My Heart Is a Magic House

Book Description

A new baby is coming and Stephanie Squirrel is worried. She clings to her doll, Rosie, and asks where the new baby will sleep. In our room for a while, then the baby will share your room, her mommy tells her. Little Stephanie is dismayed. A new baby will want all of her things, and all of Mommy's love, too! Stephanie doesn't want to share her food, her toys-and especially not her mommy's love.

But Mommy explains that her heart has a special room for everyone. It has rooms for Mommy's parents, brothers, and sister. It has rooms for Daddy and their pet dog, Buster. And it has a room for Stephanie, too. There will be another room for the new baby, but the room in Mommy's heart for Stephanie will not be smaller. Mommy's heart is a magic house, with love enough for all.

This lovely new-baby book will comfort and reassure older siblings.

Customer Reviews:

Where was this book when I was a little girl?.......2007-07-02

I wish this book had been around when I was a little girl!

I am the fourth child in a sixth child family who was petrified to ask my parents if there was space in their hearts for me. I was more in the "pray, don't ask!" space because I didn't see how their hearts could POSSIBLY hold me along with everyone and everything else.

My fears would have been squelched through author Julie Jacobs beautiful and gentle approach to quieting the childhood fear of being displanced by "the baby". Through the metaphor of a heart with many rooms, we can visually "get" how the rooms in the heart expand according to whomever we welcome into our life. The rooms can expand, magically - and the Mom in the story carefully illustrates how her heart-rooms have changed over time.

Even small children will understand - and then will be able to explain to other children who are concerned.

Highly recommended.

My Heart Is A Magic House.......2007-04-03

What a charming and convincing way to assure children that the new baby will not diminish mother's love or attention. The delightful illustrations and the heartfelt words will make this a favorite not only of the young readers, but of parents too. I wish I had had this book when my second and third children were born. My grandchildren, fortunately, are able to enjoy it.

What a delightful book! You'll love it and so will your kids........2007-03-29

I just got this book and found it a really sweet, terrific book that sends an important message of how love makes us larger and that love is not a zero-sum game where if I have some you therefore get less.
It's illustrated w/ pretty pictures and interesting colors for kids to explore visually and the cadence of the book is very reassuring.
I think any young child would enjoy hearing this story read to him/her and any parent would like the healthy message it sends to a child.
I'm very much looking forward to other books written by this nifty author.

Average customer rating:

Should be 6 stars
I keep having to buy this book again and again
The essence of Colette
Lovely writing about not much
Delighted in provencial

My Mother's House and Sido
Colette
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

French | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Break of Day
The Pure and the Impure (New York Review Books Classics)
Cheri and the Last of Cheri
Gigi, Julie de Carneilha, and Chance Acquaintances: Three Short Novels
The Vagabond

ASIN: 0374528330

Book Description

In My Mother's House and Sido, Colette plays fictional variations on the themes of childhood, family, and, above all, her mother. Vividly alive, fond of cities, music, theater, and books, Sido devoted herself to her village, Saint-Saveur; to her garden, with its inhabitants and its animals; and, especially, to her children, particularly her youngest, whom she called Minet-Chéri. Unlike Gigi and Chéri, which focus largely on sexual love and its repercussions, My Mother's House and Sido center on the compelling figure of a powerful, nurturing woman in late-nineteenth-century rural France, conveying the impact she had on her community and on her daughter -- who grew up to be a great writer.

Customer Reviews:

Should be 6 stars.......2006-07-02

This tale of the famous author Colette's childhood is a beautiful word-picture tribute to her mother, Sido, and a glimpse into 19th century childhood in Burgundy, France. A captivating, haunting, beautifully written book, this is a must-read for anyone who has read any of Colette's work, or anyone who wishes he or she could write such a touching childhood memoir.

