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Housecleaning
In Housecleaning, Tom Flaherty's mother is suffering from a strange form of dementia that causes her to journey back in time; especially when she's housecleaning and finds personal items that trigger her memory. But Maude Flaherty's travels - from the Scopes Monkey trial in 1925 to the 1936 Berlin Olympics to the Civil Rights March on Washington in 1963 - might he the evidence Tom needs as a Caltech physicist to develop a unified theory of space, time, and place - string theory - and reconnect with a society he's lost touch with since the murder of his partner, Ken, 10 years ago.
270 pages, Paperback
First published July 30, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 5, 2019
After re-reading this marvelous novel from 2007, I'm surprised I hadn't reviewed it back then. Was I even reviewing books then? Was there a GoodReads then? Did I have an inkling that many of the book's themes would soon come into my own life? The concept of time and space, explored by Tom, a science professor, and through the memories of Maude, his aged mother, whose variation of dementia parallels his own doubts about string theory, make for a beautiful poetic comparison.
As she rummages through family artifacts, she recalls momentous times in her life with her Olympic skiing friend Anna, but also travels through time and even in prescient sort of out-of-body experiences that defy medical explanation. Tom becomes an unexpectedly popular guest-lecturer while sorting through the loss of his partner, and finds a new community with other gay men at a friend's apartment near his family summer home in a Seattle suburb.
Framed photos and other objects become talismans through their lives, new beginnings are found while decades-old moments come to new clarity for both Tom and Maude. Scenes, nature, ideas and settings are all given fine detail, and the sheer empathy of their broken lives repaired will leave you misty-eyed and with hope. A must-read, and if you can't find a copy of this out-of-print edition, it's been republished as Wonder: a Novel.
As she rummages through family artifacts, she recalls momentous times in her life with her Olympic skiing friend Anna, but also travels through time and even in prescient sort of out-of-body experiences that defy medical explanation. Tom becomes an unexpectedly popular guest-lecturer while sorting through the loss of his partner, and finds a new community with other gay men at a friend's apartment near his family summer home in a Seattle suburb.
Framed photos and other objects become talismans through their lives, new beginnings are found while decades-old moments come to new clarity for both Tom and Maude. Scenes, nature, ideas and settings are all given fine detail, and the sheer empathy of their broken lives repaired will leave you misty-eyed and with hope. A must-read, and if you can't find a copy of this out-of-print edition, it's been republished as Wonder: a Novel.
May 19, 2012
Weaves together physics, metaphysics and dementia in the story of a gay man who goes home to be with his aging mother in Tacoma, Washington. The second published novel of a friend.
March 15, 2010
Tom Faherty, a scientist, mother has dementia. Many memories. String theory. Very good book.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews