Set This House in Order

by Matt Ruff

Andy Gage was born in 1965 and murdered not long after by his stepfather. . . . It was no ordinary murder. Though the torture and abuse that killed him were real, Andy Gage's death wasn't. Only his soul actually died, and when it died, it broke in pieces. Then the pieces became souls in their own right, coinheritors of Andy Gage's life. . . .

While Andy deals with the outside world, more than a hundred other souls share an imaginary house inside Andy's head, struggling to maintain an orderly coexistence: Aaron, the father figure; Adam, the mischievous teenager; Jake, the frightened little boy; Aunt Sam, the artist; Seferis, the defender; and Gideon, who wants to get rid of Andy and the others and run things on his own.

Andy's new coworker, Penny Driver, is also a multiple personality, a fact that Penny is only partially aware of. When several of Penny's other souls ask Andy for help, Andy reluctantly agrees, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to destroy the stability of the house. Now Andy and Penny must work together to uncover a terrible secret that Andy has been keeping . . . from himself.

Genres: Fiction, Fantasy, Mystery, Psychology, Mental Health, Book Club, Contemporary

496 pages, Paperback

First published February 4, 2003

About the author

I was born in New York City in 1965. I decided I wanted to be a fiction writer when I was five years old and spent my childhood and adolescence learning how to tell stories. At Cornell University I wrote what would become my first published novel, Fool on the Hill, as my senior thesis in Honors English. My professor Alison Lurie helped me find an agent, and within six months of my college graduation Fool on the Hill had been sold to Atlantic Monthly Press. Through a combination of timely foreign rights sales, the generous support of family and friends, occasional grant money, and a slowly accumulating back list, I’ve managed to make novel-writing my primary occupation ever since.

My third novel, Set This House in Order, marked a critical turning point in my career after it won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award, a Washington State Book Award, and a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, and helped me secure a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. My fourth novel, Bad Monkeys, also won multiple awards and is being developed as a film, with Margot Robbie attached to star. My sixth novel, Lovecraft Country, has been produced as an HBO series by Misha Green, Jordan Peele, and J.J. Abrams. It will debut on Sunday, August 16.

In 1998 I married my best friend, the researcher and rare-book expert Lisa Gold. We live in Seattle, Washington.

Reviews

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

Want some mindpenetrating plot twists? Go and enter Ruff´s disturbing tale that isn´t what it seems to be.

Subjectively, I prefer some of his other works, but I understand the appeal of this one, because it´s closest to what one would call a linear structure and clear plotline around one protagonist, while many of his other novels are tricky, difficult, and exhausting to read beasts.

I wonder how long it must have taken him to finetune the main protagonist, why he once chose to go a more mainstream way, and why he was so badass cool to leave it again after the success of this one. That´s my man, back to progressive, unconventional, and provocative writing after potentially having reached larger audiences to immediately disillusionize them again with the disturbing books Bad monkeys and Mirage. An ultimate in your face moment for easygoing lollypop literature.

The underlying theme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona... is a haunting and fascinating topic, because it shows the potential for adaptability, no matter what situation or personal background. A mighty tool, no matter what genre, but mastering its credible and suspenseful description is a good illustration of an author´s ability, because many are already struggling with one character, not to speak of 2 or even more.

But, sigh, because human´s like protagonists, this might stay his top rated piece, although Lovecraft country I haven´t read so far seems to finally be getting pretty popular. Promote unconventional, close to indie, authors and read or at least suggest their stuff, they are desperately needed to show that mainstream can be broken up to create a less monocultural book world.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

when i read the first three pages of this book i thought i was going to be in trouble because i was so confused. and it is a complicated story, but he manages to make it very readable. any time you have two characters with mpd interacting and "switching: all the time, things are bound to get tricky, but he manages to make it clear despite the challenges. i had written a longer and better review for this that somehow got deleted, so i am going to weep now and shower and let the weeping mingle with the shower water.

come to my blog!

[Jed · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so angry with Matt Ruff and/or his editors. This novel could have been genius if someone, anyone, would have identified the disaster that Part Ten brings to the entire structure of the work.

Up until Part Ten, about page 400, I thought this was a compelling, cleverly crafted novel about someone with Multiple Personality Disorder. I could hardly put it down. Essentially, up to that point, it's about an internal (psychological) struggle manifest in the world. Then, at the very end, a wholly different struggle for physical survival is introduced. Just as he did with his novel Bad Monkey, imo, Ruff doesn't bring closure to a superb story and ends up messing the whole thing up. Darn him!

Ruff is like a master baker who gets every detail right, but cannot pipe the final rosettes in place without ruining the whole cake. And NO ONE at Harper noticed this?

That said, I'll continue reading his stuff. I admire his storytelling skill. For the first 400 pages, I couldn't get enough of this story. 400 pages of genius followed by 75 or so pages of convoluted-I'll-just-let-the-plot-take-over-here muck deserves 4 stars.

[Oriana · Rating 4 out of 5]

For some reason always confused Matt Ruff's Sewer Gas and Electric , with Jim Dodge's Stone Junction , I guess I thought this one would also be some kind of hippie vision-quest parable thingy. Which: OMG no.

I don't want to talk much about the plot, because, especially for those of us with an unhealthy obsession with books, it's pretty rare to be able to go into something totally fresh and clean, without an idea of what kinds of people like it, what the hype has been, how well it's selling, what the major themes are, etc. And Set This House in Order—which, due to its extreme powers of disassociation, reminded me vaguely of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time —is a particularly great one to go into knowing nothing. So I'm not going to do anything remotely spoilery.

I'll just say this: This book is ridiculously engrossing. The characters are a total fascination; both their internal and external machinations are believably and heartbreaking and strong and true. In some ways it's a very straightforward book (although plotwise, it's pretty twisty), because it's not too engorged with dense language or symbolism or other kinds of literary trickery. The writing is slight enough and smart enough to stand back and let the plot come screaming through, to Matt Ruff's great credit.

