Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls

by Matt Ruff (Goodreads Author)

4.26 of 5 stars 4.26 · rating details · 2,261 ratings · 303 reviews

Andy Gage was born in 1965 and murdered not long after by his stepfather. . . . It was no ordinary murder. Though the torture and abuse that killed him were real, Andy Gage's death wasn't. Only his soul actually died, and when it died, it broke in pieces. Then the pieces became souls in their own right, coinheritors of Andy Gage's life. . . .

While Andy deals with the outsi...more

Paperback, 496 pages

Published January 20th 2004 by Harper Perennial (first published 2003)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Now thats REALLY freakin' Weird....

27th out of 137 books — 177 voters

The Contortionist's Handbook by Craig Clevenger

Best Books You've Never Heard Of

44th out of 275 books — 274 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Jan 16, 2011 oriana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to oriana by: karen & jasmine

Shelves: the-new-new-new-new-thing, read-2010

Because I've for some reason always confused Matt Ruff's other book, Sewer Gas and Electric , with Jim Dodge's Stone Junction , I guess I kind of thought this one might also be some kind of hippie vision-quest parable thingy. Which: OMG no.

I don't want to talk much about the plot, though, because, especially for those of us with an unhealthy obsession with books, it's pretty rare to be able to go into something totally fresh and clean, without an idea of what kinds of people like it, what the h...more

like 16 likes · see review

Apr 05, 2009 karen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: sshh-family-secrets, table

when i read the first three pages of this book i thought i was going to be in trouble because i was so confused. and it is a complicated story, but he manages to make it very readable. any time you have two characters with mpd interacting and "switching: all the time, things are bound to get tricky, but he manages to make it clear despite the challenges. i had written a longer and better review for this that somehow got deleted, so i am going to weep now and shower and let the weeping mingle wit...more

like 20 likes · see review

Aug 12, 2007 David Rim rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone who liked "I Know This Much Is True"

You'd think that a novel about multiple personality disorder would result in pretty experimental writing, but instead, this is a pretty straight-forward read which reminded me of Richard Russo or Wally Lamb. In other words, I can't believe this isn't a movie yet or an Oprah selection.

I'm getting lost in a tangent, but despite my various pretensions and this book's pop sensibilities, I loved reading this book. There's something infinitely fascinating about multiple personalities for me, and this...more

like 4 likes · see review

Mar 23, 2011 Mariel rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Mahtab's father

Recommended to Mariel by: back to the old house

I remember the first time that I learned of multiple personality disorders. My mom made us watch the made for tv movie Sybil starring Sally Field. Me being me, I've appropriated multiple personality disorder to refer to all kinds of other mental shit, like the two devils on my shoulder who egg me on to do stupid shit. When you don't feel alone with yourself. Mostly just my mood swings (depressed to really depressed). I have a lot of those. The Charlie Brown feeling a ton of conflicting emotions...more I remember the first time that I learned of multiple personality disorders. My mom made us watch the made for tv movie Sybil starring Sally Field. Me being me, I've appropriated multiple personality disorder to refer to all kinds of other mental shit, like the two devils on my shoulder who egg me on to do stupid shit. When you don't feel alone with yourself. Mostly just my mood swings (depressed to really depressed). I have a lot of those. The Charlie Brown feeling a ton of conflicting emotions all at once (when I was a kid I quoted that Charlie Brown line to my family to tell them how I felt. They laughed. I Charlie Brown walked away). But I never had anything as cool as the system that Matt Ruff set up in Set This House In Order. It's a house inside the brain that, well, houses all of the shard/facets of a very confused individual. It might be crazy, definitely not healthy, but there is something unlonely about it that I thought was kinda special.

Trivia time: Actor Rob Morrow suggested to Matt Ruff the idea of writing a book about multiple personality disorder. I am reluctant to give much other credit to Morrow, though (he's not a good actor, either). My go-to definition for credit giving is the hole that triggered Paul McCartney to write "Fixin' a hole". The hole was just there.

Anyway, that's not how I heard of Matt Ruff. I heard of him when I spotted the cover of Fool on the Hill. "The Beatles!" and that was that. I guess that wasn't much of a story. But I love those times when I discover something I really like by accident.

Concepts are good if you can use them. So are triggers like Paul McCartney's hole, if you give it your own life.

