Customer Reviews

The House of Tomorrow

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances, said "I adore this book." That's my "just finished this book" reaction as well. I absolutely ADORED it.

It's so gritty and heartfelt and REAL that I couldn't help but feel attached from sentence one. Sebastian, a 16 year old who grew up in a geodesic dome with a grandmother obsessed with Buckminster Fuller, and Jared, a 16 year old whose family is screwed up and who just recently underwent a heart transplant, are not your average teen boys. But they could have been. Their flaws are so understandable, their anger and frustration so real, that despite their odd circumstances, they are, in the end, just two completely identifiable teen boys, and the bond that they form is believable and touching in a way rarely seen in books nowadays.

Bognanni's way of dealing with Jared's problems through the music he listens to and creates was masterful. Music allows Sebastian and Jared to discover themselves and reveal themselves to each other in a way that most teenage boys would be unable to do. They are the music, and the music is them, and if you've ever had any kind of relationship with music, you need to read this book. There is no better song to explain how Jared and Sebastian felt than "Teenagers from Mars" by the Misfits, and the way he wove this in and allowed it, along with other punk rock music, to create a bond between Jared and Sebastian, was absolutely genius.

Something else genius: the way he used punk rock to set a mood for the book without letting the mood of the book be the punk rock. Let me try to explain that better. I knew, going into the book, that I would be reading about some of my favorite punk. So I made a playlist in iTunes with things like the Misfits, Minor Threat, the Ramones, the Dead Kennedys, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Business, etc. . ., and I set it to go when I started the book. At first, it was okay. But as I read more and more, it wasn't angry, fast music that I wanted to be listening to. While the music perfectly described the fears of these two teenage boys and allowed them to express themselves without acting like retarded girls (I'm sure that's something Jared would say), it was all just a cover up for their deeper problems. The story of their frienship was so sweet and sad that, while gritty, angry music worked for them, it didn't work for me while reading.

Reading this book, I felt like I could tell that Peter Bognanni put his heart and soul into it. He raises interesting questions and gives you just enough of the answers. He breathes so much life into his two unique, quirky characters that I can't help but wonder if one of them is his son. One of them was my brother, even if he didn't mean for it to be, and my guess is at least one of the boys is someone in your life as well. His writing is lyrical and beautiful and, I say it again, heartfelt.

One more thing I'd like to say as an afterthought - referring to Napoleon as the first punk rocker: totally RAD! I absolutely love it!

I think it would be hard to read this book and not love it, or at least feel it. Despite the teen smoking and the affluence of naughty language, it comes HIGHLY recommended by Brizmus Blogs Books (for older teens and adults, of course). Read it, and you'll see what I mean.

This gently humorous novel, loosely and comically attached to the life and philosophy of futurist architect Buckminster Fuller, introduces an exciting new voice to the fiction scene. Some other reviewers here seem to suggest that it is a book for young adults, which is kind of like calling "Harold and Maude" a film for teenage boys, but I think it is much more than that.

The story brings together a passionate and visionary grandmother, a recently abandoned wife with a desperately ill son, a teenage girl starved for a touch, and the protagonist, the young man who longs to touch her. Most importantly, it describes the genesis of a friendship, comically but legitimately defined as one person who believes in another's "stupid ideas." Offering a generous definition of family, it spans generations and makes self-sacrifice seem like a form of joyful communion. Through the narrator, it also delicately inhabits the voice and mind of a kind of "enfant sauvage," that is someone artificially kept away from ordinary society. But rather than "sauvage," our narrator is hyper-civilized -- and quite charming!

If you're looking for a change of scenery from your regular reading, something refreshingly innocent, humorous, charming, with a twinge of sadness, but overall hopeful and unique, than The House of Tomorrow is what you're looking for. Teenager Sebastian Prendergast lives in a glass dome on top of a hill overlooking a town in Iowa. Yes, I said it, Iowa. An unlikely place for a boy to find himself through punk-rock music, but the Minnesota girl in me loves it.

Parentless at a young age, Sebastian lives with his aging grandmother who homeschools him on the teachings of dead philosopher-architect Buckminster Fuller. Sebastian's grandmother has grand plans for him, somewhat new-age (though she hates the word) worldly plans. And her teachings and stories are all he's ever known. When his grandmother has a stoke while giving a tour of their dome, Jared is accompanied to the hospital by the Whitcomb family: single mother Janice, sarcastic son Jared, and icy damaged daughter Meredith. On that day, his whole world changes. When his grandmother kicks him out of the dome for having email conversations about punk-rock music with Jared, Sebastian goes to stay with the Whitcomb family. In the course of his weeks with them, he and the Whitcombs are changed and their worlds will never quite be the same.

Peter Bognanni's debut novel made me laugh more than once. The writing quality is good and appropriately simplistic, it's not trying to make you smarter, or make you feel stupid. It's trying to move you, and it will. The characters are crisp and realistic, images of them poured off the page as I read, and I can imagine this as a wonderful film. I sympathize with Sebastian, who is naive but not stupid, and I am thankful Bognanni made him intelligent enough with the outside world, instead of entirely unknowing of human interaction. I believe that Sebastian would use the sort of strange scientific language that he did, having been taught by his grandmother inside of a dome for the majority of his life; but I would have found it unrealistic if, say, he had no knowledge of how money works, or how to use a pay phone.

My favorite supporting character is Jared. Jared of the too-skinny jeans and punk-rock dreams. Of the stolen cigarettes and sarcastic one-liners. Jared is amusing and witty and wonderful. He and Sebastian form a unique bond and their interactions are the best parts of the story.

This book will change you; will make you look up the music of The Misfits; will make you recall your old, yet undying love for The Cure. It will make you nostalgic for your teenage years. It's simply a really good book; unique, with flawless dialogue, and touching characters that will stay with you when you're done reading.

4 stars

(I received this book from the publisher for review)

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. When I first started The House of Tomorrow, I thought it was going to be another story of a homeschooled teen raised by a new-age, out-of-touch grandmother who is forced into the "real world." It did start out that way. Sebastian's grandmother has been raising him in their geodesic dome house, where she homeschools him on the teachings of a futurist philosopher. He rarely leaves the house and his contact with others is mainly with people coming to tour their unique home. When his grandmother has a stroke, he is taken in by a family who is going through some pretty major problems of their own. A single mom is raising two rebellious teens, one of whom has had a heart transplant that his body is rejecting. Sebastian learns about punk music and experiences first love . . . and really his first friendship as well.

This book was so much deeper than I expected and really touching and funny. I was hooked from the first page and wasn't let go until the last. This is a book for older teens as their are sexual references and bad language. I highly recommend this thought provoking, as well as entertaining book.

ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT

This is wonderful debut with a unique voice. I think it is somewhere between The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Life of Pi with my favorite punk songs mixed in. This is the best book I have read so far the year. This coming of age story really captures some great geek moments and the account of two misplaced teens finding meaning in their lives just hits right on every note.

PLEASE READ THIS BOOK! You won't be disappointed...well, you might be if you like normal.

Firstly, when I read the blurb for "The House of Tomorrow", I couldn't believe it. How did a stranger come to write a book that would connect some impossible-to-connect dots of my personal history? It seemed patently absurd. When very young, I worshipped the Whole Earth Catalog, wanted to move back to land, build a dome, tried to, gave up, came to loathe the hippies and moved to New York CIty where I discovered just what Bognanni absolutely nails: the absolute inchoate rage and joy that comes from being a misfit kid who comes into their own through playing music or non-music, starting a band without a clue and without knowing a thing, and triumphing, if only for a blip in time. And this was me, and the characters in this absolutely sweet book. And then this kid, me, winds up immersed in Buckminster Fuller's idea's through another. This is true and this is also in this book. How could it be so? I still can not believe it.

So, yes, this is a most personal review. How can i not love this book? Bognanni brings it all back for me, perfectly, and with a twist, the Buckminster Fuller twist. I applaud not only nailing what it's like to be a lost child in a teenager's body, but also a burgeoning adult with wisdom, and conveying the love of simply listening to the Ramones so perfectly, but for making Fuller so interesting and accessible. How he came up with these two things together, punk rock and Fuller, is beyond me. Mr. Bognanni, how did you come to this? I really want to know!

