Rooms

Starred review from June 2, 2014
YA-bestseller Oliver’s (Before I Fall) assured adult debut skillfully weaves an innovative ghost story into a nuanced domestic drama. Upon Richard Walker’s death, his scattered family returns to clear out his house, which they hope to inherit. His ex-wife, Caroline, soothes bad marital memories with alcohol. His grown daughter, Minna, brings along her own six-year-old daughter, Amy, and a deep-seated resentment of her father, while his suicidal son, Trenton, struggles with teenage angst in the aftermath of a debilitating car accident. Trenton first senses the haunting presence of others in the home. The spirits of Alice and Sandra, two women who lived in the house at different times, now find themselves confined there together, squabbling with each other as they watch the family cope with Richard’s messy legacy. Soon a new female spirit close to Trenton’s age enters the house, and Alice conceives a dangerous plan to free herself of its prison. Oliver makes vivid use of both dead and living characters—all of whom are trapped in the past and striving toward a happier existence—to narrate her intricate, suspenseful story. The house’s breathing residents and ghosts alike find freedom, and the story culminates with an ending that arrives in dramatic and surprising ways.

June 15, 2014

Richard Walker is dead, but his house is alive with the spirits of former inhabitants. From within the walls, Alice and Sandra watch as Richard's estranged family members descend upon the house and proceed to squabble, get drunk, take pills, harass one another, and embarrass themselves. The ghosts watch with interest and dismay as they recall how each member of the family used to be but also reflect on the mistakes of their own lives. As it turns out, the ghosts keep secrets from themselves and are just as broken as the family they are compelled to watch. With poetic prose, Oliver weaves a satisfying story arc for each character, and readers will be left with a feeling of peaceful acceptance. VERDICT Best-selling YA novelist Oliver (Before I Fall; Panic) makes her adult fiction debut with this paranormal tale of family dysfunction, but the author adds a compelling twist with parallel plots. Fans of Maeve Binchy may appreciate the way family relationships and character points of view are portrayed. [See Prepub Alert, 3/3/14; eight-city tour.]--Vicki Briner, Westminster, CO

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2014
Richard Walker has died and his estranged familydipsomaniacal wife, Caroline; adult daughter, Minna; and suicidal 16-year-old son, Trentonhave returned to his house, which, though only Trenton senses it, is haunted by the ghosts of two women, Alice and Sandra, who have their own connections to the house. Popular young-adult author Oliver's first adult novel is an unconventional ghost story. Don't expect horror or things that go bump in the night. The focus here is not on what the ghosts are but who they have been. Their stories unfold through their respective first-person narratives while the points of view of the unhappy Walkers emerge in the third person. In keeping with the title, each section of the story takes place in a different room of the house. Without much in the way of action, however, the pace of the story is slow, though it does pick up appreciably near the conclusion as closely guarded secrets and surprising connections are revealed. In the end, patient readers will find the story as haunting as it is haunted.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)