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Hospice
When Lucy is little something happens to her brother. He disappears for months and when he returns he’s not the same. He’s not her brother. At least this is what Lucy believes. But what actually happened?
Comic, melancholy, haunted, and endlessly inventive, Gregory Howard’s debut novel Hospice follows Lucy later in life as she drifts from job to job caring for dogs, children, and older women—all the while trying to escape the questions of her past only to find herself confronting them again and again.
In the odd and lovely but also frightening life of Lucy, everyday neighborhoods become wonderlands where ordinary houses reveal strange inmates living together in monastic seclusion, wayward children resort to blackmail to get what they want, and hospitals seem to appear and disappear to avoid being found.
Replete with the sense that something strange is about to happen at any moment, Hospice blurs the borders between the mundane and miraculous, evoking the intensity of the secret world of childhood and distressing and absurd search for a place to call home.
Comic, melancholy, haunted, and endlessly inventive, Gregory Howard’s debut novel Hospice follows Lucy later in life as she drifts from job to job caring for dogs, children, and older women—all the while trying to escape the questions of her past only to find herself confronting them again and again.
In the odd and lovely but also frightening life of Lucy, everyday neighborhoods become wonderlands where ordinary houses reveal strange inmates living together in monastic seclusion, wayward children resort to blackmail to get what they want, and hospitals seem to appear and disappear to avoid being found.
Replete with the sense that something strange is about to happen at any moment, Hospice blurs the borders between the mundane and miraculous, evoking the intensity of the secret world of childhood and distressing and absurd search for a place to call home.
- GenresFictionMagical Realism
251 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2015
2 people are currently reading
248 people want to read
About the author
Gregory Howard
9 books14 followersGregory Howard teaches fiction, contemporary literature and film studies at the University of Maine.
His first novel, Hospice, was published 1st of April, 2015.
His first novel, Hospice, was published 1st of April, 2015.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
August 10, 2015
I loved this book. It was like watching (sort-of) grown up Alice wandering through a Wonderland painted, alternately, by Kelly Link, Blake Butler, Angela Carter, and Joy Williams. Creepy/beautiful has always been the highest sort of praise for me and this book merits it.
March 3, 2016
Life is an interminable approach, to oblivion, in a state of subtle suspension.
Everyone said that I would like this, and I did. Its seeming composition by fragments, however, gave the whole a feeling of only tenuous internal connection. Those themes that hover over it also hover over everything else, so do not necessarily hold it together. This works, perhaps, as a set of three more internally interlinked stories, bound together by mood and protagonist.
Everyone said that I would like this, and I did. Its seeming composition by fragments, however, gave the whole a feeling of only tenuous internal connection. Those themes that hover over it also hover over everything else, so do not necessarily hold it together. This works, perhaps, as a set of three more internally interlinked stories, bound together by mood and protagonist.
April 14, 2015
Hospice, Gregory Howard's first novel, is filled with mystery, magic, and melancholy. The writing is assured, his imagery at once deeply symbolic but never flamboyant. The stories within stories deepen the underlying conceit of the novel allowing the reader to ponder the nature of the symbols without becoming a distraction, or seeming to be mere flourishes meant to impress. Instead they serve as suble clues and give the novel its charm. Collectively, the tales come off as a sort of modern fairy tale, if by modern we mean that fairy is a stand in for the murky world of inner imagination and wonder mixed with confusion and, inevitably, loss.
May 20, 2015
Probably one of the best books published thus far this year. The writing style kind of reminds me of Angela Carter in a way I find hard to describe: maybe the dark fairy tale vibe. I like that the book is written with a sense of humor, and that the author seems to have empathy for his main character. But the thing I find most enjoyable about it is his eye for small (and at times seemingly insignificant) details and his knack for describing things in an interesting and evocative manner.
July 9, 2015
I was very confused of what was going on with the story line. This book was a big messy jumble for me and was foggy for the entire read.
May 4, 2019
Haunting minimalist story of an unusual girl. A little Jeff Jackson whose review turned me on to it, a little Bolano, the way this ‘story’ seems to occur on the outskirts of another (or several other) one. Maybe a little Gene Wolfe too, Peace in particular, with the stories within stories.
