From the first nail to the final coat of paint, blueprints to moving day, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder leads readers through the grand adventure of building an American dream. In Kidder's hands, the story of constructing a house becomes "powerful, rich, enjoyable . . . a suspenseful, gripping tale" (People).
Date Published 9/1/1990
Ratings
Rated By: A reader
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Comments: This book is about writing NOT decorating This book is about writing, plain and simple. Mr. Kidder immediately captures your interest and holds it until the end. He could write about waiting in line or riding an elevator and make it fascinating. To better their craft writers need to read. Tracy Kidder should definitely be required reading in every college writing class in America
Rated By: A reader
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Comments: Building or Remodeling? This book is REQUIRED reading! I have been a General Contractor for over 20 years. Kidder's book, in an entertaining format, puts into words the true account of a building project from the perspectives of the architect, owner, and builder. If I could, I would make it required reading for ANYONE involved in the residential construction industry, and any potential client.
Rated By: A reader
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Comments: An engaging look at a rather mundane profession Kidder displays a deft knack for giving lay readers an informed look at the construction industry. Whether they've ever hefted a hammer or not, readers will be left with the impression that they are 'old hands' at the art of building when they're done with 'House.'
But perhaps that feeling is due as much to the commonality of the human condition as it is to Kidder's skills as a wordsmith. Whatever one's profession, there are constant compromises, negotiations, denials, disappointments, and triumphs to be met or made. Though the terms in which Keller describes those traits will be new to many readers, the settings in which they occur (and the people to whom they happen) will doubtless seem familiar.
Rated By: A reader
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Comments: Poorly written with very little real information After reading everyone else's glowing reviews, I was certain this book would be a valuable part of the research I'm doing in anticipation of building a new house. I've read many how-to books on the subject and was hoping this would delve into the human side of the topic from the homeowners' point of view. However, I found it to be a bland, whiney account of unpleasant people treating craftsmen badly. It should have been titled "How to Alienate Your Contractor". Or perhaps, "How NOT to Build a House". The descriptions of the house itself were worse than inadequate. If you're looking for mood or rich description or an exploration of the creative process, look elsewhere. Scores of pages were devoted to the depressing, ego-crippled meetings between the clients and their contractors, yet after forcing myself to finish the book I still didn't have a clear idea of how the floorplan worked. About the only thing I learned is that I'd never want to be a general contractor.
Rated By: A reader
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Comments: A well researched look at home building Kidder writes a pleasant to read, well researched study of the personalities involved in the home building process. This is not a "how-to" book but rather a behind the scenes peek at the motivations, struggles, and emotions of the architect, owner and builder triangle. I enjoyed it, but must say that it was not a "can't put down" or gripping tale.
Rated By: A reader
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Comments: Like its subject, Kidder's story evolves, but w/ problems As an architecture student, I found Kidder's story to be both informative and depressing. It should be required reading for anybody interested in pursuing a career in designing or building (or, for that matter, having a new house built). However, as a student, it was a real eye opener to see what it takes to actually have a house built. Kidder spends a major portion of the book explaining the project's design, materials, time involved, and above all, costs. That's the informative part! All the personalities and egos constitute the depressing part! Is this really the American Dream?
Rated By: A reader
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Comments: Excellent insight into the self build world Kidder has obviously been involved in at least 1 self build project to be able to express the feelings and attitudes attributed to all concerned in the build itself. From the friends who actually build together to the people who are building their dream Home.
Rated By: A reader
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Comments: Elegant story of people, emotions and unusual point of view Very elegant analysis of people who buy a home with excellent details, very human experience.
Delightful facts about how houses are built that you would never think of.
Excellent overview in details here and there that add color and life to the overall story
Rated By: Michael J Edelman
From: Huntington Woods, MI
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Comments: Deftly written, engaging and even educational If anyone deserves to be compared to John McPhee, Tracey Kidder does. His non-fiction prose comes closest to McPhee's in engaging the reader and making the most minute detail seem fascinating.
Aside from the pure pleasure of reading, "House" is also a manual for how and how not to build a house. Every time I have a problem in the construction of my house, I think back to the shabby, confrontational way the builders were treated in "House" and approach my builder with that in mind.
Rated By: jane warren
From: Daily Express, London
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Comments: An inspiring and absorbing account of the ultimate dream i am building an american house in the south of england. i was given the book by one of the professionals involved in my build three years ago. i sat on it and only read it recently. if only i had known the journey on which it would take me. i was absorbed into the lives of the seven people around whom this ultimately human drama revolves. rarely is a book genuinely unputdownable - unpickupable more like - but this is such a book. even if you are only vaguely interested in concept of the human nesting experience this is still a book for you. the house in question is both subject and setting, a theatrical backdrop upon which the characters reveal themselves. fascinating and quite brilliant.
