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Haunted Houses
This novel chronicles the loneliness of childhood and incipient womanhood, the salvation of friendship and the ties between daughters and parents, by recording the events in the lives of Grace, Emily and Jane, growing up in the 1950s and 1960s in urban middle-class families.
208 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1987
About the author
Lynne Tillman
113 books320 followersHere’s an Author’s Bio. It could be written differently. I’ve written many for myself and read lots of other people’s. None is right or sufficient, each slants one way or the other. So, a kind of fiction – selection of events and facts.. So let me just say: I wanted to be a writer since I was eight years old. That I actually do write stories and novels and essays, and that they get published, still astonishes me.
My news is that my 6th novel MEN AND APPARITIONS will appear in march 2018 from Soft Skull Press. It's my first novel in 12 years.
Each spring, I teach writing at University at Albany, in the English Dept., and in the fall, at The New School, in the Writing Dept.
I’ve lived with David Hofstra, a bass player, for many years. It makes a lot of sense to me that I live with a bass player, since time and rhythm are extremely important to my writing. He’s also a wonderful man.
As time goes by, my thoughts about writing change, how to write THIS, or why I do. There are no stable answers to a process that changes, and a life that does too. Writing, when I’m inhabiting its world, makes me happy, or less unhappy. I also feel engaged in and caught up in politics here, and in worlds farther away.
When I work inside the world in which I do make choices, I'm completely absorbed in what happens, in what can emerge. Writing is a beautiful, difficult relationship with what you know and don’t know, have or haven’t experienced, with grammar and syntax, with words, primarily, with ideas, and with everything else that’s been written.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews
December 27, 2023
this is the type of book that i have been loving recently, but each character's story missed the mark for me. while some parts truly struck me at how complex and profound it felt, i felt too apathetic about most of the book. i felt like this could have been a five star read :/
full review to come
full review to come
August 9, 2007
I finished reading this book in a very local bar and then gave it to the woman next to me, who was crying. She said thanks.
November 4, 2022
In 1987, when Haunted Houses was first published, the figure of the young girl was hardly a topic of literary interest—unless, of course, she was being written about by men; unless she was extraordinary, a woman or a story, in a way that the (often white, and male) tastemakers could not afford to ignore. Lynne Tillman wrote about the lives of the average (though also white) girls, and she was relegated to the domain of non-recognition (in the UK, where she was published nearly a decade later, her work drew maybe one positive review, and soon went out of print). At best, she was "a writer's writer," which is shorthand for "loved by a few and for the fact of her being obscure"—but mostly, she was obscure.
Until now. Today, the sad young woman is probably publishing's highest grossing trope, and the cultural 'market' in general is finally interested in the strained interiority of girls. With the right marketing (look at that cover! that blurb!) Tillman's writing fits the bill, and so it's back on the shelves. Good for us, because it is truly incredible. You might even say: finally, someone who's got the angst and aimlessness just right!
In Haunted Houses, Tillman puts together the separate stories of three American girls—Jane, Grace, and Emily—as they come of age and into their own. Jane has violent father and a dead best friend, Grace is hazed by her peers into rebellion, Emily is withdrawn and considered "not normal" by her parents, and none of them can be described with a single quirk or characteristic like I have just attempted to—they are complex, confused, real people; not conclusive and not reducible to types. They observe the world, gain experience in it, make friends, feud with their mothers, and get on with their lives as you and I might: not with ambition, and not necessarily without. They are each a haunted house impressed upon by their own memories, traumas, histories, and experiences; if their stories seem sometime to blur together and feel like they represent something, it may be because they are so defiantly singular.
