Reader's Reviews
***
It was just supposed to be an ordinary day, beginning with a garage sale. But for Eve, nothing about the day unfolds the way it's supposed to do. For one thing, the potential buyers start showing up at 6 a.m., her husband Chuck won't get out of bed to help out, and then, when he finally does get up, he goes out to run an errand--and doesn't come back.
Thus begins the tale of one woman's series of disappointing events--from ordinary daily life to the traumas of a house and heart in disrepair, Eve must learn to negotiate the tasks, handle friendships with eccentric new people in her life, and deal with her own aging mother's decline.
Somehow Rosenberg is able to present these life moments in such a charming and poignant way, with humor and wisdom, that we begin to expect the unexpected, much the same way that life deals out these moments; and in the end, we discover that, since life is short enough, we might as well enjoy the happiness when it comes to us.
Thoroughly engaging and impossible to put down, Home Repair is a memorable foray into the pitfalls of ordinary life.
***
Forty-six-year-old Eve, whose dear husband Marcus died in an accident thirteen years before, is in the midst of a garage sale when her second husband, the charming, irresponsible, Chuck, takes off for the great unknown, with no warning. Eve is left with little money, two kids--Marcus an engaging teenager from her first marriage, and Noni, a precocious nine-year-old from the second--and oh, yes, her mother Charlotte, who has an opinion on everything. How Eve copes with the single life, her job at the university, various friends of all colors and nationalities, her kids, and her tart, outspoken mother, make up the story of this delightful book. It's both funny and poignant as Eve comes to grips with all the highs and lows of life--fortunately she has a sense of humor--and finds a new sense of purpose that makes up for what she's lost.
***
In a short "Inspiration for Home Repair" question and answer section at the end of this edition of the book, the author is asked if the novel is a sad one or a comic one. She answers that it is both, "Laughter and tears are such close companions, sometimes you hardly know where one ends and the other begins." And that is certainly true of story told in this charming, enjoyable novel.
Eve has had to face tragedy in the past, when thirteen years ago, when she was just 33, her beloved first husband Ivan was killed in a car accident, leaving her to raise their son Marcus, now a high school student. When her second husband, Chuck, disappears, leaving his wife, stepson and their 9 year old daughter Noni, not to mention his mother in law waiting for her drive to the airport, the cause is rather different. He packs his car up and sneaks off in the middle of a yard sale. And at first Eve does not react terribly well to this event. She stops eating, is losing weight, showing up for her job as an administrator in the art department of the local NY State University in layers of wrinkled clothes. Afraid that her fix-me-up house is going to crash down around her ears, blue smoke pouring out of her aged car, concerned about the constant cut backs at work, two children at home, each with their own issues, from high school dances and first loves to the disappearance of their father, she is overwhelmed with facing this all alone.
But she is not alone. Little does she know a whole cast of characters will become part of her life and take it in directions she could never have foreseen. And it is maybe that cast that I found the most delightful aspect of this book. We have Charlotte Dunrea, her mother, a real "character", who moves up from Tennessee to "help out", Jonah, the African American parks department worker, Korean graduate student Sook-yun and perhaps my favorite character, his Korean wife Mia, a woman with hidden talents and strengths, just to name a few.
There are tragedies...heartbreaking deaths and funerals.
There is high humor...as when Eve acts as the driver for her mother and her new boyfriend, a fellow nursing home resident, when they go out on a date...and almost get thrown out of Applebee's.
There is a life threatening act of bravery, there is love to be found in unexpected places. There is the support of family, the help of friends and all ending with a surprising and totally charming wedding.
"Why does anyone bother to become friends with anyone, or adopt a child, or own a pet, for that matter. We're all going to die sooner or later, if that's what you're thinking," Charlotte said. "That's life. Nothing we can do to change that. We're all going to someday say good-bye. We're all going to have to cry, little girl," she said, putting one hand out to touch Eve's hair. The touch did not quite happen, but hovered, and then settled back down, like a butterfly, still quivering. "We might as well be happy while we can."
Rosenberg is a beautiful writer, her work as a poet often evident in her descriptions, telling a nice story with some charming characters. That's a lot to be happy about.
***
From its opening pages, "Home Repair" proves to be one of those novels that manage to walk successfully the fine line between tragedy and comedy.
It is the day of the family's big garage sale and Eve is hoping to rid herself of the useless junk cluttering her house; if she can make a little extra money in the process, all the better. Noni, her nine-year-old daughter, commandeers the cash box and proves to be a ruthless negotiator, refusing to take less for anything than the price her mother has written on its price sticker. Marcus, Eve's teen age son, comes outside only long enough to salvage a few of his favorite childhood items and carry them right back inside the house. Chuck, Eve's husband, is simply not interested and decides to run an errand instead of hanging around to help Eve and Noni keep an eye on things.
All in all, Eve experiences a typical American garage sale, complete with the line-jumpers that arrive four hours early hoping to score the good stuff before the sale officially opens. She makes a little money, gets rid of a few things that had just been taking up space anyway and, by the end of the sale, is ready to give the rest away just not to have to carry anything back inside - nothing really unusual about her day. But then it hits her that her husband is not coming home and that he has chosen a silly garage sale to cover his exit, something she will have to explain to the kids and her mother.
Thus begins the rest of Eve's life, maybe not the life she would have picked if given a choice, but one she will come to find that she is perfectly capable of handling. Her immediate reaction may have caused her to lose so much weight on the "heartbreak diet" that even her nine-year-old would grow worried about her, but Eve is about to discover just what an adventure the rest of her life will be. When several months later Chuck has the gall to show up unannounced for Thanksgiving dinner, he is shocked to find the table filled with people he never expected to see: a young Korean couple and their children, two of Eve's co-workers, the big African-American caretaker of the local public park, and Eve's mother. Though Chuck could not know it, the table is filled with some of the best friends Eve will ever have.
Frankly, Liz Rosenberg has surprised me. "Home Repair" is the kind of novel I generally pick up only reluctantly because of bad previous experiences with books that, at least on the surface, appear to be so largely geared toward a female readership. This, I am happy to report, is not one of those novels. Rosenberg made me care about Eve and her friends and what happened to them. I fell in love with the Marcus and Noni characters and the way they supported each other during their mother's crisis. And I was cheered and inspired by the way Eve's courage and hope are rewarded.
Liz Rosenberg says that one of Home Repair's "ideal readers" is the "man awake reading at three thirty in the morning." Strangely enough, I finished "Home Repair" just before four this morning myself (while not quite the insomniac Rosenberg envisions, I am pretty close), marking me as one of the book's ideal readers -and one well satisfied with the experience.
***
If you have ever had a garage sale, dealt with teenage kids, aging mothers who test your patience, difficult times that make you want to crawl inside yourself, then you will love this book. The situations are common,the character's are strong, their voices are real and they all help each other give some meaning to their lives. The book has out loud laughable and heart crushing moments.The book is must read, predictably unpredictable..
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