A House Among The Trees
By Julia Glass
Pantheon Books, Hardcover, 9781101870365, June 13, 2017, 368pp.
The Short of It:
Strong story potential that fell flat for me.
The Rest of It:
From Indiebound:
When the revered children’s book author Mort Lear dies accidentally at his Connecticut home, he leaves his property and all its contents to his trusted assistant, Tomasina Daulair, who is moved by his generosity but dismayed by the complicated and defiant directives in his will.
This book is said to be a tribute to Maurice Sendak, the beloved illustrator and author of children’s books and the inspiration behind the main character for A House Among the Trees. When I read that blurb, I just had to read it.
Morty Lear falls from his roof to his death and leaves his estate to Tommy, his long-time live-in assistant. Much of the story centers around the visit of a well-known actor who has been cast to play Morty in a film and how Tommy has to deal with that and all the other things required of her.
Normally, this type of story intrigues me but this time I felt no connection whatsoever to the characters. I can’t even say why. I could not connect or relate to any of them and there seemed to be a lot of back and forth where things didn’t flow well. Perhaps that is more of an editing issue. Not sure, but in the end this one didn’t work for me at all and I really wanted to love it.
Source: Review copy provided by the publisher.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.