D'oh! The full title is Set This House in Order: a Romance of Souls. It is a love story. I loved the romance between his/herself. There is a love story. But what I remember now, more than anything else, is the romance between oneself as acceptance. Not as navel-gazing just that, well, sometimes we are all we have. The part within that you don't know about that surprises you. Maybe I'm crazy but I can feel less lonely talking to myself (in my head) 'cause I don't think when I talk, and so don't know what I'm going to say all of the time. It's the thing about being mixed up about so much stuff.

Set This House In Order was beautiful in determining those surprise threads and finding some way of getting them to connect. It's a mystery about figuring out stuff that fucked up stuff that happened and slaying ghosts.
I don't think my mind is a house. It is definitely outdoors and has a big old oppressive sky that sometimes I don't notice and other times it looks really big and I'm "I didn't notice how big that's always been."(less)

like 1 like · see review

Jul 01, 2012 Courtney rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, favorites

This is a little story i wrote:
I watched as the event below unfolded before my eyes. You see it's easy for me to see everything from my balcony. What I saw that day made my blood curdle for I did not realize I could ever impact an event as on that day. The one thing I never thought I would see or hear occurred that day. She was walking down the road with her blue jean skirt and yellow shirt - so full of life. Her smile, activated by a bright sunflower. Who knew one glance could cause an end to h...more

like 3 likes · see review

May 04, 2008 Lisa rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone who can handle six or seven ideas at once

Wow. This book just knocked my damn socks off. Given that I don't work with adults, and the rarity of this diagnosis, and the controversy over it, I've never met anyone with Multiple Personality Disorder (Dissociative Identity Disorder in the current DSM). I have no idea if this is anything like how it works. But Matt Ruff's created such an amazingly internally consistent portrayal that it's entirely believable that it could work just like this. And the story completely sucked me in so I didn't...more

like 5 likes · see review

Feb 22, 2009 CD rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have to be honoest and say that this book deals with multiple personality disorders and it is beautifully written. It is realistically written and the pain that the two main characters have to go through, the traumatic events that lead to the splitting of their souls is so wrenching and affecting that I couldn't finish the book. I just couldn't take it. But I will remember this book for a long time. It was recommended by a very good friend (an AP English teacher) who usually reads chick lit an...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 30, 2009 Eric rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is another book club book, and Tiptree award winner.

I really enjoyed this book - the narrative voice especially drove it for me. Within the first three pages, I pinged something about the main character that turned out to be a big reveal later in the book, but I didn't feel ripped off - there was just something about the protagonist that made it completely unsurprising.

The story is basically about a person with multiple personalities, who manages them by having an internal "house" where the...more

like 1 like · see review

Jan 02, 2009 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

As many of my reviews say, I'm quite interested in brain (dis)orders. This is a novel about multiple personality disorder (MPD). I was attracted to it, and yet overwhelmed at the same time -- thinking it might be a tad complicated (not sure why exactly) but while it certainly is potentially complicated to keep track of one body with many souls and personalities the author does a great job of keeping the story straight for the reader. In this case the main character is a MPD that has "set it's ho...more

like 1 like · see review

Feb 09, 2013 Maria rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: novels

I have to make the obvious analogy. Set This House in Order : Multiple Personality Disorder :: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time : Autism spectrum

Except that TCIOTDITNT is also about solving a mystery, while STHIO's driving plotline is one person with MPD helping another person with MPD as they sort through their MPD; all MPD, all the time. Which I think is why I loved TCIOTDITNT and merely liked STHIO.

STHIO felt like the sort of sci-fi novel where the world-building takes center...more

like · see review

Nov 06, 2012 Georgia Smith rated it 4 of 5 stars

So - like heaps of other people on here, I thought this was really really good. It's so unique, and has such an interesting concept. It is truly beautiful at times.

The story focuses on two people with multiple personality disorder as they grow, struggle, and deal with the different characters inside their heads. It's plain, interesting, and clever. The characters all ring true, even when they're close to caricatures - there's a deep sense of honesty to the entire story. I think it's that that in...more

like 1 like · see review

Dec 26, 2011 Laurie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Andrew Gage is only two years old, but he’s a grown man. He was born in 1965 and murdered when he was young. These statements are all true. Andrew has MPD- multiple personality disorder. Andy’s soul died when he was a child, killed by his stepfather. A large number of personalities now live within the body, splintered off through the years as Andy’s stepfather abused him.

Penny Driver also has MPD, but doesn’t know it when she first meets Andy. Andy’s boss, Julie, who knows about Andy’s diagnosi...more Andrew Gage is only two years old, but he’s a grown man. He was born in 1965 and murdered when he was young. These statements are all true. Andrew has MPD- multiple personality disorder. Andy’s soul died when he was a child, killed by his stepfather. A large number of personalities now live within the body, splintered off through the years as Andy’s stepfather abused him.

