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Home Making
From a talented, powerful new voice in fiction comes a stunning novel about the intersection of three Southerners’ lives coming to grips with identity, family legacy, and what it means to make a house a true home.
Cybil is a war child—the result of a brief affair between a young Japanese woman and a French soldier—who at a young age is transplanted to Tucson, Arizona, and raised by an American officer and his rigid wife. After a rebellious adolescence, she grows up to become a successful ob-gyn.
Chloe, Cybil’s daughter, is adrift in an empty house in the hills of Virginia. Her marriage has fallen apart, and her estranged husband is dying of cancer. Room by room, Chloe makes her new house into a home, grappling always with the real and imagined boundaries that limit her as a single, childless woman in contemporary America.
Beau, Chloe’s closest friend, is in love with a man he’s only met on the internet, who lives across the country. Shepherding Chloe through her grief, he is often called back to his loud, humid, chaotic childhood in Southwest Louisiana, where he first reckoned with the intricate ties between queerness, loneliness, and place.
Through each of these characters Matalone weaves a moving, beautiful narrative of home, identity, and belonging. Home Making is a somber, yet hopeful, ode to the stories we tell ourselves in order to make a family.
Cybil is a war child—the result of a brief affair between a young Japanese woman and a French soldier—who at a young age is transplanted to Tucson, Arizona, and raised by an American officer and his rigid wife. After a rebellious adolescence, she grows up to become a successful ob-gyn.
Chloe, Cybil’s daughter, is adrift in an empty house in the hills of Virginia. Her marriage has fallen apart, and her estranged husband is dying of cancer. Room by room, Chloe makes her new house into a home, grappling always with the real and imagined boundaries that limit her as a single, childless woman in contemporary America.
Beau, Chloe’s closest friend, is in love with a man he’s only met on the internet, who lives across the country. Shepherding Chloe through her grief, he is often called back to his loud, humid, chaotic childhood in Southwest Louisiana, where he first reckoned with the intricate ties between queerness, loneliness, and place.
Through each of these characters Matalone weaves a moving, beautiful narrative of home, identity, and belonging. Home Making is a somber, yet hopeful, ode to the stories we tell ourselves in order to make a family.
208 pages, Paperback
First published February 18, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
February 17, 2020
3.5 rounded up .
This is a quiet introspective story with no earth shattering plot line, yet this debut novel is powerful in its reflections on identity, what it means to belong, on motherhood, on relationships of mother and daughter, husbands and wives, the depth of love that friendship brings and ultimately on the meaning of home. The narrative starts out in the third person telling the story of young Japanese woman who defies her mother, meets a French man and after getting pregnant, gives up her baby, who is adopted and brought to Tucson. By the end of the chapter, her life moves quickly, and Cybil gives birth to her own daughter, Chloe. Her past influences her desire to “do anything for her child, because she has a responsibility to show her the goodness in a world gull if despair, to show her that she is loved when many babies out there are not loved, are given away, left in orphanages, in hopes that some man and some woman, or some man and some man, or some woman or some woman will walk by the tight crib at the very moment that tge baby extends a hand and grabs their coat. This baby, Chloe, will not suffer that. She will be loved , from hospital bed to home.”
The story then becomes Chloe’s as the narrative shifts to her in the first person as an adult. The narratives move between Chloe, Cybil, Chloe’s best friend Beau and briefly her ex husband, Pat. The major focus, though is on Chloe as she struggles to get through a breakup with her husband who is dying of cancer and trying to make a house a home, redoing it room by room, but I thought the journey really was in finding the home within herself, as it was with Cybil and Beau. “I want to build a home. Or, rather, I want to take this existing house and turn it into something where happiness can bloom.”
At times it felt a bit disjointed, but I decided to rounded up to 4 because the writing was lovely in places in this debut and because I feel so immersed in these quiet novels and this was no exception.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Harper Perennial through Edelweiss.
This is a quiet introspective story with no earth shattering plot line, yet this debut novel is powerful in its reflections on identity, what it means to belong, on motherhood, on relationships of mother and daughter, husbands and wives, the depth of love that friendship brings and ultimately on the meaning of home. The narrative starts out in the third person telling the story of young Japanese woman who defies her mother, meets a French man and after getting pregnant, gives up her baby, who is adopted and brought to Tucson. By the end of the chapter, her life moves quickly, and Cybil gives birth to her own daughter, Chloe. Her past influences her desire to “do anything for her child, because she has a responsibility to show her the goodness in a world gull if despair, to show her that she is loved when many babies out there are not loved, are given away, left in orphanages, in hopes that some man and some woman, or some man and some man, or some woman or some woman will walk by the tight crib at the very moment that tge baby extends a hand and grabs their coat. This baby, Chloe, will not suffer that. She will be loved , from hospital bed to home.”
