Rating: 
Summary: An Interesting Fable
Review: Kathy Hepinstall certainly has given us a unique novel in the House of Gentlemen. It is a fable about the relationships between men and women and the healing power of love. I really enjoyed reading it and honestly can say that I have never read a book quite like this before. It is the story of a house of gentle men, where unloved women come to be loved by men. There is no sex in this house, only love. One woman who comes there, Charlotte, has been horrible wronged by men. She was brutally raped as a young girl and became pregnant. She gave birth to the baby in secret and left him in the woods. He was rescued by the daughter of the house's owner and raised as her child. Several years later, one of the remorseful rapists comes to the house for redemption. He and Charlotte fall in love, without her knowing his true identity. They eventually learn the truth about each other, but I won't say anymore, for fear of ruining the book for anyone. Kathy Hepinstall gets her message about love across in such a unique way in this book. Love and physical affection should be gentle. She cleverly juxtaposes the story of a young man who lives in a barn next to the house, who has sex, without love, with several of the women who visit the house. Hepinstall's message is simple--sex without love is harmful, sometimes violent. Women deserve gentle love. She gets her message across without being preachy, which is one of the wonderful things about this novel. The House of Gentle Men is also a pleasure to read. Hepinstall writes beautifully. I really enjoyed this novel. Enjoy.
Rating: 
Summary: House of healing
Review: Kathy Hepinstall created a book that is wonderfully creative and brings back a time when innocence is alive. She created a place where wrongdoers can be forgiven and those who have been hurt can find healing. The book comes alive with the past that the main characters have. Hepinstall shows through the characters that time can change people, but that one can not run from the past.
Through the characters, readers can feel what it means to do something so wrong that they can't forgive themselves for it. The book also shows what joys can be brought by forgiving instead of holding a grudge against someone who has wronged you. In the book, the characters that Kathy Hepinstall creates show, through small events, that they can change from being hurt to hurting others.
Hepinstall places the book in a place that makes the actions of the characters believable. She describes a stereotypical Southern town. She also describes such a vivid and realistic setting that is seems that THE HOUSE OF GENTLE MEN could actually exist. Overall I think the book was well completed and perfectly described.
Overall, THE HOUSE OF GENTLE MEN is a wonderful book with a steady pace and never has a dull moment. Hepinstall has a book that is very sucessful in showing that good can come out of the worst events. The book is written in a unique style that makes it enjoyable. It shows a little bit of the characters' past and mixes it in with their present. This make the reader want to continue reading the book to find out what else is going to happen.
Rating:
Summary: A good read for a young woman
Review: Kathy Hepinstall is an author I admire when it comes to writing style. I love the way she alternates back and forth from scene to scene. In The House of Gentle Men, Hepinstall uses this technique when at the height of really intense moments. It makes the reader anxious to get to the climax and therefore, the end of the book. Mr. Ohlen founded The House of Gentle Men after his wife leaves him. I think the house symbolizes his attempt at making up for being a bad husband. It is a special place where men cater to a woman's every need. Louise is his daughter and the main character of the book. Louise is a young girl who spends her days cleaning obsessively the House of Gentle Men. Louise's life begins to change once a man named Justin comes to stay at the house. She has a crush in him and is entrigued by his mysterous persona, but is crushed once she finds out he is involved with Charlotte, a mute who has never been kind to her. Charlotte is the another main character in the book. Charlotte has a deep dark secret that is ripped from the past once she meets Justin. Her strength comes alive a the end of the book and it's a really crutial turning point. The House of Gentle Men has everything a reader wants from a good novel: intensity, depth, symbolism, warmth and a moral theme. I give it 5 shinning stars!
Rating:
Summary: A Beautifully Told Tale Of Sin & Redemption!
Review: Kathy Hepinstall wrote this powerful novel of love, loss, sin and redemption with simple lyrical prose. Her language and story will haunt you long after you finish the book. Ms. Hepinstall has taken the idea of atonement and created a fresh and original novel in this sometimes disturbing parable of redemption and forgiveness.
