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Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls (Paperback)

~ (Author) "I met Penny Driver two months after my twenty-eight birthday-or two months after my second birthday, depending on how you want to count it..." (more)
Key Phrases: bracing planks, fucking mouse, pumpkin field, Chief Bradley, Andy Gage, Officer Cahill (more...)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Ruff tells a surprisingly dense story that boils down to a journey of self-discovery. Andy Gage, created two years ago, is the public face of a multiple personality. There are hundreds of souls in his head, governed by his father as Andy lives in a house on a lakeshore. In the world outside, Andy works on ambitious, but unlikely, virtual reality projects. There, new programmer Penny Driver turns out to be a multiple personality, too, and the boss wants Andy to help her. Several of Penny's other souls ask for help, which Andy finally, reluctantly, agrees to give, thereby setting himself on a path that threatens the stability of his house. It seems Andy isn't as cured as he thought he was. There are still secrets in his hometown and in his mind, secrets that could destroy him. Because of the high quality of characterization in it and the unusual route the many souls of Andy Gage must take on his journey of self-discovery, this is an engaging piece of work. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Review

"...his matter-of-fact depiction of the relationships between different personalities is remarkable for its imaginative details." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Set This House in Order brings extraordinary warmth to the chilliest of childhoods." -- O magazine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 496 pages
  • Publisher: Harper Perennial (January 20, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 006095485X
  • ISBN-13: 978-0060954857
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #242,918 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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More About the Author

Matt Ruff
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Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
I met Penny Driver two months after my twenty-eight birthday-or two months after my second birthday, depending on how you want to count it. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
bracing planks, fucking mouse, pumpkin field, tall policeman, data suit
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Chief Bradley, Andy Gage, Officer Cahill, Aunt Sam, Autumn Creek, Warren Lodge, Seven Lakes, Bridge Street, Reality Factory, Julie Sivik, Verna Driver, Penny Driver, Ben Deering, Trash Town, Horace Rollins, Quarry Lake, Billy Milligan, Bit Warehouse, South Dakota, Ann Arbor, Morgan Driver, Althea Gage, Captain Marco, Foul Mouth, Rapid City
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This book cites 8 books:
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Customer Reviews

47 Reviews
5 star:
 (34)
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 (6)
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 (6)
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Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (47 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible, February 9, 2003
By Christina M. Fayz "the duchess of naxen" (Belleville, MI United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls (Hardcover)
If the only way you can see Multiple Personality Disorder is through the lens of Sybil, then maybe you should pass this book by, or at least commit to reading it with an open mind. Andrew and Penny are many things and many people, but they are not Sybil. This book is slightly more grounded in reality than Ruff's other books (no talking animals or genocidal computers, sorry) but that doesn't mean that this book isn't just as well-written and compelling. In fact, it's more so.

The best thing I can say about this book is that it changed the way I thought. It's very convincing, and after a few bad experiences with books that failed to convince me of their message, this book was a relief.

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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Unique Journey of "Self-Discovery", November 9, 2004
By J. Vilches (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Andrew is the personality in charge of "driving" the soul-ridden body of Andy Gage. Born from the ashes of Andy Gage's mind, the society of multiple personalities live in a stable arrangement together thanks to a helpful therapist. Andrew is a recently born personality trying to give the body a fairly normal life, starting with a new job at a software company. But Andrew's stability is threatened when his impulsive boss, Julie, hires Penny, another victim of multiple personality disorder. Julie wants Andrew to help Penny tame the chaos in her head. Penny doesn't understand her condition, but some of her other personalities do. Andrew is reluctant to get involved, but Penny's group of protective personas make a plea for help. When his own house of souls collapses under the strain of several shocks, Andrew and Penny end up on a road-trip to confront the past.

This is one of the best fiction books I've read this year. Ruff's handling of the multiple personalities is both inventive and sensitive. He is straightforward in dealing with the abuse that led to Andrew and Penny's fractured state - it's clearly important, but not sensationalized. In spite of the serious subject matter, Ruff manages to incorporate a good measure of humor into the story. Andrew's journey gives a whole new meaning to "finding yourself." Ruff's excellent characterizations make it easy to root for Andrew, Penny, and their collective internal societies.

I like that Ruff avoids the trap of a cliched, sappy ending, instead making it clear that there are no easy solutions. Ruff's plot was engrossing in all its twists and turns, and only one late section seemed to jump a bit off the tracks. This is a compelling book that will entertain you even as it makes you think about how we all interact with the world.
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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Ruff has done it again!, May 27, 2004
After his first two books - quirky and sharply written, deftly straddling the imaginary fence between fantasy and literary - Ruff made an interesting decision in choosing his subject matter for his third novel. Instead of taking the "easy" route and returning to a fantasy setting, he steps into the real world, choosing a difficult premise, and delivers his best story yet.

While his first two books showed off his ability to handle large casts of distinctive characters and their overlapping stories, he flips the script here by focusing on two characters, both of whom house large and distinctive casts IN THEIR HEADS.

Describing the plot doesn't do the book justice as, like any worthwhile journey, half the pleasure is in getting there, and this book is a rare pleasure, indeed. In the end, Andy Gage and Penny Driver will be two people whose lives stick with you long after you reluctantly put the book down.

Matt Ruff has done it again!

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sleeper
Great book which I whole heartedly and without reservation would recommend to anyone and everyone.
Published 6 months ago by D. Brunskill

5.0 out of 5 stars Smart, engaging
This is one of those rare books which will change the way you think about the world - and does so in such an engaging fashion that you might not realize how complex it is.
Published 8 months ago by Chris Adams

3.0 out of 5 stars Great first half
I agree with the other reviewers who thought that this lost something toward the end. It seemed like Ruff ran out of time on his deadline and wrote the end too fast because up to... Read more
Published 10 months ago by spcfa

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes you think.
Great literary work. While I know close to nothing about multiple personality disorder (MPD), this book is most illuminating, not in a medical sense, but as a thought provoking... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Dmitri Priimak

3.0 out of 5 stars I didn't see what everyone loved
This book was on several "Best Books of 2004" lists. I started it in December of 2005 and couldn't get into it, then picked it up again in August to give it another go. Read more
Published 20 months ago by J. Bosiljevac

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book, potential issues
First off, let me say that Set This House in Order is a book about child abuse and the psychotic breaks that the protagonists suffer as a result thereof. Read more
Published 23 months ago by Josh More

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic but grim
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was sad, which made it difficult to read at times, but I liked it quite a bit. Read more
Published on June 20, 2007 by Adam Fuller

5.0 out of 5 stars Great from the first chapeter.
This is one of the few five stars I've given. I loved this book from the get-go. It is the character development, not plot that rules this novel. Read more
Published on June 10, 2007 by B. Bunker

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a viewpoint we can relate to.
Don't get me wrong - as a novel, this isn't the best book I've ever read. It's clear to me, at least, that Ruff's main purpose here is not to spin us through plot twists but to... Read more
Published on May 22, 2007 by Multifarious

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for fans of Chuck Pahalniuk
Ruff seems to have that same twisted veiw of the world with the added bonus of being a better writer. Read more
Published on March 25, 2007 by Christy Smith

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