In the House upon the Dirt between th..., Matt Bell
In the House upon the Dirt between th..., Matt Bell
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In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods

Author: Matt Bell

Narrator: Charlie Thurston

Unabridged: 7 hr 44 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/18/2014

Synopsis

In this epic, mythical debut novel, a newlywed couple escapes the busy confusion of their homeland for a distant and almost-uninhabited lakeshore. They plan to live there simply, to fish the lake, to trap the nearby woods, and build a house upon the dirt between where they can raise a family. But as their every pregnancy fails, the child-obsessed husband begins to rage at this new world: the song-spun objects somehow created by his wife's beautiful singing voice, the giant and sentient bear that rules the beasts of the woods, the second moon weighing down the fabric of their starless sky, and the labyrinth of memory dug into the earth beneath their house. This novel is a powerful exploration of the limits of parenthood and marriage—and of what happens when a marriage's success is measured solely by the children it produces, or else the sorrow that marks their absence.

About Matt Bell

Matt Bell is the author of Cataclysm Baby, a novella, and How They Were Found, a collection of fiction. His fiction has been anthologized in Best American Mystery Stories 2010, Best American Fantasy 2, and 30 under 30: An Anthology of Innovative Fiction by Younger Writers. He serves as senior editor at Dzanc Books and teaches writing at Northern Michigan University.

About Charlie Thurston

Charlie Thurston is an experienced audiobook narrator, actor, and playwright who has received numerous Earphones Awards for his work. He has appeared on Law and Order: SVU, and his voice can be heard in audiobooks such as The Oracle Year, Southernmost, The Terranauts, and The Unfinished Life of Addison Stone.

Reviews

Goodreads review by karen on January 29, 2020

this book is beautiful and maddening. it is convoluted fabulism, sad and irrealy real. the setting and the atmosphere are like a fairytale, like The Snow Child, but the truths it dissects: romantic relationships, parenthood, and regret, are real and dark dark dark. if you don't have time to devote to......more

Goodreads review by Scott on May 15, 2014

I recently reviewed this book for WKAR's Current State.You can listen to my review here: [URL not allowed]-review-matt... You can also read my book review below. - Sometimes the literary world can suffer from a case of The Emperor’s New Clothes. We all know this story made famous by Hans Christi......more

Goodreads review by Richard on September 11, 2013

THIS REVIEW ORIGINALLY RAN AT THE NERVOUS BREAKDOWN. In Matt Bell’s debut novel, In the House Upon the Dirt Between the Lake and the Woods (Soho Press), we are lured into familiar territory—the world of fables and tall tales, where our expectations of the surreal, the grotesque, and the magical are f......more

Goodreads review by Robert on May 16, 2013

This novel reminded me of rowing a boat out to the middle of the lake, the water calm and clear and devoid of people and engines, the only sounds heard are the gentle rocking of the boat, the casting of the line as it whistles through the air, and the reel being unwound and wound. Instead of beer, t......more

Goodreads review by Blue Cypress Books on October 13, 2013

Enjoyed the ride but have no idea what I just read. The novel is all about relationships, I think. There is the squid and the whale and the bear and the man and the wife and the child but it's all just so heavy with symbolic meaning that I need a therapist to explain it all to me.......more

Quotes

“This is a fiercely original book—at once intimate and epic, visceral and philosophical—that sent me scurrying for adjectives, for precedents, for cover. Matt Bell commands the page with bold, vigorous prose and may well have invented the pulse-pounding novel of ideas.” Jess Walter, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Ruins

“In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods is a big, slinking, dangerous fairy tale, the kind with gleaming fangs and blood around the muzzle and a powerful heart you can hear thumping from miles away. The story’s ferocity is matched by Matt Bell’s glorious sentences: sinuous and darkly magical, they are taproots of the strange.” Lauren Groff, New York Times bestselling author of The Monsters of Templeton

“A deeply affecting, wildly inventive fable on parenthood and loss.” Chicago Tribune

“A tragedy of fantastic proportions, the book’s musical, often idiosyncratic prose will carry its readers into an unfamiliar but unforgettable world.” Library Journal (starred review)

“This debut novel from up-and-coming Bell  is a dark, intriguingly odd fable about what it means to be a father…this challenging, boldly experimental attempt at myth-building may resonate with equally ambitious readers.” Publishers Weekly

“Matt Bell does not write sentences—he writes spells. He is not a novelist—he is a mystic. This book, which will grip you in an otherworldly trance, reads like something divined from tea leaves or translated from a charcoal cipher on a cave wall.” Benjamin Percy, author of Red Moon and The Wilding

“There is a power here that is almost overwhelming. The force of the writing is derived from something elemental and primal. Unlike anything I have read in a long time.” Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe

“This week, I’ve been reading Matt Bell’s In the House upon the Dirt between the Lake and the Woods, a terrifying and wonderful fable that has nestled itself somewhere deep inside my shoulder blades. I have never come across a book that is so close to a dream state, with all the wildness and wonder and transfiguration that implies.” Emily Temple, literary editor

Awards

  • Indie Next List
  • Indies Choice Book Award
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