There was a small place tucked in the lush backwoods of Louisiana, not far from the Texas border, where women with a sorrow could go to seek refuge, tenderness, kindness, companionship, and even a waltz. A woman could talk about her pain there and a man would listen with his whole being, and perhaps hold her gently. This was "The House Of Gentle Men." A secret place, safe from prying eyes. A place where haunted men, who had done violence and had caused hurt, could atone through giving gentle care to women who badly needed that commodity. There were plenty of men damaged by their pasts, and by the war. They now sought peace and were willing to work for it. They might touch the women when asked, they might kiss, hold, and dance, but no sexual intercourse was allowed in this place. The men denied themselves the fleeting pleasure of physical fulfillment in order to heal deeper wounds. And through the house's goings-on, souls could and did heal. This may sound a bit strange to the reader, and it is to the author's credit that she turns such a unique idea into a strong and plausible story. The owner of the House of Gentle Men, Leon Olen, built it in hopes that his wife, who abandoned him and their two children eight years before, would return someday if he atoned for his shortcomings...and if he helped others atone for theirs.
Before the war many soldiers trained in this area of Louisiana. Charlotte, a sixteen year-old girl, fresh from the grief of her mother's tragic death, went into the woods with a young girl's dreams, hoping to leave some of her sadness behind. She was set upon by three rowdy soldiers and was violently raped. Charlotte stopped talking that day and remained silent for the next eight years. A baby began to grow inside her that day also. And nine months later, when her son was born, in that lonely wood, Charlotte abandoned him. She left the child on a tree stump where she hoped he would be found. Hours later, filled with remorse over her decision, she returned for her baby. He was gone. The war finally ended, but Charlotte's, and many other's war continued to rage on.
A new man came to Mr. Olen's house. He didn't want to talk or to stay more than one night. And he didn't want to work with the women. He tried to hang himself there. He finally tells Mr. Olen his story. He is one of the three soldiers who raped Charlotte. Charlotte meets him at the house, and he recognizes her. A relationship, a bond, forms between the two. Love begins. He wants to tell her the truth but fears she will never forgive him. And can she forgive herself for abandoning her child? Ms. Hepinstall creates in Charlotte a woman whose character has been forged, through pain, into tremendous strength. This wonderful novel is filled with extraordinarily original characters. There is humor here as well as dark secrets and terrible sadness. This is a beautifully written book that reads like poetry at times. I highly recommend it. Kudos to Kathy Hepinstall.
JANA
Rating:
Summary: A great book for young women
Review: Kathy Hepinstall...finally an author I can admire when it comes to writing style! I love the way she alternates back and forth from scene to scene during really intense moments in The House of Gentle Men. It makes the reader anxious to get to the climax and therefore, the end of the book. This style also has a lyrical and poetic feel to it that ads to the scene's intensity. Mr. Ohlen founded The House of Gentle Men after his wife leaves him. The house is obviously his way of trying to make up for being a bad husband. It is a place is where men can go to better themselves by catering to a woman's every need. Louise is his daughter and the main character of the book. Louise is a young girl who spends her days obsessively cleaning the House of Gentle Men. Louise's life begins to change once a man named Justin comes to stay at the house. She has a crush in him and is entrigued by his mysterous persona, but is crushed once she finds out he is involved with Charlotte, a mute who has never been kind to her. Charlotte is the another main character in the book. Charlotte has a deep dark secret that is ripped from the past once she meets Justin. Her strength comes alive at the end of the book and it's a really crutial turning point. The House of Gentle Men has everything a reader wants from a good novel: intensity, depth, symbolism, warmth and a moral theme. I give it 5 shinning stars
Rating:
Summary: Odd but wonderfully so
Review: The central plotline of this novel - a rape victim unknowingly falling in love with one of her rapists - sounds perverse. I was offended by the very idea but also curious. I'm glad I read this book. It's very strange yet very beautiful, in terms of both the story and the style. I even bought a copy as a gift for a friend because I had to share this novel with someone. It's unforgettable.
