Keeping the House: A Novel

I am probably the only person who will say...I could have finished this book long ago, but IT WAS SOOOO GOOD, and I knew it would come to an end, and I would miss all these people. So I would get to the end of a chapter and close the cover and drink in the memory of what I read. There! I admitted it !I have read thousand of books in my life, and this new author, Ellen Baker is destined to give beauty back to writing substance. I have not in many years LIVED inside a book like I did this one. You will find yourself at cliff hangers that propell you into another chapter that you can't think can get any better, but it does.These people are so real, and Ellen has painted a beautiful story not only of every scene, but let you CARE about each and every one of these people who are written with such personal insight, that you really will think of them long after you stop reading.I stopped reading today, and I almost don't want to look for another book. I miss these people. TREAT YOURSELF to reading a book that is written the way books used to be written. YOU WILL LOVE IT. And Ellen...if you read this, DOOR COUNTY is my version of Heaven on earth. I live in Wisconsin, so this made the book all the more fun. I even made special bookmarks for this book !! Hurry with your next book , Ellen !!

I enjoyed Ellen Baker's first novel. There is a variety of characters which makes it easy to relate to the book.The author gets into the psyche of the characters. Her writing is so descriptive making you feel you are inside the story.While I felt this book may be four chapters too long,it was an easy and intriguing enough read to keep me engaged.I will read the authors next book.

KEEPING THE HOUSE is an ambitious multi-generational novel, a first for this author that deals with some pretty hefty themes: love, loss, betrayal and family loyalty just to name a few. The story also explores the societal constraints and the sociological views of three generations of women.When Dolly Maguson moves to Pine Rapids, WI in 1950, she discovers that making a marriage work is much harder than the popular magazines make it appear. Dolly is not the perfect "cookie cutter" sort of wife that can just match her apron to her dress while she pours her husband a drink and serves him a carefully planned dinner. Soon, she discovers that she needs something else to fill the hours in her day. She becomes obsessed with this huge, vacant house that belonged to the very prominent Mickelson family. The house is such a big part of the novel that it becomes a character itself. Dolly becomes convinced that if she cleans and cares for the house, her husband Byron will show some real interest in her, the two of them will move into the house, thereby saving their marriage. At the opening of the novel, we meet Wilma and John Mickelson, it is approximately 1900. We discover that Wilma is also a free thinker, a woman ahead of her time. Wilma and John's story is quite interesting in its own right, especially when John's brother Gust is involved. The novel switches back and forth pretty effortlessly between the story of the enigmatic Mickelson family and that of Dolly and Byron Magnuson. We learn much about the lives of these people as the novel spans 50+ years.This is very much a character driven novel. The characters are flawed and genuine. I wasn't at all bothered by the switch of time and place because Dolly's world becomes so entrenched with that of the Mickelson family that it just becomes one story.So why just an average rating? I found that while the book was enjoyable, I did not "miss" it when I was not reading; I was not compelled to read (except at the end) every available minute. It is readily apparent, however, that this book is very well researched and was written with great care and deference to the two World Wars. I would recommend this book with only the slightest hesitation and I hope this author keeps writing.

KEEPING THE HOUSE by Ellen Baker is much more than it seems when you first look at it. The new paperback cover (released last Tuesday, July 15, 2008) is very retro with the simple picture of a red and cream checkered apron and a weathered look to the ink, as if this copy had been collecting dust on a shelf for the last sixty years. But what this book holds inside is an epic story about three generations of the Mickelson Family of Pine Rapids, Wisconsin, the effect of two world wars on a family and the people surrounding them as well as a curse placed on the gorgeous, imposing, massive family house that overlooks the town as if looking down it's nose. At least that is what the towns people, especially members of the Ladies Aid, think of the Mickelson's and their house on the hill.Little does the town know that this family of wealth and apparent great fortune in all they touch really suffers from heartbreak, deceit, family secrets and gut wrenching sadness.The matriarch of the Mickelson family is Wilma. She first arrives in Pine Rapids as a new bride in the summer of 1896. She has left her family and her beloved piano studies behind and is now the newest member of the successful Mickelson's and their lumber mill. Wilma escapes the doldrums of everyday married life with the help of her piano and the sonatas and waltzes she plays all day long. As I was reading I was curious what the pieces she was playing actually sounded like so I checked them out. I wasn't surprised to discover that the three pieces that Baker has written into Wima's repertoire are all devastatingly sad and melancholy in sound. Chopin's Waltz in B Minor and Noctourne in B-flat Minor are both utterly beautiful pieces of piano music that sweep around the room. As I listen to them now, I can easily see Wilma Mickelson playing these pieces with such emotion. That these pieces of music were some of the only friends this character had in this strange town is heartbreaking. The third piece of music which filled the house on the hill when Wilma still played was Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique. A popular and well known Beethoven movement, the notes create a sound that represents hopes and dreams but then reminds the listener that reality is not always what you hope it will be.Wilma's husband John is a man of drive and power. He wishes only the best for his new bride but knows that her life may not be what she wanted. They have four children but we only really get to know two of them. Jack & Harry Michelson. Their stories span both The Great War and World War 2. The segments when the voice of Jack and his son J.J. share stories of being Marines at war are so vivid and full of the terrors of war, it's hard for me to believe that even an author with as much knowledge of this period of history could write of the experience of war with such vivid imagery and emotion. It blew me away. Keeping the House shows the spoils of war and when these troops return to the real world, they are not what their families remember them to be. Unfortunately this book can give insight to what our present day troops are going through mentally when they return home to their loved ones but are haunted by destruction, death, brutality and unwhole bodies, both physically and spiritually.This book holds some of the most memorable female characters I have ever read too. Dolly Magnuson is the newlywed who is the present day (1950) reflection of Wilma Mickelson. She is uninspired and bored in her role as wife and housekeeper to her husband Byron. She wishes for adventure but settles for a seat in the Ladies Aid quilting circle. After learning that these ladies know of the Mickelson family and what they believe to be true of the family members business, Dolly becomes obsessed with the idea of asking Byron to buy her the old, forgotten and apparently deserted Mickelson house. Dolly starts to piece together the history of the family when she breaks into the house on the hill and begins cleaning it up. She comes across pictures and Wilma's old piano but also discovers that not everything is as the town gossips think it was. One of my favorite quotes from the book is Dolly imagining what the town gossips might say about her."Maybe Pine Rapids wouldn't be so bad. Even if she was going to stay married, that didn't mean she had to care what the town thought of her. Let them talk! Starting with tonight, when they would comment on how shocking is was that her husband had had to take her out for supper on a Tuesday. She could hear them now: 'I'll bet she was reading a novel all day, instead of fulfilling her obligation to the household! She's just spoiled, expects dinner out like it was her due!'"Just when you suspect that the story will continue down one road, a twist comes out of nowhere and makes you second guess the characters motives. As is life!I absolutely loved Keeping the House and will say that it has become one of my favorite books I have ever read. I loved the character and plot development and the period of the time. Ellen Baker succeeded in creating a book rich in detail, that is thought provoking and moving. An edge-of-your-seat gripping tale of family secrets and love lost and won.

Sexually explicit. Not something l wanted to continue reading. Pity because the book sounded good.

Das Buch ist sehr spannend und hält das Interesse. Man denkt immer wieder darüber nach und kommt in so eine Stimmung von der Zeit damals.