The Hills at Home

by Nancy Clark

Book Overview

"A graceful, intelligent, and very funny chronicle of a large, extended family beneath one capacious roof." -The New York Times Book Review

While always well-stocked with clean sheets, Lily Hill is not expecting visitors. At least not in the numbers that descend upon her genteely dilapidated New England ancestral home in the summer of '89. Brother Harvey arrives first, thrice-widowed and eager for company; then perennially...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 140003096X
• ISBN13: 9781400030965
• Release Date: June 2004
• Publisher: Knopf Publishing Group
• Length: 496 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

A slice of life

The Hills live in a big house on the North Shore of Massachusetts. Lily Hill is the somewhat unwilling hostess to her scattered and self-absorbed family as they come home to deal with their problems. At first she does not mind putting fresh flowers in their rooms, but after the welcome wears away, she begins to hoard all the good furniture and puts it away in her room. This book is a great read. Yes, the sentences are long. Yes there are non sequitars. Yes, there is not a big plot. But that's what life is. Little dramas play out everyday but life isn't a Tom Clancy novel (or whomever writes good plots these days!). Living in New England all my life and sharing a cottage on Cape Cod with my extended family brought this book home to me. It can be difficult sharing a house with one bathroom, but everyone was there because they wanted to be. The Hills are no exception. The characters are real - from the quiet, well-mannered Lily to the chatterbox Little Becky to the plotting Ginger, everyone had their stories, secrets and desires. Coming home to Towne they found a place to take a break from life and regroup. The book ends happily and there are 2 more books about the Hills in the works. I will look forward to them.

A crowded stage.

I've never seen a dozen characters established so quickly and so well as in this lively comedy. The author places a crowd of relatives upon the stage and sets them to milling about very plausibly. Everything that happens springs from character. Each of these souls inhabit a unique universe established through lnaguage and detail. The small moments are as rich as the large. Packed with information, insight, poetry and play, this is a book that you could read standing up on a commute train or aloud to a roomful of discerning friends.

Unusal style tells wonderful story

The Hills at Home is a wonderful story. With a style somewhat like T.R. Pearson, Clark plays with sentences and the words therein. For those who enjoy a plot driven story this may be a disappointing read. Those readers who want a story containing diverse and richly wrought characters should not miss this book. I am anxiously awaiting Clark's sequel.

The Hills are alive...

This is without doubt one of the funniest books I have read in a long time. I have seen criticsm that her sentences are too long and convoluted but I think they match their subject matter beautifully. Her characters are bizarre (in differing degrees) and Clark's language suits them. I am more than satisfied with this quiet, gentle, soothing, subtle and extremely witty dip into the Hills' life. This book could go on for 1,000 pages and I would be more than happy. I look forward to her promised new novel.

A really wonderful read

This is an amazing first book. It is intricate, insightful and interesting. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and was pleased to see that the author is working on a second book.The book involves a disparate group of individuals, most of whom are related. Only Lily Hill, matriarch and spinster aunt of the clan is living in the dilapidated home until one by one or family by family, relatives begin to descent on the New England family home. All are just visiting but the "visit" never seems to end. They are a fascinating cast of characters. There is Lily's thrice married brother Harvey, a hopelessly weird "new-age" type niece Ginger and her very practical teenage daughter, Betsy. Then comes an out of work nephew and his wife and four children. Finally, a grandson-an aspiring stand up comic and his girl friend show up. The book is wonderfully and dryly comic as these characters settle in and attempt to co-exist.Then enters a new element, a graduate student who wants to study the Hill family for his dissertation on a dying breed, the WASP. The book covers about a year in time and like the graduate student, studies the characters in differing situations. Coming home, a history, a holiday, love and leaving are each touched upon. Each character is well draw and interesting as they settle in, fall in love, or reflect on their choices in life. I found this book to be charming, witty and wonderful. In so many new highly lauded books I have found that while the books may be interesting or well written, I ultimately did not like anyone in the book. I may have enjoyed the book, but I did not care about what happened to the central characters. The Hills, however are fascinating and I hope to hear more of them.