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Oct 09, 2007

Alexis rated it:

This novel is essentially about marriage in the 50s, and how it was impacted by both world wars as well as by conventions of the time. The story itself started out slowly for me. I thought it was a little simplistic, even for a "simpler" time. One of the more interesting features was excerpts from magazines such as "Good Housekeeping" from the early '50s, giving advice about how to keep the house and the husband happy. The story eventually picked up its' pace, with several fa More...

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Jan 18, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

Young immigrant Knute Mickelson may not have founded the town of Pine Rapids, Wisconsin, but the sawmill he built north of the small town and the family dynasty created after his marriage to an ambitious New York woman surely were the driving forces in the growth and development of the forested northwest Wisconsin village. In her debut novel, Keeping the House, Ellen Baker recounts the multi-generational family saga of the Mickelsons as told through the experiences of Dolly Magnuson, a n More...

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Oct 02, 2007

Junita rated it:

Ellen Baker is from Superior, Wisconsin (across the bridge from Duluth) and my mom cleans her teeth. This is her first novel, impressively published by Random House, about a housewife in the 1950's.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2008

Jeanne rated it:

Set in Wisconsin, this is the story of two families: the Magnusons and the Mickelsons.

Dolly and Byron Magnuson just moved to Pine Rapids, WI. It is 1950, and Dolly is desperately trying to be the perfect wife. While working on a quilt with the town's old biddies, she learns of the other family.

The Mickelsons lived in Pine Rapids also. Wilma and John were married in 1896 and lived in a grand house in the small town. They had four children, two of whom served in WWI and More...

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Dec 28, 2007

Beth rated it:

I liked this book.

It is sort of a cross between "How to Make and American Quilt" and "Drowning Ruth." As in "How to Make and American Quilt," there are intermittent quilting scenes where one of the story-lines unfolds. And it is like "Drowning Ruth" somewhat because it is post Great War and that influences much of what happens, but mostly because I spent a good deal of my reading time trying to figure out where, exactly, in Wisconsin that book More...

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Aug 12, 2007

Carrie rated it:

I thoroughly enjoyed reading KEEPING THE HOUSE! With themes one can relate to today and characters you cannot forget, this is a wonderful debut novel from an author I can't wait to read more from. Ellen Baker's prose is smooth and her timing is perfect as she seamlessly moves back and forth following two families - the Mickelsons struggling with the effects of WWI and WWII during 1900 to 1950 and the Magnusons struggling with the ideals of marital and household perfection in 1950's. Entirely More...

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Jan 20, 2012

Sue rated it:

My book club is reading this book for our next meeting and I was going to skip it. After all, I’m a stay-at-home mom living a very traditional lifestyle. I really didn’t think I’d enjoy another book about the life of a housewife, with the cooking, cleaning, finance managing, mothering, wifing, church grouping, loss of dreams, infidelity on his or her part, &c. What kind of escape is that??

However, when a forward-thinking friend (thanks Nergis!) told me this book had so much more t More...

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Jun 20, 2010

Sara rated it:

I loved this nostalgic story that chronicles the story of a newlywed fifties housewife. Well written, poignant and endearing, this novel develops into a lovely family saga. Dolly Magnuson is naive, sweet and has nothing more in her life than planning her dinner menus. She thinks her marriage will work if she looks great, cooks great and maintains her house—these things are, after all, what are expected of a married woman. Dolly always wears her best dresses and heels for her husband and ensures More...

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Jan 16, 2011

Sara rated it:

This is the second time I've read Keeping The House, which is historical fiction. I really enjoyed the characters, felt like they were people I know. The way Baker was able to describe the feelings of vulnerability and expectation in marriage were so close to reality. The plot kept the pages moving for me.

Our book club read this and had a hoot with the discussion. Ellen Baker was part of it via speakerphone. It was utterly delightful to have the "creator of the world" in More...

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Oct 21, 2010

Adam rated it:

Post listen review

How do I sum up what I thought about this book? I am going to have to turn to Kristen Chynoweth and Idina Menzel for the answer to that. “What is this feeling? Fervid as a flame, Does it have a name? Yes! Loathing. Unadulterated loathing”.