This is a doozy of a story, and it flings you on ahead of it, through all its bobs and weaves. It's joyful and harrowing, devastating and redemptive, original and believable, and very, very engaging.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 5 out of 5]

'Set This House in Order' is very unique. Not only is it an excellent Teen/YA novel, it is one which manages many other impossible things.

It is an insider's look at what being a multiple personality is like - but the author does not have MPD. He was inspired to imagine MPD characters by the non-fiction book 'Sybil', Sybil: The Classic True Story of a Woman Possessed by Sixteen Personalities. We all know now 'Sybil' has been shown to be mostly a lie at worst, or a compromised synthesis of many stories which have been fictionalized. However, I do not think Matt Ruff knew that when 'Set This House in Order' was published in 2003.

Nonetheless, this book is remarkably accurate -impossible thing number one. I know a MPD person, so I know about MPD.

The second impossible thing is I very much connected with the two main protagonists, Andrew Gage and Penny 'Mouse' Driver, both of whom suffer from multiple personalities. I liked them very much. I worried through the entire book that they would be killed. The alternating chapters that each character relates exhausted me with anxiety from the tension of 'what happens next?'

The third impossible thing is this novel is a wonderfully taut thriller/mystery!

The author minimizes most of the details of the horrible backstories and the dizzy interruptions of the strange afflictions the characters must struggle with, so I think there is a small risk of triggers.

Andrew and Penny work for Julie Sivik, who has hired a few computer technicians and programmers. Sivik hopes she can bring to life a great idea she had while shopping at Bit Warehouse for tax software. Every employee is a misfit, but they work hard for Julie's start-up, located in a Seattle, Washington warehouse. Sivik wants to develop a virtual reality game.

Julie Sivik is a good, if whacky, boss. Inconsistent and flighty, she helps Andrew and Penny overcome their shyness. She tricks Andrew in a nice way into helping Penny through a rough patch. While Andrew has had therapy and is in a temporarily stable place with his alters, Penny has not had any therapy and she is uncertain about why she is losing time and memory.

Andrew is good for Penny and he connects her to a therapist, but unfortunately their conversations cause Andrew's 'house' of alters to become upset. They get by Andrew's control and begin to switch 'out' to control the body they share. Terrifying hints of half-remembered family violence start to haunt Andrew, and one of his alters decides he is going back to Andrew's original place of birth in Michigan. Penny, who now cares for Andrew, desperately tries to keep Andrew, and herself, safe in their chaotic journey across America. After all, Andrew's parents and the stepdad who raped Andrew all died violently. This was a family of dysfunction and chaos, so whatever secrets his alters' memories have may show Andrew truths too hard to bear again. However, Andrew is determined to discover the reasons for his terrifying fragments of memories while exposing the truth of who his mother really was.

I could not put this book down without a struggle! I had to remind myself I have obligations in real life. This is VERY exciting, gentle reader! However, as much as I want to recommend it to everyone, those who are fragile mentally or who are still raw from difficulties resulting from abuse should definitely wait before trying to read this. It is also written for a young audience of mature teens or slightly older young adults, so the style of the writing might bother sophisticated readers.


I am completely aware of the huge disputes still surrounding MPD: 1. is it a real mental condition by itself or is it part of another mental-illness condition; 2. is it caused only by evil therapist manipulations of patients' imaginations; 3. is it a DNA/gene inheritance survival-thing which childhood abuse helps to 'turn on'; and 4. are 'recovered memories' real or entirely made up of fantasies/nightmares/delusions created by the imagination of a patient?

For the record, I believe MPD, or as it now is re-named, DID (dissociative identity disorder) - a broader category covering a spectrum of disassociation levels which includes MPD symptoms, is real. I repeat, without any qualms or quibbles, I am standing up and shouting, "REAL!"

However, I also think therapists can manipulate some patients into remembering memories which never happened. False memories are apparently extremely easy to implant into various types of vulnerable minds. Ffs, even many police and criminal-gang interrogators around the world try, and succeed far too often, to do memory manipulation to people they've arrested or kidnapped! Some older siblings of younger children and some schoolyard psychopaths are mean enough to manipulate other children with the implanting of false memories. Lack of education and religious faith make people vulnerable to abusive mind-control of all sorts. I have been continuously flabbergasted by the news articles that keep coming how easily many human minds can be made to believe anything, particularly if the information comes from a trusted or forceful individual, and depending on environmental conditions. Young people are particularly vulnerable, as are old people with dementia.

That said, MPD has a definite range of symptoms which manipulated individuals or fakers cannot imitate. Once you've met and become familiar with a person who disassociates into personality fragments, it is easily recognizable when you meet someone else who is on the MPD or DID spectrum. Many MPD sufferers have suffered provable horrific childhood abuse either witnessed by people who knew the family was dysfunctional for years or from police reports or records, and injuries.

Like most adults who have had bad childhoods, MPD alters are stuck in juvenile stages of maturity. They adopt various parts of adult behavior without quite grasping or getting the real gestalt adult behavior.

Alters are developed out of a desperate need to escape horror and agony. Young minds are malleable. Toddlers use a myriad number of mental strategies to survive inescapable except through mental thought moments of torture, murder and lack of affection. They pass the awareness of reality over to another new internal friend who can take over experiencing the pain, fear or hate. Then they go away mentally. Hopefully, the alter can come up with something to say or do whatever it takes to survive that horrific moment in time, whether it be imitating a cowboy, a movie star, a neighbor kid or adult, a soldier, a relative, a comic book hero - whatever personality or emotion which appears to work to appease the abuser. But those capable of using a multiple personality ability to escape horror can never walk away from, or stop hearing the newly created 'alter', now real.

Here is a link below to Wikipedia about MPD, but there are many other kinds of fiction and non-fiction books and links out there. Many sources out there are also by crackpots. Good luck to you if you research this subject! It helps if you go to one of the many reputable sources. However, as it mentions also in 'Set This House in Order', even the reputable believers are in disarray about what treatments are effective. There are also well-meaning and respectable unbelievers who scoff at the whole idea of MPD.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disso...

