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Household Words
Winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award
"Unqualified praise goes to this rarity: an extraordinary novel about ordinary people." ― Chicago Tribune The year is 1940, and Rhoda Taber is pregnant with her first child. Satisfied with her comfortable house in a New Jersey suburb and her reliable husband, Leonard, she expects that her life will be predictable and secure. Surprised by an untimely death, an unexpected illness, and the contrary natures of her two daughters, Rhoda finds that fate undermines her sense of entitlement and security. Shrewd, wry, and sometimes bitter, Rhoda reveals herself to be a wonderfully flawed and achingly real woman caught up in the unexpectedness of her own life.
"Unqualified praise goes to this rarity: an extraordinary novel about ordinary people." ― Chicago Tribune The year is 1940, and Rhoda Taber is pregnant with her first child. Satisfied with her comfortable house in a New Jersey suburb and her reliable husband, Leonard, she expects that her life will be predictable and secure. Surprised by an untimely death, an unexpected illness, and the contrary natures of her two daughters, Rhoda finds that fate undermines her sense of entitlement and security. Shrewd, wry, and sometimes bitter, Rhoda reveals herself to be a wonderfully flawed and achingly real woman caught up in the unexpectedness of her own life.
350 pages, Paperback
First published January 24, 1980
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555 people want to read
About the author
Joan Silber
25 books336 followersJoan Silber is the author of nine books of fiction. Her book Improvement was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN/Faulkner Award and was listed as one of the year's best books by The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Newsday, The Seattle Times, and Kirkus Reviews. She lives in New York and teaches in the Warren Wilson MFA Program. Keep up with Joan at joansilber.net.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
May 31, 2022
This is possibly the most depressing book I have ever read. I read all of it, because I DNF'd my last read. There is nothing wrong with the writing, Silber's style is very readable; her characters are fully developed, and very well observed with unique characterisation especially with Rhoda and her two daughters, Suzanne and Claire. Minor characters also have depth - Rhoda's ageing father, her husband Leonard, Moe Seidman, someone Rhoda becomes involved with after the sudden death of her husband. Only her multiple friends, merge into something of a clump - Annie, Hinda, Harriet etc.
The book begins in 1941 when Rhoda is pregnant with her first child, and ends somewhere in the early 60s, with Suzanne in complete rebellion, having left home, working somewhere in Florida, she has more or less cut all ties with her mother. Even with her second daughter, Claire, Rhoda has to beg her to accompany her to a specialist hospital, where she dies after a prolonged and undiagnosed illness, at the age of 46. There are no spoilers here, because I highly recommend that no one bother reading this book. Unless of course you actually want to depress yourself.
So, the only explanation I can offer is that Silber is writing against the concept of Golden America. As I'm British, I'm not entirely au fait with all the cultural references, but I kept getting vibes of 'I Love Lucy' and 'Bewitched'. I felt Household Words is a sort of sobering anti-story against those particular 'Golden' post-war decades of wealth and opulence (for the white middle-class). The setting is in a suburb of New Jersey, with easy access to New York city. If you pay attention you notice all those little digs at the gloss, for example there is a reference to McCarthy's politics; one of Rhoda's dates has lost his well-paid government job; Claire, although in school is involved with anti-nuclear campaigns. Rhoda discovers a flick-knife in Suzanne's coat pocket. Silber's book was published in 1976, so, it's a reflection of the times - intense criticism of America's involvement in Vietnam. But it is the relentless downward trajectory of our main character, Rhoda, which indicates so clearly Silber's interest in the illusion of the happy family and the values underpinning American society.
Here is a good sample of Rhoda's thoughts:
A wife is an abstract idea to some men, especially men who have lived to the age of forty-two without having had one. It seemed to Rhoda that at some time before meeting her, Moe must have made up his mind to get married, and in the course of things she had been a preparation, a thoroughfare en route to that goal. The word was in her mind because the sixth graders in one school sang, O beautiful for pilgrim feet/ Whose stern impassioned stress/ A thoroughfare for freedom beat/ Across the wilderness.
It was the second or third verse to "America the Beautiful."