The last time I thought an author may have met me and gotten into my own mind I was a child. I read this book like a kid, furiously, in two big gulps, and joyously. It moved me almost to tears, made me laugh, made me wildly happy. As I wrote, it was sweet, incredibly sweet, and I may be blinded by the subject matter, but even as it was that perfectly sweet, it never stung with saccharine. Perfect (oh, yes, I've basically said that already).

The blurb synopses the story and I need not repeat it here. I don't know how this book will speak to others since it was so personal for me. I am most curious. I admit that I fell in love with this book, and that kind of love is blinding. Do I recommend it? Unabashedly! Even if you don't have my own personal history, if you've ever been a young misfit, or are one now (though I suspect when I was young I would have tossed such a hopeful book across the room), or a dreamer, or even a parent with problems, or a human being, I suppose, this is simply a wonderful book. And I applaud the author, too, in this age of oh so self-conscious snark, for not once falling into that trap. Yes, sometimes there are happy endings and there is true goodness, and that stuff isn't all treacle.

Gabba Gabba Hey! Hurray for the House of Tomorrow! I haven't enjoyed a book this much since I was a kid. Is that a good enough review?!

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. When I first started The House of Tomorrow, I thought it was going to be another story of a homeschooled teen raised by a new-age, out-of-touch grandmother who is forced into the "real world." It did start out that way. Sebastian's grandmother has been raising him in their geodesic dome house, where she homeschools him on the teachings of a futurist philosopher. He rarely leaves the house and his contact with others is mainly with people coming to tour their unique home. When his grandmother has a stroke, he is taken in by a family who is going through some pretty major problems of their own. A single mom is raising two rebellious teens, one of whom has had a heart transplant that his body is rejecting. Sebastian learns about punk music and experiences first love . . . and really his first friendship as well.

This book was so much deeper than I expected and was really touching and funny. I was hooked from the first page and wasn't let go until the last. This is a book for older teens as their are sexual references and bad language. I highly recommend this thought provoking, as well as entertaining book.

Disclaimer: I am reviewing a copy I received for free through the Vine program.

Fun story; I recommend it. Don't want to get too specific with any spoilers! but I got a kick out of the story, especially because of the background (people living in a geodesic dome designed by Buckminster Fuller; I once met him so I can definitely relate), and the characters were likeable and interesting and came alive for me.

i wasn't sure what to expect when i grabbed this from the (e)library. i really enjoyed reading this; i love young adult stories. i had hopes for where the book was going and was quite pleased with where it ended up

peter has a wonderful writing style, and i truly hope he writes more stories

Sixteen year old Sebastian Prendergast is not your typical teen. He's been an orphan since both of his parents died in a plane crash when he was just six years old. Sebastian has lead a sheltered life ever since, living in a geodistic dome in Iowa with his elderly and somewhat eccentric Nana Josephine. His Nana does not believe in public school education; she thinks its "myopic and wrong". As a result, he is home schooled by Nana using the teachings of a futuristic 20th century philosopher. Nana believes its up to Sebastian to save humanity.

To supplement Nana's pension income they give tours of their dome, and run a little gift shop inside as well. One day while the two are giving a tour, to the Whitcomb family (mother and teenage son), Nana suffers a stroke and is hospitalized. The Whitcomb's bring Sebastian out from his bubble dome and into their home. It is here that Sebastian experiences a new kind of family. Janice,is a newly separated mother; she has a teenage somewhat misunderstood, brat of a daughter, Meredith. She also has a son, Jared about Sebastian's age. He has medical issues and problems of his own. It is here that Sebastian gets to experience some of the things teens at that age face: smoking, rock music, the opposite sex. A fun coming of age novel.

This debut author did a terrific job creating a believable character in Sebastian. His depictions of situations and the boys reactions to the outside world seemed accurate and appropriate. In some ways he even reminded me of the boy in A Curious Incident of a Dog in the Night Time, even though Sebastian was not autistic. This novel is laugh out loud funny at times, as Jared and his sister are not your ideal role models by any means. Somewhat social misfits themselves, they too long for acceptance and friendship. Even though at times I felt sad for some of the characters in this novel, ultimately, the story left me hopeful, and wondering if a sequel might be someday in the works.