[Dolceluna ♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

In Andrew Cage, ventisette anni, informatico, convivono decine e decine di persone diverse, di età e personalità disparate, che prendono il sopravvento a turno, a seconda dei momenti, portandolo a cambiare improvvisamente voce, atteggiamento, gestualità e modo di porsi.
Sembrerebbe quasi una cosa comica.
E invece di comico non c'è niente.
Andrew è affetto dalla sindrome della personalità multipla, un disturbo che gli rende impossibile vivere serenamente una vita sociale, lavorativa ed affettiva. Se ci pensiamo, è una cosa terribile.
Nella società informatica in cui lavora, Andrew conosce un’impiegata appena assunta, Penny, e si rende subito conto, dai suoi atteggiamenti mutevoli e bizzarri, che anche lei soffre della sua stessa sindrome, che anche lei racchiude in sé tante diverse personalità, alcune anche potenzialmente pericolose e delle quali non è pienamente consapevole. Su richiesta della loro comune capa, Julie, Andrew accetta di aiutare Penny.
E fino a qui, fino all’incontro di queste due personaggi , simili, tormentati ed entrambi alla ricerca di risposte, “La casa della anime” ha trovato la mia approvazione. Anzi, ha suscitato a dosi massicce la mia curiosità nei confronti dell’insolita tematica trattata, e di quello che l’autore aveva in serbo per i protagonisti e per il lettore.
Poi, ahimè, tutto è andato a complicarsi eccessivamente e inutilmente.
La anime, soprattutto quelle di Andrew, fanno continuamente a pugni per emergere in dialoghi inizialmente curiosi e divertenti ma poi, a lungo andare, confusi e sfilacciati fra loro; Andrew e Penny, consapevoli e inconsapevoli di ciò che fanno (a seconda delle voci che prendono il sopravvento), intraprendono un viaggio che li porta nei loro paesi e case d’infanzia, alla scoperta di ciò che ha causato loro la terribile sindrome di cui soffrono. C’è un grosso colpo di scena che riguarda l’identità sessuale di Andrew, e che mi ha fatto spalancare gli occhi da quanto non me lo aspettavo. Ma ci sono anche troppi personaggi (non dimentichiamo gli psicologi, lo sceriffo, i genitori), troppe voci, troppi ricordi sovrapposti, che a lungo andare mi hanno fatta perdere fra le pagine.
Ho intuito la portata del dramma che sta dietro al disturbo dei due protagonisti, ho capito la voglia di lasciar sfogare la loro sofferenza rimasta soffocata e inascoltata. Ma non ne sono rimasta coinvolta emotivamente, piuttosto confusa e spiazzata dai continui cambi di voci e registri verbali e salti temporali.
In definitiva, pur lodando il nobile intento dell’autore nel voler trattare una tematica del genere, resto perplessa sul mio giudizio nei confronti della lettura. O forse, considerando quanto è amata, sono io ad averla letta in un momento personale che forse richiedeva un libro meno complesso. Comunque, tre stelle piene.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Matt — This is, without doubt, the best novel about multiple persons suffering from multiple personality disorder* you can get. Considering that you always somehow host the characters of a book in your mind while reading and that in this case two of those characters bring along an assemblage of other characters along with them in their respective minds, there’s a high risk of loosing it. Your mind I mean. Don’t it?

Another Matt — No.


* nowadays called Dissociative Identity Disorder



This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[David Rim · Rating 4 out of 5]

You'd think that a novel about multiple personality disorder would result in pretty experimental writing, but instead, this is a pretty straight-forward read which reminded me of Richard Russo or Wally Lamb. In other words, I can't believe this isn't a movie yet or an Oprah selection.

I'm getting lost in a tangent, but despite my various pretensions and this book's pop sensibilities, I loved reading this book. There's something infinitely fascinating about multiple personalities for me, and this really captures something about its essence that might be called insight. Although, I have no real experience with MPD, so perhaps its an illusion.

I did wish that the plot was more inspired/surprising, since the hooks/twists were pretty tepid, but in a sense, I didn't care. Sometimes, I think writers create characters that they care too much about to have anything really bad happen to, and I felt the same way. I felt something about the protagonists and their several personalities that bordered on protectiveness.

Did I say how much I enjoyed this book?

[Grazia · Rating 4 out of 5]

… in mille pezzi…”

Quando mia figlia era piccolina, mi piaceva leggerle per fare pace dopo uno scambio un po’ burrascoso, un delizioso libricino illustrato che si intitola “L’urlo di mamma”…

Una mamma pinguino sgrida il suo cucciolo urlando cosi’ forte, ma così forte che lo manda in “mille pezzi”… E i pezzi del corpicino si spargono per il mondo, per la savana, per il fitto della giungla, in mare… Ma la mamma di fronte a tale disfacimento, parte, ricerca tutti i pezzi e li ricuce insieme... Il libricino si conclude con uno “Scusa se ho gridato cosi’ forte” e un abbraccio d’amore.

Perché mi viene in mente questo librino? Perché La casa delle anime è una storia di distruzione che due mamme scellerate hanno compiuto nei confronti dei loro figli, una storia in cui ad andare in frantumi non sono i corpi ma le personalità dei protagonisti del romanzo, una storia in cui è completamente assente la volontà materna di ricucire.

Ecco. Diciamo che in questo romanzo le mamme non brillano proprio per amore materno, anzi vengono rappresentati i danni causati sulla progenie da donne d’animo turpe, egoista e disturbato le cui uniche manifestazioni di cura filiale sono la tortura o l’infastidito disinteresse.

Insomma, son proprio mamme da incubo!

La casa delle anime è la testa in cui risiedono le diverse anime in cui si è scissa la personalità originaria dei due protagonisti a causa dei traumi subiti nell’infanzia.

Una storia estremamente originale con sviluppo estremamente originale.

Sono rimasta veramente ammirata dalle qualità narrative di Matt Ruff , che riesce ad essere logicamente ineccepibile nonostante un intreccio che si presta a mille sbavature, che avvince senza angosciare, un romanzo che, dopo ogni interruzione, si riprende in mano con la voglia di tornare a leggerlo.