The story then becomes Chloe’s as the narrative shifts to her in the first person as an adult. The narratives move between Chloe, Cybil, Chloe’s best friend Beau and briefly her ex husband, Pat. The major focus, though is on Chloe as she struggles to get through a breakup with her husband who is dying of cancer and trying to make a house a home, redoing it room by room, but I thought the journey really was in finding the home within herself, as it was with Cybil and Beau. “I want to build a home. Or, rather, I want to take this existing house and turn it into something where happiness can bloom.”
At times it felt a bit disjointed, but I decided to rounded up to 4 because the writing was lovely in places in this debut and because I feel so immersed in these quiet novels and this was no exception.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Harper Perennial through Edelweiss.
November 28, 2019
Although the back synopsis sounds very interesting, I found I could only make it through 50 pages. It is written with a stream of consciousness style and jumps from character to character. I've read books in this style before, but found this one harder to follow along than others.
February 2, 2020
"You don’t just get pregnant, suffer the nine months, give birth, and become Mother. You choose this title."
I was surprised by the mixed reviews on this novel. The writing is unusual and a bit of a stream of consciousness-like, but in my opinion that didn't get in the way of this beautiful story. I loved this story because it's the kind of novel I enjoy the most: quiet with characters that are interesting and writing that's thoughtful.
"Some women do this all their lives. Iron, rear, sweep, wash, fold, brush, wipe. For the entirety of their adult lives, they make homes. They make other people. They make families. This is just to say that what I’m doing is not so unusual. It’s the opposite. This act is completely mundane. But no one talks about how difficult it is. I don’t think it’s any easier for a woman with a pretty husband and a pretty six-year-old daughter. Beneath the prettiness, we are all a mess. We are all struggling."
I loved the quiet nature of this novel. The characters grew on me as I read, I loved the quiet atmosphere of home making, the juxtaposition of illness, motherhood, friendship and people quietly taking care of each other, needing each other, building lives together.
"In this moment you know that for all the trauma you have suffered, for all the suffering you have witnessed, you know there is no love greater than this and you believe in God."
I loved the writing. I loved the mother-daughter relationship. I loved the way the whole book grew on me as I read it. I found myself rooting for the characters, rooting for everyone to make the homes they wish to have, to fell full. The find their own homes.
If quiet novels are your thing, too, you will like this one.
with gratitude to edelweiss and Harper Perennial for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
I was surprised by the mixed reviews on this novel. The writing is unusual and a bit of a stream of consciousness-like, but in my opinion that didn't get in the way of this beautiful story. I loved this story because it's the kind of novel I enjoy the most: quiet with characters that are interesting and writing that's thoughtful.
"Some women do this all their lives. Iron, rear, sweep, wash, fold, brush, wipe. For the entirety of their adult lives, they make homes. They make other people. They make families. This is just to say that what I’m doing is not so unusual. It’s the opposite. This act is completely mundane. But no one talks about how difficult it is. I don’t think it’s any easier for a woman with a pretty husband and a pretty six-year-old daughter. Beneath the prettiness, we are all a mess. We are all struggling."
I loved the quiet nature of this novel. The characters grew on me as I read, I loved the quiet atmosphere of home making, the juxtaposition of illness, motherhood, friendship and people quietly taking care of each other, needing each other, building lives together.
"In this moment you know that for all the trauma you have suffered, for all the suffering you have witnessed, you know there is no love greater than this and you believe in God."
I loved the writing. I loved the mother-daughter relationship. I loved the way the whole book grew on me as I read it. I found myself rooting for the characters, rooting for everyone to make the homes they wish to have, to fell full. The find their own homes.
If quiet novels are your thing, too, you will like this one.
with gratitude to edelweiss and Harper Perennial for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.
April 22, 2020
This book had so many elements that made me want to love it, and I ended up so disappointed. I tried but just struggled to connect with the characters, and coupled with the very disjointed plot line, writing styles, and interactions...it just wasn’t for me.
December 28, 2019
This book was confusing. It was a stream of consciousness, a storyline I couldn't follow well, and characters that I couldn't connect to. Maybe I just didn't get it?
January 2, 2020
I would say this about a 3.25...maybe a little more..read. This was a short read. Sometimes I felt it a little hard to get into although I cannot figure out why. All in all it was a good story.