All I can say is - once you get to the end of the book, it's clear that the whole is an ironic takedown of a certain version of American values - but going in you don't know this - so you flounder, unsure of what the angle is. I think the book could do with an introduction, so the reader has some positioning because actually Silber's writing is extremely polished and competent, the message hits the mark and it's very convincing, just very depressing. I think it also helps you to understand those concepts or thoughts that underpin your own personal ideology, the unquestioned ones. It made me realize how much I like the happy family saga, people achieving, getting someplace in life, either being materially productive or advancing in some way intellectually, spiritually. I don't think Rhoda advances except that at the very end, she realizes she had insisted on a particular view her entire life - 'that life is good', only to be radically and insidiously undermined by forces outside of her control - the voice of the author to be precise. Yes - it's worth reading, if you know what the purpose of the book is.
The book begins in 1941 when Rhoda is pregnant with her first child, and ends somewhere in the early 60s, with Suzanne in complete rebellion, having left home, working somewhere in Florida, she has more or less cut all ties with her mother. Even with her second daughter, Claire, Rhoda has to beg her to accompany her to a specialist hospital, where she dies after a prolonged and undiagnosed illness, at the age of 46. There are no spoilers here, because I highly recommend that no one bother reading this book. Unless of course you actually want to depress yourself.
So, the only explanation I can offer is that Silber is writing against the concept of Golden America. As I'm British, I'm not entirely au fait with all the cultural references, but I kept getting vibes of 'I Love Lucy' and 'Bewitched'. I felt Household Words is a sort of sobering anti-story against those particular 'Golden' post-war decades of wealth and opulence (for the white middle-class). The setting is in a suburb of New Jersey, with easy access to New York city. If you pay attention you notice all those little digs at the gloss, for example there is a reference to McCarthy's politics; one of Rhoda's dates has lost his well-paid government job; Claire, although in school is involved with anti-nuclear campaigns. Rhoda discovers a flick-knife in Suzanne's coat pocket. Silber's book was published in 1976, so, it's a reflection of the times - intense criticism of America's involvement in Vietnam. But it is the relentless downward trajectory of our main character, Rhoda, which indicates so clearly Silber's interest in the illusion of the happy family and the values underpinning American society.
Here is a good sample of Rhoda's thoughts:
A wife is an abstract idea to some men, especially men who have lived to the age of forty-two without having had one. It seemed to Rhoda that at some time before meeting her, Moe must have made up his mind to get married, and in the course of things she had been a preparation, a thoroughfare en route to that goal. The word was in her mind because the sixth graders in one school sang, O beautiful for pilgrim feet/ Whose stern impassioned stress/ A thoroughfare for freedom beat/ Across the wilderness.
It was the second or third verse to "America the Beautiful."
All I can say is - once you get to the end of the book, it's clear that the whole is an ironic takedown of a certain version of American values - but going in you don't know this - so you flounder, unsure of what the angle is. I think the book could do with an introduction, so the reader has some positioning because actually Silber's writing is extremely polished and competent, the message hits the mark and it's very convincing, just very depressing. I think it also helps you to understand those concepts or thoughts that underpin your own personal ideology, the unquestioned ones. It made me realize how much I like the happy family saga, people achieving, getting someplace in life, either being materially productive or advancing in some way intellectually, spiritually. I don't think Rhoda advances except that at the very end, she realizes she had insisted on a particular view her entire life - 'that life is good', only to be radically and insidiously undermined by forces outside of her control - the voice of the author to be precise. Yes - it's worth reading, if you know what the purpose of the book is.
December 13, 2015
Like Richard Yates and Michael Cunningham, Joan Silber perfectly describes the subtleties of domestic life as they unfold over the course of years. Rhoda is a decidedly ordinary protagonist--not heroic, not tragic--but she is highly specific, a wry, sturdy woman who quietly delights in the material, everyday world. Sometimes the result is a vague snobbery (she speaks French and obsesses over her decorating choices), and sometimes it is the most humble thing: "She believed in God, of course, but not personally, and she certainly regarded Him as a Being with the decency not to force an intimacy. Everything in her went against the idea of a life continuing without an attachment to normal daily occupations." Rhoda marries a man she loves and has two daughters she loves well enough. She teaches. She travels. People die. She gets sick herself (more pages are devoted to her physical suffering than you often see in fiction, because this is a book about the small indignities of mortal life). There isn't a story per se; there is a life, beautifully told.
