The Smell of Other People's Houses

by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock

“Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock’s Alaska is beautiful and wholly unfamiliar…. A thrilling, arresting debut.” —Gayle Forman, New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay and I Was Here
 
“[A] singular debut. . . .  [Hitchcock] weav[es] the alternating voices of four young people into a seamless and continually surprising story of risk, love, redemption, catastrophe, and sacrifice.” —The Wall Street Journal
 
This deeply moving and authentic debut set in 1970s Alaska is for fans of Rainbow Rowell, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie, and Benjamin Alire Saenz. Intertwining stories of love, tragedy, wild luck, and salvation on the edge of America’s Last Frontier introduce a writer of rare talent.
 
Ruth has a secret that she can’t hide forever. Dora wonders if she can ever truly escape where she comes from, even when good luck strikes. Alyce is trying to reconcile her desire to dance, with the life she’s always known on her family’s fishing boat. Hank and his brothers decide it’s safer to run away than to stay home—until one of them ends up in terrible danger.
 
Four very different lives are about to become entangled. This unforgettable William C. Morris Award finalist is about people who try to save each other—and how sometimes, when they least expect it, they succeed. 
 

Praise:
William C. Morris Finalist
Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal
Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction
Tayshas Reading List—Top 10 List
New York Public Library’s Best 50 Books for Teens
Chicago Public Library, Best of the Best List
Shelf Awareness, Best Children’s & Teen Books of the Year
Nominated to the Oklahoma Sequoya Book Award Master List
Nominated to the Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award

“Hitchcock’s debut resonates with the timeless quality of a classic. This is a fascinating character study—a poetic interweaving of rural isolation and coming-of-age.” —John Corey Whaley, award-winning author of Where Things Come Back and Highly Illogical Behavior
 
“As an Alaskan herself, Bonnie Sue Hitchcock is able to bring alive this town, and this group of poor teens and their families that live there.” —Bustle.com

• ISBN10: 0553497790
• ISBN13: 9780553497793
• Publish Date: 23 February 2016
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 31 May 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Wendy Lamb Books
• Format: Hardcover (Library Binding)
• Pages: 240
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780553497793

Reviews

[Sam@WLABB]

Rating 4.5 stars

This was a rather emotional read for me. All these people were dealing with so much, and I was worried this was going to be all bad news. BUT, it wasn't. There were sparks of light, here and there, throughout the story, and it had a hopeful ending. What I really loved, though, was the way Hitchcock knitted all these characters lives together. Lots of really wonderful happenstance, and I could not get enough of their worlds colliding.

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[Jo]

Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

Although I'm not generally a fan of historical novels, YA set in the recent past I find genuinely fascinating. The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock is set in Alaska in 1970, so not only is it set in the recent past, but also in a state we rarely hear about, and focusing on the interconnecting stories of four teens during that time, I was thoroughly intrigued. I'm really happy to say that The Smell of Other People's Houses is a completely wonderful story!

The year 1970 is going to be an eventful and life changing year for four Alaskan teens. Ruth's life is turned upside down when she discovers she's pregnant; Dora is kept awake at night by the memories of her abusive father and the thoughts of her uncertain future; Alyce is struggling with choosing between her future and spending time with her dad; and Hank has run away from home with his two younger brothers to escape his mother's abusive boyfriend. Four very different lives in the time after Alaska became the 49th American state, and the world they knew changes.

The Smell of Other People's Houses is one of those beautifully quiet books. The writing is almost lyrical, and feels like being wrapped up in a blanket on a really cold day, feeling cosy and content. Despite how serious some of the individual stories are, this is a soothing read; the experience of reading this book just felt good.

Although a short book at 254 pages that covers four different storylines, Other People's Houses is a deeply involving and emotional story. You can't help but get wrapped up in each teen's life. Ruth's father died when she was five, and her mother was so affected by grief she became mentally ill. Consequently, Ruth and her younger sister Lily have been raised for the past 11 years by their strict, Catholic grandmother. Their home is cold and practically loveless, and Gran is less than pleased when Ruth becomes pregnant. Dora lives at her best friend Dumpling's house, after her father, in a drunken rage, was chasing her through the streets one night. She's haunted by the things he did to her, even though he's now in prison, but doesn't know if her life with Dumpling's family is permanent. Alyce's parents are divorced, and she spends every Summer with her dad on his fishing boat, helping with the catch. Auditions for a top ballet school are happening this Summer, and she needs to be there if she stands any chance of getting a place, but Summer is the only time she gets to spend with her dad, and he needs her on the boat. She doesn't want to let him down. Hank has had to become the man of the house ever since his dad died. His younger brothers are naive and innocent, and the man their mother is now dating treats them badly. Hank has to protect his brothers from this man, and so they runaway, stowing aboard a ferry.

