House Tours

by Sherril Jaffe

Story prose-poems by Sherril Jaffe.

From "A Tree Has Died":

“A tree has died in my front yard. I am afraid that this house is already becoming vindictive. It was a pretty little flowering cherry and must have died when the gardener removed the hedge that stood in front of it that was all covered with poison ivy. He sprayed the ground with herbicide and the little tree died.”

Genres: Fiction

210 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 1991

Reviews

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Our chairman sat in his Lazy Boy lounger sucking on his pipe. One day in early September, out on the cedar shavings in the front of his house and in front of his wife and four teenage children, our chairman poured gasoline over himself and lit a match.”

[Superstition Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

House Tours is a remarkable novel with a distinctive focus on the houses the protagonist has lived in. Having such an interesting approach really makes the reader see the personality that even our homes can take on. There is a lot of symbolism to be found in how Sherril Jaffe writes about each home, and with each place the protagonist inhabits there is more to be learned about humanity itself. The way Jaffe describes these houses also makes us understand what we leave behind every time that we move. She shows us that even an empty home is a testament of humanity and the imprint that we leave behind. It’s a beautiful novel and with such an interesting outlook on life as well. Here is an excerpt that best reflects the common theme in House Tours.

“I'm not sure how I endured the rest of the time I spent there. I never saw Hope again after that. Shortly afterwards, to my secret relief, we moved away to Beverly Hills, where I thought that I had escaped scot-free. But now I see that I carried with me the heavy furniture from Hope’s house, and that it has been inside me ever since.”

Review By Dennise Garcia