September 23, 2017
Lovely, funny, and thoughtful, though if I were starting with Joan Silber I'd go with Ideas of Heaven or Fools.
June 13, 2007
I found this a devastatingly beautiful book. Also, however, this is perhaps the most disturbing novel I have ever read. I don't know how to explain this adequately to someone who hasn't read the book-- it isn't exactly disturbing content-wise, since nothing too drastic happens-- but by the end of the novel, I felt an absolute, visceral revulsion toward Rhoda, the protagonist. As I read, the prose lulled into a dream-like state and revealed, before I realized it consciously, the true depravity of the characters. I was haunted for days.
June 30, 2021
Usually within the first few chapters of a novel, you know what the protagonist wants. But this book turns that upside down. As the story opens, in 1940, Rhoda doesn't seem to want for anything. She is married to a man she loves and pregnant for the first time. They live in a lovely home in the New Jersey suburbs and have an active social life. Rhoda, in fact, is a little smug. She's satisfied with how she looks, critical of her friends and impatient with her mother. But then things start unraveling.
Over the next twenty years, Rhoda faces the problems that most of us face as we mature. Her parents age and need care. Her children don't turn out exactly as she had hoped. She also encounters some tougher challenges: an unexpected death, a serious illness. What's unique and interesting about this book is that none of that seems to change Rhoda. Generally, the problems that we encounter in life form our character and force us to mature. But it seems to me that Rhoda was so smug and self-satisfied at the start that she was incapable of changing.
A couple of things about this book didn't ring true for me. Mainly: how does she still have so many friends when she is so self-absorbed? Also, the last hundred or so pages of the book dragged a little. But, overall, as a writer I found this book fascinating. I don't think I've ever read a story that basically starts with the happy ending, nor have I ever read one where the author deliberately creates a character impervious to significant change. It was very well done.
The edition that I read including reading group questions at the end, and one of the questions was whether Rhoda's life might have been different if she had lived in a different era. I thought that was an interesting question, but I'm not sure what my answer would be. For sure, the 1940s and 50s were an era when appearances counted more than authenticity, and that was definitely part of Rhoda's problem. But there are plenty of people in this century who also live on the surface: all the Instagram influencers and wannabe influencers, just for an example.
Like my reviews? Check out my blog at http://www.kathrynbashaar.com/blog/
Author of The Saints Mistress https://camcatbooks.com/Books/T/The-S...
Over the next twenty years, Rhoda faces the problems that most of us face as we mature. Her parents age and need care. Her children don't turn out exactly as she had hoped. She also encounters some tougher challenges: an unexpected death, a serious illness. What's unique and interesting about this book is that none of that seems to change Rhoda. Generally, the problems that we encounter in life form our character and force us to mature. But it seems to me that Rhoda was so smug and self-satisfied at the start that she was incapable of changing.
A couple of things about this book didn't ring true for me. Mainly: how does she still have so many friends when she is so self-absorbed? Also, the last hundred or so pages of the book dragged a little. But, overall, as a writer I found this book fascinating. I don't think I've ever read a story that basically starts with the happy ending, nor have I ever read one where the author deliberately creates a character impervious to significant change. It was very well done.
The edition that I read including reading group questions at the end, and one of the questions was whether Rhoda's life might have been different if she had lived in a different era. I thought that was an interesting question, but I'm not sure what my answer would be. For sure, the 1940s and 50s were an era when appearances counted more than authenticity, and that was definitely part of Rhoda's problem. But there are plenty of people in this century who also live on the surface: all the Instagram influencers and wannabe influencers, just for an example.
Like my reviews? Check out my blog at http://www.kathrynbashaar.com/blog/
Author of The Saints Mistress https://camcatbooks.com/Books/T/The-S...