I hated every second of this book for a plethora of reasons but here are just a few for you.

Stagey whispering/shouting in the narration
The narrator has an irritating voice and reads the book as if she More...

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Mar 04, 2010

Denise rated it:

This was one of those multi-generational books that I like to read, following a family living in Wisconsin spanning from 1896 to 1950. They were the wealthy ones in their small town and lived high up on a hill in a stately mansion rumored to be cursed.

What I thought was fun was that the author would then shift the reader to a newlywed couple, married in 1950, who recently moved to the same town. As the wife is working to get the whole 'marriage thing' figured out, and realizing tha More...

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Jan 18, 2010

Rosina rated it:

Baker's first novel is a multi-generation family saga set in small town Wisconsin. In 1896, Wilma comes to the rough and backwoods town of Pine Rapids as the alarmed new bride of a lumber baron's first son, John Mickelson. Wilma is already regretting her jump into matrimony when she gets off the train, to promptly fall in love, first with her brother-in-law Gust and then with the beautiful home on a hill that was now hers. Set in counterpoint to Wilma's unhappy trial by marriage and motherhood i More...

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Jan 08, 2008

Kit rated it:

This is not a *bad* book: it's a quick read and the chapter headings quoting marriage advice from circa 1940s Good Housekeeping magazines are kinda fun. There's a lot of American history here, as the family story spans something like 1895 to 1950, but a number of the (many) characters are just flat and I found the structure (weaving back and forth between time and characters' POV) sometimes wearisome.

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Sep 26, 2007

Mindy rated it:

This is a great novel about a housewife from 1950 who falls in love with a grand house in the town that her and her husband had just moved to. I love this book because it talks about domestic issues from 1950 as well as the generations before. With a great story line and flash backs from characters, it's a book that teaches me history as well as greatens my love for my research into the retro housewife.

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Aug 05, 2007

Michelle rated it:

Okay, I LOVED this book. It was SO freaking good and I raced through it, even though it was longish (over 500 pages). I literally finished it all in one plane ride. I didn't expect to like it because it seemed like it might be a little domestic/quaint for me. The characters were great, the interwoven plot lines were great... I just thought this book was awesome. I've been thinking about it for days.

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Dec 11, 2011

Katy rated it:

I decided to read this book because of my daughter writing a masters thesis on the roles of women in the 1950s, as set forth through Ladies Home Journal and Good Housekeeping. Since these were magazines often found in my childhood home during the 1960s (since Mom was a bride from the 1950s), I was especially curious to see what are the conceptions as opposed to what I remembered.

A young bride finds that making marriage work is much more than her "Bible" for being a good wi More...

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Sep 09, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Sometimes reading, and enjoying a book, are all about your present state of mind when you start the book. I purchased this book from The Literary Guild over a year ago and it just sat on my self as I read other things that seemed to pique my interest more than this book did. Then, recently, I found this book to be just what I was in the mood to read.

Keeping the House takes the reader back in time from the late 1890's to 1950. Told in a non-linear fashion, the story anchors with the s More...

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Feb 06, 2012

Erica rated it:

I love thoughts like this: "...because she had read somewhere that nothing says 'Happy Home' to a husband like his smiling wife in an apron and lovely dress bidding him come to the table where she has a colorful, balanced, hot meal waiting." I'm sure that was a wonderful way to keep house more than half a century ago and by that standard, my home is nothing remotely happy, but I am glad that such notions are not the standard today. I would have a difficult time matching aprons to dress More...

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Mar 22, 2010

Lora rated it:

I absolutely LOVED this book. Set between the late 1800's and 1950, Dolly is a newlywed but stiffled by 1950's ideal of the perfect housewife. She becomes fascinated by the Mickelson's house, the largest house in town that has been abandoned. After hearing bit's and pieces of stories of the family who lived in thehouse, she starts to piece together the dark happenings that stretch through 2 generations of that family. I didn't see some of the twist and turns coming, I thought it would end di More...

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May 10, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

OK, I have to preface this review with some personal information. 30 pages from the end of this book, my dog was poisoned and died. So, I don't even know how accurate or good this review is going to be. Bear with me.