Molto bella la prima parte, un po’ meno la seconda che vira nel thriller psicologico genere che non amo particolarmente.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This book just knocked my damn socks off. Given that I don't work with adults, and the rarity of this diagnosis, and the controversy over it, I've never met anyone with Multiple Personality Disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder in the current DSM). I have no idea if this is anything like how it works. But Matt Ruff's created such an amazingly internally consistent portrayal that it's entirely believable that it could work just like this. And the story completely sucked me in so I didn't want to put it down. Not right away, but in the first hundred pages (it's close to 500 pages long), I was hooked. And it didn't come across as a "shocking diagnosis story" like Sybil (I assume...I haven't actually read Sybil). It read as a really fascinating, complex story with some elements of mystery, in which the characters' disorder was a plot element and a way to develop interesting characters. It reminded me a lot of Jonathan Lethem's Motherless Brooklyn, but a great deal more fully realized as a story. With every word I read, this book grew on me more, until I was covered with it like ivy and couldn't put the book down. Read this book.

[Roberto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Che cos’è una "personalità multipla”? E’ una sorta di frantumazione della coscienza che fa sì che nella stessa persona possano convivere due, tre o più caratteri, completamente indipendenti fra di loro e a volte addirittura contrastanti. In pratica è come se la coscienza, fragile come vetro, in seguito a situazioni particolarmente sgradevoli, stressanti, o traumatiche, si possa spaccare in tanti pezzi più o meno piccoli creando una dissociazione della coscienza stessa. Questa frattura è una sorta di difesa (molto sofisticata, direi) contro le situazioni sgradevoli; la mente, soprattutto nei primi anni di vita, non potendo accettare la situazione che sta vivendo, decide di occultarsi e di far vivere la medesima situazione a "qualcun altro” (detta così la cosa, potrebbe far comodo a tutti, qualche volta...).

Le differenti personalità che convivono nella stessa persona possono conoscersi reciprocamente, possono avere dei legami di parentela, possono riunirsi, possono diventare amiche, compagne o avversarie. Possono avere sesso ed età diverse.

"E’ stato mio padre a chiamarmi fuori. Avevo ventisei anni quando sono emerso dal lago per la prima volta. La maggior parte della gente non è in grado di ricordare di essere nata. Io ricordo tutto, dal primo momento: il mio nome pronunciato nel buio; l’impatto dell’acqua; l’intrico di alghe sul fondo del lago, dove ho aperto gli occhi. Mio padre mi aspettava sulla sponda del lago. La casa come pure il lago e la foresta, è nella mente di Andy Cage, o meglio, in quella che sarebbe stata la sua mente se fosse sopravvissuto. Andy Cage è nato nel 1965 ed è stato ucciso poco tempo dopo. Non è stato un delitto ordinario: benché le torture e gli abusi che l’hanno ucciso siano reali, lo stesso non si può dire della morte di Andy. A morire è stata solo la sua anima, e quando è successo si è rotta in tanti frammenti. Poi i frammenti sono diventati a loro volte anime, tutte eredi della vita di Andy Cage."

Mi ha sconcertato parecchio questo romanzo, perché non è facile capire immediatamente le situazioni e i disagi dei protagonisti, in cui convivono anche cento anime diverse che litigano, si riuniscono, si alternano alla guida del corpo, parlano in modo diverso l’uno dall'altro, stanno a guardare cosa fanno gli altri mentre hanno il controllo del corpo, abitano in case immaginarie che hanno creato all’interno di geografie mentali costruite apposta per potersi difendere. Da cosa? Da traumi, abusi fisici o psicologici generati dal comportamento disumano di madri che dovrebbero invece dimostrare affetto, comprensione e protezione nei confronti dei figli.

Come i suoi protagonisti, anche il libro ha varie sfaccettature. C’è una parte iniziale descrittiva dei protagonisti, delle loro anime e delle caratteristiche di questo disturbo della personalità; una parte centrale drammatica e piena di azione ed una parte finale che può ricordare un piccolo thriller. Lo sviluppo del romanzo nella prima metà del libro è perfetto. La descrizione di ciò che accade nella mente di queste persone disturbate è inquietante ma nel contempo affascinante e meravigliosa. Il finale secondo me cala un po’, proprio nella parte più piena di azione, più ordinaria, meno credibile e originale.

Molto ben scritto questo libro di Matt Ruff, originale, inquietante, avvincente e molto molto interessante.

[K · Rating 5 out of 5]

Because I tend to be a bit stingy with my stars, I'm a little afraid I'm overselling a book when I give it a perfect rating. But I have to say, this was a really great book. Plot, characters, writing -- it all just worked.

A relationship between two individuals with multiple personality disorder -- can you envision the possibilities? Each of the book's two main characters was comprised of several distinct personalities, all of whom managed to be interesting. It's an extremely ambitious premise, and Matt Ruff succeeded -- 'till the very end of the book, without petering out. And although character development was clearly a strong point here, this book did not lack for plot. I was thoroughly engaged and continually wondering what would be revealed.

This book also gives you something to think about in terms of personality and its construction. How well integrated are the various parts of ourselves? When are we being fake, and when are we being real? And when we're being fake is that in fact fake, or just a different facet of ourselves?

I'm embarrassed to say that, although I'm technically a psychologist (or will be, once I finish my licensing hours), I don't know a whole lot about multiple personality disorder and couldn't tell you whether or not the two main characters in the book represent authentic experiences with MPD. But you know what? I didn't care (and I'm usually more of a stickler for these things). The book was so engaging that I willingly suspended my disbelief and immersed myself in their universes.

Great reading experience -- highly recommended.

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm slightly stunned that this book hasn't been discovered and devoured by more readers. Once you start reading it, it's absolutely addictive. One of those books that you can't wait to get back to. I can see that the description of the book could be a little off-putting ... one character with Multiple Personality Disorder meets another character with Multiple Personality Disorder. Sounds really confusing, right? That's where the author, Matt Ruff, really excels. It's amazing how he pulls off introducing the different personalities of the first character through a mundane 'waking up, having a shower and eating breakfast' scene.