Indeed, neither the characters nor their author meet the expectations set for them in their respective roles. Tillman writes the girls in a spare prose that is full of digressions but nevertheless precise, and keeps their stories parallel when you'd expect them to converge. There is no big denouement at the end, no monumental plot resolution—there is barely plot. Instead, the genius of Haunted Houses lies in its distillation of certain lived truths with uncanny precision: ticks I didn't realise I had until I read them described, acts I thus far assumed were uniquely, shamefully mine. Tillman made me stop in my tracks, reread passages, underline seldom but with fervour. She made me think and write down: I think she was very subtle in making points about whiteness and racial prejudices in the States. I think she was just as good, if more overt, in portraying the tribulations that paint/taint the various stages of womanhood. I think Emily was kind of like Dickinson, and Edith was sweet. I think, I think, I am thinking that Tillman successfully rescued the young girl from the trope even before there was a trope. I think it's very cool that Kathy Acker (allegedly) called this book "a building made of sentences." I think: how fitting, how haunting.
Until now. Today, the sad young woman is probably publishing's highest grossing trope, and the cultural 'market' in general is finally interested in the strained interiority of girls. With the right marketing (look at that cover! that blurb!) Tillman's writing fits the bill, and so it's back on the shelves. Good for us, because it is truly incredible. You might even say: finally, someone who's got the angst and aimlessness just right!
In Haunted Houses, Tillman puts together the separate stories of three American girls—Jane, Grace, and Emily—as they come of age and into their own. Jane has violent father and a dead best friend, Grace is hazed by her peers into rebellion, Emily is withdrawn and considered "not normal" by her parents, and none of them can be described with a single quirk or characteristic like I have just attempted to—they are complex, confused, real people; not conclusive and not reducible to types. They observe the world, gain experience in it, make friends, feud with their mothers, and get on with their lives as you and I might: not with ambition, and not necessarily without. They are each a haunted house impressed upon by their own memories, traumas, histories, and experiences; if their stories seem sometime to blur together and feel like they represent something, it may be because they are so defiantly singular.
Indeed, neither the characters nor their author meet the expectations set for them in their respective roles. Tillman writes the girls in a spare prose that is full of digressions but nevertheless precise, and keeps their stories parallel when you'd expect them to converge. There is no big denouement at the end, no monumental plot resolution—there is barely plot. Instead, the genius of Haunted Houses lies in its distillation of certain lived truths with uncanny precision: ticks I didn't realise I had until I read them described, acts I thus far assumed were uniquely, shamefully mine. Tillman made me stop in my tracks, reread passages, underline seldom but with fervour. She made me think and write down: I think she was very subtle in making points about whiteness and racial prejudices in the States. I think she was just as good, if more overt, in portraying the tribulations that paint/taint the various stages of womanhood. I think Emily was kind of like Dickinson, and Edith was sweet. I think, I think, I am thinking that Tillman successfully rescued the young girl from the trope even before there was a trope. I think it's very cool that Kathy Acker (allegedly) called this book "a building made of sentences." I think: how fitting, how haunting.
August 30, 2023
3.5 stars. Some parts really resonated, while other parts just didn't. Think this would've been better as a novella instead of a full-length novel
February 24, 2012
I loved this book, I savored it — it stuck in my head all through the day until I got back to it again (couldn't put it down.) I’m not sure if I can say anything more than what has already been said about why it’s such a darn good book. Lynne Tillman’s writing is effortless, and she sails along at a steady clip with spare prose that is complex in its simplicity — fully loaded with gritty reality. This book is documenting the human condition — what I love to call a “human document” — the coming of age of three girls and their becoming women, being defined (or haunted) by parents, by friends, by lovers. All three striking out on their own, losing their virginity, losing themselves, gaining experience, growing up, moving on — making that comfortable distance from uncomfortable pasts — square pegs escaping the monotony of fitting in the security of round holes left open for them to drop into, it would be too easy for them to do the expected. It is timeless fiction, the story ends without ending (life goes on as it should.)
November 7, 2020
Every time I opened this book I fell asleep. All the different characters' lives blended into one and it took a tremendous amount of effort to get through the last pages just so I could finally put this book away.
July 9, 2024
und manchmal liest man ein buch und muss sich echt fragen …. bin ich einfach zu blöd dafür?? wo ist all das was mir im klappentext versprochen wurde??
January 16, 2020
I wish she hadnt jumped around so much
January 11, 2023
I was quite keen to put this book down - there were three stories and none of them lead anywhere or at least held my interest. Sorry Liv.