I'm going to simply state that I enjoyed this book. It fell into my hands during a blissful wandering of my library. The plot intrigued me and the setting was close to home, so it made its way into my book bag.

A 3.5 star rating would be more accurate. More...

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Apr 02, 2010

Jenny rated it:

This is a multi-generational novel set in a small town in Wisconsin during the first half of the 20th Century. One story line is about Dolly Magnuson, a relatively new bride who moves to Pine Rapids in 1950. She is bored and becomes attracted to the vacant Mickelson house. Interspersed with her story are the stories of different members of the Mickelson family. Some of the most interesting parts of the book are the descriptions of the men's experiences at war and the short excerpts from Good More...

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May 19, 2010

Lydia rated it:

I did not expect to like this book.

First, I have the paperback, so the cover was one of an apron and, in my opinion, did not really represent the book well. I picked it up expecting a fluff book on what being a wife in the 50's was all about. And sure, it touched on some of those issues...but then it really started to dig deep.

Dolly moves to a town in Wisconsin with her new husband and falls in love with a ramshackle mansion up on the hill. Through the gossip of the L More...

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Feb 19, 2009

Jill rated it:

I feel like because I mostly read based on recommendations from friends, my mother and my grandmother, it's SO rare for me to read a book I don't like anymore - thanks to my grandmother I just finished this one and really enjoyed it. It jumps between WWI, WWII and five years after WWII and is the story of a family and all that happens in it through a few generations. Strangest to read was the way the author started each chapter with a snippet from a book or magazine about how a wife should tre More...

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Nov 22, 2008

Jan rated it:

A newly married woman, with a boring suburban life, fantasizes she lives in the town's abandoned mansion. She decides to break in and start cleaning the house, hoping the owners will admire her tenacity and give her the opportunity to actually live in the house. She gets caught and begins a friendly relationship (while lying her pants off, but not literally) with a relative that "returns home".

It all comes out in the end and she goes back home to her boring suburban life More...

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May 14, 2008

Jill rated it:

Great premise, but very disappointing. A big long commitment of a book that just wasn't worth it.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 21, 2011

Ellen rated it:

I really enjoyed this book, despite myself. Somehow I let myself think that it was too fluffy and that it had too many so-so reviews. Fortunately, I kept reading, and found myself enjoying the epic, historically-accurate story of three generations of the Mickelson family. It's long, but this book bounces around among several story-lines, all of which are interesting and kept me reading. The sections dealing with the 1950's marriage of Dolly and Byron Magnuson all begin with a quotation from More...

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Jun 08, 2011

Amber rated it:

I absolutely ADORE this novel! The characters are well developed and just enough is revealed to make it flow. The flashbacks in time are perfectly aligned to allow the story to unfold in it's own perfect timing, making it a page turner that's difficult to put down! I would LOVE to see another novel with these characters that builds on their futures as some things were left hanging, I would like to see how Harry's son grows up and if he ever finds out about JJ or what happens to JJ altogether. I More...

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Oct 01, 2009

Alex rated it:

i really enjoyed this book. the author created very complex characters that the reader hated and loved and got frustrated with and really had your basic relationship. That's not easy to do! All three generations had their story to tell and I appreciated the ending (every time I try to type more, I give it away so that's all I'll say)
The book poses some question about marriage and parenting and feminism -- each chapter has a quote from a "ladies home journal" or the like dated More...

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Jan 02, 2012

Sherry rated it:

Technically, I read 75% of this book in 2011. Minor detail aside... I was intimidated by the size of this book and the switching timelines of the story. Under normal conditions I wouldn't have chosen this book, but it was the selection for book club so I sucked it up. I was glad I did. This story had rich characters set in an active history period - through WWI, WWII and the aftermath of the war. The shifting timeline was well done and worked with the multiple storylines running through the book More...

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Apr 01, 2010

Carey rated it:

Great book. Many of the quotes drove me crazy, but a couple of them were right on. I related to trying to be everything to everyone and losing ones sense of self along the way. Made me glad she hadn't had a baby yet; she had the chance to find herself first. Historically and interesting time for women - social pressure to conform and be immersed in traditional roles vs. recent opportunities work, pursue a career, etc. the women's movement loomed on the horizon. Highly recommend this one t More...

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