**Goodreads win**
**Goodreads win**
March 24, 2020
Beautiful. Wraps you up like your favorite blanket, then pulls itself away. Matalone offers the family as something malleable and permanent, and as based on faith as it is blood. I wish I’d read this book when I was working on my thesis.
March 29, 2020
Usually when I have a hard time reviewing a book, it’s because I can’t quite explain what about it affected me so much. Home Making is that book for me.
I loved so many relatable lines, moments and feelings in this book. I loved the humor. I felt so in tune with so much of it. The style was a difficult one to get used to. The writing was somehow both heavy and light. At times it was exquisite and brilliant and I wanted to reread so many lines. I just felt immersed.
I recommend this one when you’re in the mood to get lost in someone else’s story.
I received a copy in exchange for my honest review.
I loved so many relatable lines, moments and feelings in this book. I loved the humor. I felt so in tune with so much of it. The style was a difficult one to get used to. The writing was somehow both heavy and light. At times it was exquisite and brilliant and I wanted to reread so many lines. I just felt immersed.
I recommend this one when you’re in the mood to get lost in someone else’s story.
I received a copy in exchange for my honest review.
August 3, 2021
2.5 stars
Probably should have DNF'd this one early on, but the prose had enough intriguing moments to make me continue. I was just pretty underwhelmed in the end. I also found the dialogue awkward and unbelievable a lot of the time (not in an earth-shattering way, just in a people-don't-talk-like-this way).
Probably should have DNF'd this one early on, but the prose had enough intriguing moments to make me continue. I was just pretty underwhelmed in the end. I also found the dialogue awkward and unbelievable a lot of the time (not in an earth-shattering way, just in a people-don't-talk-like-this way).
November 4, 2019
A beautiful new voice in fiction-- fresh, unexpected, and utterly necessary.
February 19, 2020
An elegant, perceptive, yet powerful debut about what it means to belong, to search for self within the constructs of a home
HOME MAKING: A Novel by Lee Matalone (HarperPerennial, Feb 18 2020) is such an intangible kind of read--it's not fully a novel, not fully a memoir, but somewhere between. And I really loved this hybrid-like approach. It's told in first person and doesn't exactly follow the traditional arc of fiction, but it more meditative, quiet, introspective like one might expect of a memoir. Having said all that, this is a work of fiction (of course, like all good fiction, it's often mined from the 'real-life' of the author's experiences).
The story starts off with a Japanese woman who runs away with a French man, becomes pregnant, then puts the baby up for adoption. That baby is adopted by an American family leaves Japan, and is raised with her adoptive family in Tucson, Arizona. This little girl (Cybil) grows up to become an ob/gyn, delivering babies while her own, a daughter (Chloe), is raised by her in combination with au pairs. The pace is relentless is the first quarter or so of the book, and told with a smart, razor-edge prose that is at once elegant and jarring. There are plenty of references to homes and design and architecture--esoteric quotes and notations--which I loved, but others may find distracting (I'm a super-nerd when it comes to design and architecture).
Now, Chloe is all grown up, living on her own in the hills of Virginia. She's struggling--at times (simultaneously?) empowered, grief-stricken, healing. Her marriage is over and her estranged husband is dying of cancer. Can a woman live alone in a new-to-her house with a dog? Of course. Room by room, Chloe makes her new house into a home, painting walls, selecting furnishings, thinking about her ex-husband. And her friend, Beau is there to help. But he has a history--and struggles--of his own.
Ultimately, HOME MAKING is focused on powerful reflections on identity, motherhood, mother-daughter relationships, belonging, and searching for home within one's self. Some of the turns of phrase are so lucid, so gorgeous, I ached to work on my own writing.
The last quarter of the book seemed to unravel a bit for me--and maybe this was intentional--perhaps it was about finally finding solace in the home, in finding oneself that the carefully curated exterior seemed to flounder; there was no need to make everything inside (the house) perfect, because it is what it is? Readers should keep in mind that much of HOME MAKING is told in fragmented stream-of-consciousness type narrative. I felt this added a bit of mysteriousness and intrigue to the reading experience, almost a buoyant dream-like construct, it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
I found similarities between HOME MAKING and GOOD-BYE VITAMIN (Rachel Hong) meets THAT TIME I LOVED YOU (Carrianne Leung), with a touch of Pete Fromm (A JOB YOU MOSTLY WON'T KNOW HOW TO DO). Some pieces of motherhood, particularly that dizzy new-motherhood daze reminiscent of Helen Phillips's THE NEED.
For all my reviews, including author interviews, please see: www.leslielindsay.com|Always with a Book.
