Views from the Oldest House

by Richard Grant

Turner Ashenden is failing as a student in a college he despises. All around him are misfits, inept terrorists, and would-be philosophers. His only friend is a lunatic named Black Malachi Pantera, who spends his days seducing young coeds and ranting about Turner's heroic destiny.

But today, all that is going to change. Before sundown, Turner will discover the Bad Winters Institute of Science and Philosophy, a secluded mansion in the mountains near the college. He will meet the exotic Madame Gwendola and the incredibly beautiful Maridel. And he will use an arcane machine to finally come face-to-face with -- himself?

Views from the Oldest House is a journey through realms both real and imagined: a richly told tale of love, legends, death, rebirth, and revolution -- a book that will be talked about for years to come.

Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Science Fiction

496 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1989

About the author

RICHARD GRANT was born in Norfolk in 1952, attended the University of Virginia, and served in the U.S. Coast Guard. He lives in Rockport, Maine, where he has been a contributing editor of Down East magazine, chaired the literature panel of the Maine Arts Commission, and won a New England Journalism Award for his column in the Camden Herald.

After a 20-year career writing science fiction and fantasy, he turned to historical fiction.

Reviews

[Metaphorosis · Rating 4 out of 5]

reviews.metaphorosis.com

4 stars

In a world devastated by climate change, some institutions cling to life, among them a university in a valley isolated from the turmoil. Turner Ashenden, a nominal student, lives with Black Malachi Pantera, a preternaturally able (and lazy) fellow student, in a house part maze, part party. When the government pushes local landholders to accept more refugees, Turner is caught up in the ensuing struggle.

I don't really know what Views From the Oldest House is about. I've read it twice now, and enjoyed it both times. I even enjoyed it more the second time than the first, despite my surprise at not understanding it better. I'm not sure whether it's intensely clever and deeply layered allegory, or stream-of-literary-consciousness vaguery, but it doesn't bother me. As with Grant's Rumors of Spring, I suspect it works because the key characters in the story don't have any more idea of what's going on than we do - even the ones who pretend to omniscience are faking.

Clearly there's a lot about religion going on here, but it's neither obvious nor heavy handed. You can read all sorts of things in if you want to. If you don't, that's fine too. One of the points of the book may be that it doesn't really matter. You can read it as metaphor for duality, consciousness, pretense, personality, or all sorts of other things, with warnings about global warming thrown in for free.

It sounds terrible, doesn't it? Stuffy, pretentious, and dull. Yet it's not any of those things. Instead, it's a delightful and confusing parable (about something) that's beautifully written, with a friendly tone that goes out of its way to engage you. If you like intelligent SFF, try this. If you don't need determinate, clear-cut conclusions, this is for you. If you've never wandered far from Heinlein, this may not be your thing, but if you have at least a small sense of adventure, I recommend this.

[Cassidy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this one shortly after it was published, which was a long time ago, so I'm pretty fuzzy on the details. One thing that I remember finding incredibly appealing at the time was the notion that much of the world as we know it-- the institutions, governments and power structures we consider facts of life-- might just dissolve away, and actual flesh-and-blood people not be particularly worse off for it. This was very refreshing after a diet of mostly techno-utopian/anarcho-dystopian futures. Also very tasty to young-me was the idea of technologies of magic-like sophistication that have been neglected and abandoned, like the rusting farm implements you find scattered in forests that were once farmland, and nobody knows or cares much anymore about what they were used for.

So, for its sheer stick-to-the-mind qualities, this one gets four stars from me. I'm planning to re-read it soon. I just hope that the suck fairy hasn't been too unkind to it in the two decades since I read it the first time.

[Geoff Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ambitious and problematic. The most stylized of Grant's novels, with a lyrical sing song and wit that he has not displayed since.

His main character is a vacuum, sucking up the desires of all around him, possessed of limited agency. Instead it's the side characters, the friend and the young ward who seem the most real, the most complete.

The sexualization of a 14-year old girl is extremely disturbing.

It seems crazy to follow that with a "despite that," but, despite that, there is much to recommend this novel. Mainly that you will never read anything else like it, archetypes and allusions hitting you between the eyes rapid-fire style.

The book leaves me with questions like, what are identities, where do archetypes come from, and is the more important journey the one of the hero or of the disciple?

[Bee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A challenging book, one which I think people will either love or hate, and perhaps an acquired taste. At times deliberately obtuse and meandering, it's nevertheless an interesting take on fantasy concepts. It took me three tries to finish but I found it very rewarding to reach the end. I feel it's very much worth a second look so I am going to reread this sometime, now that I know the overall structure, so that I can savor the details and come to a more complete understanding.

[Sarena S · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have, close to, absolutely no idea what happened in this book. I loved it and think it changed my life.

[Noelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I gave up about a third of the way through. It just felt like work. As much as I read was impregnated with a vagueness. Vague, vague, vague. The character never seemed to know what was going on and neither did I.
There was also this second voice that would cut in once in a while, and nothing ever explained it's origins. I'll guess that one would find out eventually if they read the whole book but it's damn hard to care about a character that keeps interrupting the main characters thoughts without even knowing anything about that character. All I know is that it seemed to be originating from somewhere that had access to the main characters thoughts.
Anyhoo, a disappointment. I loved Rumors of Spring and Tex and Molly was pretty fun too. Oh well. :)

[Sylvia · Rating 1 out of 5]

Self-indulgent stream of consciousness from the author. Stopped reading about 3/4 of the way through. The confused story line didn't appear to be going anywhere, and when I flipped through the last quarter of the book, it was clear that whole new characters and environments were taking over, abandoning the work done in the first 3 quarters. Overall impression is of author babbling on a mary jane high, thinking he is oh so intelligent. Just tiresome.

[Onewooga · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took two tries to get through this one. Somehow the first time, it just didn't click. The second time, though, I was hooked. You have to be a little patient with Grant, whose intricate and oddball plots combined with his slightly ( or really) bizarre, but intriguing characters make it hard to dive right in, but boy, is it a worthwhile journey.