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Set This House in Order

A Romance of Souls

By Matt Ruff

(10)

| Hardcover | 9780060195625

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Book Description

"I suppose I should tell you about the house.... The house, along with the lake, the forest, and Coventry, are all in Andy Gage's head, or what would have been Andy Gage's head if he had lived. Andy Gage was horn in 1965 and murdered not long after by his stepfather ... It was no ordinary muContinue

"I suppose I should tell you about the house.... The house, along with the lake, the forest, and Coventry, are all in Andy Gage's head, or what would have been Andy Gage's head if he had lived. Andy Gage was horn 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. . . . "

From the author of the cult classic Fool on the Hill comes a strange and moving story of self-discovery. Andy Gage was "born" just two years ago, called into being to serve as the public face of a multiple personality. While Andy deals with the outside world, more than a hundred other souls share an imaginary house inside Andy's head, struggling to maintain an orderly co-existence: Aaron, the father figure, who makes the rules; Adam, the mischievous teenager, who breaks them; Jake, the frightened little boy; Aunt Sam, the artist; Seferis, the defender; and Gideon, the dark soul, who wants to get rid of Andy and the others and run things on his own.

Andrew's new coworker, Penny Driver, is also a multiple personality -- a fact that Penny is only partially aware of. When several of Penny's other souls ask Andy for help, Andy reluctantly agrees, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to destroy the stability of the house. Now Andy and Penny must work together to uncover a terrible secret that Andy has been keeping from himself....

Critics

  • Wacky

    With every day, and from both sides of my intelligence, the moral and the intellectual, I thus drew steadily nearer to that truth, by whose partial discovery I have been doomed to such a dreadful shipwreck: that man is not truly one, but truly two. I ... (read full critics)

    lrb published on Tue, 7 Sep 2010

  • Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls

    Review-a-Day Saturday, March 1st, 2003 Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls by Matt Ruff A review by Georgie Lewis Imagine being greeted on the street by a stranger who seems to know you well, finding cigarettes in your purse when you don't sm ... (read full critics)

    powells published on Mon, 6 Sep 2010

1 Review

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  • An interesting idea

    A book where two central characters have multiple personality disorder is not the easiest thing in the world to get your head round and it meanders a bit in places.
    Ultimately it's a good story with a couple of interesting twists. Recommended for a holiday beach read or other times when not distra ... (continue)

    A book where two central characters have multiple personality disorder is not the easiest thing in the world to get your head round and it meanders a bit in places.
    Ultimately it's a good story with a couple of interesting twists. Recommended for a holiday beach read or other times when not distracted by other stuff. If you want something easier going and a bit more fun, try "Bad Monkeys".

    Is this helpful?

    Athene1710 said on Oct 1, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

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9780060195625 Hardcover $25.95 -- The Book Depository
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