Special thanks to the author and HarperPerennial for the review copy. All thoughts are my own.
HOME MAKING: A Novel by Lee Matalone (HarperPerennial, Feb 18 2020) is such an intangible kind of read--it's not fully a novel, not fully a memoir, but somewhere between. And I really loved this hybrid-like approach. It's told in first person and doesn't exactly follow the traditional arc of fiction, but it more meditative, quiet, introspective like one might expect of a memoir. Having said all that, this is a work of fiction (of course, like all good fiction, it's often mined from the 'real-life' of the author's experiences).
The story starts off with a Japanese woman who runs away with a French man, becomes pregnant, then puts the baby up for adoption. That baby is adopted by an American family leaves Japan, and is raised with her adoptive family in Tucson, Arizona. This little girl (Cybil) grows up to become an ob/gyn, delivering babies while her own, a daughter (Chloe), is raised by her in combination with au pairs. The pace is relentless is the first quarter or so of the book, and told with a smart, razor-edge prose that is at once elegant and jarring. There are plenty of references to homes and design and architecture--esoteric quotes and notations--which I loved, but others may find distracting (I'm a super-nerd when it comes to design and architecture).
Now, Chloe is all grown up, living on her own in the hills of Virginia. She's struggling--at times (simultaneously?) empowered, grief-stricken, healing. Her marriage is over and her estranged husband is dying of cancer. Can a woman live alone in a new-to-her house with a dog? Of course. Room by room, Chloe makes her new house into a home, painting walls, selecting furnishings, thinking about her ex-husband. And her friend, Beau is there to help. But he has a history--and struggles--of his own.
Ultimately, HOME MAKING is focused on powerful reflections on identity, motherhood, mother-daughter relationships, belonging, and searching for home within one's self. Some of the turns of phrase are so lucid, so gorgeous, I ached to work on my own writing.
The last quarter of the book seemed to unravel a bit for me--and maybe this was intentional--perhaps it was about finally finding solace in the home, in finding oneself that the carefully curated exterior seemed to flounder; there was no need to make everything inside (the house) perfect, because it is what it is? Readers should keep in mind that much of HOME MAKING is told in fragmented stream-of-consciousness type narrative. I felt this added a bit of mysteriousness and intrigue to the reading experience, almost a buoyant dream-like construct, it might not be everyone's cup of tea.
I found similarities between HOME MAKING and GOOD-BYE VITAMIN (Rachel Hong) meets THAT TIME I LOVED YOU (Carrianne Leung), with a touch of Pete Fromm (A JOB YOU MOSTLY WON'T KNOW HOW TO DO). Some pieces of motherhood, particularly that dizzy new-motherhood daze reminiscent of Helen Phillips's THE NEED.
For all my reviews, including author interviews, please see: www.leslielindsay.com|Always with a Book.
Special thanks to the author and HarperPerennial for the review copy. All thoughts are my own.
July 19, 2020
You step into a home, a home with many rooms. A kitchen filled with the smells of meals prepared with love. A dining room filled with the sounds of clinking glasses in celebration and the laughter of many shared jokes. A living room where Christmas trees have been decorated and birthday presents have been opened and stories have been told around the fire. Bathrooms where tears have been shed and mixed with the flow of hot water droplets. Bedrooms were love has been shared and dreams have been dreamt. A backyard wide open where kids and adults alike run with a wild abandon and not a care in the world. This is home.
Home Making was a novel about the creating of a home, the bond between a mother and a daughter, and through difficulties and trials in life there is still joy to be found.
The writing was beautifully poetic and soothing on the tongue as you read, but the story itself was a little disjointed. It didn’t flow well and I found the jumps between past and present not clearly fleshed out. I had a hard time deciphering and following at times. It needed a more defined timeline.
Overall this was a heart-warming story and I especially loved the ending.
TW: Racism, Abandonment, Infidelity, Cancer.
*I received a gifted copy of this book from the publisher for my honest review.
Home Making was a novel about the creating of a home, the bond between a mother and a daughter, and through difficulties and trials in life there is still joy to be found.
The writing was beautifully poetic and soothing on the tongue as you read, but the story itself was a little disjointed. It didn’t flow well and I found the jumps between past and present not clearly fleshed out. I had a hard time deciphering and following at times. It needed a more defined timeline.
Overall this was a heart-warming story and I especially loved the ending.
TW: Racism, Abandonment, Infidelity, Cancer.
*I received a gifted copy of this book from the publisher for my honest review.