I keep having to buy this book again and again.......2003-02-16

I first read this book back when the earth was cooling. When I wanted to reread it, I couldn't find it, so I bought another copy. I've loaned it out, never had it returned, bought it again, ditto, ditto, ditto.
I've probably bought this book 10 times over the past 20 years, and that's no doubt a record for me.
People associate Colette with Cheri and her other erotic and somewhat scandalous writing and life-style.
Sido (her mother) and My Mother's House are written in an altogether different tone: lyrical, idyllic, dreamy, funny (of course; she's a very funny writer), nostalgic.
Read these two companion books, usually sold in a single volume, to get a real taste of what it was like to spend your childhood in rural France before the turn of the last century, in an eccentric household run by an unusually permissive mother and a much older, loving but distant father.
To read these books is to be sucked into another era by a writer uniquely skilled at her craft - and most of all, it gives you a fresh appreciation for the child who became Colette.

The essence of Colette.......2001-11-20

There are many Colettes, and I cherish them all. But the one dearest to me is the Colette who wrote so lovingly and voluptuously of her early years. In "My Mother's House" and "Sido" Colette writes about her family, her childhood in the country, and the creatures - human and otherwise - which informed those years.

In her writing about these years, Colette describes the inner life of children, country life, and her parents and their odd, affectionate and often difficult relationship with each other and with their children. We have the sense of lives tied to the earth and the turn of seasons, particularly through loving descriptions of her mother, Sido.

These two memoirs are not about "not much" as one reviewer puts it, they're about the sensuality of life, about enduring bonds of love and of blood, and about the education of a writer. Perfectly gorgeous work, and highly recommended.

Lovely writing about not much.......2000-08-26

France seems to produce more than its share of wonderful stylists who don't have much to say (Georges Simenon also comes to mind). This is a lovely, cozy read, but I'd sure like to know what the other reviewer found that is especially about women or directed toward women. I find what Janet Flanner said about Colette much more to the point, something to the effect that there was hardly a tree in French literature until Colette came along. What she does--and does supremely well--is describe flowers, insects, trees, whole gardens beautifully and precisely. For this reader that's quite enough.

Delighted in provencial.......1998-09-11

Collette holds out parts of her life for us to examime the way a woman lays out photographs for visitors to browse. These unique literary snapshots offer a delicate image of a woman's memory of a part of her life, and they are at once both delightful and common in the way they speak to women of those experiences and insights that are female. Deceptive simplicity in its wonderfully written images of provincial life.

A House for My Mother: Architects Build for Their Families

Average customer rating:

Houses and Spirits

A House for My Mother: Architects Build for Their Families
Beth Dunlop
Manufacturer: Princeton Architectural Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books

Design & Construction | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Home Design | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1568981732

Book Description

Building a house for one's parents is a time-honored way for many architects to begin their careers, to showcase experimental ideas, or simply to honor the people who raised them. From these houses we can gain clearer insights about the designers' ideas on form, space, style, and place. These houses offer rich insight into the client-architect relationship, and they give elegant architectural expression to ideas about home, family, and childhood memories. A House for My Mother features 25 houses designed over the last 50 years by various architects for their mothers, fathers, in-laws, and extended families. Included are the well-known works of recognized designers as well as early works from promising young architects. Extensive interviews with the architects and their families reveal the joys and difficulties of these very personal commissions. The houses offer innovative and affordable designs, in a variety of styles and building materials, for homes ranging from city dwellings to beach houses and mountain retreats. As the architects were generally given broad control over the design, these homes showcase the ideas that characterize their work. The architects in this collection include Natalye Appel, Peter Bohlin, Walter Chatham, Charles Gwathmey, Steven Izenour, Donna Kacmar, Robert Kahn, Mark and Jean Larson, Joanna Lombard and Denis Hector, Robert Luchetti, Suzanne Martinson, Richard Meier, Charles Menefee, Mark Simon, Laurinda Spear and Bernardo Fort-Brescia, Robert Venturi, and Paul Westlake.

Customer Reviews:

Houses and Spirits.......1999-11-25

This collection profiles houses architects have built for their families. The book is interesting on an informational level (lots of ideas for those dreaming of designing their own homes) - but what is unique, is the interplay in each case between human and design elements. A rare book that succeeds on the level of story as well as information.

My 33 Years Inside the House of Cash: A Special Tribute to My Closest Friends : Johnny, June, and Mother Maybelle

Average customer rating:

Thank You
Thank you Peggy for a heartwarming tribute. Loved your book.
Wonderful book for fans of Johnny Cash and June Carter
All she was after is fame and glory
Don't Believe The Low Rating!

