{Review} THE SMELL OF OTHER PEOPLE'S HOUSES by Bonnie Sue Hitchcock

ASIN #: B00Y6Q9BB8
Page Count: 240
Publish Date: February 23, 2016
Publisher: Amazon (Kindle)

Summary on Goodreads:

In Alaska, 1970, being a teenager here isn’t like being a teenager anywhere else. 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.

Charlene's Review:

The Smell of Other People's Houses is an artfully crafted story of varying character lines that intersect in a brilliantly heartfelt story of familial angst and the overwhelming power of perseverance. Each of the main characters has a secret, a burden, and a story, all their own, and are all looking for a hero, amid the sometimes brutal and poverty-stricken areas of Alaska. As the story unfolds, and the characters' paths become entwined, they begin to rescue each other.

Ms. Hitchcock has a tremendous talent with words, invoking emotion through short, powerful statements. She captures the fragility and despair of the human condition in its most bare and painful reality, while allowing the reader to glimpse the hope and love secreted away underneath the surface. I can't recall the last time I cried reading a book, and the blows that caused the tears were swift and fleeting, but long-standing in emotion.

The Smell of Other People's Houses is a study in love, as misguided, skewed, and full of faults as it can be, and the power of being loved despite our unworthiness.


*A physical copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.


** Review was originally posted on February 29, 2016 on the Collected Works site.