Customer Reviews

The Dwelling Place (The Swan House Series #2)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

You have to read Swan House first. It's an excellent book. It's a big story extremely well-told. I didn't know until I started reading this book, The Dwelling Place, that it is a sequel to Swan House. And I liked it so much I read it clean through twice in one week! It is a complicated story, exquisitely told. You can have the best story line in the world; and the most engaging characters in the world; but if you can't tell the story, if the story doesn't flow as effortlessly as a mighty river, it won't matter. This one does. It brought me to tears over and over and over again. I don't believe in customer reviews telling what the story is about. The publishers and editors have done that. I think readers should shine light on their personal response to what they've read. I am an absolutely voracious reader and have only in the last 6 months begun to read Christian fiction. I had no idea there was so much, or that I'd find the quality that I've found. This one is in my top ten. I noticed that Swan House was published, I believe in 2003? And this book was published in 2005? Good grief, Charlie Brown, does that mean I've got to wait a hole 'nother TWO YEARS before I get to read another Elizabeth Musser story? Oh dear.

The Dwelling Place is a terrific read, whether or not you've read The Swan House. It's a great stand-alone story of a young woman (Ellie) who doesn't seem to fit into her "perfect" family, and her journey to get to know them, and herself. If you have read The Swan House, however, it's intriguing to see those returning characters from a different angle-from Ellie's point of view. There is a gap of several decades between the two stories, and there are a number of mysteries as to how events unfolded in that time period. Why do Carl Matthews and Mary Swan (and their respective spouses) now have such a strained relationship? How did Ellie's face get disfigured, and was it truly Mary Swan's fault, as Ellie believes? What happened on Rachel and Mary Swan's trip to Europe as young women that shaped their lives forever? As Ellie digs for the answers to these questions, you are caught up in the events of Ellie's life in the present, and of the story of the Bartholomew family from the tumultuous sixties to the current day.

Ellie Bartholomew is a twenty-year-old with a lot of issues. As the youngest of three daughters, she feels she's an embarrassment to her family-not just because of her facial scars or deviant behavior, but because she never says the right thing and doesn't hold to the family's religious "babble." She avoids her family and finds comfort in nearly all lost causes like stray animals, the Atlanta Braves and emotionally-scarred neighbors.

The Dwelling Place is her unraveling of her family history-an assignment from rehab. But it's a more mature telling of the story than the immature and rebellious Ellie we meet in chapter one. Her assignment is completed only after an intense summer dealing with her mother and caring for her during chemotherapy's awful aftermath.

Ellie has spent the last several years of her life despising her parents for what they let happen to her as a child. Her bitterness and feelings of betrayal have caused her to build additional walls with her parents and sisters. And her assumptions of their "perfect"" lives make her feel like even more of an outcast-because the hell she's been through has left her anything but perfect.

Musser does an incredible job of involving the reader. The writing is conversational-where you feel a part of the story naturally. The unfolding of the story is seamless; Musser grabs the reader from the second sentence of the prologue when she hints at scandal. Ellie is a narrator one can relate to-the emotions felt of betrayal, unhappiness, and insecurity. The conflict between perception versus reality and the unveiling of truth is so well done in this novel. The characterizations make you care and cry and the research makes the book that much more fascinating and personal. I was really impressed with The Dwelling Place and plan on reading Musser's first book, The Swan House.

Each chapter is clearly introduced by a quote from Victor Hugo, Sir Walter Scott or James Herriott. Some literary gems that enhance the stories of young, still growing Miss Ellie Barthlolomew; An emotionally, physically scarred 20 yr old lady who is searching for lost faith and healing from the emotionally scars even as a 10 yr old victim of burning. In the ending all of her problems relate to her parents, grandparents & sisters.