My 33 Years Inside the House of Cash: A Special Tribute to My Closest Friends : Johnny, June, and Mother Maybelle
Peggy Knight
Manufacturer: Premium Press America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

At Home with Johnny, June and Mother Maybelle: Snapshots from My Life with the Cash and Carter Families
I Was There When It Happened: My Life with Johnny Cash
I Still Miss Someone: Friends and Family Remember Johnny Cash
Anchored In Love: An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash
Cooking in the House of Cash

ASIN: 1887654925

Customer Reviews:

Thank You.......2007-08-26

I for one enjoyed this book a lot ! I did not feel she was putting any one down and it was just the way she saw things. She had to be doing something right to last with them for thirty three years. Only John carter knows why he felt she had to be let go and I don't fault him for that either. I just really enjoyed the little inside story's that only she could tell. It was a lot better read than" I Was there When It Happened" I think any Cash-Carter fan would enjoy this book and hope life goes well for Peggy Knight. Marcia

Thank you Peggy for a heartwarming tribute. Loved your book........2006-12-21

I think both E. Northrop's and Marcella Jessup's one-star ratings of this book are way off base, and they both miss the point entirely of what this book is all about. I found Peggy's story heartwarming and spiritual, and the negative criticisms of those two morons really makes my blood boil, especially the disgusting comment about Peggy wanting all the money. That reviewer should not judge other people by her own rotten set of standards. Obviously, there's not much substance to either of these idiots, and clearly each one has the mentality of a grape. I believe every word Peggy says. She is a good person. If she were not, John would have fired her years ago. But she was there for 33 years. She loved John and June, and they loved her. The person who triggered her termination was John Carter, and nobody else. And I have my own thoughts about that one. As for all the children of Cash/Carter, I do not feel there is any animosity written here about any of them, only the truth. And sometimes the truth is not pretty. But the truth IS the truth, so I say to those two reviewers, GET REAL. I deeply felt Peggy's pain in her final chapters, and haven't stopped crying since I read her book. Thank you, Peggy, for sharing your personal stories with us. Your book is a treasure.

Wonderful book for fans of Johnny Cash and June Carter.......2006-06-09

If you are Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash fans you will enjoy this book. I was a fan before, but after finishing this book I am an even bigger fan. Wonderful contributions were made by these two and their family from beginning to end. I do not understand the negative reviews I had previously read. As the saying goes, "One person's rags may be another's treasure. What one may perceive as oddities and quirks, another may consider the most loving colorful character traits. I feel this is how the author saw these people and loved them.
The book is an easy read. I finished it in two enjoyable days.

All she was after is fame and glory.......2006-04-15

I can't understand how someone who lived with the Cash's 33 yrs.and put down just about everyone, except June, Johnny, Maybelle and expecially herself. You would think she was the queen of sheba. The book is more about her then the Cash family. I detected she didn't like the kids at all. All she could brag about was the money they would give her or prized posessions. How they bought her stuff all the time. I could see why John Carter Cash wanted her out of the house. She probably expected to get the whole Cash fortune.

Don't Believe The Low Rating!.......2006-04-07

I bought this book at a used bookstore and when I started reading it, I couldn't put it down for two days, until I eventually finished it. I highly disagree with the person who rated this book one star. I think that Peggy Knight showed enormous respect for Mother Maybelle, June, and Johnny. She talked about how good they were. How they were always willing to talk to fans and how they never wanted to see anyone hurting (physically or for money). She tells some great stories and I read things in here that I would never have read otherwise. One being that June loved to drive her cars fast (130 mph!) This is a great book. I've read several books on Johnny and June, and this one is one of, if not, the best.

Housekeeping Secrets My Mother Never Taught Me

Average customer rating:

Anything secret? No, nor new either...
Perfect for former princesses
Motivating!