July 21, 2021
I “discovered” Joan Silber last year and have been reading her past novels and stories since then. “Household Words”, which was published in 1980, won the Hemingway Foundation and the PEN Awards. (It was her first novel.)
The novel follows the life of Rhoda Taber beginning when she is pregnant with her first child in 1940, and provides historical insight into the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
What sets this novel apart from all the other Silber novels I’ve read (so far) is that it has a “straightforward” narrative voice and Point of View (Rhoda's). Many of her subsequent novels change POV with a new character in each section, and the reader must figure out how that character is related to the last. It’s a narrative structure that works well for Silber, and I actually prefer it.
The novel follows the life of Rhoda Taber beginning when she is pregnant with her first child in 1940, and provides historical insight into the 1940s, 50s and 60s.
What sets this novel apart from all the other Silber novels I’ve read (so far) is that it has a “straightforward” narrative voice and Point of View (Rhoda's). Many of her subsequent novels change POV with a new character in each section, and the reader must figure out how that character is related to the last. It’s a narrative structure that works well for Silber, and I actually prefer it.
February 22, 2016
"Rhoda did not, like some of her friends, make the mistake of expecting life to be too much like the movies. Ginger Rogers was not Jewish."
This book! How it moves from hilarious to horrifying: stealth, quietly devastating, brilliant.
This book! How it moves from hilarious to horrifying: stealth, quietly devastating, brilliant.
October 16, 2020
Less than 12 hours after finishing this novel, while I was composing a review of it in my head, I forgot the name of the main character, even though it was repeatedly stated throughout the story. I remembered her husband's name, her daughters' names, many of her friend's names, but not her name. It soon came to me, though, and I proceeded with my mental reviewing. That memory slip may have been more than a middle-age forgetful moment.
While reading the book, I found it highly interesting, yet it is the type of story that can swiftly slip away, because really nothing that memorable happened. Rhoda is a 1940s Jewish housewife who has to deal with a tragic event one morning. Since I had only skimmed the description and some reviews of the book, I had no idea what was coming. I was glad of that, too, because it would have changed my whole perspective of the first part of the story. It was best I did not know.
From that morning on, Rhoda faces the years in a very realistic, unsentimental way. Personally, I think sentimentality is a worthless emotion, so that was one reason I found Rhoda appealing. Not totally appealing, mind you, since her vanity and prejudices tainted her insights at times. She was generally insightful, though, and honest about her emotions. Those two things are mainly what propelled the story forward. True to the time period, her expectations were low, too. This was after the war, after the Holocaust. One should be happy to be alive and have a safe home and nice things.
If I had known how the story would end, I probably would not have read it, since I'm tired of that topic. Yet the ending did not put me off, as it should have, because there was always that keen interest about how Rhoda was going to deal with it, what would she think of it all? Compared to contemporary novels, I found this 1980 one very refreshing, very true to life and human nature. Rhoda wasn't going to become something she wasn't, wasn't going to change herself to make others happy. Maybe I will always remember Rhoda, even if I forget her name.
While reading the book, I found it highly interesting, yet it is the type of story that can swiftly slip away, because really nothing that memorable happened. Rhoda is a 1940s Jewish housewife who has to deal with a tragic event one morning. Since I had only skimmed the description and some reviews of the book, I had no idea what was coming. I was glad of that, too, because it would have changed my whole perspective of the first part of the story. It was best I did not know.
From that morning on, Rhoda faces the years in a very realistic, unsentimental way. Personally, I think sentimentality is a worthless emotion, so that was one reason I found Rhoda appealing. Not totally appealing, mind you, since her vanity and prejudices tainted her insights at times. She was generally insightful, though, and honest about her emotions. Those two things are mainly what propelled the story forward. True to the time period, her expectations were low, too. This was after the war, after the Holocaust. One should be happy to be alive and have a safe home and nice things.
If I had known how the story would end, I probably would not have read it, since I'm tired of that topic. Yet the ending did not put me off, as it should have, because there was always that keen interest about how Rhoda was going to deal with it, what would she think of it all? Compared to contemporary novels, I found this 1980 one very refreshing, very true to life and human nature. Rhoda wasn't going to become something she wasn't, wasn't going to change herself to make others happy. Maybe I will always remember Rhoda, even if I forget her name.
