The Hole We're In [Paperback]

Gabrielle Zevin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Zevin (YA novel Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, etc.) delivers in her blazing second adult novel a Corrections for our recessionary times. While Roger Pomeroy spins his middle-aged wheels in graduate school, his wife, George, supports the family mainly via an ever larger number of credit cards opened in her recent college grad son Vinnie's name. Meanwhile, daughter Helen insists on an expensive wedding, and youngest daughter Patsy gets pregnant and is transferred to a religious school out of state. Struggling to stay afloat, Roger and George deplete Patsy's college fund, and Patsy in turn enlists in the army for the tuition benefits. She's sent to Iraq and comes back injured and suffering from PTSD. Roger, in a not-quite-convincing turn, becomes an ultra-conservative Christian pastor, and long-suffering George goes off the deep end. Zevin mixes sharp humor with moments of grace as she gives readers terrific insights into the problems of adult children removing themselves from the influence of parents, and establishes herself as an astute chronicler of the way we spend now. (Mar.)
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From Booklist

Zevin is the author of the adult novel Margarettown (2005) and two YA novels (Elsewhere, 2005, and Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, 2007). Here she jettisons the fantasy element that has been a hallmark of her work for a sharp, funny, and timely look at a debt-ridden, God-fearing American family. When Evangelical Christian Roger uproots his family to Texas to pursue a PhD, his hapless wife, Georgia, attempting to support the family on a temp’s salary, heedlessly throws unopened bills in a kitchen drawer. When their financial house of cards finally falls, it is the youngest daughter, feisty Patsy, who pays the price; forced to enroll in the army in order to pay for college, she ends up being shipped off to Iraq. Zevin skewers a host of social issues from religious zealotry to the consequences of war to the entitlement mind-set of average Americans. What makes her book more than just a satire, though, is the deft way she thoroughly humanizes her characters. Readers will relate to and be moved by a beleaguered family’s attempts to climb out of debt and dysfunction. --Joanne Wilkinson

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Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat; Original edition (March 10, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802119239
• ISBN-13: 978-0802119230
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #883,525 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One nation, one family, many debts..., February 23, 2010

By 

Erin D. Howerton "erindowney" (Overland Park, Kansas USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hole We're In (Paperback)

The decisions we make to pursue or maintain an image affect our entire lives, and the lives of our children. Sure, it's a quick way to describe Zevin's new book but the devil sure is in the details... in the late 90s, Pomeroy family scion Roger leaves a comfortable school admin position to go back to college, where he swiftly loses his appetite for learning and begins an affair with his major professor. Wife Georgia is stricken by oldest daughter Helen's demands for a lavish wedding, mounting credit card debt, and the temptation to open yet another account using her oldest son's good record. Meanwhile, Patsy is the youngest kid who has been uprooted by the move to support Roger's schooling, and she finds a bit of romance only to be routed out by her ultra-religious family and shipped off to her grandmother's house to finish out high school.

The story really takes off in act two, when Patsy is basically disowned by Roger and told to find her own way to pay for college (as if the family had extra money floating around!). Patsy's solution is to enlist in the armed forces and finds herself in the desert, having married a high school classmate and now dealing with the demands of a family of her own. The effects of Roger & Georgia's decisions and debt fall crushingly on Patsy, who struggles to climb out of the titular hole that the family has occupied for so long.

While this novel has a lot to say about conservative/Evangelical Christianity, I'd say it's more about larger issues of class and culture in America. These things are intertwined, of course, and have a huge impact on the way we spend money and resources. I think it's a very relevant narrative that will appeal to a wide group of adult (and potentially older teen) audiences, and will spur avid discussion about causes and effects of things like the current recession, consumer debt, the intersection of personal desires and public politics, and the things we are passing on to subsequent generations.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is just so good, February 3, 2010

By 

A. Brown - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hole We're In (Paperback)

After I finished The Hole We're In early one morning before leaving for the day, I left it for my husband with the note "I really liked this and I think you will too." When I got home at 5:30 that afternoon he was almost done with it. This is a serious and literary novel that is also a page-turner. The blurb on the cover describes it as "The Corrections for our recessionary times" to which I would add "but not as bloated and pretentious, and with characters you will care about and not want to strangle." The women in the Pomeroy family are so well done and I was really rooting for Patsy through all the stages of her story. Ms. Zevin shows how patterns repeat in families despite our efforts to be nothing like our parents. I hope we'll see more from her.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, appalling and pathetic characters - great story, April 6, 2010

By 

A. Stahl "beetlebub2000" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Hole We're In (Paperback)

THWI is a quick read. It moves quickly, covers a lot of ground in the lifespan of a family and its members. The writing is spare, but punchy--not overly verbose, but you aren't left hanging. The story is a tragic comedy and revolves around a family that self-destructs collectively and individually. So many interesting themes here - how well-meaning parents go wrong, the impact of parents on their children, how each of us is no better than any of us, how we judge others more harshly than ourselves...I could list about 20 more.

This is terrific storytelling and worth the read. It's both contemporary and classic and each character feels very true. Highly recommended--give it a try.