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The Hills at Home: A Novel
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780375422034
ISBN: 037542203X
Label: Pantheon
Manufacturer: Pantheon
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 496
Publication Date: February 18, 2003
Publisher: Pantheon
Release Date: February 18, 2003
Studio: Pantheon
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Editorial Review:
In this rich and wonderfully comic family story we meet the Hills, an irrepressible New England clan. First and foremost is the maiden aunt and matriarch, Lily, whose great old manse is invaded, in the summer of 1989, as the members of her family descend upon her one by one. From Lily’s old-salt brother Harvey, with his triptych of photographs of his three late wives, to their niece Ginger, a hopelessly scattered romantic and would-be novelist, to Ginger’s brother Alden, a banker laid off from Wall Street, with his rowdy brood of four, they all claim to have come “just for a visit.” But the weeks go by and no one shows any sign of leaving—if anything, the Hill family seems like it might actually be growing.In a masterful orchestration of the many voices contending for dominance in the Hill household, Nancy Clark charts the family dynamics against the larger backdrop of the recession during the first Bush administration and the fall of the Berlin Wall—a changing world that encroaches on the Hills' Yankee existence in surprising ways as the plot develops. But it is with the arrival of Andy—a grad student with a tenous connection to the family, who wants to research the Hills for his Ph.D. on the vanishing breed of New England WASPs—that their lives are turned upside down. Armed with 3 x 5 cards and consanguinity calculations, Andy soon becomes as much a participant as an observer in the shenanigans, misunderstandings, and Shakespearean romantic couplings that the novel has in store. Directing this overflowing cast with wry wisdom and a rollicking prose style, Nancy Clark delights us with her exploration of the forces that strain and sustain a family, and the ties that bind.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Hilarious Read
I have just "discovered" Nancy Clark and these books, having started with the latest-published, JULY AND AUGUST. I loved that one, so of course back-tracked to the first one, THE HILLS AT HOME. It was great to get more background on characters I enjoyed so much in the latest novel. I laughed out loud a few times, but in the last chapter, I did so louder, longer, and more often than ever. I am a cautious book-buyer, as my cup tends to overfloweth, but having read these as library loans first, ... Read More
Rating:  - Pretty boring
I am a patient reader and don't need a lot to keep my attention. Unfortunately, this book just didn't cut it. I would disagree with those who said the characters were well developed. Although each character had a memorable quirk, the author seemed to focus on quantity vs. quality... I kept waiting for the book to get better and it never did! With so many books out there, I'd recommend taking a rain check on this one.
Rating: - Hear those thought rhythms flying
I loved the language rhythms in the book and the allusions to literary masterpieces we loved and studied. I thought the misspellings were actually puns running through the characters' minds. I have clear images of the house layout and the characters, and I also laughed out loud a lot. Having two characters named Becky was vaguely confusing, but it helps us empathize with Little Becky; and she resolves her problem in Clark's next novel.
Rating: - Entertaining...with a caveat
I picked up this book in May of 2004 and only got about 100 pages into it before I put it down. I originally found it very slow-going, with nothing much to hold my attention. For some reason, I took it back off of the shelf two days ago, and plowed through the remaining 300+ pages in no time. I was able to remember the characters from over a year ago with no difficulty (a feat for me...obviously there are some well-written roles here!) and found the book very entertaining. The best part of the ... Read More
Rating:  - A good story gone bad.
I had looked forward to reading this book after hearing such great reviews. After plodding along through the story thinking many times "it must get better" I finally turned the last page disappointed I had wasted so much time on it. The editing is just not good - as others have mentioned the spelling and research is lacking throughout the book (they are Canada Geese - not Canadian). You never learn enough about the many, many characters to care about them. A disappointment because this could have ... Read More
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