The Turner House

The Turner House

2015 • 341 pages

Ratings14

Average rating3.9

15

"A powerful, timely debut, The Turner House marks a major new contribution to the story of the American family. The Turners have lived on Yarrow Street for over fifty years. Their house has seen thirteen children grown and gone--and some returned; it has seen the arrival of grandchildren, the fall of Detroit's East Side, and the loss of a father. The house still stands despite abandoned lots, an embattled city, and the inevitable shift outward to the suburbs. But now, as ailing matriarch Viola finds herself forced to leave her home and move in with her eldest son, the family discovers that the house is worth just a tenth of its mortgage. The Turner children are called home to decide its fate and to reckon with how each of their pasts haunts--and shapes--their family's future. Already praised by Ayana Mathis as "utterly moving" and "un-putdownable," The Turner House brings us a colorful, complicated brood full of love and pride, sacrifice and unlikely inheritances. It's a striking examination of the price we pay for our dreams and futures, and the ways in which our families bring us home"--

Become a Librarian

Tags

Genre


Reviews

Popular Reviews

Reviews with the most likes.

February 25, 2017

Really liked how the story focused on a few main siblings of the 13 Turners but also journeyed back into vignettes about Francis and Viola and how their relationship to each other and to the house shaped the family. Flournoy truly makes this family live and breathe.

July 21, 2016
August 8, 2016

Top Lists

See all (11)

List

279 books

2017

Sourdough
Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less
Purple Hibiscus
Burntown
Young Jane Young
The Last Days of Café Leila
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood

List

792 books

Fiction

The Wonder
You Will Know Me
The one-in-a-million boy
Started Early, Took My Dog
When Will There Be Good News?
Le mystère Henri Pick
We Have Always Lived in the Castle