Keeping the House Audiobook

" It was a little hard to get into this book because each chapter is a different character in a different time, but once you get it down, I loved the story. Beware of the F-bomb though. Maybe about 10 times in 500+ pages. "

" Good leisure book...family saga that keeps your interest with an underlying mystery. Jumps back in forth between 1950 and WWI and WWII...does a good job of including historical elements. "

" Entertaining, but essentially a WWII-era soap opera. "

" This was a great read. It is a bit daunting because of its length, but it was a page-turner. It is a great story of families and their dysfunction, the trials of love and war. It had a little bit of everything. I really enjoyed the characters even though they weren't always sympathetic. The main plot surrounds a young married woman in 1950, while the subplot is about a family and their lives from 1896-1945. The story sucks you in and leaves you waiting to find out what happens next. "

" this was a story that covers several generations of a family (1896 thru 1950) living in wisconsin. the house they lived in piqued the interest of a young bride in 1950 that had recently moved to the town.stories are told switching from different times and different people in the story. i liked the writing and really wanted to know how their stories ended. "

" It could have been 100 pages shorter and not missed anything. Good points for discussioin in book group about our mothers and grandmothers generations. "

" I had a chance to meet the author as she lives near our town. She spoke at our Rotary club and shared with us how she went about writing this novel. The story is set in this region (Northern Wisconsin) during the 1950s and provides a vivid picture of the place and time. "

" Started 2 x, not interested "

" Very fast read, kept my attention, easy to feel a relationship with the characters. "

" Ellen Baker is from Superior, Wisconsin (across the bridge from Duluth) and my mom cleans her teeth. This is her first novel, impressively published by Random House, about a housewife in the 1950's. "

" I loved this book. It told the story of many generations going back and forth in time. Dolly moves to Pine Ridge and wants this old house. The many old secrets of the house are told. Very good book. "

" I was excited about this book because I, too, love abandoned houses and wonder, "Who lived there?" The story wasn't all that compelling for me though and the flipping around between time periods and families was annoying. I didn't finish it. "

" What an interesting look at housewives of the 1950's. I enjoyed the intertwined story of the young wife in 1950 with the family that lived in the house she is fascinated with. It tells their story from 1898 to 1950. The unfolding parallel keeps you turning pages to see what will happen next. "

" This was a decent story. It's worth a read :-) "

" I didn't want to put it down. I was so involved with Dolly's marriage and discovery of the michaelson family. Loved the back and forth between times and characters' stories. I also found the magazine quotes to be a fun extra peek into the time and views on women and their marriages. "

" Better at the beginning than the end. I started to feel like the author forgot where she was going and started throwing a bunch of twists and turns in that were a bit unbelievable. Ok writing overall. "

" A wonderful multi-generational story about a family that had befallen a litany of bad luck as discovered by a lonely 1950s housewife. It was a captivating read. "

" A bit melodramatic at times, a bit falling in with MadMen which I have been watching an awful lot of. Surpirse in the center, but all other were easy to guess once the secrtets came out. Not a bad book, quick read, just not the best out there. "

" I picked it up while we were on vacation. I enjoyed it and recommended it to my book group. I liked the way the story jumped between women involved with the house gradually drawing the stories together until the intersected. "

" This book is very hot and cold for me. I appreciate the historical fiction component of this book. It's interesting to hear about roles of particular groups--women, vets, daughters, moms. But I do find all the decade switching to be a little distracting and difficult to follow "

" This book was hard to put down! It was a bit melodramatic at times, but it really kept me turning pages to find out what happened. "

" I enjoyed this book. It was an interesting location and I liked the use of 2 time periods and characters. "

" Lots of twists and turns. Very entertaining. "

" Maybe I just wasn't in the mood for it, but the story, which goes back and forth between the 1890s and 1950s, was too much of a downer, with the women involved frustrated at their lot in life (housewives, unhappy marriages). "

" Great story set in Wisconsin! Love the mysterious happenings of the Mickelson family and the characters seemed well-developed with the exception of Ginny. I would recommend to friends. "

" A joy to read. I liked the different view points and different times. "

" Loved this book. The little snippets at the beginning of chapters taken from old 'women's magazines' was quite entertaining. Loved the story as well, bring together stores of women from different generations... "

" Good points: It is set in Wisconsin and it's historical in nature. Bad points: Too long for the story that it tells. "

" Surprisingly good book. Family saga spanning turn of the century through 1950. I especially enjoyed reading the out-dated, old fashioned homemaking ideas and excerpts from Ladie's Home Journal at the beginning of each chapter. Goes to show you how far feminism has come in the last 60 years. "

" What an interesting look at housewives of the 1950's. I enjoyed the intertwined story of the young wife in 1950 with the family that lived in the house she is fascinated with. It tells their story from 1898 to 1950. The unfolding parallel keeps you turning pages to see what will happen next. "

" A good read. A story that crosses many generation and has more drama than a soap opera. Downside- expected more for the ending. "

" What a great combination of styles and characters and storytelling. Plot changes and switching between families and time periods makes this a real pageturner. "