Household Words: A Novel [Paperback]

Joan Silber (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 14, 2005

Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award: "Unqualified praise goes to this rarity: an extraordinary novel about ordinary people."--Chicago Tribune

The year is 1940, and Rhoda Taber is pregnant with her first child. Satisfied with her comfortable house in a New Jersey suburb and her reliable husband, Leonard, she expects that her life will be predictable and secure. Surprised by an untimely death, an unexpected illness, and the contrary natures of her two daughters, Rhoda finds that fate undermines her sense of entitlement and security. Shrewd, wry, and sometimes bitter, Rhoda reveals herself to be a wonderfully flawed and achingly real woman caught up in the unexpectedness of her own life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Originally published in 1980, National Book Award finalist Silber's first novel gives taut insight into the the possibilities of introspection for a woman of the Greatest Generation. Unsentimental Rhoda Taber lives in suburban New Jersey with her practical pharmacist-husband Leonard and, eventually, their two vastly different daughters, Suzanne and Claire. Silber (Ideas of Heaven) follows Rhoda from Suzanne's birth, in 1940, to late middle age, episodically exploring Rhoda's "unremitting force of character" and sometimes "startling hardness." Rhoda and Leonard socialize, do some low-level schmoozing, and mundanely move along through the '40s, until Leonard dies of heart attack at 42. As Rhoda struggles to reconfigure the Taber household, words, sometimes shouted, are frequently whispered. Mostly, though, the words and the feelings behind them, both good and bad, are left unsaid. That Rhoda comes, more and more, to articulate them for herself is what gives this book its particular shape, and imparts its palpable sense of growth.
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Review

A brave, wise, quite nearly heart-breaking book. -- Ms.

Silber has an extraordinary ability to convey the texture of everyday relationships. -- Chicago Sun-Times

Silber's writing is strong and richly detailed, spot-lighting the drama inherent in everyday lives. -- Washington Post

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company (November 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393328236
• ISBN-13: 978-0393328233
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,513,705 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joan Silber is the author of six books of fiction, most recently The Size of the World (Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Prize in Fiction) and Ideas of Heaven (Finalist for the National Book Award and the Story Prize). Her stories have appeared in the New Yorker, two O. Henry Prize collections, and The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction. She's known for stories that leap over long blocks of time, and this led her to write The Art of Time in Fiction. She lives in New York and teaches at Sarah Lawrence College. Her website is joansilber.net.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hey Oprah! Give this book a try!, June 8, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Household Words (Contemporary American fiction) (Mass Market Paperback)

Set in New Jersey the 50's and 60's, Household Words is a very heartbreaking novel about a young Jewish woman with two small daughters whose life changes when her husband suddenly dies. The author's prose style is spare without being dry. She is able to present a moving portrait of a very strong and appealing woman with a great sense of humor. I first read this book ten years ago and I've never been able to forget it.

Penquin should reprint this book immediately.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars One of the best developed characters in American fiction, March 3, 2006

By 

Julie G. "booklover" (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Household Words: A Novel (Paperback)

I really enjoyed this book! The main character, Rhoda, is about as three-dimensional and full-bodied as any literary character deserves to be. A poignant and honest portrayal of a person who is a less than perfect human being, wife and mother. A book you can really sink your teeth into!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle.", November 15, 2005

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Household Words: A Novel (Paperback)

Rhoda is an intensely pragmatic woman, her marriage to Leonard, a pharmacist, and the births of her two daughters in 1940's New Jersey taken in stride, as though certain things are expected in life, even if the reality is somewhat disappointing. Infrequently introspective, Rhoda tackles motherhood with determination, if not joy, caring for her children from a distance. But then Rhoda has always handled the daily skirmishes of her marriage and home with some disinterest, as though waiting for life to begin, realizing belatedly that it has been happening while she keeps herself busy. Rhoda's journey has been relatively easy, if not entirely luxurious; but a change in fortune leaves her unable to form any coherent plan for the future. Married in the pre-war forties, Rhoda is of a certain generation, her role strictly proscribed by a society that defines women as caretakers and helpmeets for their husbands. Born of a non-religious Jewish family, Rhoda possesses all of the traits of a well-brought up young woman, but has invested little effort in self-examination, life choices as foreign to her as the enemies fought by the soldiers in World War II.

Whatever her disappointments, Rhoda manages to present a façade to the world, instinctively more comfortable with wisecracks than affection; even with Leonard she is emotionally guarded, believing romance belongs in the privacy of the bedroom. The girls, Suzanne and Claire, gravitate more easily to their father, who appreciates their childish concerns, Rhoda more likely to exact obedience in lieu of comfort. Loss leaves Rhoda particularly unmoored and when surprised by circumstances, she can only cope by keeping herself too busy to ponder her altered situation. The private landscape of Rhoda's detachment is quite an experience, her skewed perception, isolated from all others, makes this character surprisingly sympathetic. For all her sarcasm, Rhoda remains disconnected, floating slightly above the surface of reality, whether in her marriage with Leonard or carrying out her maternal duties.

In the introduction, Mona Simpson refers to the novel's "tightly managed point of view". Simpson's succinct description accurately describes Household Words, Rhoda embracing her own limitations and sense of dislocation, a quiet helplessness in the face of the unexpected. The strength of the book lies in Rhoda's ordinariness, the familiar dramas of daily life played out without much fanfare. Bearing the experiences of a limited world without asking much in return, Rhoda is often stunned by the banality of daily existence, the measured rewards of parenthood and the few comforts of her life. This very constriction renders the story riveting, a small portrait furious in its restraint and acquiescence to convention. Through it all, Rhoda feels that she is "a normal woman with an attractive fate who was trapped inside a mistake". Luan Gaines/ 2005.