I also can't believe that this hasn't been optioned for a movie. It would require Oscar-worthy performances for two actors to pull it off, but it would be fascinating to watch. In the meantime, we have this absorbing and thought-provoking book to fill our imaginations.

This is one of those stories where the less said in a review, the better. Read the Preview and see what you think. It hooked me and I hope it hooks more of you too.

Side note: this was recommended to me by the Goodreads Recommendations Engine. So glad it did as otherwise I would never have come across it.

[Michele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written and unusual, an intriguingly twisty novel with elements of romance, humor, suspense, mystery, and even a tinge of horror here and there. I loved getting to know the main character and all his "souls," though their backstory/ies were heartbreaking. Parts of it made me think of I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, whose main character creates an intricate fantasy world populated by gods and demons whom she has to pacify; Andy is sort of like that in the sense that almost every aspect of his daily life is a negotiation: who gets how much shower time, who gets to brush their teeth, how they spend a day off sightseeing so that everyone gets a little something they enjoy and so will be persuaded to help the day go well.

Not being a multiple myself I can't speak to how accurate the portrayal is, but it certainly rang true and made me believe in/care about Andy -- not to mention it was fascinating to imagine being able to talk to different aspects of myself as if they were separate people.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Ruff writes unique fiction, as I've observed before. Not for him the endless series, ringing small changes on the same ever-triumphant (but never too triumphant) protagonist. I was extremely pleased with the splash Ruff's recent novel Lovecraft Country made, too—it's about time he received more widespread recognition—but reading that novel reminded me of his earlier work, and in particular of Set This House in Order, which I last read in 2003. At the time, this was only his third novel (the others were Fool on the Hill and Sewer Gas and Electric, both of which I've already managed to reread and review on Goodreads). It was high time to pick this one up again.

My last direct contact—that I know of, anyway—with a multiple personality was many years ago, and I was far too callow and ignorant to know what sort of souls I was dealing with. Much has changed since then, though, and much has changed since I first read Set This House in Order as well. The preferred diagnosis for what Ruff's novel calls "Multiple Personality Disorder" is now Dissociative Identity Disorder, a term that I saw appear only once in Set This House in Order. And while this novel is serious and well-crafted, with evidence of Ruff's long and careful research, I am not sure he got everything right. I do wonder, for example, whether a drunken body could manifest a truly sober personality (as on p.75). It might be possible for an alter to act sober, sure—even singletons can manage that trick sometimes—but to pass a breath test, or walk a straight line? I'm not so sure.

Ruff definitely tried to get things right, though, and he treated his subjects with respect throughout Set This House in Order. It may be okay to ditch the DSM, at least for the duration of this book.

And I know one thing for certain: he hooked me right in, again, and kept me reading nonstop thereafter.

***

Andy Gage is Ruff's protagonist, or one of them, at least. Andy Gage is two years old. Andy is also twenty-eight years old, or at least inhabits a body that is. Andy is a construct, you see, a personality who has been designed to be the primary external interface for a host of others who inhabit not just the same body but also the same house—the House of the title, the very house which Andy must set in order, in order to survive. A house that Andy's father Aaron built, on a lake he also built, within Andy's mind, literally compartmentalizing and containing all the many souls who share Andy's head.

The house on the lake is a deeply resonant idea—a Palace of Memory of a sort that Giordano Bruno never conceived, built wholly within the divided mind of someone who is only physically a single human being. There are other houses, and their order or lack thereof is important to the story, but none of the others are This House. Ruff describes the house on the lake in relentlessly physical terms; it is as real, as matter-of-fact, as any other place in the book.

This matter-of-factness is essential to the success of the book, I think. In a sense, Set This House in Order is science fiction—it relies on a sophisticated (if, as noted above, incomplete) understanding of how the mind works that wouldn't have been available in decades past, though I recall a short story from the 1950s or '60s by... Philip José Farmer?... that played with the idea, and there are inklings in Robert Charles Wilson's 1990 novel The Divide, though Wilson explicitly distinguishes his protagonist from a true multiple.

In another sense, though, Set This House in Order is straight mimetic fiction. Andy's situation seems inarguably real... no suspension of disbelief is required. The roots of dissociative identity disorder in childhood trauma, however controversial that theory may be in some quarters, seem brutally clear here. I think it's telling that Andy always refers to "the stepfather," and never to "my stepfather," for example. Ruff simply presents Andy's mental landscape—and Aaron's, and Aunt Sam's, Adam's and the rest—without undue exposition. And it's fascinating. Ruff piles revelation upon revelation, cutting ever closer to the foundations of Andy's existence without ever faltering, building up to a satisfying crescendo.

And I have to admit I was amused, on second reading, by this reference to my home state:

{...}as though living in West Virginia were some kind of sin."
--p.381

***

I was able to see Matt Ruff in person on March 5, 2004. He read an introductory passage from Set This House in Order quickly, in a high, clear voice, standing in the Pearl Room of Powell's City of Books in downtown Portland, in front of an exhibit of off-the-wall plush animals by local artists. His wife, "research maven" Lisa Gold, was also in the audience, which was sparse—Ruff's not exactly a household name—but enthusiastic and respectful. At the time, he was working on his next book, called Bad Monkeys (which, again, I have recently reread and reviewed). After the reading, Ruff graciously signed books for fans and obvious resellers alike, drawing a little Kilroy-was-here figure on each one as well as chatting amiably and shaking hands with his fans.

***

"Don't be afraid," Andy Gage tells his friend Penny, late in the book. "We have him outnumbered."

Indeed.

This review both incorporates and has been substantially revised and expanded from the version on my website, originally posted in 2003 and last updated March 5, 2004.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ein extrem spannender Road Roman in dem eigentlich nur 2 Leute in einem Auto sitzen und durch Amerika fahren. Dadurch dass beide Personen aber an multipler Persönlichkeitsspaltung leiden, sind sehr viele interessante, spannende, gefährliche, skurille, witzige, einfältige, aber auch außerordentlich nette Personen in diesem Auto, die völlig autonom in wechselnden Beziehungsgeflechten miteinander interagieren.

