The Earth House [Paperback]

Jeanne DuPrau (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 11, 1993

They hadn't pictured themselves as the sort of people to take up Eastern spiritual practice. But on their first visit to a Zen center, two women discover something that speaks to them on a level deeper than their everyday experience, and they begin to make a new plan for their lives. What if they were to give up their suburban comforts and build a house beside a monastery in the mountains?

As the walls of the house go up, the two women make and re-make plans, wrestle with a chainsaw, learn to make windows, and set up a computer powered by the sun. Their spiritual practice transforms their vision of the house, and the building of it transforms them both. But their endeavor leads to an ending, not a beginning -- at least not the kind of beginning they'd had in mind . . .

"A moving meditation on life, death, love, and Zen Buddhism." Feminist Bookstore News

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

After their involvement with a Zen Buddhist Center intensifies, the author and her companion Sylvia decide to design and build their own rustic home on a plot of land DuPrau has bought from the center. The effort to create an ideal house soon turns all-consuming, but this memoir of its ups and downs also grapples with the subject of mortality, as Sylvia becomes ill and eventually dies from melanoma. The author describes the benefits of Zen philosophy, which has strongly influenced her life, in a low-key, occasionally soporific manner. Her account of her suffering after Sylvia's death is handled well, but the unrelieved introspection ultimately wears thin. Followers of Zen Buddhism and meditative philosphies will be interested.
- Harriet Gottfried, NYPL
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Inside Flap

They hadn't pictured themselves as the sort of people to take up Eastern spiritual practice. But on their first visit to a Zen center, two women discover something that speaks to them on a level deeper than their everyday experience, and they begin to make a new plan for their lives. What if they were to give up their suburban comforts and build a house beside a monastery in the mountains?

As the walls of the house go up, the two women make and re-make plans, wrestle with a chainsaw, learn to make windows, and set up a computer powered by the sun. Their spiritual practice transforms their vision of the house, and the building of it transforms them both. But their endeavor leads to an ending, not a beginning -- at least not the kind of beginning they'd had in mind . . .

"A moving meditation on life, death, love, and Zen Buddhism." Feminist Bookstore News

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (May 11, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0449908143
• ISBN-13: 978-0449908143
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,227,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jeanne DuPrau is the author of The New York Timesbestseller The City of Ember and its companion The People of Sparks. She lives in Menlo Park, California, and drives a hybrid car that runs on a combination of gas and electricity.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Graceful and thought-provoking -- a Great Book!, October 14, 2001

By 

Lori L. Lake (Twin Cities, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Earth House (Hardcover)

This book was enlightening and bittersweet. The story of the narrator trying to build a home with her partner Sylvia is deceptively complicated. The structure is elegant, the writing beautiful. It ends up being a meditation on life, death, grief, and compassion. Quietly, the story built in power. I loved this book and have read it twice since I first discovered it. It's a gem of a story, and I highly recommend it.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books in the world, July 17, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Earth House (Hardcover)

The Earth House is Jeanne Duprau's account of her mid-life search for meaning, her attempt to build a house in the Sierra foothills, and the loss of her lover. It is simple, moving and uplifting, full of truth. The Earth House is a wonderful book.

I have sent and recommended The Earth House to numerous friends and relatives, all of whom loved it. I also had the opportunity to record a chapter of it for a friend who was blinded by AIDS. Like fine poetry, it was even better when spoken aloud; I was overwhelmed by the luminance and flow of its prose. Don't miss this book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Overlooked Classic, April 23, 2005

By 

Guy M. Newland (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Earth House (Paperback)

Saying what this book is "about" (building a house, losing a partner, practicing Zen) really misses the point.

One of us humans has looked into the Great Matter (life-death) and said something, as clearly as she can, from the heart. I can't say what is the "best" book in the world, as another reviewer has. I would say that this is a book that is, in a sense, perfect. Of course it can be embarrassing when someone opens like a clam and shows you their guts. The Library Journal reviewer had to avert her eyes.

I had the same thought as the reviewer who wonders: Why have I never heard of this? I found it only 13 years afer publication, and then only because I enjoyed the City of Ember and its sequel, and I was looking for something else by the author. This seems quite odd. My hypothesis is that this book somehow has fallen between the cracks. Should we catalog and market it a grief memoir, like C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed? Or is it more like Joko Beck's American Zen talks? Or is it work that belongs in the lesbian-feminist section of the store, simply because it involes a same-sex relationship? Is it like Gary Snyder (who figures indirectly as a minor character)? Is it like Thich Nhat Hanh? Shut up.

I write this as it snows here in April, tears streaming down my face.