November 17, 2023
abstract to a fault, no substance, impossible to follow
August 13, 2022
3,5 ⭐
Uma história sobre três raparigas na transição da infância para a idade adulta e as inerentes turbulências - amor, sexo, drogas, a relação com os pais, etc. É uma escrita bastante crua, e na minha opinião exagera nas temáticas do sexo e das drogas. Ainda assim, é um livro informal com o seu interesse.
Uma história sobre três raparigas na transição da infância para a idade adulta e as inerentes turbulências - amor, sexo, drogas, a relação com os pais, etc. É uma escrita bastante crua, e na minha opinião exagera nas temáticas do sexo e das drogas. Ainda assim, é um livro informal com o seu interesse.
April 11, 2023
3.5 ster maar dat mag niet !! mooi maar ook een beetje saai en 3 verhaallijnen was te veel voor mijn concentratie
July 14, 2024
Normally I love a book with insufferable female characters but this was so boring, had to force myself to finish it
October 9, 2022
the only time I actually want more plot
July 13, 2024
Loathed reading this because I felt as confused as the characters and as lost as the plot
February 6, 2023
3.5
“‘You don’t understand,’ Christine uttered in a kind of moan, and looked at Emily as if she were just a visitor.”
“Not being known is a playground for any identity.”
“It didn’t occur to Emily that Nina and Anna loved each other, even though they were unhappy and sometimes hated each other. Unhappiness had to be escaped from or denied.”
“Nina didn’t want her to leave, that she was deserting a sinking ship or betraying them by her happiness or eagerness to be elsewhere.”
“Nina’s mother insisted on life, would not give it up, and she was the barrier that kept death from Nina.”
“‘You don’t understand,’ Christine uttered in a kind of moan, and looked at Emily as if she were just a visitor.”
“Not being known is a playground for any identity.”
“It didn’t occur to Emily that Nina and Anna loved each other, even though they were unhappy and sometimes hated each other. Unhappiness had to be escaped from or denied.”
“Nina didn’t want her to leave, that she was deserting a sinking ship or betraying them by her happiness or eagerness to be elsewhere.”
“Nina’s mother insisted on life, would not give it up, and she was the barrier that kept death from Nina.”
April 17, 2011
Lynne Tillman writes:
The time came for Bill and Grace to enact a kind of divestiture service in which Bill's virgin state would be renounced, shattered. His virginity existed differently from hers. His was a lack of experience, the sense that he was not really a man, that he was not aggressive enough, not daring, perhaps a coward, or a fag. He had not made a conquest. While hers, she reminded herself, had been a moral burden, something to worry about giving, indicating loss when given. And she was considered to have been a conquest for someone else. A passive gift, whether she moved or not. A given. Surrender and surrender again. But how could something physically surrendered mean that she, Grace, had really given in. She prided herself on her ability to separate neatly body from mind, self that was hers from self that she gave away. She was not given when she gave, she always held back and drew satisfaction from distance.
And:
What did Christine want from her or want in general. Who is Christine, she wrote, and felt disgusted. The unexpected is stronger than the expressed, it must be, she thought. She looked up ineffable and wrote, My relationship with Christine skirts the ineffable. Except Emily didn't wear skirts and why should she write about women who did? Could she use that figure of speech when it represented another kind of woman? Or, which woman was she writing about? Anyway, the thing didn't have a plot, no drama, didn't build or go anywhere. Emily comforted herself with the idea that plots were like skirts, you either did or you didn't use things like that. Why do people want stories to go somewhere, she asked herself, and retired to bed.
.
The time came for Bill and Grace to enact a kind of divestiture service in which Bill's virgin state would be renounced, shattered. His virginity existed differently from hers. His was a lack of experience, the sense that he was not really a man, that he was not aggressive enough, not daring, perhaps a coward, or a fag. He had not made a conquest. While hers, she reminded herself, had been a moral burden, something to worry about giving, indicating loss when given. And she was considered to have been a conquest for someone else. A passive gift, whether she moved or not. A given. Surrender and surrender again. But how could something physically surrendered mean that she, Grace, had really given in. She prided herself on her ability to separate neatly body from mind, self that was hers from self that she gave away. She was not given when she gave, she always held back and drew satisfaction from distance.