Dabei verliert man nie völlig den Überblick aber der Leser fühlt sich wie auf einer Achterbahn, die von einem sehr aufgeregten Gorilla gesteuert wird. Abgesehen davon, dass man sehr viel über Persönlichkeitsstörungen, ihre Hintergründe, Auslöser und auch Strategien wie man damit umgehen kann lernt, ist dieser Roman extrem witzig, und schwungvoll geschrieben. Am nur teilweise vorhersehbaren Ende dieser Irrfahrt gibts noch eine endgültige Konfrontation mit der Vergangenheit und ein versöhnliches psychologisch aufgearbeitetes Ende.

Unbedingt lesen!

[Kristine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've wanted to read this book for so long that my original note refers to "multiple personality disorder" instead of the more current and more accurate term "dissociative identity disorder." Such a long buildup leaves room for a lot of potential disappointment, but this book delivered and then some.

I've been fascinated by DID since it was briefly covered (again, as "MPD") in my first college psychology class. The idea of the brain taking such drastic measures to protect from trauma is difficult to wrap my mind around (no pun intended) but at the same time, it makes some sense. It almost feels like a glimpse into the things we don't know about the brain, or into the metaphysical science of souls. I know there are a lot of mental health professionals that "don't believe" in DID, but I do, and this book makes it seem even more real and plausible.

The thing I like most about this is that Ruff makes this really strange concept (how does it even work, on a practical level, having so many different people in one mind?) seem so normal. Andrew and Penny are the perfect dichotomy. Andrew, who is fully aware and comfortable with his DID, and Penny, who is unaware and completely freaked out by it. All of their alters that we meet along the way are drawn as fully realized characters (people) in their own rights, and how they experience them and interact with them is fascinating. I've heard of people building landscapes or houses inside their minds to house their alters, but I never fully understood it until now. It was such an abstract concept that Ruff managed to make concrete and realistic.

I'm really amazed by how fast the book flew by for me. I knew it would be heavy at times, because DID is caused by trauma and it was therefore inevitable for this book to hit on some dark topics, which it did. And yet, it doesn't get bogged down in that. There's enough healing to balance out the trauma that it moves the story along quickly. Don't get me wrong - parts of it were hard to read, and I was infuriated more than once. It definitely got dark at times, but it didn't stay dark for long, and that saved it for me.

The only thing I didn't like about the book was Julie. Her character is selfish and annoying, and I was glad when she became a lot less of a focus later in the book.

Overall, 5 enthusiastic stars.

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was an immense pleasure to read, both for its excellent prose and gripping story. I went into it with no expectations in any direction, and it blew me away.

I feel like the right circumstances and marketing would have made Set This House in Order into a runaway bestseller. The plot is appropriately shiny, with plenty of sex and death and two multiple personalities. The story is compelling, and though it isn't a thriller, it's definitely a page-turner. Ruff always leaves you curious about this or that, without playing cheap games (except for one false cliffhanger, maybe, but it didn't really bother me).

You don't have to appreciate how masterful Ruff is as a writer to enjoy the book, but you know, it helps. He does an incredible job setting up the mind of a multiple, in a way that's easy to visualize as well as (from what I understand) pretty damn truthful. His prose is always good, precise and vivid, and his characters are memorable. The story has a great emotional depth, and I love that the suspense of the novel is entirely wrapped up in probing the fraught, formative, heartbreaking histories of his characters. (There is, by the way, description of child abuse. It's terrifying but artfully, respectfully done - it never turns you into an icky voyeur.)

I stayed up very late to finish this novel, and spent much of the next day reading up on it and on multiple personalities. Set This House in Order is a fun, quality read, and I look forward to reading more of Ruff's books.

[derwoineinembuchwasliest · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es ist echt schwer dieses Buch zu kategorisieren, deshalb probier ich es gar nicht erst. In der Geschichte steckt soviel mehr drin als man anfangs vermuten mag und Matt Ruff gibt einem auf manchen Seiten so ein Pfund mit an dem man echt zu knabbern hat. Aber ich hatte die ganze Zeit nie das Gefühl ich würde ein sperriges Buch lesen, nein, es liest sich immens leicht und schnell, trotz der hohen Seitenanzahl und trotz der teilweise nicht einfachen Themen die Matt Ruff anspricht. Ich hätte, nachdem ich 'Bad Monkeys' gelesen hatte, nie ein solch auch emotionales Buch von ihm erwartet, doch er hat mich damit völlig überrascht. Und was es in dem Zusammenhang, meiner Meinung nach, auch so aussergewöhnlich macht ist dass Matt Ruff es schafft trotz aller Emotionalität einen damit nicht erdrückt und sein ganz eigener Humor hier und da durchblitzt, perfekt dosiert und platziert. Kennt ihr das Gefühl wenn man sich einerseits am Ende auf das nächste Buch freut, aber auch gleichzeitig eigentlich noch weiterlesen will? 'Ich und die anderen' ist so ein Buch und für mich auf jeden Fall ein, wenn nicht sogar das Lesehighlight 2022, egal was da noch kommt. 1000% empfehlenswert

[Debbie Notkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is probably my second full re-read of this book, which won the Tiptree Award during the period when I chaired the Award's motherboard. I frequently pick it up and leaf through it and read favorite bits, which I did fairly recently, and this time I got hooked and re-read the whole thing.

I'm a sucker for multiple personality stories, and this one is unique partly because both of its main characters are multiple, at very different stages of their journey (and both are viewpoint characters), and partly because Ruff gets into the nuts and bolts of multiplicity and problem-solving approaches as few authors (multiple or otherwise) tend to do.

