Homework

by Margot Livesey

Celia Gilchrist believes that she has finally found the right man in Stephen, but when she moves in with Stephen and his young daughter Jenny, things begin to go subtly, menacingly wrong. Money disappears, a sweater is ruined, small, common-place lies escalate into awkward confrontations. Livesey's debut novel Homework , now back in print, is a chilling portrait of jealousy and fear, devotion, and the wish to be loved.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction, Suspense

352 pages, Paperback

First published February 6, 1990

About the author

Margot grew up in a boys' private school in the Scottish Highlands where her father taught, and her mother, Eva, was the school nurse. After taking a B.A. in English and philosophy at the University of York in England she spent most of her twenties working in restaurants and learning to write. Her first book, a collection of stories called Learning By Heart, was published in Canada in 1986. Since then Margot has published nine novels: Homework, Criminals, The Missing World, Eva Moves the Furniture, Banishing Verona, The House on Fortune Street, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, Mercury and The Boy in the Field. She has also published The Hidden Machinery: Essays on Writing. Her tenth novel, The Road from Belhaven, will be published by Knopf in February, 2024.

Margot has taught at Boston University, Bowdoin College, Brandeis University, Carnegie Mellon, Cleveland State, Emerson College, Tufts University, the University of California at Irvine, the Warren Wilson College MFA program for writers, and Williams College. She has been the recipient of fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute, the Guggenheim Foundation, the N.E.A., the Massachusetts Artists' Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts. Margot currently teaches at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

Reviews

[Ananda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was chilling most of the way through, but unfortunately had a lackluster ending. I was hoping for more of a climax than I got.

[Reeves Honey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good but I did not care for the ending...........

[polly · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a much earlier book than Eva... and that really shows. The language is equally as clean and crisp, though less lyrical. It is engaging--very detailed about mundane things, which is appealing and should lead to deeper characters (though in this case, I don't think it did). Mostly I felt like nothing presented in the first chapter deepened throughout the novel. The narrator has the potential to be more unreliable than she turns out being (though she is certainly complex in that she does a lot of really stupid things), and the child has the potential to be much more sympathetic than she turns out being. I kept reading, having had so much success with Eva, hoping that the book wasn't going where I thought it was going. Unfortunately, it did exactly what I'd hoped it wouldn't do. There was a gun on the mantel, so to speak, from the beginning, and it went off in much the way I expected it to, which was a real disappointment. I found myself unmoved by the end, which felt like a rehash of the first chapter.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Adjusting to a new city, a new job, a new relationship, creating a new social circle, getting used to sharing a home with someone--this is a lot to get used to. Add to the mix Celia's anxiety and neediness and insecurities and her new boyfriend Stephen's complicated relationship with his ex, from whom he is not yet divorced and who shows no signs of changing that, and his unhappy young daughter, who suddenly and unexpectedly moves in with them when her mother decides to move to Paris, and it's no wonder Celia gets overwhelmed. Her distress tips into paranoia, and it's hard to tell how much of what happens is attributable to her faulty preception and how much to the creepy stepdaughter. In the end, Livesey tips the scales rather too much in one direction, I think, and the writer she became (this is her debut novel) would have handled both the ambiguity of that set-up and the responses of those around the narrator (including the clueless boyfriend Stephen) to her increasing anxiety with more subtlety. But I still really enjoyed this book.

[Laila · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's really too bad that I couldn't get into this book. Livesey is one of my new favorite authors. This was her first novel, the pace is terribly, terribly slow, and the main character is annoyingly mousy. Plus, I skipped ahead to the end (sometimes I do that!) and the end just makes me mad, so I figured, why continue reading it?

[Nancy Erdmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect, Spare, Disturbing

Margot Livesy, in HOMEWORK:A NOVEL, has placed every word, every scene, every interaction between any members of the triangle of central protagonists
—father, daughter, future step-mother—
all “secondary” characters being so insubstantial as to hardly be characters at all—as near to perfectly as can be imagined.

The literary structure Livesy creates is the triumph of “a spare,” and thus concentrated and lucid, literary lego creation from a mind capable of a searing creative focus. The fulcrum character in HOMEWORK, pre-teen Jenny, has exactly Livesy’s kind of genius. Jenny has her driving, primitive desire for full possession of at least one of her biological parents as her driving focus.

This eery young girl, ten year-old Jenny, is inhabited by a dark need balanced by a dark skill. As such, Jenny puts her series of interlocking manipulations into play and position as if creating an inescapable sequence of snap-on blocks.

Move by more skillful move, Jenny not only intimidates but possesses her father’s fiancée with the certain terror of Jenny’s power over her. Jenny also finally possesses her father easily and entirely.

