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Home Design & D�cor. Nonfiction. HTML: The Pulitzer Prize�winning author brings "clarity, intelligence and grace" to the tale of building a home in this New York Times Bestseller (TheNew York Times Book Review). It's 1983 and Jonathan and Judith Souweine are ready to build their forever home on a four-acre lot just outside of Amherst, Massachusetts. A lawyer and a psychologist, neither has much experience with the process. In this New York Times bestseller, Tracy Kidder leads readers through the grand adventure of building the American dream. In his portrayal, constructing a staircase or applying a coat of paint becomes a riveting tale of conflicting wills, the strength and strain of relationships, and pride in craftsmanship. With drama, sensitivity, and insight, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Soul of the New Machine takes us from blueprints to moving day. In the process, he sheds new light on objects usually taken for granted and creates a vivid cast of characters you will not soon forget. "Tracy Kidder has done it again. . . . What might seem like ordinary work takes on an extraordinary, unpredictable life of its own. The subject is fascinating, the book a remarkable piece of craftsmanship in itself." �Chicago Tribune Book World "Kidder makes us feel with a splendid intensity the complex web of relationships and emotions that inevitably comes into play in the act of bringing a work of architecture to fruition." �The New York Times Book Review.… (more)
User reviews
I picked up this book in the hope that I would learn something about how houses are built,
While not teaching much about building, it was, however, very interesting as a political statement. The take-home message is that white-collar Americans are complete pricks when it comes to dealing with blue-collar Americans.
The buyers of the house, their parents, the architect, all seem to live in some happy fairyland where nothing is ever their fault, other people's feelings don't matter, and whatever they want they should be able to have, no matter how often they're told they can't afford it. The husband buying the house views every disagreement not in terms of "what is a just resolution", but in terms of "how could I argue this legal point in court"; that's a fine attitude for a lawyer while working but it's a lousy attitude for a human being.
As for the builders, while I felt sympathy for them, that sympathy was tinged with frustration --- they see vaguely that the practical consequences of lack of book-learning are that they repeatedly get screwed by people like these buyers, but they can't seem to gin up the initiative to do something about it and protect themselves, perhaps by contracting with accountants and lawyers and having them draw up some standard contracts and disclaimers for them.
All in all a sad tale of how flawed human beings are, reminding me once again why I don't much like to read books about "real" human beings --- I just don't like "real" human beings very much.
In [House], we follow the process of building a typical architect-designed American home from initial design phases to construction. Now, as an architect, this book drove me crazy. The clients give a friend who is
The book was originally published in 1985, which makes for some interesting foreshadowing of our current housing predicament. For instance, when speaking about borrowing the money for the construction, the wife comments “It’s us against the world, you know.” I think this kind of attitude is part of what got us here. The idea that as an American you are owed a new home by right and any builder/bank/city zoning ordinance that stands in your way is somehow infringing on this right somehow replaced the idea of a new home as a luxury.
Another interesting sort of side issue for me is the New Englandness of the parties involved. It’s amazing to me how attitudes and personalities vary over regions which is something I never really noticed as much until I moved.
I have had this book on my shelf for some time, and it's
First, although it is a work of NonFiction, I am not exactly clear (still) how the author fits into the picture. He never plays a part in the book, he simply transcribes all of the events. But with that aside, this book must cause professional builders and architects migraines as they read not only how the events play out, but how much better these events could have been handled - hindsite is 20/20.
In short, a middle-aged, middle-income couple decide to build a house and have their friend, a trained architect, design it. Bill, the architect, has just hung out his own shingle, and this is his first commission. (Who sees "nightmare" coming???) The triumvirate is completed by Apple Core, the contractors who successfully (?) win the bid to build the house. While the author drifts down many (too many) side paths to discuss backgrounds of each of these participants, in general, the book progresses through the building of the house, and the problems which arose.
Because I like architecture, all of the above seemed like a perfect outline for a book, and the reason I was looking forward to reading it. What I had not planned on was the fact that each of them (in varying degrees) were morons. You be the judge. Who is at fault in the following situation. The architect does not specify what kind of staircase will be built on the inside of the house. The contractors bid on it as if there will be a "standard" staircase and allot $2,500 for the purpose. The contract is awarded, and THEN the architect decides that what is needed is a sweeping Grecian Revival staircase with ornamented balustrade. The staircase will now cost well over $2,500. Who is responsible for the cost? I won't tell you the results, but it takes two chapters to develop it - and then it's the wrong one (in my opinion).
I never got the impression that the point behind the book was to make the reader exasperated, but with a little marketing, that would be the perfect sales approach for it. The writing is very good, the actual processes of developing the house and some (I said some) of the side paths the author explored were interesting, but the main players were so frustrating and antagonistic to each other, I found it difficult to believe it all really happened. The writing saves the book, but if you tackle it, just be ready to roll your eyes and plow forward - maybe keeping a note pad with you to keep track of what you will NOT do when you build your next house.
The characters in this book are so lifelike; the conversations so real. I can feel the tension in the
SPOILER--> I really felt for the builders when their profit was disappointingly small in the end. Kidder not only captured the nuances of interpersonal relations between those involved in all aspects of the house’s construction, but also the very essence of each character’s personality.
I have the same kind of respect for Tracy Kidder. Lots of people can write. Many of them can write well. Tracy Kidder writes the way the building crew in “House” worked: with spirit, precision, and soul.