Dora, Alyce and Ruth live in the same town and they know each other, while Hank is escaping from a different part of Alaska. However, it's more than geography that ties any of them together. It's their individual stories; they overlap and affect each other as they intersect at different points of the year. There are a few coincidences in how their stories intersect, and you almost feel like fate's at work, bringing the various characters together at important moments, to learn or experience something. They are quiet, small moments, and they probably wouldn't have changed much of each individual's story if they hadn't happened - except for maybe one - but they change the teens internally; change their perspective or give them something to think about.

Because of where and when it was set, Other People's Houses is a pretty diverse novel, with Dora being Inupiaq (a member of a group of Eskimos/Inuit inhabiting northern Alaska), and her friend Dumpling and her family being Athabascan Native Americans. The community at large in Fairbanks, the town where some of the story is set, is made up of Inuits, Native Americans and white people. Although none of the four narrators is Native American that I could tell (apart from Dora and Dumpling's family, I don't think it's stated? Or I missed it. It wasn't always the clearest who was what race.), at one point in the story, Dora goes to Dumpling's family's to the Athabascan fish camp, and we get a glimpse of how the Athabascan people are as a community, working together to fish for salmon for the Winter.

The setting of Alaska is really important to the story, and is almost a character itself. It's so beautifully described, and you can feel it as well as see it. Sometimes harsh and unforgiving, but undeniably home, and in the blood of everyone. The history and culture of these people are in the very stones. The environment and the time - soon after Alaska became the USA's 49th state, and things began to change - shape the characters as much as their circumstances and their families. The people are rooted in their surroundings. These are people who fish in the Summer so there's food for the Winter, people who hunt deer and cure meat, people who have strong cultural ties to those in their community, where the land and its resources are a big part of their lives. Each character's story is different, but the landscape plays a strong role in each. This story couldn't be set anywhere else.

Other People's Houses is such a beautiful, enjoyable read, with a wonderful ending. Parts of the story are sad and shocking, but it is of it's time, and the ending gives the story an uplifting note, and you're left feeling hopeful for the four teens you've come to care about.

Thank you to Faber & Faber for the review copy.

[shannonmiz]

This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight
I was intrigued from the start, because Alaska. Also, it wasn't present-day Alaska. It was Alaska in 1970, and I had no idea what that would be like. So, curiosity had me hooked, and then the book definitely delivered. The story is told through four young people who lived in this setting, and while at first it seems they have nothing in common, their lives being to intersect.

I learned quite a lot about Alaska and the time period in this book. First, Alaska is just a world unto itself. I suppose being so isolated and having a completely different climate than the rest of the country will do that. Plus, at the time the book is set, they've only been a state for eleven years- and not all the residents are happy about their statehood. Also, I learned that I would be everyone's least favorite neighbor.

Life is not easy in Alaska, especially for our characters. Some have it easier than others, but really no one's life is unicorns and rainbows. There's rampant poverty, which leads to absent parents, ill-equipped parents, clueless parents, abusive parent, sand yes, some really amazing parents. That's one of the things I loved most about this book. It's not generalized, there's a clear indication that a person's circumstances don't have to define them.

I loved the characters, too. Even though we don't get to know them all in huge depth and detail, their development is clear. And as the story progresses, it becomes incredibly apparent that people are not always what they seem. I judged some characters, and actually reprimanded myself later for doing so- because you never, ever know what someone else is going through. Such a huge and important life lesson contained in this lovely story.

The write was positively exquisite. Ms. Hitchcock had me captivated from the first chapter, and never let go. The story was told in a delightful manner that had me not wanting to put the book down.

One part that didn't wholly work for me was that even though there were four points of view, there were a lot of characters. Because each main character's life had within it a whole set of side characters, of course. And when those side characters would inevitably intersect with other side characters... well, I would get a little lost. There was an awesome chart in the beginning that kind of explained it, and if I'd been reading a physical copy it would have been pretty easy to switch back and forth, but not so much on my Kindle.

Bottom Line: I fell in love with the characters, the setting, and the writing, and never wanted to leave.

**Copy provided by publisher for review