Customer Reviews

Homebody

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you like stories with a scary supernatural element, but are uncomfortable with satanic evil material, this is a book you can enjoy. I liked this book; it is kind of scary without making you feel dirty. Not as much of a thinker as many of his books, but maybe more than most horror stories. Not more or less predictable than most horror. Good book, not his best, but worth a read.

This book was written by the Orson Scott Card who wrote Saints, not the one who wrote the Ender Wiggins series or the one who introduced us to the Maker. If you love the ruthless logic of Bean (in Card's latest winner, Ender's Shadow), or the wit of Lovelock, or the compelling alternate universe inhabited by Alvin, you will surely be disappointed with Homebody.

Homebody was written by an author well outside his lyrical or logical core. The characters are well-considered and true to their natures, but none of them are people you'd want to have a conversation with, much less live with for the length of a book. The characters are deliciously flawed, but Card seems unable to find the hook needed to make us care.

Card's obsession with loss and the grieving process led to a couple of extraordinary works (like Xenocide) and a couple of literary duds (like Lost Boys). This definitely falls into the latter category. In the process, he's trying to write into genres where his style and abilities are ill matched. He's successfully equaled or exceeded the masters like Clark and Heinlein in future-fiction that captures the imagination. He's done a good turn matching Lewis and Zelazny by creating Alvin's magical reality. But, when it comes to a good ghost story or a contemporary supernatural tale, Card should leave it to King or Koontz.

If you want a ghost, pass on Card; if you want Card, one of the country's best living authors, try a different title.

Card spins another good ghost tale (see Treasure Box) about Dan, a man with a troubled past (he blames himself for the death of his daughter) who has given up on relationships and now makes a living buying old rundown houses and restoring them.

Dan comes across the old Bellamy house which was built a century earlier by a man who wanted to give the perfect house to his wife. The couple were big society people and after they died, the house fell into the hands of various disreputable individuals and became a speakeasy and a brothel until ending up as an apartment house for college students.

The house has been deserted for about 10 years and the closest neighbors are two "wierd" old women who live in what was once the Bellamy house's carriage house.

Dan buys the house and finds that it is not as abandoned as he thought. Additionally, the wierd neighbors prefer that he destroy the house rather than fix it up. As the book progresses we see that the house in not just an inanimate object but possibly a living thing.

During the book Dan has to wrestle with his past and becomes the "crying-post" for his troubled real estate agent as well as his houseguest.

I really enjoyed this book and held back from giving it 5 stars only because I thought that Dan missed too many obvious clues about the "secret" of his houseguest and that I would have liked to have learned more about the house in its glory days.

Normally I like Orson Scott Card. In fact, the Ender series tops my list for best SF series ever. Homebody, however, is a disappointment. The plot is bland, the cliches abound, and it's not very moving or scary. The writing, as in all of Card's work, is clear and well presented. But, alas, here Card is just moving his pen for no reason.

In "Homebody," we find Don Lark, running from the pain of his lost family. Don finds a wreck of a house and begins restoring it - only to find that there is a power within its walls that will alternately terrify and tempt him.

Haunted houses are old hat, but Card adds a new twist that makes the story fresh and interesting. The story zags in directions you weren't expecting, and the characters are all quite vivid. A good read from a great talent.

This book will appeal to fans of Stephen King, John Saul and Dean Koontz, but, oddly enough, I'm willing to bet that Card fans won't like it much at all. I've read a few other novels by Card from his Fantasy and Science Fiction works, and I find that he does very well at those, and didn't quite do as well on this in comparison. Objectively, however, I managed to ignore who had written the book and enjoyed it as a new twist on Haunted Houses in its own right.

Dedicated Orson Scott Card fans should give this a pass, but people who'd like a new take on ghostly tales will definately enjoy this one.

I like Clive Barker and et. al., and I love Card's other books, so I thought I'd probably enjoy this. I did, but the problem was that I was really uncomfortable reading it, because I identified TOO closely with the character.

With Barker's stuff, it is easy to read, because you are always detached from the characters, but this book pulls you in so quickly, that you really feel for this guy, and so when he hurts, I hurt too.

I like my "horror" books to be light, and this definately wasn't. I realize I'm praising by faint criticism, so judge for yourself how you like your horror.

I thought this was, for some reason, going to be a more `normal' fiction book (it was recommended, so I didn't really look at the genre). But about fifty pages in it started getting weird. Not only with the addition of the supernatural elements, but the characters themselves. It was a case of having too much crammed into them. There were no `normal' people in the book to balance out all of the extremes, and that was not only wearing, but completely unbelievable (right, I realize I was suspending my disbelief on the whole possessed house part, but that doesn't mean I can't demand realistic characters!). The book ground to a predictable and tidy ending, which was rather... offputting. After wading through all of that insanity, I expected a more creative payoff.

I don't know what is so sacrosanct about a writer limiting himself to one narrow genre or sub-genre. Some readers criticize him for writing something a bit different from his usual fare. I actually applaud him for it. As a professional writer, I'm much more of a generalist than he is. I really enjoy writing in various genres. So maybe I've paid for that by not selling as many books as those who stick with one narrow type of book. Card had the courage to write what he felt like writing. This book had a creative plot, held my interest throughout, and I recommend it to others.

The author of the Ender Saga and other great novels such as Pastwatch is virtually nowhere to be found in this story. Instead of great storytelling and philisophical food for thought this novel provides nothing but time wasted.

The characters are strong and the actual mechanics of writing are pure good ol' Orson Scott Card but after that the reader is left with a humorless, suspense impoverished and bland novel. I spend chapter upon chapter hoping someone would do something half-way interesting.

If you are looking for a great novel by this author then check out his others because this is not the one to measure his talent by.

If you like Orson Scott Card, Homebody won't disappoint you. If you love Orson Scott Card stories, it may leave you wanting more.

Homebody is about a simple man with a bad past who buys a house with an even worse history than he does. The story is simple and straight forward and is relatively predictable.

Don Lark, the main character is flushed out well, but somehow everyone else seems a little hollow. The characters seem a little too convenient and there is very little, if no background characters. Unfortunately, Lark's character believes in the story of Sylvie, the old ladies and the house too easily. Not enough struggle in the acceptance of the supernatural.

The story is good and you'll enjoy it. However, readers who go out of their way for a Card book for the depth of the characters and the storyline will be disappointed.