Penny Driver also has MPD, but doesn’t know it when she first meets Andy. Andy’s boss, Julie, who knows about Andy’s diagnosis, recognizes the same symptoms in Penny when they meet, and she hires Penny to work for her, bringing Andy and Penny together. Julie says she hopes Andy can help Penny, but all hell breaks loose when the two meet. Andy’s carefully constructed ‘house’ in his head, which holds all his souls, breaks down. There follows an adventure of discovery that takes place in both physical space and in the space and time of Andy’s head as what really happened in Andy’s past is brought to light.

While the first part of the novel seemed rather slow to me, after a while it picks up and starts moving at breakneck speed. Just as you think you might know the truth, something else is revealed that changes everything. In the last quarter or so of the book so many things were happening that I was starting to wonder if some of the flesh and blood characters weren’t real, but just more personalities in Andy’s head. Given all that was being revealed, it really wouldn’t have been surprising. The truth is so complex that I’m amazed that the author was able to keep track of all the strands and tie them up in the end.

Once I got past the slower bit in the beginning, I couldn’t put this book down. I couldn’t wait to see which personality would win out and run the body. I couldn’t wait to see what the truth of Andy’s abuse was, and the truth behind his stepfather’s death.

It’s a book not just about MPD, psychology, and child abuse, but about relationships, and the pathology of people who are supposed to be ‘normal’ but allow horrible things to happen. More than anything else, it’s about the strength of the human spirit and its will to survive.
(less)

like · see review

May 01, 2011 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a fictional account of a soul named Andrew, who is a member of a multiple-personality household living in a body known as Andy Gage. Andrew and his coinhabitants have created a well-ordered system in which Andrew runs the body while the others provide suggestions or occasionally, with permission, take control of the body. The bulk of the plot centers around Andrew's friendship with Penny, a woman who is only dimly aware of her own multiple personalities, which take control of her bo...more

like · see review

Aug 23, 2009 Nicholas Jobe rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is complicated. Very complicated. Andy Gage has Multiple Personality Disorder and has had such since ‘the body’ was repeatedly abused by ‘the stepfather’ through the years. With every traumatic event, Andy’s personality, or soul, split and split further until there were hundreds of souls living within the body. Aaron, the father, was put in charge of building a house in Andy Gage’s head, a house that would hold all of the souls (except one, who lives on an island in the middle of the l...more This book is complicated. Very complicated. Andy Gage has Multiple Personality Disorder and has had such since ‘the body’ was repeatedly abused by ‘the stepfather’ through the years. With every traumatic event, Andy’s personality, or soul, split and split further until there were hundreds of souls living within the body. Aaron, the father, was put in charge of building a house in Andy Gage’s head, a house that would hold all of the souls (except one, who lives on an island in the middle of the lake) to keep them in order. Some of these souls include Jake, a young boy; Adam, a perverted teenager; Aunt Sam, a kind artist; and Sefaris, a giant protector. But Aaron created one in particular, Andrew, that would take control over Andy Gage’s body and run it, giving the other souls their own limited time every now and then.

Andrew works at The Reality Factory with Julie, an ambitious young woman that Andrew is in love with, though she doesn’t exactly return the sentiment. This becomes even truer when Julie hires Mouse, or Penny, as she would prefer (though is too scared to correct), another young woman that Julie seems intent on hooking up with Andrew. But the thing about Penny is that she, too, has MPD, and Julie (knowing Andrew has it, as well) hopes that he can fix her the same way he was fixed, so to speak. Because Penny doesn’t know she has MPD, her mind and her souls are in chaos, and she often has blackouts with other souls taking over. Some of these other souls include the incredible foul-mouthed and overly angry Maledicta and her twin sister Malefica, the shy yet protective Thread, and the highly promiscuous Loins.

Andrew denies at first, angry. It is a long and troubling process that should only be handled by a professional, but when Penny’s souls demand his help, he’s all but forced to oblige. Unfortunately, everything begins to snowball until the house in Andy Gage’s head is sent into chaos, and Andrew and Penny are forced into a cross-country journey of self-discovery.