Housekeeping Secrets My Mother Never Taught Me
Joni Hilton
Manufacturer: Prima Lifestyles
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Cleaning, Caretaking & Relocating | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Household Hints | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Home Comforts : The Art and Science of Keeping House
Keeping House: Hints and Tips for a Beautifully Clean Home
The Well-Ordered Home: Organizing Techniques for Inviting Serenity into Your Life
Good Housekeeping The Complete Household Handbook: The Best Ways to Clean, Maintain & Organize Your Home
Mrs. Dunwoody's Excellent Instructions for Homekeeping: Timeless Wisdom and Practical Advice

ASIN: 0761528199
Release Date: 2001-01-25

Book Description

Master the Art of Keeping House—the Easy Way!
Everyone loves a clean and well-kept house. But these days most people don't have time to clean thoroughly, keep up with laundry, decorate properly, and actually enjoy their home. Caught in the vacuum of life, our home skills are lacking—and it shows!
This lifesaver of a book provides all the essential secrets, basic instructions, and creative tricks on the best ways to keep house, from laundry and housecleaning to floor and carpet care and minor home repairs. Whether you are single, married, a house owner or apartment dweller, you will discover how to efficiently take care of your home, as well as yourself!
Mom's favorite housekeeping secrets include:
·How to clean, room-by-room
·Must-have supplies and how to make them yourself
·Speedy tips and tricks to prepare the house for unexpected guests
·Decorating secrets for a stunning presentation
·And many more!
"I have been housekeeping for 31 years and I learned something new on every page!" —Deniece Schofield, author, Confessions of an Organized Homemaker

Customer Reviews:

Anything secret? No, nor new either..........2002-12-05

There is ABSOLUTELY nothing new and/or secret in this volume. Just a rehash of ideas and lists and schedules that have been presented thousands of times before and in much better and more enjoyable style. Not a complete waste but close to it.
By the way, I work as a freelance housekeeper so I do have some experience on the subject.

Perfect for former princesses.......2002-08-01

This book is a lifesaver for me. Growing up, my family did the picking up and putting away around the house on a daily basis, and I washed dishes daily, but a housekeeper came in once a week to do the heavy cleaning. My mother ran a successful business, and didn't do much cooking or cleaning at home. Therefore, I didn't learn the way most women do - watching their mothers. Fast forward to my first apartment - hovering over my very own toilet, I wasn't exactly sure how to clean it. Joni Hilton works the house from top to bottom, room by room, explaining exactly what kind of dirt can build up in which places and how to most efficiently get rid of it. She even tells you her favorite cleaing products. Other housekeeping books are such boring Martha Stewart manuals that not only are they a drag to read, but they leave you feeling completely incapable of ever having a clean house. Joni Hilton's book is a quick, funny, light read, and her clean house is very attainable.

Motivating!.......2001-07-28

This book is great. She gets right to the point and lets you know exactly what constitutes a "clean" home. If you want a good housekeeping reference book, this would be a good purchase.

Average customer rating:

Engrossing

In My Mother's House
Elizabeth Winthrop
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Domestic Life | Women's Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Engrossing.......1999-03-07

The story of three generations of women in one family, In My Mother's House is well-written and kept my interest. The story begins with Lydia in 1888, continues with Lydia's daughter Charlotte, and ends with her granddaughter Molly in 1971. There's a family secret--something that happens to Lydia as a young girl--which shapes the destinies of all three women and how they relate to one another. Lydia's story(which does intersect and impact the others) was by far the most interesting and I thought her character was the best of the three women. It may just be because she's the one who bears the secret and she also is in the book longer than anyone else. The book is a fine and engrossing study of how keeping the truth hidden can cause misunderstanding and pain in a family.

Average customer rating:

A classic!
An excellent introduction to the culture of the Native Americans of the southwest
Pure Poetry
A Child's Introduction to the Pueblo
A Childhood Favorite

In My Mother's House (Picture Puffins)
Ann Nolan Clark
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Wagon Wheels (I Can Read Book 3)
Marshmallow (Clare Newberry Classics)
The Little House
The Little Brute Family
Leif the Lucky

ASIN: 0140544968

Customer Reviews:

A classic!.......2007-09-02

I first bought this book in Santa Fe, N.M. in the 1960's and have treasured it ever since. I was living in New Mexico at the time, so it had a special relevancy. I have read it to my children and grandchildren, though unhappily they did not appreciate it as much as I had hoped. I was delighted to find the review, "Pure Poetry," and learn about the book's background.
The text is indeed,"pure poetry" and the pictures are a delight.
I believe that it has continued importance today, as we strive to understand other cultures. I hope that it continues to be available in the coming years.

