Dirty, drunk, unloved, and unloving, Hector Loursat has been a bitter recluse for eighteen long years—ever since his wife abandoned him and t...
read full description
reviews
Sep 11, 2011
David
rated it: 
Those four stars should have an asterisk beside them. In the ungenerous, critical light of the morning after, The Strangers in the House is probably just a three star book, but because I read a good chunk of it in the middle of the night, with the rain listlessly tapping on the roof and myself burrowed under a blanket to escape the pre-autumn chill, I awarded it an additional associative star. It was a perfect book, in my appraisal, for nestling; it contributed to such a totalizing feeling of se
More...
4 comments
like
(20 people liked it)
Aug 02, 2010
Rowland
rated it: 
The Strangers in the House begins with a phone call Hector Loursat makes to the local public prosecutor. Loursat quickly gets to the point:
"I've just found a stranger in my house ... in bed, in one of the rooms on the third floor ... He died at the exact moment I reached him ... Will you see about it, Gérard ? ... It's really tiresome. It looks to me like a criminal affair."
"Drunk as usual" is what the prosecutor's wife (who happens to be Loursat's cou More...
"I've just found a stranger in my house ... in bed, in one of the rooms on the third floor ... He died at the exact moment I reached him ... Will you see about it, Gérard ? ... It's really tiresome. It looks to me like a criminal affair."
"Drunk as usual" is what the prosecutor's wife (who happens to be Loursat's cou More...
Dec 28, 2008
Sam
rated it: 
It's always nice to read a book that doesn't waste a word, especially when it manages to touch on so many things, despite the economy. If you want an example of the blurry lines between literary and genre fiction, you can't do much better than the Strangers in the House, which manages to be a police procedural, a meditation on solitude, an existential novel, and a social drama, all at once. A rich alcoholic lawyer wakes up from his drunken stupor one evening to find that his daughter and a bun
More...
0 comments
like
(1 person liked it)
May 03, 2011
Richard
rated it:
A short, well written mystery that isn't really about the mystery - more about the gradual transformation of our main character, Hector Loursat, a gifted attorney who spends most of his time sitting in his study reading and downing glasses of red wine, only leaving to descend into his wine cellar and lug up bottles of burgundy. A nearly complete alcoholic recluse, Hector is awakened from his hazy life of the mind and drawn unwillingly into the life of his daughter (who he's tried his best to co
More...
May 23, 2011
Lauren
rated it:
At once an existential meditation on solitude, a crime story and a psychological portrait, Simenon's book (one of the 400+ he wrote, the prolific bugger!) is a delight to read. Having lived in France for a decade or so, I can attest to the authenticity of both the characterizations and the sentiments. Nary a word is wasted and his ability to create a thoroughly believable, utterly human, gently humorous character is a marvel. Some readers may not be entirely satisfied by the ending, and its C
More...
Nov 23, 2009
Ken
rated it:
It is a testament to Simenon’s quirky way of crafting a novel that when reading The Strangers in the House, one finds the actual solving of the mystery as the least interesting part of the novel.
Simenon took an interesting approach to his novels to say the least. He would often start out by writing everything he knew about his main characters on the backs of envelopes. Simple things: where do they live, what do they do for a living, who is in their family. Case in point, Hector Lours More...
Simenon took an interesting approach to his novels to say the least. He would often start out by writing everything he knew about his main characters on the backs of envelopes. Simple things: where do they live, what do they do for a living, who is in their family. Case in point, Hector Lours More...
Jul 24, 2010
Adrian
rated it:
The pleasures of this book come from subtle moments - an elegant piece of description, the natural interplay of diction between the main character's inner world and the world around him.
Georges Simenon may be a writer's writer. Certainly, a lot of what I liked about this novel was the economic way he was able to use language to convey two distinct and interesting storylines: one psychological, the other within the constraints of the genre.
I've read Paul Theroux compare More...
Georges Simenon may be a writer's writer. Certainly, a lot of what I liked about this novel was the economic way he was able to use language to convey two distinct and interesting storylines: one psychological, the other within the constraints of the genre.
I've read Paul Theroux compare More...
May 23, 2008
Jim
rated it:
Until this spring, I'd never read anything by Georges Simenon, the indecently prolific (400 books?!) author of the popular Maigret detective stories, as well as shelves of romans dur – hard Hobbesian parables (solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short) of mid-20th century misery. I still haven't read Maigret, but I've become addicted to the romans dur, mostly because New York Review of Books has been republishing them in stylish, haute-noir paperbacks.
I started with Three Bedrooms in More...
I started with Three Bedrooms in More...