And:
What did Christine want from her or want in general. Who is Christine, she wrote, and felt disgusted. The unexpected is stronger than the expressed, it must be, she thought. She looked up ineffable and wrote, My relationship with Christine skirts the ineffable. Except Emily didn't wear skirts and why should she write about women who did? Could she use that figure of speech when it represented another kind of woman? Or, which woman was she writing about? Anyway, the thing didn't have a plot, no drama, didn't build or go anywhere. Emily comforted herself with the idea that plots were like skirts, you either did or you didn't use things like that. Why do people want stories to go somewhere, she asked herself, and retired to bed.
.
September 29, 2022
Lynne Tillman had to sign 1000 copies of this book so my copy has a little cat doodle on it and I love that
October 26, 2023
I was really excited to read this book but soon was led to disappointment. I will state that this book had really great moments about each characters experience in life but soon felt like a lot was happening which kinda of made the storytelling clustered. Each chapter was a different characters perspective of their lives. I liked the idea of the concept but soon forgot their background and who is who. Overall, if you want to feel some type of raw emotion and the struggles they've faced such as self-love, betrayal, relationships, and just teenage acceptance and finding where they stand in life, then I recommend.
June 7, 2023
I really enjoyed this book. Complex yet beautifully simple.
December 26, 2023
I am so happy that I picked this book up on a whim in a bookstore recently, from the cover of my version I thought it was a newly released book but after starting reading and looking into the author I realised it was published originally in 1987 (but I believe it has recently been rereleased, which is why the cover is modern). When the author released her work in the 80s and 90s apparently it wasn’t very popular, this was because (especially in Haunted Houses) her novel follows mundane women, they aren’t especially powerful or groundbreaking, they are just young women in America discovering their place in their world, and people didn’t care about these kind of women at the time.
I loved this book and its characters, the novel follows 3 women from early puberty into adulthood each separated from each other completely with no overlap in stories, each chapter being a pattern of one after the other. Despite being written in third person, Tillman is so brilliant at showing the characters morals, personal thoughts and emotions, that I felt so connected to the characters, even though I am not particularly similar to any of them.
It’s a book that doesn’t have a particular story line, there is no stereotypical format and each of the women’s stories don’t have a strong conclusion, the chapters simply end. But I loved this element of the book, overall Haunted Houses felt like a guilty pleasure, it felt like I was peering into the lives of these women, seeing their ugly sides and mentalities towards themselves, their relationships and work, sides that the average person would rather die than reveal to those around them. And so when the book finished I wasn’t displeased with the ending, rather I was grateful for the time I was given with the women and the opportunity to look into their minds. I found a great comfort in their absurdity’s, traumas and behaviours, the stories of average women are so valuable and I am so excited to read more from Lynne Tillman.
I loved this book and its characters, the novel follows 3 women from early puberty into adulthood each separated from each other completely with no overlap in stories, each chapter being a pattern of one after the other. Despite being written in third person, Tillman is so brilliant at showing the characters morals, personal thoughts and emotions, that I felt so connected to the characters, even though I am not particularly similar to any of them.
It’s a book that doesn’t have a particular story line, there is no stereotypical format and each of the women’s stories don’t have a strong conclusion, the chapters simply end. But I loved this element of the book, overall Haunted Houses felt like a guilty pleasure, it felt like I was peering into the lives of these women, seeing their ugly sides and mentalities towards themselves, their relationships and work, sides that the average person would rather die than reveal to those around them. And so when the book finished I wasn’t displeased with the ending, rather I was grateful for the time I was given with the women and the opportunity to look into their minds. I found a great comfort in their absurdity’s, traumas and behaviours, the stories of average women are so valuable and I am so excited to read more from Lynne Tillman.