An excellent introduction to the culture of the Native Americans of the southwest.......2007-04-22

This story is an excellent introduction to the world of the Native Americans of the Pueblos in the American southwest within sight of the mountains. Their life revolves around the land and the other animals that inhabit it. They work hard and while their lives vary with the seasons, it is generally a sequential routine. It is a life of community, where everyone has individual and group responsibilities.
As the danger of global warming becomes more generally accepted, we are reminded that we all have a responsibility to reduce our footprint of change on the planet. One of the best ways to train the younger generation to help reduce climate change is to expose them to the philosophy of the Native Americans. This book is an excellent way to do that.

Pure Poetry.......2000-08-10

This book explores pueblo life in many ways, but it is the elegant artwork and the lyrical writing that draw me back to its pages again and again.

There is an interesting story behind this book. Ann Nolan Clark, at that time, was working as a teacher on a reservation. The tribal elders were (rightfully so, after all the treaty breaking) suspicious of books as "white man's word" and would not let Ann introduce writing and reading to the students by bringing books onto the rez. So she taught (as was usual for her) many things at once. She taught the students to write, and while writing they learned to read by reading and sharing their own writing. She had all her students write what life was like then, and compiled them all into a collection she called, at the time, something like Our 3rd Grade Geography. Because she wanted to relieve the elders of their suspicions where books were concerned, and at the same time show the students that books were written by people -- ordinary people -- she found someone who would bind a few copies for her.

After the bound copies were returned to the reservation, the tribal elders relented and let her bring in books with which to enrich the lives of her students. The most amazing side-effect of all this was that a very good friend of hers sent a bound copy to a publisher friend and the publisher contacted Ann, then they contacted Velino Herrara, whose illustrations are perfect for the book.

A must-read for all young children. A must-look-at for all aspiring artists who want an introduction to a wonderful style. Finally, for anyone who wants the music of the pueblo to run in their heartbeats and influence their own poetry, a book to buy and cherish.

A Child's Introduction to the Pueblo.......2000-06-18

Meticulously rendered color and line drawings give this book an elegant beauty. This is a good introduction to the lives of the Pueblo native Americans.

The book is readable at a first and second grade level, but is fine as a parent-child read-aloud for ages 3 - 6. Kids will probably just want to slowly leaf through the fascinating, simple pictures.

Story is told in dignified first person by a child. No plot, just short pieces on the land, traditions, animals, and people of the Pueblo.

A Childhood Favorite.......2000-02-17

As a child, I was facinated by they different ways in which people live. This book shows readers in simple, eloquent text and illustration a way of life quite different from the way most Americans live. In doing so, it shows the universality of human living. For very young children, Come Over to My House by Theo LeSieg (aka Dr. Seuss) does the same.

Average customer rating:

Fascinating personal accounts of controversial history
Please Notice:
Mother and daughter revisit their struggles with communism
Extraordinary Portrayal

In My Mother's House
Kim Chernin
Manufacturer: Ticknor & Fields
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

The Woman Who Gave Birth to Her Mother: Seven Stages of Change in Women's Lives
The Hungry Self: Women, Eating and Identity
The Natural
The Things They Carried

ASIN: 0899191673

Book Description

The triumphant story of Rose Chernin, Russian immigrant and Old Left activist, is narrated by her daughter in this riveting memoir of conflict and reconciliation between generations.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating personal accounts of controversial history.......2005-05-30