When Jenny rescues her future stepmother’s heirloom jewelry from the fire in their home, which Jenny has herself started, although we’re sure Jenny knows she owns her father, we’re unclear whether she wants to drive this interloping woman away, as it seemed to us before, or worse, to keep her for her own use, intending to bat her around like an almost-dead mouse.

Henry James, author of the novella “The Turn of the Screw,” is smiling down on Margot Livesy from Writer Heaven.

[Atara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Generally, I really enjoy reading Livesey's novels. Eva Moves the Furniture and The House on Fortune Street are two of my favorite books. Homework; however, is disappointing. It is all over the place in the beginning but after the protagonist Celia meets Stephen, the book settles down and the story is more cohesive. The characters don't evolve, both Celia and Stephen, well, I wanted to shake them from time to time. The writing is good, which is a plus and if you read later works like Eva and Fortune Street you see Livesey's writing is more developed. Homework is a suspenseful story with the hope of being chilling but doesn't quite get there for me, and the ending is a fail.

[Jessica Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Margot Livesey is truly one of my favorite authors and somehow I had never read this book, her first novel. I was so happy to find it at a library sale and I snapped it up. This was a beautifully written story about Celia, who works in publishing, moves to Scotland for a new job, and falls in love with Stephen whose 9-year-old daughter Jenny is “a package deal” with the relationship. Jenny’s behavior - we think - is odd, with some of Celia’s things getting damaged or going missing. A side pleasure reading this 1990 novel today was the nostalgia of no cell phones and remembering what day to day life was like in such times.

[krdito · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have enjoyed all of Livesey's novels, especially Eva Moves the Furniture, but this one was just plain irritating, maybe because it was her first and she had not yet perfected her craft. Celia was a weak character who allowed herself to be mistreated by the men and child in her life. She wasn't able to speak up for herself and let those around her walk all over her. There were no likable characters in this book and no real ending. We were left hanging, wondering what Celia would do, would Helen come back, would Jenny continue her passive/aggressive acts. Too long....too boring....unlikable characters....no resolution - UGH!

[Jacquie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I dont even know where to begin on this. For me this started off as a slow read and kind of all over the place. Then it was more steady in a story, but still felt like it was kind of everywhere and not a super steady timeline. Then, with everything going on I feel like everyone was a big crazy in their own way. I was excited when I was recommend this book, but pretty disappointed once I read it.

[John L · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was preparing to give this novel 4 stars. It kept me very interested and in suspense until I read the last page and was disgusted to find it is unfinished with absolutely no resolution for any of the three main characters. It was like watching an hour and fifty minutes of a two hour movie, then leaving and never discovering the ending. An unbelievably frustrating and infuriating experience!

[Isaak Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. Missed the mark for me. Interesting tension but dragged out and no clear conclusion. The parallel between the childhood of the narrator and the current experience was sort of interesting but felt too convoluted to be insightful.

[DesK · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate this book but i can't stop thinking about it even though i read it 4 years ago

[Angie Meisenbacher-Steckley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gradual building of creepiness. Really interesting ending.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 1/2 ⭐️s ~ great writer; going to read all of her books.

[Karlajansenmiller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I heard a tough time putting this book down. And that ending? Such a surprise I nearly fell out of my chair.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the most part, Celia Gilchrist is living a happy life. Despite feeling slightly lonely and a bit like a third wheel when she's around her friends, Celia is nevertheless quite content living on her own, answering to no one else - except her cat Tobias. Yes, life is good for Celia Gilchrist.

When she meets Stephen, Celia is ecstatic and believes that she has finally found the right man to share her life. He is a wonderful man - a math teacher at her friend Deirdre's school - very solicitous of Celia, and a loving father to his daughter Jenny. So she moves in with Stephen and Jenny, and happily takes her place within their lovely ready-made family.

Yet, shortly after Celia moves in, things begin to go subtly, menacingly wrong. Money disappears, a sweater of Celia's is ruined; small, commonplace lies escalate into awkward confrontations. Ms. Livesey's debut novel is a stunning and affecting portrait of jealousy and fear, devotion and the desire to be loved.

I was absolutely captivated by this book. The plot was utterly believable to me, and the characters were well-developed and fairly jumped off the page - at least in my opinion. I really didn't want this book to end, and I found myself wondering what would happen next. I would give this book an A+! and am happy to say that I recently obtained another book by Margot Livesey - The Missing World: A Novel.

[Lucile Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

13. Homework by Margot Livesey
This was Livesey’s first novel but it has the depth of a skilled writer. After a failed affair, Celia moves to Scotland for a new job as a textbook editor. She meets Stephen, a dedicated high school teacher, and moves in with him after a short while. Stephen is separated but not divorced and has a seven year old daughter, Jenny, who he sees on weekends. However, his wife, Helen, decides to move to Paris and leave Jenny with him and Celia. Jenny has already shown her dislike for Celia, and after she moves in, it becomes worse. Stephen is blind to Jenny’s deeds which become more and more life-threatening. Then Helen becomes pregnant and decides she is not taking Jenny back. A good read, and a reason to turn down step-parenthood.

