dream house; book review

this month i had the pleasure of reading dream house by marzia bisognin. i picked up the book after reading the first chapter on her blog, and i thought i would give it a try. her blog posts are such a treat so why not sit down with a whole book?

i ordered it online and was excited the day it arrived in the mail. i was still finishing animal farm by george orwell at the time, so i couldn’t start it right away. i began the book with excitement but also nervousness. i read the reviews online, and although there were rave reviews from many ‘marzipans’ there were several people critical of the book stating that so many questions were left unanswered.

the book started off in a very confusing way. nothing really made sense and it all seemed so surreal. her writing was much like in her blog posts, and didn’t have the same quality a novel should. i was slightly annoyed by this but i was interested enough to keep reading. i had many reservations about the protagonist and i couldn’t understand a lot of her motivation for behaving the way she did. i remember speaking to bae at length about this and he reminded me that some stories are meant to be confusing so that the greatest parts can come to light.

with that in mind, i continued trucking through, though a lot of the beginning seemed tedious, and i struggled a bit to motivate myself to continue on. but after a certain point in the novel, certain mysteries began coming to light and marzia’s writing began improving greatly. i became more invested in this character and i began to come to my own speculations after a specific reveal in the plot.

i remember becoming more and more excited with the story line, wishing i could read even faster so that i could discover more sooner. i was so enthralled with this mini-universe and i was immersed in the very detailed language marzia used to paint the scenery. before i knew it, i was in the last chapter, and i was alarmed. how would it wrap up so quickly? there was so much i was confused about. as the story unraveled and you learned the truth piece by piece, i felt a strange euphoria settle around me.

once i finished the final sentence, i shut the book slowly, looked at the hardback covers, and closed my eyes for a moment. i couldn’t quite explain the mix of excitement and tranquility i felt. it all wrapped up so nicely. though i enjoyed this book immensely, it didn’t end without it’s faults. the beginning writing was not as good as in the end, and the speed was glacial. there were a few things left unanswered, but honestly, they were more minor parts and didn’t really diminish the value of the overall conclusion. some things could have been explained more clearly, and not dragged out the way they were.

it was a simple and short story, and had some thought provoking moments. it’s not advanced reading, but it has a style that can be enjoyed by all, so i absolutely recommend it.

have you read dream house? if so, what were your thoughts?