The Good House : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Sitting on the edge of my seat
Review: I have only a couple of chapters left to this book and I am already feeling sad, because this wonderful book will have ended. Tananarive did a great job in making the reader feel they are right there in the story. I could feel the horror, the desperation, and the other emotions felt by the characters. I can't wait for the next novel. Keep up the great work girl, you have a loyal fan in me.

Rating:
Summary: The Good House until you get to the end
Review: I loved this book. It kept me on the edge of my seat wanting more. Their were times when I was afraid to go to sleep after reading some parts of the book. However, I must say that I was a little disappointed with the way the book ended. I felt she could have done better with the ending. Perhaps she could have done a sequell if she ended it differently. But I still love the book despite the ending.

Rating:
Summary: Great book. Change of pace for this horror reader.
Review: I read a lot of horror and this book was a change of pace for me. It went into more character depth than most horror novels and was also a bit slower than most, but it was fantastic. I'd call it "literary horror". The ending was a bit too neat for me, but that's my only complaint. Highly recommend this book to fans of horror, literature, and suspense.

Rating:
Summary: Another Great Book by Due
Review: I really enjoyed this book. I liked how she moved back and forth within the elements of time. A great and enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book and Excellent Story Line
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed Tananarive Due's latest book,"The Good House" and highly recommend it. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms.Due at Marcus Books in Oakland last year for her book signing of "The Living Blood". Ms.Due is a warm and pleasant person and I cornered her in the ladies room to have my book signed which she graciously did even though it was not purchased at Marcus Books. As an Orisha worshipper myself and practitioner of Candomble,the Brazilian form of African spirituality,Ms.Due shows that she has a thorough knowledge of and grasp of African spirituality and how closely it relates to Christianity and other forms of spirituality. Believers of Candomble,Santeria,Vodou and other African based spirituality believe that ancestry and bloodlines are very important and that the gifts and curses in one's bloodline are transmitted through the blood or the DNA. The belief that our deceased blood relatives are still with us and still a part of our family is the theme that is loving entertwined throughout "The Good House". My surname is Toussaint and I too have Caribbean ancestry so I felt like I was reading about members in my own family line. I hope that readers will also read the books on African spirituality that Ms.Due mentions at the end of her book as I feel that having a basic knowledge of African spirituality and its philosophy will help readers better understand this book. I also found that Ms.Due had some humorous moments in her book as well and the life she breathes into her characters make them almost come off of the page. I wish that Blair Underwood would make a movie of "The Good House" as well as "My Soul to Keep" and I highly recommend either Nia Long or Jada Pinkett-Smith as Angela Toussaint. I'd like to see my black cocker spaniel "Black Orpheus" play Onyx. Even though he is not a miniature poodle he was the runt of the litter and gets mistaken for a poodle moreso than a cocker spaniel. He is a handsome fellow and a very good actor.

Rating:
Summary: THE GOOD HOUSE is a Great Book!
Review: In THE GOOD HOUSE by Tananarive Due, Angela Toussaint inherits a house in Sacajawea, Washington from her Grandmother, Marie Toussaint, who had been a nurse, an herbalist, and a vodou priestess. Angela also inherits something else - a curse. This ultimately affects her son, her ex-husband, all her friends, and the town.
I loved this book. It has a complex story structure; it traveled between time and character viewpoints. It had great characters. Due has a talent for making her characters real and for making you care about them. There were scary parts such as when the neighbor Leahy goes to collect herbs from Angela's land and the reader first encounters the thing full out. Due, in an afterword, notes that this book is not a book about voodoo, and that she wanted a religion based in the African-American experience. The book is about relationships and connections, there is the underlying theme of the connections between the living, the land, and the ancestors. I loved it.
Putting aside all the hype, I have read three books by Tananarive Due, and I actually think she is the next Stephen King!

Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Ms. Due has made a topic we don't want to deal with real. I read this book in one day and wanted more. I have read her other three works and she is just getting better and better in entertainig us.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book.... the you get to the end
Review: Ms. Due is one of my Favorite writers, I always appreciate how much research she must do when writing her books. The Good House is no different in that respect. However that being said, I thought the ending was a bit too " And they all lived happily ever after". It seemed to me that Ms. Due was pressed by a deadline and just decided to end the book. I will say that I did enjoy it up until the end

Rating:
Summary: Too Lengthy but Good
Review: Mystical Voodoo is the topic thoroughly explored in The Good House. Although quite lengthy, almost beyond this reviewer's limit, The Good House had an unexplained pull, which kept me reading to the last page. I wanted to know how the entire series of events occurred without the expense of reading through volumes of mindless drivel. Obviously, I am hooked and this is the draw of reading. Mission accomplished.

Angela Toussaint inherits the Good House from her grandmother Marie Toussaint, the town herbalist and healer. Many of the older townspeople in Sacajawea, Washington remember Ms. T'Saint as a lady who possessed mystical healing talents, but Angela never believes this of her grandmother. Marie never shared her voodoo culture with Angela, purposely to spare her from hurt, harm and pain. Little did she know keeping this horrible secret could ruin future generations. Angela unknowingly inherits the curse of The Good House to which her son Corey, in his teenage curiosity, unearths repressed evil spirits during an annual summer trip back to quiet Washington State. The Fourth of July would never be the same for the townspeople of Sacajawea and thus the cause of tremendous heartache for Angela. It was this holiday that her beloved only son apparently took his life during the celebratory party. Angela returned to California distraught to the point she seeks mental counseling and completely shutting off friends and family. Her thoughts constantly go back to the mental breakdown and suicide of her own mother. Mental strength is not a trait found in her family, it appears. The passage of time brings slow healing and Angela is convinced to return to The Good House to possibly sell the property and bring about closure to her broken heart. What she discovers upon her return trip, terrifies her but presses her to finding the root cause to the evil that threatens to destroy her and her family name.

The reader floats through many time periods, told from the perspective of the person who experienced them. During these changes in time, I found myself wanting to know more and more but would have appreciated the history lesson early on in the novel. I would have felt a deeper connection to each prominent character if I had known their history before the end. Personally, I didn't feel that this was Tananarive Due's best work, but still one to add to your collection if you are a fan of horror. There were hair raising, spine tingling moments sprinkled throughout which enriched the experience and pressed the reader to the dynamic conclusion. After I was finished, I couldn't help but wonder who was going to write the cliff notes version. This is one book definitely worthy of lengthy discussion.


Rating:
Summary: HEART POUNDING ACTION..
Review: Once again Ms. Due has proven that she is one of the best when it comes to terror. This book introduces the world to the Toussaint legacy, a family enriched with spiritual abilities that conjure up good and EVIL things.
Good vs. evil becomes the running theme as people begin to drop like flies around Angela Toussaint and it hits close to home a few times. This book will draw you in from the beginning and you wont be able to put it down until your eyes close forcibly.
I loved this pieceof work, though the ending was very disappointing. It's a great ride though, and if you want to jump on the Tananarive Due bandwagon... do so! I guarantee you won't be jumping off anytime soon!