Reviews

A House Among the Trees by Julia Glass

sarahboudereads's review against another edition

5.0

I picked up this book randomly in a charity shop. I chose it for its cover first, so beautiful for the French edition.

This story is one that deserves to be read by a lot more people. It's about people, art, trauma and not knowing what to believe about the ones you loved. It's about life as we romanticise it.

I hate comparing books to one another, but reading A House Among The Trees felt like reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara almost. It's a lot less graphic but the lingering feeling was the same for me. Reading about people's lives in an intimate, painful way and learning to celebrate what you have.

jansbookcorner's review against another edition

3.0

I can't decide about this book. Part of the time, I liked it, but most of the time I didn't feel that engaged. I would give it 2 1/2 stars but i rounded up to 3.

vickydp's review

2.0

So boring!
I picked this book because I loved the author's "Three Junes". But I was disappointed at how tedious this story was. Even after i managed to get myself a little involved in the argument (after 60% of the book) I still never found any thrill or urge to keep reading.

elbowgrip_and_emdash's review against another edition

3.0

I've read three novels now by Julia Glass, and this is by far my least favorite. I've admired her intimate look into her characters' lives, but these particularly characters and their struggles (especially the plot line about the gardener) felt murky and at times forced/disingenuous. I didn't find myself connecting with the various narrators even though I very much wanted to (as I have with her previous works). Morty seemed to be rehashing of other characters I've read before in Glass's work (especially in the way he speaks); Nick was cookie cutter; Merry's concerns were valid but given only trivial mention; and Tommy is stagnant and underwhelming. I saw another reviewer ask the question of Glass, "Is it possible to be too proficient a writer?" I think this sums up my feelings on this particular book. Everything was handled with technical perfection, but there was something greater lacking.

fkshg8465's review against another edition

medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

Started out strong but kept getting less interesting with every page.

megangraff's review against another edition

3.0

I started out reading it on my Kindle but it wasn’t keeping me engaged. I switched to listening to the audiobook while I puttered and finished it off in a couple days.

amlibera's review

4.0

I forget how very readable Julia Glass's books are for me - characters and narrative that pull me in and string me along, challenging me a bit but only lightly so. I feel a bit as if there was more story here to be told than ended up in the final book - there is a rich detail in Tommy and Dani's parents that feels as if it was meant to be more. And Tommy herself feels like a bit of an empty space (although perhaps that is intentional - what does it mean to be the caretaker of an artist? Whether as a parent, a wife, a child, or whatever Tommy is?)

mcearl12's review against another edition

3.0

Very well-written but very slow read...

nuscheda's review against another edition

5.0

I'd give it six stars if I could. No one gives their characters the rich interiority and fully believable back stories that Julia Glass does.

krissymartini's review against another edition

emotional mysterious reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0