And not to mention that the book flips back and forth between the first-person narrative of Andrew and the third person/present tense narrative of Mouse. As I said, it’s rather complicated. It actually reminds me a lot of the movie Adaptation with Nicolas Cage. It’s a real mind-freak, and the last 1/3 of the book is not where the rest of the story was leading you to begin with. And this is probably the biggest downfall of the book. The first 2/3s of the book or so is a mix of really funny humor and really disturbing descriptions of parental abuse, whether physical, mental, or sexual. Where the book is funny, it’s pretty funny. Where it delves into the abuse, it gets really disturbing and/or uncomfortable. But it’s all still working very well into a really great, original, and imaginative book.

Then comes the last part of the book. It starts going a bit downhill when the cross-country trip begins. The first half of the book was more like, as the subtitle alludes, a romance or drama. But, similar to Adaptation, it turns into a random murder mystery that just doesn’t seem to work with the majority of the rest of the book (though it really does work for Adaptation, because that was the entire point... but you get my drift). Though it’s not awful by any means. It’s still a good book for what it does. It just had potential to be great and falls just short of it, I think. The end just become too mainstream or blockbuster, which clashed with everything else (just like the movie Adaptation points out). I think what I was most upset by was the character of Adam, though. For the full first half of the book, Adam was always right next to Andrew, commenting or warning in the background as he stared out through Andy Gage’s eyes along with Andrew. You get really used to him, like he’s one of the main characters (such as Julie). But then once the chaos begins, with the exception of a couple scenes here or there, he all but disappears. And then Aunt Sam, who had barely been shown through the first half, becomes more important toward the end.

And the (incredibly lengthy) epilogue seems to be both good and bad. It proves that almost nothing in the first half of the book was even necessary except to trigger the events that cause the road trip. The character of Julie, as well as The Reality Factory and everything involved, becomes highly irrelevant aside from triggering the chaos. And overall, the epilogue seemed to just try too hard to wrap everything up neatly, and it seemed to drag in places (though there were numerous parts in the rest of the book that seemed unnecessary or dragged, as well).

But there were a lot of positives with the book. It was highly original and creative, and it was an incredibly interesting read. And, as I said, there was quite a bit of it that was funny (at least in the first half). And there was a twist about halfway through the book (right before the chaos ensues) that completely took me off guard, which is a good thing with me. I like when stories can surprise me. And I never knew which souls were going to take over next. With Andy Gage’s body, it could have been any number of them. With Penny, it was usually Maledicta, though it would go to somebody else on a rare occasion (such as Loins, or a guy named Duncan, which happened like… once). But Maledicta seemed to be the most common soul with Penny (meaning there is a LOT of cursing in the book, even in probably grammatically incorrect locations).

Overall, I think there is about an equal amount of things to either like or dislike about the book (at least for me). I think there were some things that could have been trimmed down on, such as the need to over-describe stuff. It just made certain places drag. Also, Matt Ruff really likes commas in unnecessary places (where somebody might pause in their speech, usually, which is not usually the grammatical place to put a comma). So yeah, if you’re up for an original or creative story and you don’t mind that it is rather heavy in child abuse of basically every kind, then I’d suggest it. And if you liked Adaptation (and/or it didn’t make your brain melt), then you could give this a chance, as well.(less)

like · see review

Aug 23, 2009 Jon Edward rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

I'm so angry with Matt Ruff and/or his editors. This novel could have been genius if someone, anyone, would have identified the disaster that Part Ten brings to the entire structure of the work.

Up until Part Ten, about page 400, I thought this was a compelling, cleverly crafted novel about someone with Multiple Personality Disorder. I could hardly put it down. Essentially, up to that point, it's about an internal (psychological) struggle manifest in the world. Then, at the very end, a wholly di...more