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is without a doubt the worst book I have ever read. The first couple hundred pages only talked about Celia's life, which by the way is mindnumbingly boring and included nothing that even remotely sparked my interest. All it talked about her failed love life and her having tea with her friends. The word "pullover" was used about 20 times, and the book skipped seemingly at random from place to place. I was utterly and completely confused by Jenny; she was sweet at one moment and a jerk the next. The fact that Celia ran to save Jenny instead of her cat, Tobias, makes no sense whatsoever since Jenny (apparently) was so focused on ruining Celia's life. I think we can all equally agree that the ending was bad as well.

[Eric Swanson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Margot Livesey's debut novel, which traces the increasingly troubled relationship between Celia Gilchrist and her lover's child, is a mildy suspenseful tale that will hold readers' attention but is apt to leave them unsatisfied.

Livesey's prose is serviceable, and she does a good job of sketching the disintegrating relationship between Celia and Jenny. But the characters lack complexity, which makes it difficult to care about how the story turns out. This is especially true of Celia, who has a disconcerting habit of wimping out whenever she needs to show some backbone.

Overall, "Homework" is an OK but hardly exceptional effort. Livesey's later novels, including "The House on Fortune Street" and "Eva Moves the Furniture," are far more rewarding.

[Josh Hawkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, though the pace was admittedly slow for the majority. I had hoped that the plot might take more of a "Bad Seed" direction towards the end, but it played out decently enough. One thing that did bug me slightly was the meekness of the heroine and her willingness to take just about anything, and the staunch refusal over and over and over of her beau to accept that his daughter cound possibly have anything but the kindest motives at heart when she does something. Overall, the characters were likeable and I really did care about them. I also like that it's set in England/Scotland, but that's just me- I like stories set in the UK.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book grabbed me from page one and dragged me through the emotional wreck of the life of Celia in a two day read that I couldn't stand to put down. I found myself fearing and hating this 10 year old child along with the narrator and wishing terrible things would happen to her which I would never truly wish on anyone. This writer is amazing. I started a few years ago, picking up Eva Moves the Furniture at a used book store and have sought every one of her novels since then. And I have not been disappointed yet.

Bravo Margot, for making me feel every emotion imaginable in such an intensely brief period of time.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a huge Margot Livesey fan. I read all her books and here's what I love about her: she writes about the small cruelties of everyday people in their everyday lives; the little misdemeanors and the larger betrayals, which all add up to make us better or worse people and push us closer or further apart.

Homework is about the struggle between woman and child for the heart of the same man when the woman moves in with the man, who's her boyfriend, and his daughter. How cruel children can be when they feel threatened and how easily adults can revert to childish behavior when they fear losing something they think they want or don't want someone else to have.

[Laci · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the last two books I read by Livesey, and was hoping for more of the same in "Homework." Unfortunately, I was thoroughly disappointed. I felt the ending scene with the cat was unnecessary; a similar ending could have been achieved without the cat dying. And, although I love minutiae, there was simply too much in this book and I found myself skipping whole sections. I think this was one of Livesey's first books, and her books have certainly improved.

[Beth Bonis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to love this book because at times I really thought it was good and it could only get better. Then saddy it went in the opposite direction! This story was all over the place. There was NO ending! I feel frustrated and that is how I felt most of the time while reading this! It was UNSATISFYING! I feel I have waisted my time!

[Karen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this was supposed to be a suspenseful novel that makes the reader wonder what is really happening, but it felt to me like the story was basically "Woman rushes into a relationship with a man she can't communicate with." I felt angry at all the characters except the little girl, even though she was the only one actively hurting someone.

[Dennis Fischman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I understand what it's like to be a young woman unsure of herself and her relationship with a man better than I ever did before after reading this book. The child seems to me to be just a device to bring out the character of the woman who has moved in with her father. So, I am less concerned with what the child's motives may be than some of the other commenters.

[Jean · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Bad Seed revisited, but less the horror of Satan and more the horror of failed human beings. You leave the book feeling sorry for the "bad seed" and everyone else--least sympathetic to the benighted father.

[Erin Noonan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm giving this book 3 stars only because it kept me wanting to turn the pages. Ultimately it is disappointing ending and I came to hate the main character as most unsympathetic narrator. This book was like a so bad it's good Lifetime movie.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book proves just how manipulative children can be! what a little brat but the story was slowww to get anywhere. page 60 before she even meets Stephen. I kept at it cuz the story was building to something and it did but let down.