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Two young housemates embark on a road trip to discover themselves in a fractured America in this sparkling novel of love, friendship and chosen family, by the award-winning author of The Third Rainbow Girl What does it feel like, standing in the moments that will mark your life? When Bernie replies to Leah's ad for a new housemate in Philadelphia, the two begin an intense and defiantly uncategorizable friendship based on a mutual belief in their art, and one another. Both aspire to capture the world around them: Leah through her writing; Bernie through her photography. After Bernie's former photography professor, the renowned yet tarnished Daniel Dunn, dies and leaves her a complicated inheritance, Leah volunteers to accompany Bernie to his home in rural Pennsylvania, turning the jaunt into a road trip with an ambitious mission: to document America through words and photographs. What ensues is a three-week journey into the heart of the nation, bringing the aritsts into conversation with people from all walks of life—“the absurd dreamers and failures of this wide, wide country”—as they try to make sense of the times they are living in. Along the way, Leah and Bernie discover what it means to to pursue their own ideas and dreams, and to embrace what they are capable of both romantically and artistically. Housemates is a warm and insightful coming-of-age story of youth and freedom, a glorious celebration of queer life, and how art and love might save us all.
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Probably more like a 2.5/3
I started this book off enjoying it a bit, but as it went on, it felt quite pointless. There wasn’t really any big message, and the characters just irritated me (although it may have been more so the narrator). The whole narrator situation made no sense to me and didn’t add to the story in my opinion (other than adding confusion). I liked that the author makes it a point to increase fat representation in her book, so that was one positive!
0The writing in this book has altered my brain chemistry. I have no idea how this book is doing it, but it is speaking to pieces of me I usually forget are there. There is something so human about the way this is written. Something so lived in and comfortable while at the same time confronting, forcing thought and reflection.
The call backs are really well done. The characters are real in a way that is almost too close. Like we’re viewing them through large format photography and seeing more about the situation than they saw in the moment. And maybe we weren’t meant to be this close, but somehow we’re in the backseat while Bernie and Leah roam rural Pennsylvania.
Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC.
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