Poet Kim Chernin wrote the memoir "In My Mother's House" because her mother asked her to, and the book began with her mother's proposal. It took seven years for her to finish writing. The book uses a structure of alternative chapters: one in the present time, in a family setting, with the mother starting to tell a story, and the author expressing her emotions toward her mother and the writing experience; the next from her mother's POV, telling a personal story interwoven with a piece of the American Communist history before and during the McCarthy period. The mother's stories hold my interest throughout, as she was so genuinely enthusiastic about being an organizer of Communist activities, even though it meant she had to go to jail and face deportation. When she lived in the Soviet Union during 1932-34 before WWII, she found that country the realization of her idealistic dream and she loved her life there wholeheartedly. Her experience in America during the McCarthy period, on the other hand, illustrates how cruel and unjust a so-called democratic government can become when it operates on belief instead of the constitution. All this is so controversial. I kept wanting to know what the mother would think after Stalin's crimes were exposed later. It turns out the mother was never disillusioned while the daughter eventually was during her own visit to Moscow in the 1970s. It is the personal accounts of a controversial history that fascinates me, while I'm not sure how much the structure of alternative chapters helped. I think the mother's POV helped a lot, as her voice is quite distinctive from the author's and this made the mother's stories more vivid. I found the author's chapters in between her mother's storytelling somewhat uninteresting with the presentation of her own emotions too repetitive, to the point it got boring. Overall, one flaw cannot mar the jade, "In My Mother's House" was a great read.

Please Notice:.......2000-11-07

This is Kim Chernin, merely wishing to point out that you list In My Mother's House as highly available, and as at the same time out of print. It isn't out of print. I hope you can correct this. thanks. Kim

Mother and daughter revisit their struggles with communism.......2000-04-29

A compelling true story about an altruistic woman's growth as a charismatic communist organizer and the challenges/sacrifices she and her family face as a result of her ideals and activism. Starts with the mother's version of her life, including the exhilarating but few years spent in the Soviet Union shortly after the revolution, and ends with daughter's darker experience in Soviet Union and her struggle to accept her mother while rejecting her ideology.

"In My Mother's House" provides an eye-opening look at a period of history when ordinary people felt like they truly could change the world. Many may find the stark black and white view of communist activity in America they were taught in school no longer rings true.

When the mother and daughter describe their own activities, the reading is effortless. However, when Chernin diverges to comment upon the actual process of storytelling, the reader can become annoyed and bogged down by Chernin's excessive self-absorbed emoting. However, this is a tiny part of the book and can be easily skimmed over.

Rose's story is very inspirational. Many will be motivated to look at their own lives and activities and ponder how they can be of more service. Rose Chernin was a tiny woman, but fueled by her strong dedication to justice and fairness, she was able to inspire other idealistic people to change discriminatory laws and create numerous needed community organizations, such as daycare for working women.

This is a book about idealism, finding a purpose in life, mothers and daughers, feminism, communism, unions, American history, and much more. A good read for active minds.

Extraordinary Portrayal.......2000-04-28

Kim Chernin offers a heart-felt portrayal of matriarchial family history, using both her mother's unique voice and her own. Eloquantly and honestly written, Chernin sits the reader at her mother's (Rose Chernin) feet to experience first-hand the stories told in her mother's house. Born in Russia in the early 1900's, Rose speaks through Kim simply, with exquisit detail about life in the Russian Pale of Settlement, her families move to New York and her alliance with the communist party. If for no other reason, this book is worth reading purely for the portrayal of Rose's voice.

Average customer rating:

A powerful book
powerful examination of Holocaust legacy on mother, daughter
I've Already Been Attracted
"In My Mother's House"
A gem of a book

In My Mother's House: A Novel
Margaret McMullan
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Those Who Save Us
Eve'S Striptease (Pitt Poetry Series)
How I Found the Strong
The Lost Night: A Daughter's Search for the Truth of Her Father's Murder
Some Things That Stay

ASIN: 0312318251
Release Date: 2004-09-09

Book Description

In My Mother's House is a beautiful, haunting, and expertly told novel about a daughter's obsession to understand her mother's commitment to silence about their family's experiences during WWII Vienna. The story of Elizabeth and her mother Jenny is remarkable for its fullness of details: the pieces of family silver the grandmother mails to Jenny, piece by piece, over the years; Jenny's vivid memories of her uncle's viola d'amore lessons; the smell of the wood floors in the family's Vienna home. It's an emotional story of what is inherited from one generation to the next.