Read
February 13, 2020Lee Matalone breaks into the literary world with her debut, Home Making, which is an examination of domesticity, a feminized exploration of what it takes to build a home, both physically and metaphysically, and how difficult and rewarding it is to undertake the process alone. There are some fumbling phrases, the occasional clunky misstep of a debut author figuring out her voice, rhythm, and style, but these moments did not detract from the book’s nostalgic charm. I found that these awkward moments were more frequent towards the end of the book, as the structure of the narrative starts to fray. When the perspective is with Chloe, Lee Matalone’s whimsical and endearing voice shines like a perfectly placed lamp in a freshly painted room. When Matalone moves the narration away from the house, and from Chloe, the story felt like it had lost its way: the room-by-room structure grounds the meandering nature of the stream-of-consciousness style, and gives it the weight it needs to keep the story focused. That being said, Lee Matalone’s Home Making is a debut whose quiet power will fill its readers with the comforting warmth of nostalgia, and a bittersweet desire to return home, wherever that may be.
December 28, 2021
i read this back in May but i loved it and i recommend it to everyone
July 27, 2024
The cover is beautiful and the author is from South Carolina, so I really wanted to like this, but the reality is that I didn’t 😿
February 10, 2020
Follow me on Instagram @bookmarkedbya / instagram.com/bookmarkedbya and see the full review at my blog: https://bookmarkedbya.com/2020/01/29/...
*Thanks to Harper Perennial for the free advanced copy of this book.
A quietly profound story of a mother and daughter, each navigating her own meanings of motherhood and "home."
This book is a very thoughtful piece of literary fiction, with clear plot line but ample room for free-thinking and introspection. The novel is short - under 200 pages - so isn't a huge time commitment, which I always appreciate in a more abstract, conceptual story. The relationships explored throughout the story are riveting, and really, this is what the book is about - one's relationship with other people, with their sense of self, with the meaning of home. As Chloe explores her relationships, she also explores each room in her new house in an attempt to renovate and make it feel more like "home," which directly parallels her exploration of life as a newly single woman, her relationships, and potential motherhood. Perceptive and unique, I enjoyed this novel. Fans of literary fiction will surely enjoy this one.
*Thanks to Harper Perennial for the free advanced copy of this book.
A quietly profound story of a mother and daughter, each navigating her own meanings of motherhood and "home."
This book is a very thoughtful piece of literary fiction, with clear plot line but ample room for free-thinking and introspection. The novel is short - under 200 pages - so isn't a huge time commitment, which I always appreciate in a more abstract, conceptual story. The relationships explored throughout the story are riveting, and really, this is what the book is about - one's relationship with other people, with their sense of self, with the meaning of home. As Chloe explores her relationships, she also explores each room in her new house in an attempt to renovate and make it feel more like "home," which directly parallels her exploration of life as a newly single woman, her relationships, and potential motherhood. Perceptive and unique, I enjoyed this novel. Fans of literary fiction will surely enjoy this one.
February 23, 2020
If you build it....
A Review of Home Making by Lee Matalone
A couple of books arrived in the mail at the same time. So, judging by the covers, I picked the hardbound one with the purple and gold felt on the sleeve. I read a bit, wondering if women write for women, and men write for men; then switched to the other. And the first few pages were as amazing as anything I've ever read - profound, emotional, poignant. Literally moved me to tears. I had to set the book aside, and take time to think on it.
Luckily I had three other very profound books to read, so I could treat them like meals - breakfast, lunch, supper, and dessert - varying which was which. If you know me, you already know the answer, but no one does. What struck me right off is Matalone's fine writing - very appealing - somber, objective, detached, for the most part. Like the quiet of an empty church, or some other sanctuary where one goes to be alone with their deepest thoughts.
It is the soft professional voice of a healer, a doctor who does what she can to help, and with all good intention, but for professional reasons can't be personally involved with each and every patient. It is like the soothing voice of a mother without the intimate connection of "suckling child at your breast." Or of one human carrying another within, and thus a deep-rooted physiological connect beyond just flesh and blood.
The other resounding chord that shapes the narrative is the format. Building a house as a metaphoric telling of the story of building a home. That is - of shaping the lives - for those who are to occupy that home, and the unique interconnect of the two. Which is very real for me, as that's a key part of my own life - the daily labor of love to keep alive my hundred year old home that's been in the family almost as long. That means a lot to me, it's what I do.
But as in my big old house, for the unfamiliar, is easy to get lost. Which may be deliberate but is a bit unsettling, which can also be deliberate. I lose track of who's speaking - mother, child, orphan, detached fathers, detached husbands. Perhaps they're all one and distinct at the same time. Which again, is unsettling, like a shifting dream. Or as the Vietnam vets used to say back in the day - I could tell you what it was like, but I won't, won't go there anymore.
