House of Earth
by:
Woody Guthrie (author)
Finished in 1947 and lost to readers until now, House of Earth is legendary folk singer and American icon Woody Guthrie’s only finished novel. A powerful portrait of Dust Bowl America, it’s the story of an ordinary couple’s dreams of a better life and their search for love and meaning in a...
show more
Finished in 1947 and lost to readers until now, House of Earth is legendary folk singer and American icon Woody Guthrie’s only finished novel. A powerful portrait of Dust Bowl America, it’s the story of an ordinary couple’s dreams of a better life and their search for love and meaning in a corrupt world.Tike and Ella May Hamlin are struggling to plant roots in the arid land of the Texas panhandle. The husband and wife live in a precarious wooden farm shack, but Tike yearns for a sturdy house that will protect them from the treacherous elements. Thanks to a five-cent government pamphlet, Tike has the know-how to build a simple adobe dwelling, a structure made from the land itself—fireproof, windproof, Dust Bowl-proof. A house of earth.A story of rural realism and progressive activism, and in many ways a companion piece to Guthrie’s folk anthem “This Land Is Your Land,” House of Earth is a searing portrait of hardship and hope set against a ravaged landscape. Combining the moral urgency and narrative drive of John Steinbeck with the erotic frankness of D. H. Lawrence, here is a powerful tale of America from one of our greatest artists.An essay by bestselling historian Douglas Brinkley and Johnny Depp introduce House of Earth, the inaugural title in Depp’s imprint at HarperCollins, Infinitum Nihil.
show less
Format: hardcover
ISBN:
9780062248398 (0062248391)
Publish date: February 5th 2013
Publisher: Harper
Pages no: 288
Edition language: English
Dass Woody Guthrie auch einen guten poetischen Roman schreiben kann, habe ich nicht erwartet, ich wollte aber unbedingt überprüfen, ob der Komponist wundervoller Balladen es auch als Romanautor draufhat. Wahnsinn der Mann kann wirklich erzählen - die Geschichte hat sehr viele Facetten, ist sehr sozi...
House of Earth is probably a high 3, but I just can't imagine recommending it to anyone. It's a very original novel, and an interesting one, but the characters are so annoying as to be nearly unsympathetic.
Woody is as masterful with prose as he is with lyrics in this novel written in 1947 but unpublished until now. His prose is pungent and exuberant, vibrant and witty. This novel stands up to any of John Steinbeck's best works.
read my full review: http://bit.ly/ZrDMnbMy opinion: I will never forget an outraged Dennis Green, coach of the AZ Cardinals, after a butt whoopin' by the Chicago Bears in 1996 screaming on the podium "They were who we thought they were!" Well, in regards to House of Earth, it is what I thought it w...