October 14, 2014
What a downer of a book. I had high hopes for it; I generally enjoy Joan Silber's style, and her writing can be perceptive and witty. This book is well written, and in the first third or so it was often amusing and engaging. However, the main character, Rhoda, was thoroughly unpleasant; I was tired of her company by about the middle of the book, and I hated to read about her hitting and verbally abusing her kids. The last third of the book was a slog through various types of family unhappiness.
Not that every character has to be pleasant, every story happy or redemptive, or every reading experience fun, of course. But if I'm going to spend time with a pill, I'd just as soon learn something about the forces that shape difficult people and make them difficult, and I didn't. The character herself didn't seem to learn much or to have much capacity for introspection or for reflection about the needs or motives of other people. She just bumbled through, hurting her husband, hurting her daughters, being snide and superior and feeling sorry for herself (with some reason, I will admit, especially at the end of the story). It's probably an achievement for Silber to have produced this character and made her so vivid, but reading about her didn't give me much of what I come to fiction looking for.
Not that every character has to be pleasant, every story happy or redemptive, or every reading experience fun, of course. But if I'm going to spend time with a pill, I'd just as soon learn something about the forces that shape difficult people and make them difficult, and I didn't. The character herself didn't seem to learn much or to have much capacity for introspection or for reflection about the needs or motives of other people. She just bumbled through, hurting her husband, hurting her daughters, being snide and superior and feeling sorry for herself (with some reason, I will admit, especially at the end of the story). It's probably an achievement for Silber to have produced this character and made her so vivid, but reading about her didn't give me much of what I come to fiction looking for.
May 29, 2020
I almost did not finish this book. While the author has a gift with words that pulls you into the story; I was bored and irritated with the one dimensional character whose sole purpose in life was to conform. Even when tragedy struck it barely caused her to do any self reflection and reinforced her rigid behaviors. While I empathized with her, I struggled to respect her choices especially when she continued to ignore and humiliate her children. Her rigid clinging to her poorly formed expectations perplexed me. She had money, societal position, and privilege. What held her back from living a more fulfilled life? Yes, she was largely influenced by her culture, but surely not all women who had children in the 1940s were that shallow?
Perhaps that is the point of the book; to urge us to examine our values and live a life that is meaningful before it is too late. However, I didn't need to read over 300 pages to do that.
Perhaps that is the point of the book; to urge us to examine our values and live a life that is meaningful before it is too late. However, I didn't need to read over 300 pages to do that.
October 9, 2018
Once, in high school chemistry, we studied smelling salts. I still remember that particular bracing whiff, and was reminded of it during _Household Words_. Joan Silber has a way of nailing her characters' inner thoughts and feelings with such clarity that it causes that same sharp inhale. You sit up and think, "Jesus."
I especially love that this is a novel about that dreaded subject of unlikable women. Rhoda is stubborn and hard. She is an uncompromising snob. She is lonely and angry, funny and sad. We feel for her, judge her, condemn her, weep for her. Silber was ahead of her time in focusing on her and making us sit with her. If you are interested in liking your characters, this is not for you—but, then, you're missing out. A devastating and beautiful novel.
I especially love that this is a novel about that dreaded subject of unlikable women. Rhoda is stubborn and hard. She is an uncompromising snob. She is lonely and angry, funny and sad. We feel for her, judge her, condemn her, weep for her. Silber was ahead of her time in focusing on her and making us sit with her. If you are interested in liking your characters, this is not for you—but, then, you're missing out. A devastating and beautiful novel.
March 4, 2021
This is a dark and disturbing book. It's the 1940's and Rhoda and her hubby Leonard, along with daughters, Suzanne and Claire, are living their lives. If this had not been written by the steadfast Silber and her magical way with words, I don't think I would have finished the book. Rhoda's life is one disappointment after another.
Yet, I could not stop turning the pages and am still thinking about this book. It can be depressing, upsetting, and crude. But it was a great read!
Joan Silber makes you really think while reading this book. The characters are so fleshed-out and real. Each character is distinct and unique.