like 6 likes · see review

Jun 15, 2010 marg rated it 5 of 5 stars

Five stars?? When's the last time THAT happened??
Set This House in Order, a bizarre tale of not one but two people suffering from multiple personality disorder, takes you deep into the more frightening corners of the psyche, revealing an unlikely story of hope and renewal.
An often misunderstood and Hollywood dramatized disorder, MPD is one of the more intricate and sophisticated coping mechanisms that a person can develop. What is most amazing about this tale in particular is how touching it is...more Five stars?? When's the last time THAT happened??
Set This House in Order, a bizarre tale of not one but two people suffering from multiple personality disorder, takes you deep into the more frightening corners of the psyche, revealing an unlikely story of hope and renewal.
An often misunderstood and Hollywood dramatized disorder, MPD is one of the more intricate and sophisticated coping mechanisms that a person can develop. What is most amazing about this tale in particular is how touching it is to see how much a person can be his own best friend - and worst enemy, at that, and sometimes simultaneously. We are hell bent for survival and protection at whatever cost, and this story reveals the layers that exist within every person, some of which are only pronounced through trauma. Let's just say, you think YOU'RE complicated?? Think again.
The story is narrated - mostly - by Andrew Gage, who does not have MPD as much as he is one of the personalities who is occupying a body. He has been assigned the task of controlling the body and the souls therein, in keeping with a method inspired by a rather innovative therapist, Dr. Gray, who insists that rather than integrate or expunge all the personalities, it is far more efficient to let them all coexist, but with a strict sense of order. The co narrator is Penny/Mouse, a severely traumatized woman who also suffers from MPD but doesn't know it.
The two meet and an adventure ensues as a lot of unresolved and long denied experiences begin to unravel, emphasizing Ruff's overall thesis - we need to deal with our stuff, no matter how tough (sorry). In fact, while the personalities are celebrated as allies, they are also withholding important information that, without ever confronting, will always hold a person back.
This one has it all - there is romance, mystery, suspense, horror and humor. It is fascinatingly original, thought provoking and gripping. The dialogue is real, the characters (all shmazillion of them) are well sketched, and I was always excited to pick it up again. For once a story was not too long.
(less)

like 1 like · see review

Sep 03, 2011 Khaya rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Khaya by: marg

Shelves: highlyoriginal

Because I tend to be a bit stingy with my stars, I'm a little afraid I'm overselling a book when I give it a perfect rating. But I have to say, this was a really great book. Plot, characters, writing -- it all just worked.

A relationship between two individuals with multiple personality disorder -- can you envision the possibilities? Each of the book's two main characters was comprised of several distinct personalities, all of whom managed to be interesting. It's an extremely ambitious premise, a...more

like 5 likes · see review

Sep 27, 2010 Caitlin rated it 4 of 5 stars

So this book is like 450 pages and I devoured it in two days. Ok, so I am on holiday, but still, that tells you how much I loved reading this one. I was worried it'd be a bit annoying or too stylised, since both main characters have multiple personality disorder and are constantly shifting identities, but the author actually really pulled that off. By the end it did get a bit 'random events like cars crashing into houses to sustain momentum' but I didn't care I guess, it was still a fun read. An...more

like · see review

Apr 07, 2009 Sandra rated it 4 of 5 stars

Highly recommended! I may even force the book club to read someday. :)

I really enjoyed this book. The opening chapter is fascinating and the author really did his homework on MPD. The story was complicated and yet not so much. The people you think are crazy are not so crazy afterall and the ones you think are normal end up being the weirdos. The second half of the book is more difficult to read because it gets into why the protagonists have this disorder.

There were only a few things I didn't li...more

like · see review

Mar 21, 2013 Ed Erwin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Each novel from Matt Ruff (so far) is totally different from the others. They all have straightforward prose, and bizarre, complex, and engrossing plots.

The main character here has multiple personality disorder (MPD). But this isn't exactly a book about MPD. It is more like that is just the starting point; the base on which the story gets built. It is irrelevant whether any real-life people experience MPD in the way this character does, it is just a set-up that you accept because it allows for a...more

like · see review

Dec 21, 2012 Linda Branham Greenwell rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy

I really enjoyed this book... I have to admit I don't know how to describe it though
The main character(s) has Multiple personality disorder. All of his personalities live in a house inside his mind - and they seem so "real" (which of course they are). The main character in this book is Andrew - who has only been created in the past few years. His other personalities have been around longer and know more of the whole story of his life than he does. He gives the main characters in his mind time to...more

like · see review

Mar 05, 2011 William rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 Stars. Ruff's prose is the very opposite of "literary". There's very little extra meaning under the veneer of this straightforward narrative. That's not to say that his style is bad, but House feels like a beach book. I enjoyed it while I was reading it, but I'll forget most of it in short order.