Plus, it's a rollicking good story, with lots of suspense, surprises, and plot twists. There are things I don't love about the "resolution" of one character's story. But I get more out of it each time I read it; I think I'm probably not done yet.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

An intriguing premise, and for the most part, well executed. There is an absolutely stunning twist almost exactly halfway through the book (no spoilers here), but the concessions to certain genre conventions and the need for some judicious pruning, kept this from being a 5 star.... but in reality, a 4.5. I am not sure how accurate a depiction of Multiple Personality Disorder (or, as it is now known, Dissociative Identity Disorder) this is, but it reads as if it could be pretty spot-on - as much as any of the other stars in the sub-genre (Sybil, Three Faces of Eve, Minds of Billy Milligan). If some genius could figure out how to wrestle it into a screenplay, it would also make a fascinating film. And this is what impelled me to read it in the first place: http://www.theguardian.com/books/book....

[Margaret Carmel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was magical, funny, dark, heartwarming, realistic, well written and powerful all at once.

Matt Ruff, I applaud you. Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls is both a speculative fiction and realistic work about two characters dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder and how they navigate the world. Andrew, the main narrator had an incredible amount of depth and his journey alongside Penny was amazing.

Going into this book blind is the best way to do it because the surprises and character development are fun to experience without any warning.

Ruff's writing took a complex topic and made it easily accessible almost from page one and showed an incredible amount of character development and growth over the course of this addicting story. He effortlessly weaved together foreshadowing and early themes into the final conclusion. It was obvious that everything that happened in this book was carefully thought out and crafted up until the final page.

While I understand how some readers felt like the last act was different than the rest of the book, I liked the way everything ended. It was exciting and it provided closure and an explanation for the earliest happenings of this novel and Andrew's existence. It was wonderful.

I looked online for evidence that this book is considered problematic by the DID community and didn't find any, but if it is indeed offensive then I am sorry and will take responsibility. I really hope it's not though, because this is an amazing book that I think every single human should read. Wow. I am floored in the best way.

[Mariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I remember the first time that I learned of multiple personality disorders. My mom made us watch the made for tv movie Sybil starring Sally Field. Me being me, I've appropriated multiple personality disorder to refer to all kinds of other mental shit, like the two devils on my shoulder who egg me on to do stupid shit. When you don't feel alone with yourself. Mostly just my mood swings (depressed to really depressed). I have a lot of those. The Charlie Brown feeling a ton of conflicting emotions all at once (when I was a kid I quoted that Charlie Brown line to my family to tell them how I felt. They laughed. I Charlie Brown walked away). But I never had anything as cool as the system that Matt Ruff set up in Set This House In Order. It's a house inside the brain that, well, houses all of the shard/facets of a very confused individual. It might be crazy, definitely not healthy, but there is something unlonely about it that I thought was kinda special.

Trivia time: Actor Rob Morrow suggested to Matt Ruff the idea of writing a book about multiple personality disorder. I am reluctant to give much other credit to Morrow, though (he's not a good actor, either). My go-to definition for credit giving is the hole that triggered Paul McCartney to write "Fixin' a hole". The hole was just there.

Anyway, that's not how I heard of Matt Ruff. I heard of him when I spotted the cover of Fool on the Hill. "The Beatles!" and that was that. I guess that wasn't much of a story. But I love those times when I discover something I really like by accident.

Concepts are good if you can use them. So are triggers like Paul McCartney's hole, if you give it your own life.

D'oh! The full title is Set This House in Order: a Romance of Souls. It is a love story. I loved the romance between his/herself. There is a love story. But what I remember now, more than anything else, is the romance between oneself as acceptance. Not as navel-gazing just that, well, sometimes we are all we have. The part within that you don't know about that surprises you. Maybe I'm crazy but I can feel less lonely talking to myself (in my head) 'cause I don't think when I talk, and so don't know what I'm going to say all of the time. It's the thing about being mixed up about so much stuff.

Set This House In Order was beautiful in determining those surprise threads and finding some way of getting them to connect. It's a mystery about figuring out stuff that fucked up stuff that happened and slaying ghosts.
I don't think my mind is a house. It is definitely outdoors and has a big old oppressive sky that sometimes I don't notice and other times it looks really big and I'm "I didn't notice how big that's always been."

[Sunil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set This House in Order is a book with a very unusual protagonist: Andrew Gage, who is the "soul" in charge of Andy Gage's body after torture and abuse from his stepfather fractured his identity. He and the other souls live inside a house built by his father—Andrew's, not Andy's. There's Adam, the raunchy teenager; Jake, the little kid; Aunt Sam, the artist; and Seferis, the protector, among others. Inspired by a real-life case, Matt Ruff has written a character who manages his multiple personality disorder coherently.

And then, for contrast, he has him meet another multiple, Penny Driver (also called Mouse), who doesn't even know about her other personalities...who then ask Andrew to help them manage their situation.

I don't know much about MPD/DID, so I have no clue how accurate Ruff's depiction is, but this book is absolutely fucking fascinating. Even if you don't believe that MPD can work like this, you can easily view it as sci-fi/fantasy in the way that different people in Andy Gage's head run his body; the depictions of the mental geography are reminiscent of the way movies often treat the inside of one's mind, but in Ruff's hands, they feel like completely plausible representations of a damaged psyche.

It's really a trip that there are more characters inside Andy and Mouse's heads than there are outside them, and it is a real testament to Ruff's skill that it totally works. We generally only get flashes and glimpses of the other souls as they take over or Andrew converses with them, but they feel just as real. One of Mouse's more foul-mouthed souls, Maledicta, practically leaps off the page. I only spent a few days with Andrew and Mouse, but I would like to meet them.

Like Bad Monkeys , it's compulsively readable, though it's a different style of writing, genre, and tone. Here, Ruff switches perspectives and tenses (Andrew is first-person past, and Mouse is third-person present), which can be a bit disorienting at times, especially when it's not clear whether the section is supposed to follow the previous or overlap, but it's a really effective way to characterize Andrew and Mouse: Andrew has his house in order and can tell his story by looking backward, whereas Mouse is having a much more confusing, harrowing experience.

The experience forces both characters to examine their own pasts and uncover dark secrets. In a way, it's a coming-of-age story for Andrew, who's technically only two years old. The plot gets somewhat distressingly generic at the end, but it still works for the most part, and it doesn't overshadow how incredibly good the rest of the book is.