When she spends 2 weeks on Hilton Head Island, a bit into Sea Pines Plantation near Spotted Sandpiper, Snowy Egret, Red Cardinal and Black Skimmer Lanes, she visits Harbor Town where her friend, Ben Abrams, who plays with his band at the Quarterdeck Lounge. During the day Ben is the Youth director of the Baptist Church near the South Beach! During her 2 week visit she and her cancer-ridden mother, Mary Swan, famous artist, become bosom friends, reconciled Mother and rehabilitated daughter!

A passionately fabulous story of truth, joyfulness, much forgiveness and love...Retired Chaplain Fred W Hood

Having not read "Swan House" I came to this read with an open mind and obviously not familiar with the characters I didn't have any preconceived notions. This was an emotional read regarding the coming to terms with reality rather than perception from a young woman's point of view regarding her own mother.

Ellie is the youngest daughter of three and she has a hard time coming to terms with her family and the way they see her. Her mother is now fighting cancer and wants to take a tour of Europe to re-visit the places she had once seen. The Dwelling Place calls her. Ellie can't think of anyone she'd rather not tour Europe with but since her other sisters are busy with their lives Ellie reluctantly goes. This will be a trip that teaches her more than she ever thought possible. Will she loose her mother though just when she is finally getting to know who she really is?

This was a very emotional read and for the most part well written. There were several places where the story dragged and there were times when the read became a little preachy in context. Still these were few and far between and as a result not too much to ruin a very good story. "The Dwelling Place" is a good read that just about anyone can relate to.

Official Reviewer for Romance Designs

I must say that I was disappointed in this novel. I loved Swan House, so when Elizabeth Musser's, Dwelling Place was published, I immediately bought it. It was a little too religious for me. The main character of the book called her parent's religious talk, "babble', and I felt like the religious parts in this book were also "babble". It dragged in the middle but grew a bit more interesting toward the end. I also could not get into Musser's writing about France in the late 1960's. Although I was too young to experience the Civil Rights issues during the 1960's in the South and more specifically, Atlanta, I could still relate to those stories in Swan House. I know I am being candid, but if you loved Swan House, Dwelling Place will disappoint you.

This is a great sequel to The Swan House - which you should read first. However, I would like to compare the print version with my Kindle version that I downloaded. The Kindle version is very sloppily typed/edited. Many of the sentences run together with no punctuation - extremely annoying. These run-together sentences are found throughout the Kindle edition. I also found that some of these sentences wouldn't make sense if you added punctuation. Most of the book is well written and edited, with the exception of these many sloppy parts. Not sure what happened, Kindle??

The Dwelling Place by Elizabeth Musser is a story of reconciliation. It is very well written and the characters are wonderfully real. You'll visit many hurts and share multiple sorrows with the families in this story but rest assured that God, through His mercy will bring good out of the ashes of their pasts. Better have a box of tissues handy as you near the end of this enthralling novel.

I absolutely loved this book! I have never been a reader and my husband started reading just recently (both in our 30's) so I thought I'd join him in turning off the "tube" and trying my hand at a book, if I could only stay awake. I usually start yawning just at the sight of the first sentence. Not this time! I am hooked on reading after "The Dwelling Place"! During the time I was reading it I would find myself wondering in the back of my mind, what movie was I watching that I didn't finish for some reason? And then I'd realize it was this book that I'd been reading and not finished yet. It is so detailed with vivid descriptions that you feel as though you were watching it on a screen. Very emotional and enchanting, but yet real and raw and true and wonderful. I don't want to "over-rate" it as I don't have much yet to compare it to. I had never heard of it, I just liked the cover and what I read on the back and just bought it. I'm so sentimental about it now and I just started reading another book, by a different author because it looked almost exactly like the cover of The Dwelling Place. However, I'm admittedly only on page 38, but I just can't get over The Dwelling Place and this one is not capturing me at all. I guess I need to know if it would make sense for me to read "Swan House" AFTER I've read The Dwelling Place? I hope you all enjoy this book as much as I did. God bless (babble-babble Ü).