Customer Reviews:

A powerful book.......2005-12-21

This is essentially a mother-daughter story, but it is also so much more. The book challenges what we think of faith, of relationships, of life itself. I was hooked from the first page, and although I have read several books since reading this one, I am still thinking of the characters and their story. Having grown up in Austria, 20 years after the war made this an especially poignant read for me. It made me wonder about all those friendly grandfathers I met growing up. Who were they during the war?

powerful examination of Holocaust legacy on mother, daughter.......2005-01-11

In what unforeseen manners does a catastrophic event, now years past, continue to define a family's identity? Is it best for a parent to forget a troubled past and shield her child from anguish or to assist the child in confronting something that could upset, alter or even destroy a parent-child relationship? To what extent is the past never "the past," but a continuous, immediate presence in our daily lives? Margaret McMullan has attempted to answer these questions in her strong, sensitive and essential novel, "In My Mother's House," a profound examination of the Holocaust on the second and third generation of survivors. McMullan explores the Holocaust's resonant hurt and answers its unspoken questions through Elizabeth and her mother Jenny, the latter bent on denial and silence, the former wrestling with existential confusion, a tormented relationship with her mother and an unresolved identity.

"In My Mother's House" is permeated with what memoirist Fern Schumer Chapman, author of "Motherland," concisely labels "the half-life of the Holocaust:" its silent, subtle and surreptitious grip on the children of survivors. Jenny is a child escapee and daughter of an aloof, imperious Jewish father who converted to Catholicism as an adult and repudiated his ancestral heritage. Now an assimilated American, she has produced a sensitive, questioning daughter who feels incomplete and adrift because of her lack of knowledge of her mother's past. Elizabeth describes herself "immersed in death and memory," but her self-definition accurately depicts her mother.

Mother and daughter face the vexing issues survivors and their children necessarily confront if there is to be any hope of family coherence and personal mental health. Abandonment and denial. Self-eradication and the legacy of loss. Displacement and return. Memory and connection. As Elizabeth presses her mother for a full disclosure of the past and as Jenny steadfastly rebuffs her daughter's attempts to explore what the mother has walled off, both women risk having their hearts "tighten up" as though they were "hardened candy."

At the onset of the novel, Elizabeth is unaware of her mother's past, presumably content with her present status as an American Catholic, newly relocated from Mississippi to Chicago's North Shore. "My mother never spoke of the past." The child Elizabeth is aware that members of her family perished during World War II, but she "had to figure `the war' out on" her own. Not illogically, she concludes that the "death camps were for Catholics, not Jews."

While Jenny consciously obliterates any mention of the past, constructing an icy distance from her estranged father and, by inference, her family's past, Elizabeth unconsciously replicates her mother's pattern. When her great grandmother regularly sends her pieces of tarnished silverware, the child hides them under her bed in a box, next to her grandfather's discarded autobiography, "which lies facedown...an arm's reach away." The dulled family heirlooms come to symbolize an obscured, painful history, too ugly to use but too precious to discard.

During Elizabeth's adolescence, her mother's obdurate silence crystallizes into an emphatic declaration: "I swore no more questions about the past...about what was dead and gone." Already conscious about her family's differences from their affluent, assimilated Midwestern neighbors, Elizabeth determines "that I would never ask another question about what was dead and gone." Her fear is that her "mother's past would run our little family." Yet denied history does not disappear, and as Elizabeth matures into adulthood, her unresolved appetite for historical authenticity gnaws at her; her resultant anorexia causes her body to disappear but her hunger for truth to grow.

Margaret McMullen's compassionate portrayal of Elizabeth's quest for identity resolves the question of an unresolved past, one which has poisoned Jenny's relationship with her father, one which has fractured her deep but injurious love for Elizabeth and one which has made Elizabeth incapable of giving and receiving love. Elizabeth's decision to seek out her Jewish roots matches her mother's commitment to eradicate them. Both derive from ruined history, denial and the consequences of self-eradication.