So that's up to the reader - to decipher that if it needs be, or not, if it doesn't. Taken as a whole, I figure - from the tone and the structure - the house is sort of a tomb that people build around themselves, like a mausoleum, or an Egyptian pyramid, housing your life's work, and thus in a way, your life. But if my reading is correct, the author doesn't accept that as a conclusion. Like - maybe that's what we do, but we don't have to be trapped by that, if we catch ourselves soon enough.
Same metaphor applies - birth, marriages, relationships - all. Though the author certainly doesn't dwell on the conventional as a contrast to one's own disparate reality. But rather describes a coping and shaping of the disparate into a workable personal reality. Thus the key part of the house (note the pun) isn't all the work you put into it, it's the doorway. Interesting, a very-well written book of profound ideas where function seems to follow form, to lead you to the inverse. I can use that.
Like the concept of Socrates' chair - it's not just to sit - but is also the deliberate human effort to construct a tool which mediates between standing or sitting on the floor. An improvement; or a useful and needed benefit that entails its own functioning - to sit and thus work, for example. Or to sit and thus relax, for another. Or whatever use you make of it. Like explaining the meaning of things. I can use that too.
A Review of Home Making by Lee Matalone
A couple of books arrived in the mail at the same time. So, judging by the covers, I picked the hardbound one with the purple and gold felt on the sleeve. I read a bit, wondering if women write for women, and men write for men; then switched to the other. And the first few pages were as amazing as anything I've ever read - profound, emotional, poignant. Literally moved me to tears. I had to set the book aside, and take time to think on it.
Luckily I had three other very profound books to read, so I could treat them like meals - breakfast, lunch, supper, and dessert - varying which was which. If you know me, you already know the answer, but no one does. What struck me right off is Matalone's fine writing - very appealing - somber, objective, detached, for the most part. Like the quiet of an empty church, or some other sanctuary where one goes to be alone with their deepest thoughts.
It is the soft professional voice of a healer, a doctor who does what she can to help, and with all good intention, but for professional reasons can't be personally involved with each and every patient. It is like the soothing voice of a mother without the intimate connection of "suckling child at your breast." Or of one human carrying another within, and thus a deep-rooted physiological connect beyond just flesh and blood.
The other resounding chord that shapes the narrative is the format. Building a house as a metaphoric telling of the story of building a home. That is - of shaping the lives - for those who are to occupy that home, and the unique interconnect of the two. Which is very real for me, as that's a key part of my own life - the daily labor of love to keep alive my hundred year old home that's been in the family almost as long. That means a lot to me, it's what I do.
But as in my big old house, for the unfamiliar, is easy to get lost. Which may be deliberate but is a bit unsettling, which can also be deliberate. I lose track of who's speaking - mother, child, orphan, detached fathers, detached husbands. Perhaps they're all one and distinct at the same time. Which again, is unsettling, like a shifting dream. Or as the Vietnam vets used to say back in the day - I could tell you what it was like, but I won't, won't go there anymore.
So that's up to the reader - to decipher that if it needs be, or not, if it doesn't. Taken as a whole, I figure - from the tone and the structure - the house is sort of a tomb that people build around themselves, like a mausoleum, or an Egyptian pyramid, housing your life's work, and thus in a way, your life. But if my reading is correct, the author doesn't accept that as a conclusion. Like - maybe that's what we do, but we don't have to be trapped by that, if we catch ourselves soon enough.
Same metaphor applies - birth, marriages, relationships - all. Though the author certainly doesn't dwell on the conventional as a contrast to one's own disparate reality. But rather describes a coping and shaping of the disparate into a workable personal reality. Thus the key part of the house (note the pun) isn't all the work you put into it, it's the doorway. Interesting, a very-well written book of profound ideas where function seems to follow form, to lead you to the inverse. I can use that.
Like the concept of Socrates' chair - it's not just to sit - but is also the deliberate human effort to construct a tool which mediates between standing or sitting on the floor. An improvement; or a useful and needed benefit that entails its own functioning - to sit and thus work, for example. Or to sit and thus relax, for another. Or whatever use you make of it. Like explaining the meaning of things. I can use that too.
December 7, 2024
Great quick light read even with the topics of death, and sickness.
It was a little confusing to read as it jumped from character to character and I became lost at times.
I love that the chapters are labelled rather than numbered as most books are traditionally.
It was difficult to connect with some of the personalities in the book but I did enjoy how it was written.
It was a little confusing to read as it jumped from character to character and I became lost at times.