The strength of the book lies in its characters. Again, many of the characters aren't particularly deep, but they're wholly amusing in a way that papers over their shallowness. While the book remains...more

like · see review

Jan 24, 2012 John rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own, fiction

"Set This House In Order" is Matt Ruff's finest work of fiction to date, brilliantly adding to a splendid body of work that includes such classics as his literary debut "Fool On The Hill" and the Ayn Rand-influenced cyberpunk novel "Sewer, Gas, Electric: The Public Works Trilogy". He offers a fascinating twist on the coming-of-age tale, exploring the lives of the multiple personalities inhabiting the bodies of Andrew Gage and Penny Driver. Like Jonathan Lethem in "Motherless Brooklyn", Ruff writ...more

like 1 like · see review

Aug 22, 2007 Merrin rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: no one

Shelves: duds

This book read like an interesting book for the first... say... 100 pages. After that it turned into a big jumbled mess that I'm not sure the author knew what to do with. It's an interesting premise, about a guy with multiple personality disorder who tries to unlock secrets about his past and runs into personalities unwilling to let him do so, but it's a really, really poor execution.

like 2 likes · see review

Jan 21, 2011 Crazyej rated it 5 of 5 stars

Matt Ruff gives shape, form, and words to the internal workings of the mind like few else can. He illustrates feelings that are difficult to even pinpoint. This book is incredibly engaging (no pun intended) and explores a disorder that most people consider to be very "out there" by immersing the reader in the experience of having it. He does not give you time to be uncomfortable with the inner world of a multiple, he starts you there as if you have always been there. As if an inner world is as f...more

like · see review

May 05, 2011 Dana ****Reads Alot**** rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Dana by: Amy from her blog

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

This book was very good insight to multiple personalities.In the beginning I was alittle confused and lost but by page 40 I was back on track:) I cannot even imagine what a day must be like in the eyes of Andrew and penny it must be clearly exhausting physically and emotionally. Matt Ruff did such a good job with his research of MPD. The book gave me a complete shocker in the middle..will leave that suprise to those who haven't read it yet. I did have to put this book down a few times because th...more

like · see review

Jun 28, 2009 Paula rated it 4 of 5 stars

A few comments:
1) I did get absorbed in the story, and with me, that counts for something.
2) It wasn't so much of a "romance" as the subtitle suggests. Thankfully, because I am not in the mood to read romance novels right now.
3) The book is about 2 people with dissociative identity disorder (formerly known as multiple personality disorder). I don't know how much of their experience is fictionalized and how much is accurate to real life. At times it seemed very believable, at other times not so...more

like · see review

Feb 29, 2008 Karen Klasi Wentlandt rated it 4 of 5 stars

Crazy, great book. I've been told by a psychologist that this is a true rendition of what life might be like for someone with multiple personality disorder. There are times when the book takes a turn for the foul-mouthed, perverse worse, but necessarily so (in my humble opinion) for the telling of the story.

like 1 like · see review

Jan 03, 2010 Nate's Bookgroup rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic book! The most inventive plot I've read in a long long time.

Ruff deals with the multiple personality disorders of two main characters in the least confusing, most fascinating way. I was never thrown about who was doing what (unless I was supposed to be). I didn't have to make a little flow chart to keep track of personalities like I thought I would have (not something I can say for the characters in The Known World) and I found myself having fun guessing which personality committed dif...more

like · see review

Jan 20, 2009 Chana rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: trippy-fiction

Good book, fascinating all the way through, lots to think about, spares us most of the details of the abuse, just gives us enough so that we understand, spends more of the time with the personalities themselves and how they deal with their multiplicity. I thought it was an amazing story. My favorite moment though was the Wizard of Oz moment (Ding Dong!) towards the end of the book. I am still laughing about that for some reason, even though I think the guy did everyone a big favor with his first...more

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (14)

More editions...

Genres

Psychology

16 users

Fantasy

14 users

Contemporary

11 users

Novels

11 users

Book Club

11 users

Literary Fiction

9 users

Mystery

7 users

Literature > American

5 users

Science Fiction

5 users

Literature

5 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

Filter House
by Nisi Shawl
The Kappa Child
by Hiromi Goto
Half Life
by Shelley Jackson
China Mountain Zhang
by Maureen F. McHugh
Air
by Geoff Ryman

About Matt Ruff

I was born in New York City in 1965. I decided I wanted to be a fiction writer when I was five years old and spent my childhood and adolescence learning how to tell stories. At Cornell University I wrote what would become my first published novel, Fool on the Hill, as my senior thesis in Honors English. My professor Alison Lurie helped me find an agent, and within six months of my college graduati...more

More about Matt Ruff...

Books by Matt Ruff

Sewer, Gas and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy

The James Tiptree Award Anthology 1: Sex, the Future, & Chocolate Chip Cookies

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Set This House in...

No trivia or quizzes yet. Add some now »

title link	preview: Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
avg rating	preview: Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls Goodreads rating: 4.26 (2261 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/71847.Set_This_House_in_Order?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348258628l/71847.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/71847.Set_This_House_in_Order?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff[/url]

Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website