October 11, 2023
Haunted Houses by Lynne Tillman is well worth the read. Its simplistic prose may seem at points coarse and unrefined, but in reality weaves an intricate novel full of hidden connotations. Tillman provides a refreshing and unique outlook on life and morality, through writing a story relevant in many ways to life today. From narrating the characters’ lives from a young age, she effectively showed their development from childhood to adult life and created relationships with the readers, strengthening feelings of admiration and empathy, or, conversely, distaste and antipathy. However, the story is missing exactly that: a story. Without a strong plot and resolutions, reading Haunted Houses, in parts, can seem slow and redundant. While the abandonment of storylines and character arcs may be intentional, this book is not suited for those looking for an electrifying and action-filled tale. Despite this, Tillman’s book is an accomplished and meaningful feat, representing women’s internal and external quandaries, while also exploring darker sides of human nature.
May 23, 2024
I'm honestly not sure how i feel about this book?? It dives into girlhood and coming of age in quite a unique way. The perspective feels kind of alien, or childlike, at times. It's humerous and it accurately reflects the absurdity of some situations that tend to come with girlhood and womanhood. However, i couldn't seem to make quick progress with this book. It kind of launched me into a reading slump. Maybe it's because i've been busy, but i just didn't feel a strong urge to pick it up. Something that contributed to that was the fact that the author decided to keep switching back and forth between 3 different stories, which took me out of- well, all of the stories. Besides, there were too many names for me to be able to conveniently follow the story. I'm a bit torn on this one, but there were a whole bunch beautiful quotes in this book, and Tillman's idea was interesting. Hence, the 3-star rating.
January 25, 2023
If you love Eve Babitz, Patti Smith and Lou Reed, you should read a bit of Lynne Tillman. Haunted Houses follows the journey from girlhood to womanhood of three girls who feel they don’t fit into the societal norm of what is expected from women and girls. We zip through affairs, exploration of sexuality, death, situationships, preferring the company of books, preferring the company of their landlady, dating boys who are obsessed with Jack Kerouac, drag bars and a fast-changing America. As much as it encapsulates 1960s/70s New York, it also feels surprisingly modern. I really enjoyed it and now want to read more of Tillman’s work
February 26, 2024
This was an interesting one. Brimming with intelligence and insight, Tillman's novel reads like an extract from Allen Ginsberg's "Howl", sumptuous and biting, but is also, at points, quite difficult to follow. The narrative examines three young women - Jane, Grace and Emily - who each wrestle with the transition from girlhood to womanhood in an equally transitory time in American history. Sexuality, belonging, friendships and identity are all key issues the girls contend with, but ultimately the novel feels more like a rich contextual and historical analysis than three human stories.
October 16, 2023
‘To Grace, innocence meant the time before time counted, when days were long, when summer stretched ahead of you as a real long time and you could do nothing and that was all right. Innocence meant not seeing how ugly things were. Innocence meant that you think of yourself as doing the right thing, even if it looked wrong. Innocence meant you were never going to die and no one you loved would either.’
February 20, 2024
I fell into the trap of picking a book based on it’s cover. There were some bits of lovely writing and some thought provoking moments, but overall I didn’t enjoy it. The jumping between characters made it hard to follow and I kept having to reread to remember who was who and what their story was. Despite being a relatively short book, this was such a slow read for me, I couldn’t get into it whatsoever
May 6, 2022
Not easy, but worthwhile. Not depressing, but sad, at times, in the way real life can be thoroughly sad. There's an omniscient narrator train of thought thing going on, somewhat rambling, but the prose is sharp. The characters can be frustrating, but it's like women are allowed to be people, too. I'd maybe call it casual reading for the serious reader.
May 19, 2023
it’s hard to believe this book was written in the 80s. this coming of age novel follows three girls separately; Jane, Emily and Grace, who navigate childhood through to adulthood through various themes of gender, family and relationships. written sharply and with speed that kept me coming back for more.
July 17, 2023
beautiful prose and i can recognise how important this novel with 3 young, flawed female protagonists must have been for american literature, being published in the 80s. but i was just so bored, so i guess this was just not my cup of tea. would recommend if ur into edging in a literary sense. 2.75/5
Displaying 1 - 30 of 66 reviews