I love that the chapters are labelled rather than numbered as most books are traditionally.
It was difficult to connect with some of the personalities in the book but I did enjoy how it was written.
June 14, 2023
3.5. The writing was really beautiful. Lots of poignant thoughts about motherhood, home (home making), grief, loss, change, love. The structure was not my favorite, though it wasn’t tough to navigate.
December 24, 2024
2.5 ⭐️
This was sloooow. The writing was pretty nice at times, but I was bored. The dialogue felt stiff and forced. I wish the mood and tempo of the last five pages could have spread throughout the whole book.
This was sloooow. The writing was pretty nice at times, but I was bored. The dialogue felt stiff and forced. I wish the mood and tempo of the last five pages could have spread throughout the whole book.
April 12, 2023
disjointed at times but
i am chloe.
chloe is me.
i am chloe.
chloe is me.
June 21, 2023
Following three different perspectives, Lee Matalone illustrates a stunning novel that discusses these Southerner’s lives altering when it comes to identity and family, all the while touching on what truly makes a home, a home. With her debut novel, she writes beautifully and can hit the most rigid person right in the heart, making them feel for Cybil, Chloe, and Beau.
I usually don’t read books like this one, as I usually reach for a romance or fantasy novel, but unwrapping this gem from my first blind book date forced me to step out of my comfort zone, and I am so glad I did so. Matalone somehow made me feel so connected to these characters in just 208 pages. Every word moved me to the core. I wanted to underline, circle, and draw brackets around every inch of its pages, but O held myself back to only a few lines per paragraph. Home Making might have just introduced me so a new style of writing that I can’t get enough of.
I recommend Home Making to those who enjoy multiple POVs and want your heart to be pulled and stomped on in just a few pages.
3 ⭐️
I usually don’t read books like this one, as I usually reach for a romance or fantasy novel, but unwrapping this gem from my first blind book date forced me to step out of my comfort zone, and I am so glad I did so. Matalone somehow made me feel so connected to these characters in just 208 pages. Every word moved me to the core. I wanted to underline, circle, and draw brackets around every inch of its pages, but O held myself back to only a few lines per paragraph. Home Making might have just introduced me so a new style of writing that I can’t get enough of.
I recommend Home Making to those who enjoy multiple POVs and want your heart to be pulled and stomped on in just a few pages.
3 ⭐️
May 11, 2020
Home Making is a moving debut about three very real people who try desperately to make a home and a family in Virginia. Their interactions are touching and you’ll hope they do find a way to connect with each other and transcend the pain of their lives. It’s a unique approach to a not uncommon situation, and well worth the read.
I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA.
I met this book at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, WA.
March 28, 2020
Lee Matalone's style is gorgeous and original. I can feel the charge behind the words in a way I mostly associate with poetry. What interests me most about this narrative is how it makes me think about what it means to "make" a home with a new consciousness, with reverence even; and how it romanticizes non-romantic relationships. I mean that traditional romance isn't treated as the answer here but rather life and love is found in deep, unusual friendship and mother-child relationships. She writes about these relationships with incredible nuance, tenderness, wit, mystery, and grace. She has an amazing ability to capture the depth of a moment, and her prose is full of space and light.
December 27, 2019
Beautifully written
February 19, 2020
Enjoyed reading this story.
December 14, 2021
It seems right to read a book called Home Making at this moment (March 2020, beginning of lockdown), doesn't it? Lee Matalone couldn't have known that the tasks that fall under this umbrella would subsume the lives of so many women just a few short weeks after her book came out in early 2020. But here we are
This lean little novel is more like a cluster of stories about how a family of characters create and define "home." Cybil is a Japanese-French woman who is adopted as a baby by a white American family after WWII. She finally finds home through the bond she shares with her own daughter, Chloe. As an adult, Chloe attempts to make a home in a house she's moved into as her marriage collapses. As she procrastinates the actual work of homemaking, she contemplates quotes about architecture from the likes of Le Corbusier. Beau, Chloe's best friend, remembers home with great delicacy and honesty as he recalls growing up queer in a poor, religious Southern family.
These interconnected stories create the thick, multilayered sense of home that Matalone wants to unpack with this book. Beyond cooking dinner and furnishing a living room, she explores the identity work that is tangled up in the practice of homemaking. We often think of it the other way around, that home makes us who we are. Probably both are true.
Though the characters are super compelling and well drawn, the idea of home is really the star of this book. There is some unevenness in her style that makes this possible, which some people may not like, but I didn’t mind it. Some chapters cover sprawling lengths of time, told like an epic story, while some are microscopic moments that are poignantly meaningful. The plot is a little loose, but if, like me, you love character driven stories and have been thinking about home as much as I have, this book is worth it.
