of-consciousness at first. I appreciated that Robinson jumped right in: this novel is a letter from father to son; the reader's ignorance of these two characters is not the focus. As the novel progressed, more details began to be filled in, and the reader begins to understand the characters, setting and purpose. I enjoyed the fir
Read more