[ScottK · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read the last page of this book tonight and closed the cover with a big sigh. I felt a bit saddened by finishing it. Saddened because I had reached the end of a great story. Sure the whole basis for this story is frightfully horrifying and , if real would have been a "chilling childhood" as O magazine states. What I loved about this book was ....pretty much everything. I loved it's creativeness, I loved how it did not make light of a scary and vulnerable position, and yet had some great funny scenes in it. Many of the characters are down right wacky, and some took themselves way too serious and yet they all get along.

In the creative vein I would like to give Mr.Ruff many kudos for taking on this topic, he did it very well. At first, when I thought about reading it I felt that shifting from personality to personality (with two of the main characters) would make it very hard to keep up, then it would just be a 500 page wasps nest of confusion and frustration. Not so at all, the way Ruff writes makes it easy to follow who is where and at what time. There are times when he does go back and clarify from different angles/personalities but none of them seem contrived. Next, the characters are all a joy to get to know. Most of them are quite quirky but , hey some of the best of us are. From foul mouthed chain smoking Maledicta to the hormone infused Adam, the very "friendly" Loins to the romantic artist Aunt Sam every one of them is endearing in one way or another. Then there are those who you are not supposed to like, and trust me , you don't .

I have stated many times before that I love a book that has characters you take with you long after you close the cover. A book that you just feel is begging to be made into a movie because that is how it played out in your head.This is one of those books, which is why , I suppose I hated to see it end. And by hated, I mean I was very tempted to start over again the minute I finished, just so I could spend a bit more time with these creations. This is the second book I have read by this author. I know of only two more, rest assured I will be reading them as well.

Here is what the Portland Oregonian had to say about this book:
In this complex coming of age story with an emotional resonance that reaches far beyond the deeply troubled psyches he's exploring, Ruff has pulled off his neatest narrative trick of all.........as addictive as any recent thriller. Wise and true words all.

[ohmymind · Rating 5 out of 5]

TW: ritueller Kindesmissbrauch, sexualisierte Gewalt, selbstverletzendes Verhalten

WTF?! Was für ein Buch!
Das Thema „multiple Persönlichkeitsstörung" interessiert und fasziniert mich einfach. Gleichzeitig ist es verstörend und für einen nicht-multiplen Menschen kaum vorstellbar bzw nur schwer nachvollziehbar sein, wie das sein muss...
Matt Ruff hat es mit seinem Buch geschafft diese Erkrankung besser zu verstehen und nachvollziehen zu können.
Ich habe dieses Buch geliebt. Dieses Buch hat mich zum Lachen gebracht, mich entsetzt zurückgelassen, mir Angst eingejagt. Ja, ich hatte in diesem Buch mehrere Momente, wo ich kurz überlegt habe, es zur Seite zu legen und erst weiter zu lesen, wenn es wieder hell ist. Wenn gewisse Szenen beschrieben wurden, die dieses entsetzliche Trauma verursacht haben, einfach zu gruselig und wirklich nachvollziehbar angsteinflößend waren.
Dieses Buch ist harter Tobak, auch wenn Matt Ruff hin und wieder witzige Passagen eingebaut hat, was es wohl dadurch auch erträglicher gemacht hat.

Spannend waren natürlich auch die Seelen der beiden multiplen Protagonisten und wie diese altern, sich entwickeln und überhaupt fasziniert mich einfach daran, dass jede Seele eine ganz eigene Persönlichkeit hat.

Beeindruckend ist auch wozu die menschliche Psyche in solchen immer wiederkehrenden traumatischen Situationen in der Lage ist, wenn sie nicht sterben will und „beschließt" sich schließlich aufzuspalten.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a little story i wrote:
I watched as the event below unfolded before my eyes. You see it's easy for me to see everything from my balcony. What I saw that day made my blood curdle for I did not realize I could ever impact an event as on that day. The one thing I never thought I would see or hear occurred that day. She was walking down the road with her blue jean skirt and yellow shirt - so full of life. Her smile, activated by a bright sunflower. Who knew one glance could cause an end to her days. There she walked across the street while I stood there mesmerized by what was unfolding. By some unknown force of chemistry she looked up to me and smiled. Right then a red pick-up truck went speeding down the road and smashed into her, knocking her into a tree. By my act of observance I ended that woman's life. Later on I walked down the road and saw blood splattered on the sunflower. It's funny how little we pay attention to the small impacts we make on those around us.

I'm taking a stab at writing and was thinking that the stories we read impact our creativity. I feel like reading has impacted me more than anything but also the impact of other people. My main character impacted the life of someone unintentionally by gazing at her.

[Melanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I dunno. I had high hopes for this book but I think it was the two female character, Penny and Julie, that kind of ruined it for me. They were both annoying. I felt like Matt Ruff was writing two "manic pixie dream girls" but they were more like nightmare fuel. I liked Penny more in the last two chapters, the Epilogue, than I did in the entire book. I never did like Julie. I think he should do some research into women before he tries to write them again. Andrew deserved better "sidekicks" if you ask me.

Matt Ruff had some interesting ideas but I don't know if they were executed properly. His writing is decent and flows well but the way he ran the story just seemed a bit jumbled. I never really had too many emotions while reading this and, for a book about people with multiple personalities, that seemed a bit odd to me. It took me quite a lot longer than it should have to read as well. And since I'm sitting here in quarantine, with not much else to do, that speaks volumes about this book.

Anyway, not horrible. Not great. Just meh.

[Jannine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I especially liked that it didn't melt into a happily ever after ending. It maintained, through to the very last sentence, its dark humor and complexity. I read this book slowly - not because I was fighting to maintain interest, but because the author compelled me to want to spend time with the characters. Tough subject (mental illness), romance(sort of), black humor(plenty), twists(a couple of whoppers) and a slap of reality ending all made for an engaging, witty, gratifying read.

[Merrin · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book read like an interesting book for the first... say... 100 pages. After that it turned into a big jumbled mess that I'm not sure the author knew what to do with. It's an interesting premise, about a guy with multiple personality disorder who tries to unlock secrets about his past and runs into personalities unwilling to let him do so, but it's a really, really poor execution.