This lean little novel is more like a cluster of stories about how a family of characters create and define "home." Cybil is a Japanese-French woman who is adopted as a baby by a white American family after WWII. She finally finds home through the bond she shares with her own daughter, Chloe. As an adult, Chloe attempts to make a home in a house she's moved into as her marriage collapses. As she procrastinates the actual work of homemaking, she contemplates quotes about architecture from the likes of Le Corbusier. Beau, Chloe's best friend, remembers home with great delicacy and honesty as he recalls growing up queer in a poor, religious Southern family.
These interconnected stories create the thick, multilayered sense of home that Matalone wants to unpack with this book. Beyond cooking dinner and furnishing a living room, she explores the identity work that is tangled up in the practice of homemaking. We often think of it the other way around, that home makes us who we are. Probably both are true.
Though the characters are super compelling and well drawn, the idea of home is really the star of this book. There is some unevenness in her style that makes this possible, which some people may not like, but I didn’t mind it. Some chapters cover sprawling lengths of time, told like an epic story, while some are microscopic moments that are poignantly meaningful. The plot is a little loose, but if, like me, you love character driven stories and have been thinking about home as much as I have, this book is worth it.
May 3, 2020
Estranged from her husband, Chloe is on her own, pouring everything into turning the rundown house she recently purchased into a home. Adjustments to a physical structure are not enough to make a home though, as Chloe eventually realizes that internal battles must be faced and overcome before she can truly find a place where she feels at peace.
Through Chloe's journey, Matalone weaves the character arcs of two other people, Chloe's best friend Beau and her mother Cybil. Throughout the story, the trio confronts different issues- Cybil is coming to terms with a childhood where love was in short supply and still trying to do her best to make sure her own daughter never felt the same. Beau is working on finding the courage to open his heart despite a lifetime of being made to feel that being anything other than heterosexual is shameful. Chloe is facing the realization that she cannot find true happiness with others until she finds acceptance in herself.
Matalone does present interesting characters, but the brevity of the novel seemed to me to work against my wish to connect with the characters. I felt the jumps between narrators took me out of the flow of the tale, and sometimes the voices were not as crisp and distinguished as I would have liked.
Through Chloe's journey, Matalone weaves the character arcs of two other people, Chloe's best friend Beau and her mother Cybil. Throughout the story, the trio confronts different issues- Cybil is coming to terms with a childhood where love was in short supply and still trying to do her best to make sure her own daughter never felt the same. Beau is working on finding the courage to open his heart despite a lifetime of being made to feel that being anything other than heterosexual is shameful. Chloe is facing the realization that she cannot find true happiness with others until she finds acceptance in herself.
Matalone does present interesting characters, but the brevity of the novel seemed to me to work against my wish to connect with the characters. I felt the jumps between narrators took me out of the flow of the tale, and sometimes the voices were not as crisp and distinguished as I would have liked.
August 10, 2020
I received an ARC of this one (not sure from where), but it only showed up recently (within the last week), so I'm not that far off at least. The early parts of the book reminded me of stream of consciousness writing. I accidentally started flipping houses about eight years ago and up until the halfway point of the book, this book rather reminded me of the thought processes I go through when deciding what a house will become. If the book had remained that way all the way through it, I honestly probably would have kept this at a 4-5 star rating, but the author lost me when IFV was introduced. The characters weren't described well enough for me to care about - it was all about the house, so when it switched over, not only did I not really have a firm grasp of the nuances of the relationships between everyone - I couldn't have cared less about them. It kind of seemed like this book didn't know what it wanted to be, and it was poorer for it. It's not terrible, but it's not one that I would read again.
February 15, 2020
Home making is a quiet literary fiction novel written in a stream of consciousness style. I don't think this will be for everyone but I appreciate this stylistic choice. There were a lot of passages that I enjoyed. The novel is told from multiple perspectives. The chapters signify who we are following but sometimes it is not always clear to the point where I had to flip back and re-read parts just to make sure I was following the right person. The main character, Chloe, is recently separated from her husband and is living on her own with her dog. She is setting up her home and we follow this theme of home making throughout the book. We also hear from her mother Cybil who is a half Japanese and half French war child. We also hear from Chole's best friend Beau who had a complex upbringing in the South. I would have liked to have had both of these character's explored more because they were much more interesting to me than Chole. Although this novel is not without its faults I still thought it was a great debut and will be happy to read more from this author.
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