House [Paperback]

Tracy Kidder (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1999

Tracy Kidder takes readers to the heart of the American Dream: the building of a family's first house with all its day-to-day frustrations, crises, tensions, challenges, and triumphs.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tracy Kidder, whose most recent book is Home Town, is also the author of Among Schoolchildren and Old Friends. He has won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He lives in Massachusetts and Maine.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1st Mariner Books Ed edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618001913
• ISBN-13: 978-0618001910
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > How-to & Home Improvements > Home Design > House Plans
  • #64 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > How-to & Home Improvements > Home Design > Design & Construction
  • #71 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > How-to & Home Improvements > Home Repair

More About the Author

Tracy Kidder graduated from Harvard and studied at the University of Iowa. He has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Robert F. Kennedy Award, and many other literary prizes. The author of Mountains Beyond Mountains, My Detachment, Home Town, Old Friends, Among Schoolchildren, House, and The Soul of a New Machine, Kidder lives in Massachusetts and Maine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars House: A teacher's tool !!!, September 30, 2003

By 

Frank DeSantis (Staten Island, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: House (Paperback)

When I first read House I was enthralled. Finally, a book about the building of a house from inception to possession. I started to use excerpts from the book in my high school construction classes, and then bought 35 copies to use with my students. I now have the book broken down into about 25 lessons and read it each year with my new classes. It adapts very well in a construction technology program for Vocational high school students, and with the current emphasis on literacy we get an added bonus. Thank you Tracy Kidder, you have helped many students over the past 5 years.

32 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This story pulls no punches, July 4, 2000

By 

Dave Typinski (High Springs, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: House (Paperback)

If you are thinking about becoming a builder, or are thinking about having a house built for you, this is a must-read. Be prepared for Kidder's no holds barred account of how devious a home buyer can be just to save relatively little money, how unprepared a builder can be to deal with such situations, and what crucial role good communication between the home buyer, architect, and builder plays getting the project completed on time and on budjet. Kidder emphasizes the fact that building a house is not just about people doing buisiness in an impersonal manner, but that personalities play a crucial role in any business relationship. Kidder also makes clear that the involved parties' abilities to see the other sides point of view in a dispute are paramount to achieving the ultimate goal in business: the customer gets a quality product on time and no one feels they're cheated at the end of the transaction. This is not an instruction manual; Kidder offers little advice on what is proper or what the characters could do better. Kidder simply relates an accurate account of the process of building a home, mostly with an eye toward human relations; a wise reader will learn from the successes and mistakes of the characters herein.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A tribute to those in the building trade!, December 19, 2005

By 

M. T. Guzman "squeakychu" (Rockville, MD, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: House (Paperback)

I think this book is wonderful. It gives an insight into and expresses an appreciation for those individuals in the building trade -- many of whom are extremely bright, talented and quite often underappreciated.

The characters in this book are so lifelike; the conversations so real. I can feel the tension in the air between Jim (the builder and lead carpenter), Bill (the architect), and Jonathan and Judith Souweine (the owners) The workers are great, too. Their comments are snide and funny. I often hear stories from my husband in his concrete business of how architect's plans are not always practical or realistic when construction actually takes place. I love seeing how this situation plays out in the book.

SPOILER--> I really felt for the builders when their profit was disappointingly small in the end. Kidder not only captured the nuances of interpersonal relations between those involved in all aspects of the house's construction, but also the very essense of each character's personality.