Jan 29, 2011
Tosh
rated it:
Not my favorite Simenon book, but still it's interesting and quite good. Reading the plot line is actually better than the book for some reason. And again it could have been a mood thing at the time of the reading of this book. Nevertheless Georges Simenon's work is pretty amazing. He has this cold or cool overlook of everything. He really doesn't judge his characters, which is great.
January 29, 2011,
I just re-read the book and my overall thoughts are the same, bu More...
January 29, 2011,
I just re-read the book and my overall thoughts are the same, bu More...
7 comments
like
(3 people liked it)
Mar 29, 2009
Fredsky
rated it:
This book reminded me that Georges Simenon manages to be both cool and warm at the same time. His writing is intelligent and spare, or so his translators indicate. There is no fat to trim. There are enough characters to set up, complicate, and expose the crime, and not many more. His colors are rich, usually dark. And here and there are beams of light that illuminate and enrich the whole thing. This is a fine story about the dark and the light, with plenty of room for movement.
Nov 29, 2009
Anthony
rated it:
I didn't know about this French author (born 1903) until I read a review within the last year. He's famous for writing detective stories but, as I have done with other others such as Philip K. Dick, I have found their off-genre works wonderful. The Strangers in the House was first published in 1940. It's well-crafted, intelligent, psychological, and humane. The plot is mysterious and the main character is multidimensional (from pathetic to wise). Why not follow my advice and read it?
May 20, 2010
Laura
rated it:
This is an odd little book. It's part whodoneit, part courtroom drama, part character study, and part redemption story. The character study and resulting redemption were certainly the most interesting bits and were given the most focus. The murder mystery part, though interesting and of course essential to the story of Loursat's growth, was a little bland (though I certainly may be spoiled by Agatha Christie when it comes to my expectations of what a true detective story should be). The world Si
More...
Feb 06, 2010
Luann
rated it: 
From the looks of the other reviews on this site, I'm the only one that didn't enjoy this book. In fact, I disliked it so much I stopped reading it half way through. It had the makings to be a good story - a murder mystery with a quirky recluse as the main character. But, I found the story so disjointed it was hard to keep track of whether the narration was happening in the main characters head or merely the author providing the narration.
Oct 27, 2008
Jim
rated it:
A man “awakens” from an 18-year affair with the bottle when a shot rings out in his house and a stranger is found dead in an unused room. Imagine “The Fall of the House of Usher” as a teleplay written during the golden age of radio and you get a sense of how Simenon sets out solving the various problems he creates for his characters. Even though the plot is a bit clunky it mirrors the protagonist’s gradual re-engagement with the world. The Strangers in the House isn’t one his best romans durs bu
More...
Oct 20, 2011
Amanda
rated it: 
This is the first book I've read by Simenon (who wrote something like 200 novels in his career). I don't know if it's because it's translated from French or if it's just the way it was written, but the plot felt underdeveloped. You find out too late why Loursat dropped off the grid the way he did, and the other members of the Boxing Bar gang are only on the periphery...but they shouldn't be. Frustrating to read at times.
Jul 27, 2010
Karen
rated it:
This book is different from other Simenon novels. It is about a reclusive alcoholic, Loursat (a retired lawyer) who wakes up one day to find that a stranger has been murdered in his home. He agrees to defend the man who is charged with the crime and little by little he rejoins society. As much as I disliked Loursat originally, I grew to like him as he timidly ventures out of his home interviewing and tracking down witnesses.
Jan 13, 2009
Shya
rated it:
This was my first Simenon, and although it was a fun distraction, I think I was expecting something slightly more substantive. It's a good beach book, if it's raining in the Bahamas and you've got sand in your bathing suit.
Jun 01, 2011
Katrina
rated it:
There is no traditional happy ending, and that was really hurtful.
Almost like a Villette ending, but not quite as traumatic.
A good read, and very different from the Inspector Maigret series.
Wonderfully addictive, though...
Almost like a Villette ending, but not quite as traumatic.
A good read, and very different from the Inspector Maigret series.
Wonderfully addictive, though...
Apr 27, 2009
Joe
rated it:
Nice wine-soaked character study with a little 19th century Law & Order action.
Sep 19, 2007
Amy
rated it:
I wanted to like this book more than I did: a French noir novelist! His turn at psychological realism! I liked the film adaptation of another of his books, Red Light (well, less the ending). But I thought this was just so-so. The character does drink a lot of Burgundy wine, which I appreciated.
May 14, 2007
Jared
rated it:
The great pulp writer of Belgium....So far a great read. Probably finish in the next few days - write a review then....
Feb 10, 2012
Feb 09, 2012
Feb 07, 2012