Increasingly, as the living voices of survivors become fewer in number, we will come to depend on their children to assist us in understanding the implications of the Holocaust. "In My Mother's House" illuminates the pivotal issue of identity formation in the shadow of the Holocaust through a mother-daughter relationship. Both Jenny and Elizabeth face each other and their distinct, but intertwined, histories. They come to grips with their own emotional landscape of exile, recrimination and separation, and in so doing, the two try to navigate their way out of diaspora.

I've Already Been Attracted.......2004-01-16

I know the author's first novel and that's why I started to read this - her second.
As I had expected, I've already been attracted by the story though I'm yet only half way. I especially like the description of a father and a very young daughter relationship at the beginning which easily reminds us of our own similar happy childhood with our father. Elegant, refined still very serious is my first impression of this novel. Besides, the English of this novel is not so hard for non-English speakers like me.
I can't wait to see what will be happening to this family. I'll go on reading as fast as I can. "I'll be back" here when I'm finished with it.

A Japanese reader in Japan!!

"In My Mother's House".......2004-01-02

Margaret McMullan has invested emotion and authenticity in her story - a story of a family's connection to its past; guarded secrets, religious convictions, resentment and finally understanding. We hear ancestors speaking to their descendants throughout the story, revealing the joys and disappointments of life that ultimately become the inheritance of a mother and daughter.

"In My Mother's House" takes the reader on a journey that begins at the family's rich and abundant ancestral home in Vienna at the start of World War II. Along the way, the family's memories of escape and survival, separation and confluence are illuminated for the reader.

The richness of a life left behind in Austria is contrasted sharply with the less meaningful, modern-day life of a daughter who is determined to learn of her mother's past so as to make sense of the present.

McMullan's historical fiction is compelling as it draws upon the darkest days of the Holocaust, lost religious traditions and the smells and sounds of Vienna in the 1930s - a time and place lost forever.

A gem of a book.......2003-12-13

I am a voracious reader always on the lookout for a good new (to me) author. Margaret McMullan is that. This latest novel of hers is a haunting, evocative story of a mother and daughter (told from alternating viewpoints, a tactic that works very well here) seeking connectedness after a lifetime of polite estrangement. As the story unfolds, we see why Jenny has become who she is as a mother. Her story unfolds from 1930's Austria to current day America. Ms McMullan's descriptions of 1930's Austria as war encroaches on an unsuspecting people, are so vivid that you can smell the air and hear the music. And by the end of the book, you will come to care about Jenny and Elizabeth greatly and come to understand a lot about love, loss, and especially, hope.

Average customer rating:

Great for dealing with divorce

My Mother's House, My Father's House
C. B. Christiansen , and Irene Trivas
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Divorce | Issues | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0140542108

Customer Reviews:

Great for dealing with divorce.......2005-01-27

This book is about a child of divorced parents and how they deal with sharing the child. On certain days the child lives with the mother and on the other days lives with the father. The child dreams of someday living in her own house and not having any suitcases.
Reading level is K-3. This book could be discussed in depth with children of these ages who are having to go through the same scenario.
The book is 27 pages long with 9 of the pages just having pictures on them. Beautiful pictures embellish the story. I think it is just the right length for the subject.
With 27 pages, 9 of them being pictures, the book is very appealing to this age group. It depicts the mother, father, and child being very happy with the situation they are dealing with.
The developmental level of the book reaches the age group K-3 very well. With the subject matter showing the people coping with the situation well, it could have a very positive affect on the children of this age group.
There are no diversity factors in this book. In fact, it is unrealistic to think that low income families could relate to the mother having a house and the father having a house, unless they are both professional people.
I would use this book only in certain situations where the mother and father are both financially stable and are doing the things that are depicted in the book. Not many families are as fortunate to have a joint custody situation that is shown in this book.
The child who is fortunate enough to have such a situation, but is still unhappy is when I would use this book. If they don't understand that this is not forever, they can see by the ending that eventually they will grow up and have their own house. I would point out how hard the parents try to give stability to the child by equally sharing time with him/her. Acceptance and love are the key elements. The parents share and get along because they love their child so much.
Be careful using this book as an example if the divorced parents do not get along and do not wish to share the child. If an example like this is shown and the child's life is not going smoothly in this way, it could cause some grief.

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