Audiobook Review: The Good House by Tanarive Due
The Good House by Tananarive Due
Genre: Horror, Suspense
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (2006)
Wendy’s Rating: 3 of 5
“The home that belonged to Angela Toussaint’s late grandmother is so beloved that townspeople in Sacajawea, Washington, call it the Good House. But that all changes one summer when an unexpected tragedy takes place behind its closed doors…and the Toussaint’s family history — and future — is dramatically transformed.”
This is more suspense than horror, despite the predominant categorization, though personally speaking, I didn’t get overly spine-tingly over the tense moments, despite my very visual mind letting me picture everything.
This is my first book by Due, and I am going to say that I love her writing style. I particularly love hearing a voice and dialects that aren’t your typical American or British fare. Listening to the audiobook certainly helps and let me tell you, Robin Miles is amazing. Another addition to my list of favourite audiobook narrators. She powers through all the characters, male and female, and their distinctive accents, including and most especially, Grandma Marie’s thick Creole. But as much as I enjoyed Due’s writing style and even the back and forth leaps through time and perspectives, I eventually found myself wishing the main character, Angela, would finally catch up to the point everyone else had reached many chapters before. I also found this troubling because Angela seemingly forgetting her connection to her grandmother’s voodoo is part of her jaunty character development, though Angela herself doesn’t really grow throughout the story. She just… remembers when it is convenient, and spends the rest of the time lamenting the love that she let get away, her broken marriage, and the tragedy that set the current horrors of her life in motion. In other words, Angela really isn’t a likable character. She’s not particularly interesting either, nor a woman I can particularly relate to. I don’t necessarily need to relate to or even like every character I read, but Angela just didn’t have much going for her.
What the story did have for me was an interesting peek into the world of voodoo. Voudon is a misunderstood religion and it’s often misused for the sake of Hollywood entertainment.
I am no expert on the subject and, while I’m sure there was some element of entertainment in this story, I’d like to think it was done justice here.
The BiblioSanctum 
Sometimes I read horror, most of the time..not 😉
LikeLike
haha I don’t read horror too often either. But I do like her style.
LikeLike
If I said I didn’t picture something along the lines of that gif when I thought of voodoo, I would be lying 😛
LikeLike
It’s okay. I won’t judge ;P
LikeLike
Read this book back in 2006. Tannarive Due is one of my favorite writers next to Stephen King and Dean Koontz
LikeLike
I felt this dragged on a bit longer than necessary, but I still liked her style very much. I would like to check out her Immortals series.
LikeLike
Interesting. I’m hoping to get around to this soon. (As with all books… LOL) I’m always appreciative of books that don’t treat voodoo like the darkness to end all dark in books because it’s a complicated and largely benevolent religion. That’s part of the reason why I liked Disarmed and Dangerous. It treated the practice with respect and even used the proper terms.
LikeLike
It was very benevolently used for the most part. The issues only came when Papa Legba’s blessings were taken for granted, misused for ill (even though the rationale for the misuse was understandable), and misused out of ignorance. A lot of this came toward the end of the book, which is really what kept me going, as opposed to the main character’s story, since I really didn’t care for her.
LikeLike
Voodoo is just like any other religion. It can be used to suit whatever good or ill that’s in a person’s intent. And I always get ticked off with people using the stereotypes, but at the same time, if the “evil” is used for purpose in the story and OMG. VOODOO BAD, then I have less of a problem. That was one of the things that started me to disliking Anita Blake. LKH demonized voodoo so bad it was terrible and ugly and showed such disdain.
LikeLike
Exactly. I honestly can’t think of anything (other than the recent Princess and the Frog) where the good (or at least both sides) of Voodoo were shown.
LikeLike
Yeah, it’s rarely shown for what it truly is. But I won’t rage (as bad) if it’s not used too grossly. Also Hollywood/writers don’t seem to know the difference between Voodoo and Santería.
LikeLike
Well hell.. I have never even heard of Santeria… *runs off to Google*
LikeLike
LOL. Yeah, Hollywood voodoo as I call it is usually some mixture of the two.
LikeLike
Pingback: Audiobook News & Reviews: 06/13 – 06/15 | ListenUp Audiobooks
Pingback: More Audiobook Narrators We Love | The BiblioSanctum