Despite the darkness and depressing situations, it is a book I can recommend.
Yet, I could not stop turning the pages and am still thinking about this book. It can be depressing, upsetting, and crude. But it was a great read!
Joan Silber makes you really think while reading this book. The characters are so fleshed-out and real. Each character is distinct and unique.
Despite the darkness and depressing situations, it is a book I can recommend.
February 16, 2019
I am sorry I spent so much time reading this. It is a slow read...and the only part that is interesting starts about halfway through the book. Joan Silber has is absolutely fantastic in her use of language, but the storyline itself drags on and is somewhat boring.
I know many like her style and novels. I may just be the odd one.
I know many like her style and novels. I may just be the odd one.
May 6, 2018
Discovering Joan Silber at this point in my life is a revelation. A master of American domestic fiction whose prose, elegantly perfect, digs so deep into the recesses of human relationships that it’s almost hurts to read sometimes for the truth it reveals.
June 16, 2019
I feel that I should take greater pleasure in novels whose reality feels like being repeatedly punched in the face. This falls into the category of "admired so much and will never, ever want to read again".
March 12, 2010
I wasn't crazy about this book. Story of Rhoda's life and her two daughters. This was billed as an extraordinary novel about ordinary people. The writing was good though.
January 31, 2014
I love an unreliable narrator, but this felt more like an author's exercise than a novel. The secondary characters were too out of focus for me to form an attachment to them.
January 13, 2018
Kind of sad story. Rhoda wasn’t the best mother and didn’t seem to know what she wanted and never seemed happy
June 15, 2022
c 1976, revised ed. 1980. Silber [born 1945, grew up Jewish in Millburn, New Jersey]
Having just re-read Joanna Russ's book on all the ways to discount and dismiss women's writing, I can see all kinds of ways this novel could be ignored and dismissed by the white male establishment critics. It's about *everyday life*, the main characters don't do a thing that is spectacular or highly unusual or evil. The characters' concerns seldom go beyond their daily lives, though one teenage daughter is a bit into social activism.
It's altogether fascinating. Very realistic, I mean very believable. All of this stuff could have happened -- and *does* happen -- all the time.
Silber places her main character in 1940 just after she gets pregnant, and we follow her and her family [also her family of birth] for the next 20 years. [I guess in New Jersey, I forget if it says where.] So I guess this would be the generation of the author's parents.
Nominally Jewish [extended] family. The two brothers and wives, and the grandparents, keep in touch pretty regularly with the sister's family. Rhoda's relationship with her husband is important, but it's her relationship with her two daughters that is the focus. I cringe every time Rhoda yells at one of her daughters, and she slaps and hits her quite a lot too, even in late teenage years.
I suppose the message is that Rhoda did not learn how to express her love and concern in more positive ways. We get a really complex portrait of Rhoda's interior life. I would be glad to re-read the book.
Mona Simpson writes a short intro for this 2005 edition, in which she suggests reading the novel several times, once focusing on the older daughter, once on the younger daughter, and so on. It's a good idea.
Simpson: 'Rhoda is upper middle class, with progressive leanings, close to her immigrant Jewish parents, house-proud. Yet there's seemingly no authorial spin on her conventionality.' [= seemingly without irony]
In the book: 'She had no real attitude of her own about what was really of interest and value in life.'
"She believed in God, of course, but not personally, and she certainly regarded Him as a Being with the decency not to force an intimacy. Everything in her went against the idea of a life continuing without an attachment to normal daily occupations."
ONe intersting question in the Reader's Guide at the end of this edition:
'What did the story make you think about how much of life can be controlled, about the roles of fate and will?'
I'll want to read ALL Silber's books!
Having just re-read Joanna Russ's book on all the ways to discount and dismiss women's writing, I can see all kinds of ways this novel could be ignored and dismissed by the white male establishment critics. It's about *everyday life*, the main characters don't do a thing that is spectacular or highly unusual or evil. The characters' concerns seldom go beyond their daily lives, though one teenage daughter is a bit into social activism.
It's altogether fascinating. Very realistic, I mean very believable. All of this stuff could have happened -- and *does* happen -- all the time.