Rated By: "swarsha"
From: Aurora, Colorado
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Comments: It's not just a nice story about building a house I read this book when it came out thirteen years ago and I enjoyed every minute.
In this book, Tracy Kidder describes the process and personalities involved with building a new home, but it's more than that. Like his "Soul of a New Machine", it chronicles what it's really like to be caught in the middle of a major project. Even someone who hasn't built a home from scratch or developed a new computer system will gain an basic knowledge of the topic and an appreciation for what it takes to do something really big.
Rated By: Dave Typinski
From: High Springs, FL
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Comments: This story pulls no punches If you are thinking about becoming a builder, or are thinking about having a house built for you, this is a must-read. Be prepared for Kidder's no holds barred account of how devious a home buyer can be just to save relatively little money, how unprepared a builder can be to deal with such situations, and what crucial role good communication between the home buyer, architect, and builder plays getting the project completed on time and on budjet. Kidder emphasizes the fact that building a house is not just about people doing buisiness in an impersonal manner, but that personalities play a crucial role in any business relationship. Kidder also makes clear that the involved parties' abilities to see the other sides point of view in a dispute are paramount to achieving the ultimate goal in business: the customer gets a quality product on time and no one feels they're cheated at the end of the transaction. This is not an instruction manual; Kidder offers little advice on what is proper or what the characters could do better. Kidder simply relates an accurate account of the process of building a home, mostly with an eye toward human relations; a wise reader will learn from the successes and mistakes of the characters herein.
Rated By: Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom"
From: Hanover, NH
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Comments: annoying couple build an interesting house Tracy Kidder has taken the true life tale of the building of a suburban home and turned it into a sort of mini-epic novel. He presents the project from the viewpoints of the yuppie couple who are having it built, the four "hippie carpenters" doing the building and the visionary but fidgety architect. One of the surprising things that emerges is the degree to which they each have their own vested interests and those interests are often, if not always, in direct opposition to each other. The homeowners want great work & want it cheap. The builders want decent work and want it to pay them well. The architect wants the whole thing to come out the way he drew it up on paper.
In this case, the Souweines, the ultra-liberal lawyer/psychologist couple, are like the worst caricature of any of those yuppie scum couples you've ever seen on This Old House. Despite their radical views, when it comes to getting their house built, the Souweines are just like any of the greedy money grubbing, worker-exploiting robber barons that they despise. Meanwhile, the builders, Jim Locke, Richard Gougeon, Alex Ghiselin and Ned Krutsky, whose company is known as Apple Corps, are kind of burn outs who build for the love of it, and they prove to be no match for the predatory Souweines. The architect, William Rawn, just flits around in the background, trying to make sure that the clash doesn't affect his vision for the completed house.
Here is Ms Souweine complaining that Jim Locke won't give his opinion on decorating issues:
"The builder sort of becomes the judge, and for some reason you care," she says. She laughs. "Jim studiously avoided questions of taste during the planning. He said"--she does a gruff voice--"'That's not my job.' That sort of very moralistic view. We said, 'You can have an opinion, we can reject it.' Maybe that's why. He didn't want it rejected. It's safest on questions of taste not to offer an opinion. But it's totally alien to me. I always give opinions that no one ever asked me for."
Now I ask you, would you give this shrieking harridan your opinion and, worse, the opportunity to give you hers. I think not. Kidder also points out that it's not in any builders best interest to get involved in these matters. First because he can alienate a client, but second because his financial interests come into play. More expensive alternatives often mean more profit.
The one criticism that I noticed in reviews (especially Christopher Lehmann-Haupt at the NY Times) and agree with, is that Kidder is so ostentatiously not present in the form of a narrative I, that it actually becomes distracting & seems almost intellectually dishonest, since we know that people are reacting to him or even acting out scenes for him.
At any rate, it all makes for an interesting and even, at times, exciting story. If by the end we're hoping that the house burns down the day the Souweines move in, that's not the author's fault.
GRADE: B
Rated By: L Lucas
From: Indianapolis, IN
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Comments: Best way to see all sides of the Construction Process In teaching a class on Construction, this book was the best way to let my students feel like they were there... to observe the give and take and interplay of the owner, contractor and architect. It is reads like fiction but tells a real story about the construction process and roles and problems much better than lectures on change orders and the value of good drawings.