Rating:
Summary: Hepinstall's debut novel
Review: The House of Gentle Men by Kathy Hepinstall Kathy Hepinstall's debut novel, THE HOUSE OF GENTLE MEN, is a beautifully written story of a mute young woman and a "house" where men come to atone for past sins. The book opens with a distraught Charlotte. Still trying to get over the horrible burning death of her mother, she finds herself in a horrible situation herself. She is raped by four men, blind-folded the entire time so as not to see her attackers. Her brother Milo finds her soon after, but he can't make out what is wrong with his sister. A few weeks later, she is throwing up in the flowerbeds, and tells her brother that she is feeling sick, nothing more. The event that causes her pregnancy also causes her to stop speaking. Whether from shock or from choice, the reader doesn't really know. We do know that she informs no one of her situation, and surprisingly, she gives birth to the baby with no one noticing. Her baby is a boy, with the most beautiful blue eyes anyone has ever seen. He looks like an angel. She leaves him on a stump in the forest, hoping to never see him again. Years later, she comes to the House of Gentle Men, run by Mr. Olen and his strange daughter Louise. This house is a place where men "service" women by catering to their every needs. Anything is allowed, except penetration. Only kisses and hugs and caresses are allowed in this special place for women. Charlotte comes to seek solace, and requests a certain type of man to cater to her whims. However, she accidentally comes in view of one particular man, Justin, who is there to seek atonement for his heinous crime of rape, and he faints immediately when he recognizes Charlotte, the victim in his horrible crime. However, Charlotte becomes obsessed with Justin, and insists on having him as her man in the House of Gentle Men. And so they meet, against Mr. Olen's wishes, for he knows about Justin's past, and a relationship grows between Charlotte and Justin. But what Charlotte does not know slowly destroys Justin inside, until he feels he cannot go on further until he makes peace with himself and with Charlotte. THE HOUSE OF GENTLE MEN by Kathy Hepinstall is not your average book. Hepinstall writes with a lyrical style, and her tale is not one that totally sets foot in the real world, but of a fabled place that only exists in this novel. For some readers, it may be hard to get past the idea of this house where sex is not allowed. However, what Hepinstall does is tell a tale of redemption and forgiveness. There are several interesting subplots that are woven into the main story line, but they all come together in the end with a surprising conclusion. I found the novel satisfying and probably one of the better books I'll read in 2003.
Rating:
Summary: Marvelous read!
Review: This book was almost impossible to put down. The writing style just captures your attention and won't let go. I was made to feel for the characters and to care about their lives and needs. I don't think the author was trying to say that all men are monsters or that all women are victims of men's lust. We have to admit, however, that there are a great many people in the world living with a guilt of one sort or another, and there are women and men who have been victims of someone's anger, passion, etc. She focuses on one small group of people who can be described that way, and I don't think that means that she is lumping everyone in the world in those two categories. Wouldn't it be wonderful to feel redeemed, forgiven and loved? Give this book a try. You won't be disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: Love and redemption for damaged souls
Review: This first novel by Kathy Hepinstall, The House of Gentle Men, is better seen as an allegory than a feminist treatise as opined by some editorial reviewers. Hepinstall uses broad strokes to fill in the vagaries of human behavior, the kind of violence that often leaves men and women on opposite sides, with a vast chasm between them. A feminist rant may chose to widen this chasm, but Hepinstall uses her considerable talents to draw the protagonists closer. The rigors of wartime often create monsters of formerly kind men as they are cast into a nightmare of survival. They return home changed, hardened in ways they never imagined and can't explain. And the women who have waited find themselves living with strangers. But the human condition requires the hope of redemption. The House of Gentle Men is the arena for this process, where men who have learned violence learn to offer kindness to women who have felt either the weight of fists or cold rejection. The women come willingly, night after night, trying to mend, and the men learn to speak softly again and touch with gentle hands, that all may return to the world with some sense of healing. Charlotte has been grievously hurt and given away her voice to the intolerable humiliation and pain in order to survive. Only her younger brother, Milo, keeps watch on this young woman, frozen in her own isolation. But even Milo has his demons. When Charlotte finds her way to The House of Gentle Men, she finds Justin, and her healing begins. Humans being human, jealousy weaves its way into the heart of Louise, who believes she also loves Justin. Not every aliment can be cured, nor every problem solved. And selfish deeds cause complications, confusion, and finally, real danger. Hepinstall weaves her characters into a knot of redemption for some, unraveling into loss for others. She has a poetic flair that makes this countryside sing with the changing seasons, her characters rendered layered and complex. I think her second novel, The Absence of Nectar, shows more nuance of language and plot, but Hepinstall writes with consummate grace, and I will avidly follow her progress.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing, unique, memorable!
Review: This is a fantastic tale of sin and redemption. Memorable characters, plot twists, and lyrical writing make this a first rate first novel by Hepinstall. The story moves quickly, as each character find their way to some form of absolution and redemption for their past transgressions. Excellent plot development as all sub-plots tie into one another in the most unpredictable and satisfying way.
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