Silber places her main character in 1940 just after she gets pregnant, and we follow her and her family [also her family of birth] for the next 20 years. [I guess in New Jersey, I forget if it says where.] So I guess this would be the generation of the author's parents.
Nominally Jewish [extended] family. The two brothers and wives, and the grandparents, keep in touch pretty regularly with the sister's family. Rhoda's relationship with her husband is important, but it's her relationship with her two daughters that is the focus. I cringe every time Rhoda yells at one of her daughters, and she slaps and hits her quite a lot too, even in late teenage years.
I suppose the message is that Rhoda did not learn how to express her love and concern in more positive ways. We get a really complex portrait of Rhoda's interior life. I would be glad to re-read the book.
Mona Simpson writes a short intro for this 2005 edition, in which she suggests reading the novel several times, once focusing on the older daughter, once on the younger daughter, and so on. It's a good idea.
Simpson: 'Rhoda is upper middle class, with progressive leanings, close to her immigrant Jewish parents, house-proud. Yet there's seemingly no authorial spin on her conventionality.' [= seemingly without irony]
In the book: 'She had no real attitude of her own about what was really of interest and value in life.'
"She believed in God, of course, but not personally, and she certainly regarded Him as a Being with the decency not to force an intimacy. Everything in her went against the idea of a life continuing without an attachment to normal daily occupations."
ONe intersting question in the Reader's Guide at the end of this edition:
'What did the story make you think about how much of life can be controlled, about the roles of fate and will?'
I'll want to read ALL Silber's books!
July 29, 2024
Here's another case of an author who has a wonderful conceptual hook -- what was the life of a woman like before, during, and after World War II? -- but who really doesn't have the visceral chops to go along with her free-flowing prose. I think of underrated domestic novels like Gail Godwin's A MOTHER AND TWO DAUGHTERS, which had the decency to give us characters and complex human behavior that resulted in a suitable corrective to the patriarchal narrative. But there came a point -- one roughly halfway through the book -- in which I could not care about Rhoda and her family, in which the impressive exercise became complete and utter tedium. Yes, there are a few interesting moments, such as Rhoda volunteering for Adlai Stevenson or attempting to order at a restaurant in France by mimicking with her hands, that suggested what Joan Silber was capable of. But Silber is too enamored of her formalist experiment and not nearly excited about portraying human life. So this was a disappointment. Certainly not deserving of the PEN/Faulkner Award.
October 14, 2018
I picked this book up because is looked interesting. Also, it was a winner of a Hemingway Foundation/Pen Award. I was bored with the book immediately, as the main character was completely unlikable for me. I kept on reading (it has an award, so it has to be good, right?). I finished the book today, and was completely let down. I am still trying to figure out what made this book award-worthy. Perhaps I am just not sophisticated enough to appreciate this type of literature. It was one of the most boring books I've ever read, about an ordinary person, who I found to be very annoying, judgmental, and cold.
December 9, 2016
Silber does a great job of drawing us into the small life of Rhonda, her husband, and two daughters, a Jewish family in the 1940s. Even though Rhonda appears to have everything, she does not find true happiness in her relationships or her circumstances. Very good- I believe this was Silber's first novel.
January 24, 2018
A book about an ordinary life but one that is unfulfilled and not at all happy. The ending echoes this theme in an unusual twist. I would rate as a 5 star but for the complete unlovable nature of the main character.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2018
I usually have a very hard time getting through a book when I don't actually like the main character. In "Household Words", I didn't like her, but she was so well written that she was believably unlikable, which made the story compelling.
September 2, 2021
A nicely written book but it sure is depressing. As I think about it, the sentences are nicely crafted, but the character is lacking. Rhoda, the main character, is too one-dimensional; there has to be more depth than what Silber gives her.
November 14, 2018
One of my favorite books. Holds up over time.
January 17, 2020
The most subtle and interesting character development. Slow and dark but beautiful and well-written. Loved it- want to read her other work but need to recover from this one.
February 25, 2020
I got through the whole book despite my loathing for the main character.
December 8, 2020
Had to force myself to finish. Quite honestly, have no clue the purpose of this book.
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