Rated By: jack schaaf
From: falls church, va
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Comments: Patternbook for Mr. Blandings: Dream or House? Another book which could have been great On the surface this book represents an entry into the world of 1980s: refurbishment, a false sense and attractive distortion of classicism, and ultimately, the loss of craftsmenship, interest and development of skill as less a way of life than a notion: In short, it is the story of the transition between Home to House, nonobligated domesticity -the "Yinks" as others haved dubbed- (young individuals, no kids), as stylized and represented through a series of "events" (or nonevents)which make up their highly exaggerated sense of entertainment value and talent while they ruefully mock anyone helping build their House (remember, homes are seldom made of paper); "Dream" here is conspiciously lower case; "House" all caps
On yet another level Kidder presents something quite unique: A candid picture of the literal construction of a house and some of the details (including the awls and moldings) which go into a larger contextual, certainly enjoyable process. This could be instructive, healthy and mature. One craves the precision and interest remonstrated in "Soul of a New Machine" for good intentions and great efforts and the virtues of enterprise (not entirely Emersonian in its vigilance). In this sense there is something to be said for simplicity absent a "Design for Living," (whatever that may actualy mean) approach to defining practical existence and activity. Things are meant to be used not just appreciated for their own sake While I find it very close to impossible to believe the author had not "Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House" (circa 1948) in mind when developing this theme, the process and outcome is quite different; whereas Blandings generously understood the value of such refurbishment for his family, Kidder's characters live for self-gratification alone.
I do not believe the author developed here as much as he would like to entertain he had (there are far mome of us who know what a mullion is without a thumbnail drawing thankyou, and, no, I do not believe there is any relation between Eliade and Martha Stewart), and when not condescending leaves the reader with the view they are somehow less intelligble (or at his level) in these expositions: In short, Mr. Kidder learned his craft from college and not real life experiences where people do honor and appreciate and accomplish things which are nonderivative and really do count.
Kidder's book is worth the read for its structure and design; muc of the rest becomes lost within the artful distortion of the pattern itself
Rated By: Frank DeSantis
From: Staten Island, NY
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Comments: House: A teacher's tool !!! When I first read House I was enthralled. Finally, a book about the building of a house from inception to possession. I started to use excerpts from the book in my high school construction classes, and then bought 35 copies to use with my students. I now have the book broken down into about 25 lessons and read it each year with my new classes. It adapts very well in a construction technology program for Vocational high school students, and with the current emphasis on literacy we get an added bonus. Thank you Tracy Kidder, you have helped many students over the past 5 years.
Rated By: Texas Tallboy
From: Kingsville, TX
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Comments: The Emotions of Building This book does take you through the process of building a custom house. However, it focuses on the emotional roller-coaster gone through by the principal players -- architect, owner, & builder -- as well as the interpersonal relationships that result.
The book reads easily, despite the fact that the author often uses technical terms. He takes many small side trips to describe a number of things: the history of stick-built framing; the characteristics of good wood; the process of lumber making; the emergence of the architect's role. Most of which is facinating and colorful (though occasionally tedious).
This book is NOT a "how-to" book, a "what-to-look-for" book, or even a "how-to-choose-a-builder" book. It's just a story, but a story that vividly describes the interplay between the family (who wants a nice house but is trying to squeeze every penny), the architect (who wants his vision built but sees the lack of money slowly chip away at his vision) and the builder (who wants to maintain a high-quality of workmanship while getting blindsided by changing plans and hard-bargining clients).
The book won't help you build a house, but it will definitely help you prepare mentally for the seemingly endless decisions and challenges inherent in homebuilding.
Rated By: David L. Rhodes
From: Maplewood, Missouri
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Comments: well written, quickly read, and mind blowingly true This was a great book and fun to read. If you want to know what its like to build a house from scratch...this book paints the picture in words. The people are real, what happens is real, the feelings are real and they come out on each page. This is reality literature years before T.V. ever caught on.
It strikes me as an honest and balanced view of the world of constuction. Kidder does a great job at expressing the problems inherent in awarding construction contracts on the basis of hard bidding. The owners, in this story, get really lucky by hiring honest decent contractors who work hard to earn their money. In the end, its a happy world, but the ride is a bumpy one.
Bottom line, one of the best books I've ever read. A must read for all you aspiring contractors, and architects out there.
Rated By: M. T. Guzman "squeakychu"
From: Rockville, MD
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Comments: A tribute to those in the building trade! I think this book is wonderful. It gives an insight into and expresses an appreciation for those individuals in the building trade -- many of whom are extremely bright, talented and quite often underappreciated.
The characters in this book are so lifelike; the conversations so real. I can feel the tension in the air between Jim (the builder and lead carpenter), Bill (the architect), and Jonathan and Judith Souweine (the owners) The workers are great, too. Their comments are snide and funny. I often hear stories from my husband in his concrete business of how architect's plans are not always practical or realistic when construction actually takes place. I love seeing how this situation plays out in the book.
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 essense of each character's personality.
