“The Hundred-Year House” by Rebecca Makkai – The Rotten Depths of History

Family history is a rather fascinating thing; though most of us may know general details about our genealogical tree's occupants for the last hundred years, few of us really have a concrete idea about what they were truly like.

In The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai, we are presented with two researchers, Doug, a down-on-his-luck academic, and Zee Devohr, a Marxist literary scholar who fervently defends the various records (files, not music records, naturally) kept at her house from the former, whose research leads him to be in dire need of them.

Slowly but surely, the two of them end up foraging through the Devohrs' family house history, and start getting acquainted with its many inhabitants over the past hundred years, one by one.

And so begins this family saga, told in reverse chronological order. It is one where mystery is the main driving force behind it all, with each new answer and discovery raising more questions about the kinds of people who were living in that house, forcing the protagonists to probe deeper and deeper into the history.

However, this is not exactly your light, happy-go-lucky type of novel, and I do feel that knowing this is essential to getting some enjoyment out of it. History does not always hold great marvels, tales and riches for us; in some cases, it leaves us to be confronted with a sad and sobering reality, and in this case, it is that every family has its share of idiots.

Chances are you aren't really going to find a character to root for, someone you really want good things to happen to. In my opinion, some of the characters were a bit disengaging, and the ones who weren't could only be described as such due to their repulsive personalities.

The various mysteries themselves treated in the novel also, in my opinion, aren't exactly of the exciting variety, something further accentuated by a lack of characters you can actually care for. Most of them really are banal and the resolutions won't make you gasp in awe.

In order to appreciate this book, I believe it is necessary to look at it as a slow journey through time, a rather realistic one where each new piece of information should be treated as a discovery, as if you were yourself learning about your own family's past.

It is necessary to get engaged in this read, to let yourself be captivated and enthralled by it. The writing itself is rather smooth and gives way to some vivid and interesting descriptions, which helps a lot with the immersion factor.

With all things being taken into account, The Hundred-Year House is certainly not a novel for everyone. If you can stand not having characters to root for and a slower-paced story that doesn't aim for pure excitement, then I believe you'll be able to find something of value in here. Otherwise, I'm not so sure you should try it.

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Rebecca Makkai Personal site Rebecca Makkai is a novelist of American origin, whose numerous short stories have been made into anthologies in The Best American Short Stories 2008 to 2011 editions, not to mention that her first novel, The Borrower, published in 2011 was one of Chicago Magazine's selections for best fiction of that year.