book data
78 ratings, 3.47 average rating, 19 reviews
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published
2006
by Houghton Mifflin
binding
Hardcover, 288 pages
isbn
061854335X
(isbn13: 9780618543359)
description
Evan Molloya son, husband, and stepfather fatally shot himself but doesn't know why. He is now stuck in a state of purgatory in the house in Washingto...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 137)
Read in September, 2008
recommends it for:
those who enjoy good writing & an unusual story line
Beautiful writing; sometimes excrutiating story, though, with the story revolving around a man, Evan Molloy, who is dead and "inhabits" the house and property where he died (we know this up front). What's billed on the jacket as a story that revolves around Evan and the then current occupant of the house, Maureen, is in reality more the back story of Evan's life up to and after his death - this story requires the reader to live through a descent into depression leading to Evan's suici...more
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Read in September, 2008
I found this book fascinating for several reasons. Long is a good writer and I enjoyed an earlier book of his, Falling Boy. I also liked the very ordinariness of the main character and the ordinary problems that have a possibly not so ordinary outcome - suicide followed by life as a "shade" (my term not the author's) It is the life of the "shade" that truly fascinated me. I found myself thinking about the descriptions of what this shade could and could not do and was delight...more
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I really enjoyed this, very thoughtful meditation on suicide and the transient choices we all make. A good love story, too, if you don't require a happy ending.
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2006 NYT 100 Notable Books List
This novel's hero, a ghost, looks back ruefully on his suicide and longs to help a woman survive her own despair.
This novel's hero, a ghost, looks back ruefully on his suicide and longs to help a woman survive her own despair.
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Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone
The book begins with the narrator awakening in his house and discovering he has committed suicide. Over the years he continues to live in his house (mainly because he can't leave it) and to watch subsequent owners come and go. Meanwhile, he tries to reconstruct the circumstances of his suicide by a self-inflcited gunshot wound, as his memory as to exactly how and what happened was mostly erased after his death. Thought-provoking and actually hopeful, I enjoyed the theme of this book. The onl...more
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Evan killed himself with a gun, and now finds himself a ghost, apparently doomed to wander eternally, and undetected by humans, through his old house. He is not particularly bored, though he is at time frustrated that none of the house's subsequent inhabitants sense his presence. Most of the book is Evan looking back on his life and his downward slide through depression to suicide. The book ends on a happy note, with Evan rejoicing in the self-affirming decision made by the woman now in the h...more
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Read in March, 2008
This was a really gripping book for me. At the same time, I don't think I could recommend it to anyone because of the delicate nature of the subject matter. As I got further and further in to it, I could see where it was headed but I was so compelled by the book that I couldn't stop myself from finishing it. I guess I can't say more without giving the whole plot away. It will stay with me in my mind for a while. Not necessarily in a good way.
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Read in July, 2007
The marketing text on the inside of the front cover reads, "Part psychological drama, part absorbing mystery, The Inhabited World paints a stirring portrait of a man caught between this world and the next...." I would have preferred much less time on the psychological analysis of his time while alive, and much more on the mystery of his state in purgatory.
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Read in January, 2007
SYNOPSIS: Evan Long, a ghost who committed suicide, haunts his old house and reminisces about the circumstances of his failed marriage and descent into suicidal depression. Couldn't finish it.
COMMENTS: It had its good moments, but overall its meandering descent into mental illness was far from entertaining.
STARTED: December 26, 2006
ABANDONED: January 4, 2007
COMMENTS: It had its good moments, but overall its meandering descent into mental illness was far from entertaining.
STARTED: December 26, 2006
ABANDONED: January 4, 2007
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Read in August, 2007
A tough look at one man's ups and mostly downs throughout the span of his life and relationships. He eventually descends into serious depression and commits suicide, which is where this book actually begins. It's his life looked at from his point of view as a much less emotionally charged ghost of sorts. Seriously depressing.
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When I finished reading this I knew that it was going to be hard to find anything else to read. What could top this? A ghost story, a love story, great setting (the Pacific Northwest), sex, childhood, and suspense? And all in prose so clean and elegant that is is breathtaking.
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Read in March, 2007
this book is a must read for anyone dealing with and/or knows someone going through depression. takes place right here in our lovely seattle! beautiful poignant story.
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Great details of everyday life and the nature of sadness. Again, by my father-in-law, a very talented man.
first chapter analysis...i think i've found a book to slip into for a while. whew...
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Read in February, 2007
A suicide stuck in limbo recounts his life story.
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Famous Librarian Nancy Pearl recommends this
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