A few other reviews have noted the poor copy editing. I noticed about 4 errors. No big deal. Though they did stand out, likely due to the deliberateness of Howard’s prose, so I wonder if they actually occurred during the layout/final editing stage, with the occasional random comma or one occurrence where a character’s watch becomes a ‘watches’. But then again, in the story of FC2’s history on their website they do seem to take pride in early reviewers’ criticism of their poor editing, so maybe it’s deliberate, like bum notes and hiss and studio noise in the best music recordings or the odd glimpse into the camera lens by an extra in an indie film.
A few other reviews have noted the poor copy editing. I noticed about 4 errors. No big deal. Though they did stand out, likely due to the deliberateness of Howard’s prose, so I wonder if they actually occurred during the layout/final editing stage, with the occasional random comma or one occurrence where a character’s watch becomes a ‘watches’. But then again, in the story of FC2’s history on their website they do seem to take pride in early reviewers’ criticism of their poor editing, so maybe it’s deliberate, like bum notes and hiss and studio noise in the best music recordings or the odd glimpse into the camera lens by an extra in an indie film.
March 6, 2018
I had a really hard time finding this book anywhere and kept trying to take it off my TBR, but then reading the synopsis and seeing the 5-star reviews and leaving it on there. I finally bought a used library copy off Amazon, expecting something super spooky, or at least creepy, but alas.
Unless you're afraid of surrealism and aimlessness, I'd give this one a pass
Unless you're afraid of surrealism and aimlessness, I'd give this one a pass
December 15, 2016
Poorly copy edited (occasionally to the point of distraction) and probably too arch for most, it has me in its aimless, misty thrall and I'm not going to shut up about it for a while. I haven't been this dumbstruck since discovering Lydia Millet.
"[Zoos] provide contact with a space of alienation and wonder and help us understand our place in the natural order of things.
I think they’re sad, Marinella said. All the animals are in cages and cages are terrible. And if they’re not in cages they’re in one of those places where it doesn’t seem like cages, where it’s pretending like it’s real, but it’s still just cages, which is even worse.
Habitats, Lucy said, softly. They’re called habitats. It means a place to live.
It means it’s mean, said Marinella. To watch something be trapped and not even know it’s trapped. I think that people who go to zoos are… She thought for a moment. Sadistic, she said, finally. I think they’re sadistic.
Where did you learn that word from? Lucy said.
I have friends, Marinella said. Friends you don’t even know about."
"[Zoos] provide contact with a space of alienation and wonder and help us understand our place in the natural order of things.
I think they’re sad, Marinella said. All the animals are in cages and cages are terrible. And if they’re not in cages they’re in one of those places where it doesn’t seem like cages, where it’s pretending like it’s real, but it’s still just cages, which is even worse.
Habitats, Lucy said, softly. They’re called habitats. It means a place to live.
It means it’s mean, said Marinella. To watch something be trapped and not even know it’s trapped. I think that people who go to zoos are… She thought for a moment. Sadistic, she said, finally. I think they’re sadistic.
Where did you learn that word from? Lucy said.
I have friends, Marinella said. Friends you don’t even know about."
June 15, 2016
This book I really think should be a five. Plot and character wise. However I found several spelling mistakes that bothered me and without reading it in one sitting I found myself lost at points.
This is a wonderful story inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I would not say this is a retelling but it has a feeling of Wonderlandness and a darkness you can find in many stories. The story was beautifully told, but sad and haunting. I felt when I closed it I was still stuck in the pages. I feel like I would happily learn more about the story and go back into the world regardless of its unhinged darkness. I will not soon forget this book and I will reread it one day in the future.
This is a wonderful story inspired by Alice in Wonderland. I would not say this is a retelling but it has a feeling of Wonderlandness and a darkness you can find in many stories. The story was beautifully told, but sad and haunting. I felt when I closed it I was still stuck in the pages. I feel like I would happily learn more about the story and go back into the world regardless of its unhinged darkness. I will not soon forget this book and I will reread it one day in the future.
December 28, 2015
Yes, it has moments, but the smattering of poignantly odd narrative constellations were not as lovingly rendered as I prefer. Yet, I can see the contemporary love for this sort of thing. I can see why people dig it. It is just becoming clear that the spartan and direct eeriness of contemporary indie literature (Hemingway + Lynch / Garcia Marquez (sounds kind of awesome in the abstract)) is losing its charm for me quickly.
August 10, 2015
This is a haunting novel woven together by vignettes. A bit fairy tale, a bit ghost story, a bit Alice in Wonderland, Lucy's melancholy journey will make you smile, creep you out, and immerse you in the wonder of her day-to-day. Great stuff.
July 31, 2015
Review TK.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews