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The Giant's House
An unusual love story about a little librarian on Cape Cod and the tallest boy in the world, The Giant's House is the magical first novel from the author of the 1994 ALA Notable collection Here's Your Hat, What's Your Hurry.
The year is 1950, and in a small town on Cape Cod twenty-six-year-old librarian Peggy Cort feels like love and life have stood her up. Until the day James Carlson Sweatt--the "over tall" eleven-year-old boy who's the talk of the town--walks into her library and changes her life forever. Two misfits whose lonely paths cross at the circulation desk, Peggy and James are odd candidates for friendship, but nevertheless they soon find their lives entwined in ways that neither one could have predicted. In James, Peggy discovers the one person who's ever really understood her, and as he grows--six foot five at age twelve, then seven feet, then eight--so does her heart and their most singular romance.
The Giant's House is an unforgettably tender and quirky novel about learning to welcome the unexpected miracle, and about the strength of choosing to love in a world that gives no promises, and no guarantees.
The year is 1950, and in a small town on Cape Cod twenty-six-year-old librarian Peggy Cort feels like love and life have stood her up. Until the day James Carlson Sweatt--the "over tall" eleven-year-old boy who's the talk of the town--walks into her library and changes her life forever. Two misfits whose lonely paths cross at the circulation desk, Peggy and James are odd candidates for friendship, but nevertheless they soon find their lives entwined in ways that neither one could have predicted. In James, Peggy discovers the one person who's ever really understood her, and as he grows--six foot five at age twelve, then seven feet, then eight--so does her heart and their most singular romance.
The Giant's House is an unforgettably tender and quirky novel about learning to welcome the unexpected miracle, and about the strength of choosing to love in a world that gives no promises, and no guarantees.
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1996
About the author
Elizabeth McCracken
36 books867 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
Elizabeth McCracken (born 1966) is an American author. She is married to the novelist Edward Carey, with whom she has two children - August George Carey Harvey and Matilda Libby Mary Harvey. An earlier child died before birth, an experience which formed the basis for McCracken's memoir, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination.
McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, and holds a degree in library science from Simmons College, a women's college in Boston. McCracken currently lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she is an artist-in-residence at Skidmore College. She is the sister of PC World magazine editor-in-chief Harry McCracken.
Elizabeth McCracken (born 1966) is an American author. She is married to the novelist Edward Carey, with whom she has two children - August George Carey Harvey and Matilda Libby Mary Harvey. An earlier child died before birth, an experience which formed the basis for McCracken's memoir, An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination.
McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, and holds a degree in library science from Simmons College, a women's college in Boston. McCracken currently lives in Saratoga Springs, New York, where she is an artist-in-residence at Skidmore College. She is the sister of PC World magazine editor-in-chief Harry McCracken.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 988 reviews
November 15, 2008
While the book is undeniably well-written, I couldn't like the main character much. A lonely woman who falls in love with the young giant James Sweatt when he is eleven (!) failed to capture my sympathy. The book just seemed to be missing some spark of life, its passion seeming narrow and melancholy. It didn't help that Peggy makes it clear early on that James isn't going to survive. And the ending seemed purely unnecessary and improbable.
July 31, 2022
Love Poem for a Librarian
Although her love for me is infinitesimal,
Her eyes are as Dewey as any old decimal.
The plot is simple, and wonderfully strange - a librarian, a woman used to being ignored, and taken for granted:
Nevertheless, I was the town librarian - less a woman that a piece of civic furniture, like a polling machine at town hall, or a particularly undistinguished WPA mural . . .
. . . falls hard for a young, book-loving boy who suffers from gigantism.
I did not love him like a brother. I did not love him like a son. And though I loved him because of his body, it wasn't his body I loved, not the body of some man I dreamed would hold me, a body containing secrets that would somehow transform my own.
I loved him because I wanted to save him, and because I could not. I loved him because I wanted to be enough for him, and I was not.
Along the way there are some wonderful quotes about life, and reading:
I believe people fall in love based not on good looks or fate but on knowledge. Either they are amazed by something a beloved knows that they themselves do not know; or they discover common rare knowledge; or they can supply knowledge to someone who's lacking. Nowadays, trendy librarians, wanting to be important say, Knowledge is power. I know better. Knowledge is love.
Books remember all the things you cannot contain.
The idea of a library full of books, the books full of knowledge, fills me with fear and love and courage and endless wonder.
McCracken's librarian character, a rational woman who is thrown for a loop by a baffling, overwhelming emotion has one of the most original voices I've encountered in fiction. Kudos to the author for spinning a weird, improbable tale, and making it palatable.
Although her love for me is infinitesimal,
Her eyes are as Dewey as any old decimal.
The plot is simple, and wonderfully strange - a librarian, a woman used to being ignored, and taken for granted:
Nevertheless, I was the town librarian - less a woman that a piece of civic furniture, like a polling machine at town hall, or a particularly undistinguished WPA mural . . .
. . . falls hard for a young, book-loving boy who suffers from gigantism.
I did not love him like a brother. I did not love him like a son. And though I loved him because of his body, it wasn't his body I loved, not the body of some man I dreamed would hold me, a body containing secrets that would somehow transform my own.
I loved him because I wanted to save him, and because I could not. I loved him because I wanted to be enough for him, and I was not.
Along the way there are some wonderful quotes about life, and reading:
I believe people fall in love based not on good looks or fate but on knowledge. Either they are amazed by something a beloved knows that they themselves do not know; or they discover common rare knowledge; or they can supply knowledge to someone who's lacking. Nowadays, trendy librarians, wanting to be important say, Knowledge is power. I know better. Knowledge is love.
Books remember all the things you cannot contain.
The idea of a library full of books, the books full of knowledge, fills me with fear and love and courage and endless wonder.
McCracken's librarian character, a rational woman who is thrown for a loop by a baffling, overwhelming emotion has one of the most original voices I've encountered in fiction. Kudos to the author for spinning a weird, improbable tale, and making it palatable.
December 7, 2023
5/5
„Vis dėlto, buvau miestelio bibliotekininkė – veikiau visuomenės nuosavybė nei moteris, visai kaip balsavimo mašina savivaldybėje arba niekuo neišsiskirianti pilietinė freska.“
Turbūt geriausia šiemet perskaityta knyga, kurią norisi išvien cituoti ir ištisas pastraipas pasibraukti. Šilta, jauki, tiesiog nuostabiai parašyta, nepriekaištingai Ignės Aleliūnienės išversta, tokia žavi ir tuo pačiu skausminga. Norisi lyginti su „Mažais malonumais“, bet emocija, kurią ši knyga suteikia, laviruoja tarp aiškiai suvokiamo situacijos keistumo ir tuo pačiu pilna širdimi priimamo suvokimo, kad meilė tikrai gali būti visokia, bet nuo to ji ne tik kad ne prastesnė, bet galinti išmokyti ir tokios empatijos, kurios daugeliui šiuolaikinių žmonių tik pavydėti. Ir nors knyga toli gražu ne nauja, ypač po „Mane vadina Kalendoriumi“ man čia suskambėjo tas visiškas „kitokio“ žmogaus priėmimas, toks amžinas, bet turbūt dažnesnis šiuolaikinėse knygose, nenorėjimas jo numenkinti ar nužmoginti, net stojimas pilna krūtine sakant, kad jis negali būti lyginamas su daiktais, negali būti lyginamas su pastatais ar objektais, o jo absoliutus žmogiškumas – aukščiausia literatūrinė praba.
Ir autorė tik įrodo, kad neprivalai sekti politkorektiškumu, kad tiesiog žmogiškai jaustum, kas priimtina. O kai jos padėkoje radau įrašą apie Ann Pachett, supratau kad ne tik jos literatūra, bet ir jos draugės man prie širdies. Ir tikrai su Pachett kūriniais panašumą galima įžvelgti. Nežinau, kam šios knygos negalėčiau rekomenduoti – patiks ir norintiems stiprių veikėjų, ir paliečiančių istorijų, ir meilės ieškantiems, ir norintiems kažko unikalaus, dar neskaityto, bet tuo pačiu kažkaip jaukaus ir pažįstamo. O bibliotekose dirbantiems čia apskritai turėtų tapti Biblija. Smagiausia tai, kad nėra čia didaktikos, o pagrindinė veikėja dar ir tokia kieta, ryški, net truputį bjauroka visuomenės standartais, kad tikrai tampa viena mano mėgstamiausių literatūrinių moterų.
„Vis dėlto, buvau miestelio bibliotekininkė – veikiau visuomenės nuosavybė nei moteris, visai kaip balsavimo mašina savivaldybėje arba niekuo neišsiskirianti pilietinė freska.“
Turbūt geriausia šiemet perskaityta knyga, kurią norisi išvien cituoti ir ištisas pastraipas pasibraukti. Šilta, jauki, tiesiog nuostabiai parašyta, nepriekaištingai Ignės Aleliūnienės išversta, tokia žavi ir tuo pačiu skausminga. Norisi lyginti su „Mažais malonumais“, bet emocija, kurią ši knyga suteikia, laviruoja tarp aiškiai suvokiamo situacijos keistumo ir tuo pačiu pilna širdimi priimamo suvokimo, kad meilė tikrai gali būti visokia, bet nuo to ji ne tik kad ne prastesnė, bet galinti išmokyti ir tokios empatijos, kurios daugeliui šiuolaikinių žmonių tik pavydėti. Ir nors knyga toli gražu ne nauja, ypač po „Mane vadina Kalendoriumi“ man čia suskambėjo tas visiškas „kitokio“ žmogaus priėmimas, toks amžinas, bet turbūt dažnesnis šiuolaikinėse knygose, nenorėjimas jo numenkinti ar nužmoginti, net stojimas pilna krūtine sakant, kad jis negali būti lyginamas su daiktais, negali būti lyginamas su pastatais ar objektais, o jo absoliutus žmogiškumas – aukščiausia literatūrinė praba.
Ir autorė tik įrodo, kad neprivalai sekti politkorektiškumu, kad tiesiog žmogiškai jaustum, kas priimtina. O kai jos padėkoje radau įrašą apie Ann Pachett, supratau kad ne tik jos literatūra, bet ir jos draugės man prie širdies. Ir tikrai su Pachett kūriniais panašumą galima įžvelgti. Nežinau, kam šios knygos negalėčiau rekomenduoti – patiks ir norintiems stiprių veikėjų, ir paliečiančių istorijų, ir meilės ieškantiems, ir norintiems kažko unikalaus, dar neskaityto, bet tuo pačiu kažkaip jaukaus ir pažįstamo. O bibliotekose dirbantiems čia apskritai turėtų tapti Biblija. Smagiausia tai, kad nėra čia didaktikos, o pagrindinė veikėja dar ir tokia kieta, ryški, net truputį bjauroka visuomenės standartais, kad tikrai tampa viena mano mėgstamiausių literatūrinių moterų.
February 14, 2024
Kokia knyga, kokia istorija, koks vertimas, koks nuostabumas. Dar tik antras metų mėnuo, o jau tiek gerų knygų perskaičiau, kiek kartais ir per pusmetį nesurenku. Ši - viena iš jų. Nepamirštama, kitokia, unikali, nustebinsianti, sujaudinsianti ir po savęs paliksianti slogumo atmieštą vilties jausmą. Nors sako, kad čia meilės istorija, bet patikėkit - čia kur kas, KUR KAS daugiau.
Ir pavadinime minimas milžinas išties yra knygos veikėjas ir išties yra milžinas. Džeimsas, sergantis gigantizmu ir žinantis, jog ilgai negyvens. Vieniems jis eksponatas, kitiems - gailestį kelianti keistenybė, dar kitiems - pajuokos objektas, o bibliotekininkei Pegei jis yra viskas. Tarp jų nesimezga meilės romanas toks, kokį įsivaizduojat. Per jausmą Džeimsui Pegė analizuoja pati save, savo gyvenimą, praeitį, kūną, tikslą ir ateitį. Knygoje tiek giliamintiškų apmąstymų, kad realiai - kiekviename puslapyje gali rasti po taiklią/liūdną/šmaikščią/netikėtą citatą, kurią vėliau norėsisi prisiminti.
Knyga nuostabi ir nuostabiai parašyta, bet to nebūčiau pajutus jei ne meistriškas verimas. Tikrai reikėjo pasistengti, kad perteiktum tą ypatingą knygos nuotaiką ir sudėtingą Pegės ir Džeimso santykį. Nesuklyskit manydami, kad dėl visų gelmių romanas skaitysis sunkiai - atvirkščiai. Plauki puslapiais ir padėt nesinori. Veikėjai žavi tik retkarčiais, dažniau jų gailą, jų nesupranti arba net pykteli, bet jų skirtumų ir gerų norų visuma sudaro kažkokią keistai darnią ir jaukią šeimą, virš kurios neišvengiamai kabo Damoklo kardas. Daug minčių apie pačią meilę. Apie meilės savanaudiškumą, apie meilę mirštančiam žmogui. Itin žavėjo įvairių situacijų palyginimai su bibliotekininkės darbu, knygomis, katalogavimu - puikiai padirbėta. Visokeriopai puikus romanas.
Ir pavadinime minimas milžinas išties yra knygos veikėjas ir išties yra milžinas. Džeimsas, sergantis gigantizmu ir žinantis, jog ilgai negyvens. Vieniems jis eksponatas, kitiems - gailestį kelianti keistenybė, dar kitiems - pajuokos objektas, o bibliotekininkei Pegei jis yra viskas. Tarp jų nesimezga meilės romanas toks, kokį įsivaizduojat. Per jausmą Džeimsui Pegė analizuoja pati save, savo gyvenimą, praeitį, kūną, tikslą ir ateitį. Knygoje tiek giliamintiškų apmąstymų, kad realiai - kiekviename puslapyje gali rasti po taiklią/liūdną/šmaikščią/netikėtą citatą, kurią vėliau norėsisi prisiminti.
Knyga nuostabi ir nuostabiai parašyta, bet to nebūčiau pajutus jei ne meistriškas verimas. Tikrai reikėjo pasistengti, kad perteiktum tą ypatingą knygos nuotaiką ir sudėtingą Pegės ir Džeimso santykį. Nesuklyskit manydami, kad dėl visų gelmių romanas skaitysis sunkiai - atvirkščiai. Plauki puslapiais ir padėt nesinori. Veikėjai žavi tik retkarčiais, dažniau jų gailą, jų nesupranti arba net pykteli, bet jų skirtumų ir gerų norų visuma sudaro kažkokią keistai darnią ir jaukią šeimą, virš kurios neišvengiamai kabo Damoklo kardas. Daug minčių apie pačią meilę. Apie meilės savanaudiškumą, apie meilę mirštančiam žmogui. Itin žavėjo įvairių situacijų palyginimai su bibliotekininkės darbu, knygomis, katalogavimu - puikiai padirbėta. Visokeriopai puikus romanas.
June 13, 2022
This is one of the strangest, loveliest books I've read thus far. Staring at my hardcover edition lying on my coffee table, I realize why it I purchased it in the first place. It has a simple bright orange dustjacket, and it stands taller and narrower than its shelf counterparts–no doubt a tribute to the larger than life protagonist of this novel.
Peggy Cort is a twenty-six-year-old librarian in a small Cape Cod town in 1950. When she meets James Sweatt, a "tall" eleven-year-old boy (and still growing), she immediately feels a connection and love for him. By his eighteenth birthday, James is well over eight feet tall, and is showing no signs of stopping. Over time, the two form a deep, complex friendship–two lonely misfits searching for something they can't define.
McCracken has a beautiful way with words. At times caustic, at other turns gentle and caressing, it's hard not to be captured by this simple story. Peggy, inaccessible to people and love in general, opens herself up to James, and to readers. She's intelligent, and funny...and she breaks your heart. I just love her. I love the way she loves. It's so selfless and all consuming.
Peggy Cort is a twenty-six-year-old librarian in a small Cape Cod town in 1950. When she meets James Sweatt, a "tall" eleven-year-old boy (and still growing), she immediately feels a connection and love for him. By his eighteenth birthday, James is well over eight feet tall, and is showing no signs of stopping. Over time, the two form a deep, complex friendship–two lonely misfits searching for something they can't define.
McCracken has a beautiful way with words. At times caustic, at other turns gentle and caressing, it's hard not to be captured by this simple story. Peggy, inaccessible to people and love in general, opens herself up to James, and to readers. She's intelligent, and funny...and she breaks your heart. I just love her. I love the way she loves. It's so selfless and all consuming.
By now you are tired of me insisting, but it wasn't sex. Well, it was, in this way: all I wanted was to become a part of him, to affect him physically. Maybe that's all anybody ever wants, and sex is the most specific and efficient way to achieve it.
But that night I did not want sex. I wanted to drape myself over his body and be absorbed, so when I left (and I knew I would have to), we would average out: two moderately cold people, two moderately sickly people, two–well, two extraordinarily tall people. Still the two tallest people you'd ever seen. But we'd have each other, we'd share the burden.
April 18, 2011
I wasn't expecting to like this book. I'm into dreamy romanticism, not "wry humor," not stark, unadorned realism. But, I love this book.
I love the cynical, obviously (but not stereotypically) autistic narrator. I love the metaphors and archetypes. I love the astute commentary on prejudice, on relationships, on the rigidity of social norms. I even love the photograph of Elizabeth McCracken, looking nervous and awkward, with frizzy hair and red, sullen lips. (Not like the prim, pastel authoress you usually find smiling, and casually leaning, on book jackets!) I love the wry humor. I love the whole thing!
I love the cynical, obviously (but not stereotypically) autistic narrator. I love the metaphors and archetypes. I love the astute commentary on prejudice, on relationships, on the rigidity of social norms. I even love the photograph of Elizabeth McCracken, looking nervous and awkward, with frizzy hair and red, sullen lips. (Not like the prim, pastel authoress you usually find smiling, and casually leaning, on book jackets!) I love the wry humor. I love the whole thing!
September 20, 2011
Dear Peggy, I did not have fun in your head. Let's not do this again. Sincerely, Rachel.
If you have been searching high and low for a book that tells the unfulfilling love story between a morose librarian and a boy with gigantism half her age who she's known since he was 12, then LOOK NO FURTHER. And, as you can see from my rating, the librarian is not the only person who left this book unfulfilled.
I don't want to hate on this book too much, though, because it's really unique and the author is an awesome writer with a very individualized style. There is no other book like her's.
And the story is interesting. You DO want to know what happens to James, already six feet tall when you meet him as a middle schooler and who continues to grow through the book. If anyone else has ever written a book about a boy growing up with gigantism, I have yet to read it. And his life is compelling and awful at the same time. You care about James, you really do.
However, McCracken created possibly the most unlikable main characters in the librarian, which is sad, because every librarian I have ever known is extremely likable and not, in fact, embittered against the world. Peggy (said librarian) wanders around having internal monologues about how unlovable a person she is (and boy is she right) and talking about how small her life is (but she likes it that way--but she's narrating, so you suspect she's lying about that) until you just want to scream "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CAN SOMEONE ELSE NARRATE THIS STORY? I HATE YOU TOO, PEGGY."
Even when Peggy falls in love with James, which is simultaneously slightly sweet and extremely creepy, she is awful. Internally awful, but since we can't (sadly) escape her head, WE know how awful she is, jealous of everything that shows an interest in James, from the high school girl who goes on walks with him to the freakin' cat. SHE'S JEALOUS OF THE CAT.
The plus side is, Peggy's also a pretty unique character. That doesn't make her enjoyable (AT ALL) but at least it helps propel the book along. So, although I never threw this book down with disgust, it was one of those books that I was pleased to finish because it was finally over.
Also, the ending is weird. If you get there, you'll know what I mean.
If you have been searching high and low for a book that tells the unfulfilling love story between a morose librarian and a boy with gigantism half her age who she's known since he was 12, then LOOK NO FURTHER. And, as you can see from my rating, the librarian is not the only person who left this book unfulfilled.
I don't want to hate on this book too much, though, because it's really unique and the author is an awesome writer with a very individualized style. There is no other book like her's.
And the story is interesting. You DO want to know what happens to James, already six feet tall when you meet him as a middle schooler and who continues to grow through the book. If anyone else has ever written a book about a boy growing up with gigantism, I have yet to read it. And his life is compelling and awful at the same time. You care about James, you really do.
However, McCracken created possibly the most unlikable main characters in the librarian, which is sad, because every librarian I have ever known is extremely likable and not, in fact, embittered against the world. Peggy (said librarian) wanders around having internal monologues about how unlovable a person she is (and boy is she right) and talking about how small her life is (but she likes it that way--but she's narrating, so you suspect she's lying about that) until you just want to scream "FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CAN SOMEONE ELSE NARRATE THIS STORY? I HATE YOU TOO, PEGGY."
Even when Peggy falls in love with James, which is simultaneously slightly sweet and extremely creepy, she is awful. Internally awful, but since we can't (sadly) escape her head, WE know how awful she is, jealous of everything that shows an interest in James, from the high school girl who goes on walks with him to the freakin' cat. SHE'S JEALOUS OF THE CAT.
The plus side is, Peggy's also a pretty unique character. That doesn't make her enjoyable (AT ALL) but at least it helps propel the book along. So, although I never threw this book down with disgust, it was one of those books that I was pleased to finish because it was finally over.
Also, the ending is weird. If you get there, you'll know what I mean.
March 11, 2024
Praėję metai knygine prasme susiklostė labai vidutiniški, bet skaitydama šio romano korektūrą gana greitai supratau, kad pagaliau atradau vieną geriausių metų knygų. Sunku net tiksliai pasakyti, kas mane sužavėjo pirmiausia – puikus, plaukiantis rašymo stilius, knygos subtilumas, jautrumas ar apskritai istorijos originalumas, o gal nuostabus Ignės Norvaišaitės Aleliūnienės vertimas. O galbūt paprasčiausiai visų šių dalykų visuma. Bet romanas smigo tiesiai į širdį ir žinau, kad ten užsiliks ilgai.
Iš pirmo žvilgsnio istorija, reklamuojama anotacijoje, atrodo mažų mažiausiai keista, todėl imdama knygą skaityti nelabai žinojau, ko tikėtis. Bet kūrinys visiškai pranoko mano lūkesčius, mat autorė, pasitelkusi itin unikalų, man dar niekur negirdėtą veikėją, sukuria tokią meilės ir rūpesčio istoriją, kokios nesitikėtum. Patiko, kad ji nesišalina nepatogių ir nesmagių akimirkų, kad visas pasakojimas tarsi persmelktas susikuklinimo, nedrąsumo, bet tuo pat metu ir didelės meilės. Kadangi pati dažnai kovoju su tokia pačia priešprieša, man tai pasirodė be galo artima. Patiko, kad veikėjai čia toli gražu ne tobuli ir turintis begalę ydų, bet tokie žmogiški, kad neįmanoma prie jų neprisirišti. Autorė neteisia, nemoko, nepamokslauja, tiesiog leidžia veikėjams gyventi ir jausti. Knyga savo melancholiškumu ir keistumu man priminė pačios verstus „Mažus malonumus“, vis dar vieną širdžiai artimiausių verstų knygų, todėl labai džiaugiausi, kad atradau dar vieną tokį kūrinį, kurį mintyse galiu dėti į tą pačią lentyną.
Tai viena tų knygų, pagal kurią tikriausiai galėčiau matuoti, ar su žmogumi rasiu bendrą kalbą – jei jam ji patiko, tai jau labai stipri pradžia, o jei skaitantysis knygos nesuprato, tai bijau, kad nesupras ir manęs. Rekomenduoju iš visos širdies – tikiuosi, kad šią istoriją atras ir ja džiaugsis kuo daugiau žmonių.
Iš pirmo žvilgsnio istorija, reklamuojama anotacijoje, atrodo mažų mažiausiai keista, todėl imdama knygą skaityti nelabai žinojau, ko tikėtis. Bet kūrinys visiškai pranoko mano lūkesčius, mat autorė, pasitelkusi itin unikalų, man dar niekur negirdėtą veikėją, sukuria tokią meilės ir rūpesčio istoriją, kokios nesitikėtum. Patiko, kad ji nesišalina nepatogių ir nesmagių akimirkų, kad visas pasakojimas tarsi persmelktas susikuklinimo, nedrąsumo, bet tuo pat metu ir didelės meilės. Kadangi pati dažnai kovoju su tokia pačia priešprieša, man tai pasirodė be galo artima. Patiko, kad veikėjai čia toli gražu ne tobuli ir turintis begalę ydų, bet tokie žmogiški, kad neįmanoma prie jų neprisirišti. Autorė neteisia, nemoko, nepamokslauja, tiesiog leidžia veikėjams gyventi ir jausti. Knyga savo melancholiškumu ir keistumu man priminė pačios verstus „Mažus malonumus“, vis dar vieną širdžiai artimiausių verstų knygų, todėl labai džiaugiausi, kad atradau dar vieną tokį kūrinį, kurį mintyse galiu dėti į tą pačią lentyną.
Tai viena tų knygų, pagal kurią tikriausiai galėčiau matuoti, ar su žmogumi rasiu bendrą kalbą – jei jam ji patiko, tai jau labai stipri pradžia, o jei skaitantysis knygos nesuprato, tai bijau, kad nesupras ir manęs. Rekomenduoju iš visos širdies – tikiuosi, kad šią istoriją atras ir ja džiaugsis kuo daugiau žmonių.
October 7, 2008
This is still one of my top 5 favorite books of all time. Elizabeth McCracken's style of writing is really beautiful. She has an unapologetic way of presenting a person's deepest innermost flaws, while simultaneously giving you every opportunity to fall in love with them. I fell in love with the main characters in this book, over and over again. I gave this book to a friend and bought myself another copy, which I've referred repeatedly. I don't know that I plan to read it again, but I can't imagine my life without this book living on my shelf.
July 5, 2012
**spoiler alert
Before I say anything else, I have to say that Elizabeth McCracken is a literary ballerina - she is in love with words and her use of them could not be more graceful or defined. The Giant's House is written in first person and I get the feeling that many of the thoughts & opinions are her own. Her intellect and wisdom had me reading and rereading sentences because many of them were so deep, so meaningful that they deserved a minute or more of reflection a piece.
Other reviewers mentioned that Peggy's character aggravated them; that they felt she was too "woe is me", too focused on feeling unloved. I agree that it wasn't an easy read in that sense - I found myself wanting more from the character. As deep a thinker as she was, she was still an emotionally undeveloped person (though McCracken's writing itself could not have been better developed) and that made it difficult to connect with her at times. However, that was the point of this story and it became a bit more clear to me towards the end - James, a boy with his own reasons for solitude, becomes Peggy's outlet and fills a void that, as Peggy said herself, she couldn't let anybody else fill. There was a line in there somewhere about how maybe she loved him selfishly, loved him because he wouldn't be around to love for long. She mentioned that maybe that was the only type of love she could handle. Regardless of the reasoning behind it, James becomes that person and she becomes a much needed constant in his bizarre world. Its an exchange that probably ended up saving both of their lives at different points in the book.
I wanted to give this book 4 stars, because the writing is beautiful beyond words and the story won't be one I soon forget, but the truth is, even so I found myself feeling bored and impatient in the middle. It started to get a little monotonous and just when it reached some sort of climax, it fell back down and soon after that the story comes to an end. The last few chapters were a quick read; updates on what happens after James's death. I didn't mind the romance between Peggy & James's father, because I understood the emotional reasons behind it and it seemed realistic enough. And I even thought that the pregnancy was an interesting way to wrap things up... Peggy's insistence on it being James's baby was realistic, because by this time we've gotten to know and understand the depth and complexities of her love for him. I liked that in doing that, she gave James a legacy that he couldn't otherwise have fulfilled.
I guess that's what I liked most about it (aside from all of the beautiful metaphors and pieces of wisdom) - that James is a boy who's disability has taken so much from him and Peggy is a grown woman who, in a way, has taken so much from herself. I like that relationship; that there could be a line of understanding between two people like that. I just kept finding myself wishing that more had happened between them, not necessarily romantically, but emotionally. I wish somehow James had gotten Peggy to open up or to evolve in some way or that she made a deeper emotional impact on his world. I know that probably would have made the story less realistic, but as it was, it fell short for me. It just didn't feel like enough at times.
Also, I have to mention that the scene in the shoe store with James's feet..... McCracken is such an amazingly detailed writer that I seriously dry heaved reading that. I don't think I've ever read something so grotesque in my life! It's a mental picture that will probably never leave me. Just a warning! If you get to the part that mentions feet, you may want to stop right there.
My favorite quote in the book ended up being one by James's father. It's absolutely beautiful and something I've thought of myself, except of course, I could never put it in words like McCracken has:
"People become immune to love like they become immune to any disease. Either they had it bad early in life, like chicken pox, and that's that; or they keep getting exposed to it in little doses and build up an immunity; or somehow they just don't catch it, something in them is born resistant... I'm immune to love and poison ivy."
Overall I'd says its definitely worth the read. It was a memorable story and despite the areas where it dragged, the writing carried it enough to keep me reading.
Before I say anything else, I have to say that Elizabeth McCracken is a literary ballerina - she is in love with words and her use of them could not be more graceful or defined. The Giant's House is written in first person and I get the feeling that many of the thoughts & opinions are her own. Her intellect and wisdom had me reading and rereading sentences because many of them were so deep, so meaningful that they deserved a minute or more of reflection a piece.
Other reviewers mentioned that Peggy's character aggravated them; that they felt she was too "woe is me", too focused on feeling unloved. I agree that it wasn't an easy read in that sense - I found myself wanting more from the character. As deep a thinker as she was, she was still an emotionally undeveloped person (though McCracken's writing itself could not have been better developed) and that made it difficult to connect with her at times. However, that was the point of this story and it became a bit more clear to me towards the end - James, a boy with his own reasons for solitude, becomes Peggy's outlet and fills a void that, as Peggy said herself, she couldn't let anybody else fill. There was a line in there somewhere about how maybe she loved him selfishly, loved him because he wouldn't be around to love for long. She mentioned that maybe that was the only type of love she could handle. Regardless of the reasoning behind it, James becomes that person and she becomes a much needed constant in his bizarre world. Its an exchange that probably ended up saving both of their lives at different points in the book.
I wanted to give this book 4 stars, because the writing is beautiful beyond words and the story won't be one I soon forget, but the truth is, even so I found myself feeling bored and impatient in the middle. It started to get a little monotonous and just when it reached some sort of climax, it fell back down and soon after that the story comes to an end. The last few chapters were a quick read; updates on what happens after James's death. I didn't mind the romance between Peggy & James's father, because I understood the emotional reasons behind it and it seemed realistic enough. And I even thought that the pregnancy was an interesting way to wrap things up... Peggy's insistence on it being James's baby was realistic, because by this time we've gotten to know and understand the depth and complexities of her love for him. I liked that in doing that, she gave James a legacy that he couldn't otherwise have fulfilled.
I guess that's what I liked most about it (aside from all of the beautiful metaphors and pieces of wisdom) - that James is a boy who's disability has taken so much from him and Peggy is a grown woman who, in a way, has taken so much from herself. I like that relationship; that there could be a line of understanding between two people like that. I just kept finding myself wishing that more had happened between them, not necessarily romantically, but emotionally. I wish somehow James had gotten Peggy to open up or to evolve in some way or that she made a deeper emotional impact on his world. I know that probably would have made the story less realistic, but as it was, it fell short for me. It just didn't feel like enough at times.
Also, I have to mention that the scene in the shoe store with James's feet..... McCracken is such an amazingly detailed writer that I seriously dry heaved reading that. I don't think I've ever read something so grotesque in my life! It's a mental picture that will probably never leave me. Just a warning! If you get to the part that mentions feet, you may want to stop right there.
My favorite quote in the book ended up being one by James's father. It's absolutely beautiful and something I've thought of myself, except of course, I could never put it in words like McCracken has:
"People become immune to love like they become immune to any disease. Either they had it bad early in life, like chicken pox, and that's that; or they keep getting exposed to it in little doses and build up an immunity; or somehow they just don't catch it, something in them is born resistant... I'm immune to love and poison ivy."
Overall I'd says its definitely worth the read. It was a memorable story and despite the areas where it dragged, the writing carried it enough to keep me reading.
March 7, 2024
Labai mėgstu Svajonių knygų Indigo serijos knygas. Jos visuomet įtraukiančios, priverčiančios susimąstyti bei apmąstyti dalykus.
Veiksmas vyksta mažame Menkių kyšulio miestelyje. Miestelio bibliotekoje dirbanti Pegė Kort gyvena nykų, niekuo neišsiskiriantį gyvenimą. Tai pasikeičia tą dieną, kuomet susikerta jos ir Džeimso Sveto keliai.
Netikėtai tarp šių dviejų žmonių užsimezga draugystė, kuri amžiams pakeis šių žmonių likimus.
Melancholiškas, tačiau tikrai įtraukiantis bei neįprastas pasakojimas. Įdomi knygos tema, kuri buvo tikrai neįprasta. Ir net neabejoju, jog tai pridėjo šiai istorijai išskirtinio žavesio.
Be galo žavi draugystė, vėliau išaugusi į šį tą daugiau.
Ši knyga dar kartelį įrodė, jog visai nesvarbu ką mano aplinkiniai. Svarbiausia yra tai, ką jauti tu pats ❤️
Jauki bei jautri knyga, kuri patiks mėgstantiems išskirtines bei kokybiškas istorijas. Labai subtiliai autorės valdomi žodžiai, kurie puikiai čia pritiko. Ir net neabejoju, jog prie viso šio grožio prisidėjo ir nepriekaištingas Ignės Norvaišaitės-Aleliūnienės vertimas 🤍
Veiksmas vyksta mažame Menkių kyšulio miestelyje. Miestelio bibliotekoje dirbanti Pegė Kort gyvena nykų, niekuo neišsiskiriantį gyvenimą. Tai pasikeičia tą dieną, kuomet susikerta jos ir Džeimso Sveto keliai.
Netikėtai tarp šių dviejų žmonių užsimezga draugystė, kuri amžiams pakeis šių žmonių likimus.
Melancholiškas, tačiau tikrai įtraukiantis bei neįprastas pasakojimas. Įdomi knygos tema, kuri buvo tikrai neįprasta. Ir net neabejoju, jog tai pridėjo šiai istorijai išskirtinio žavesio.
Be galo žavi draugystė, vėliau išaugusi į šį tą daugiau.
Ši knyga dar kartelį įrodė, jog visai nesvarbu ką mano aplinkiniai. Svarbiausia yra tai, ką jauti tu pats ❤️
Jauki bei jautri knyga, kuri patiks mėgstantiems išskirtines bei kokybiškas istorijas. Labai subtiliai autorės valdomi žodžiai, kurie puikiai čia pritiko. Ir net neabejoju, jog prie viso šio grožio prisidėjo ir nepriekaištingas Ignės Norvaišaitės-Aleliūnienės vertimas 🤍
June 7, 2012
If you have not heard of Robert Wadlow, he IS James Sweatt and was a very real man which is why I cannot respect the author for labeling the book a work of fiction. I immediately recognized the similarities to him when I started the book but waited until I was done to look at his Wikipedia page. I haven't read about him since I was a child, so I was appalled at the number of similarities including:
Exact cause of death, height and similar age at the time of death, working for a shoe store and getting free shoes, appearing for the Ringling Brothers, wearing leg braces, being buried in a cement coffin for fear of having his body stolen, fighting a doctor who published very similar negative findings about him, erecting a life-size statue of him after his death, his interest in being a lawyer, the cause of his height, being the tallest man in the world, and very similar measurements at the same ages including being a normal size at birth. Oh and go to thegiantshouse.com and you will not find this book but rather a website about Robert Wadlow's house.
As such, I am extremely disappointed that the only interesting parts of this book were lifted from a real person leaving the original character of Peggy as the most boring person I have ever read about. James was too good for her.
Exact cause of death, height and similar age at the time of death, working for a shoe store and getting free shoes, appearing for the Ringling Brothers, wearing leg braces, being buried in a cement coffin for fear of having his body stolen, fighting a doctor who published very similar negative findings about him, erecting a life-size statue of him after his death, his interest in being a lawyer, the cause of his height, being the tallest man in the world, and very similar measurements at the same ages including being a normal size at birth. Oh and go to thegiantshouse.com and you will not find this book but rather a website about Robert Wadlow's house.
As such, I am extremely disappointed that the only interesting parts of this book were lifted from a real person leaving the original character of Peggy as the most boring person I have ever read about. James was too good for her.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 13, 2024
Ši knyga mane viliojo ir prisiviliojo: iš pradžių neketinau jos skaityti (abejonių kėlė įtartinai žemas GR reitingas 🧐), bet kai sulaukiau net trijų asmeninių rekomendacijų duoti jai šansą, o dar kai darbe savaitę laiko kiekvieną dieną kliuvo akys už to užburiančio žvilgsnio nuo viršelio, pasidaviau. Taip visai neplanuotai „Milžino namas“ užlindo į skaitinių priekį, ir labai greitai susiskaitė. Bet ar sužavėjo? Eeem... 🙃
Šiaip buvo labai smagu pirmą kartą skaityti knygą apie bibliotekininkę, kai jau ir pati esu bibliotekininkė – kažkaip viskas dar kitaip persiduoda, kitaip per save perleidi tai, ką skaitai. Tad kas liečia pagrindinės herojės asmenybę, kuri buvo atskleista per jos darbą, jos savitas žvilgsnis į aplinką ir pačią save, jos atsiskyrėlišas būdas tikrai turėjo savito žavesio. Pegė – viena iš tų keistuolių knygose, tad tikiu, kad turi šansų palenkti į savo pusę tokius personažus mėgstančius skaitytojus.
Bet kas niekaip man nepramušė, tai... ta „neįprasta meilės istorija“, žadama ant (be galo gražaus) viršelio 😶 Pegė milžiną Džeimsą įsimyli, kai jam yra... 12 metų. Iškart užbėgsiu už akių ir įspėsiu, kad Pegė savo jausmų paaugliui neprimetinėja, bet jie pas ją yra. Ir sakykim, kad vaikinas spėja užaugti, iki kol jų santykiai pakrypsta kažkiek romantine linkme. Bet net neabejoju, kad jeigu situacija būtų atvirkštinė ir knyga būtų apie 25-erių metų vyrą, kuris „visiškai tyra“ ir „besąlygiška meile“ įsimyli 12-metę ligotą mergaitę ir ją globoja, tai tokia knyga būtų užmėtyta akmenimis.
Knygai artėjant link pabaigos dar svarstyklės ėmė svirti Pegės naudai ir jau buvau ją su savo keistenybėmis beprisijaukinanti, o tada... ji ėmė ir padarė kai ką visiškai neįsivaizduojamai bjauraus. Kas tik patvirtino per visą knygą it šešėlis lydėjusį jausmą, kad Pegės meilė visgi ne tyra ir besąlygiška, o savininkiška ir liguista. There, I said it.
Kaip mes bibliotekoje apie tokias sakom, šita knyga bus išskirtiniam skaitytojui – ir tai tikra tiesa. Taip pat manau, kad ji labai tiktų knygų klubams – joje daug erdvės diskusijoms ir skirtingoms nuomonėms, tad grupiniai aptarimai tikrai turėtų būti įdomūs.
Šiaip buvo labai smagu pirmą kartą skaityti knygą apie bibliotekininkę, kai jau ir pati esu bibliotekininkė – kažkaip viskas dar kitaip persiduoda, kitaip per save perleidi tai, ką skaitai. Tad kas liečia pagrindinės herojės asmenybę, kuri buvo atskleista per jos darbą, jos savitas žvilgsnis į aplinką ir pačią save, jos atsiskyrėlišas būdas tikrai turėjo savito žavesio. Pegė – viena iš tų keistuolių knygose, tad tikiu, kad turi šansų palenkti į savo pusę tokius personažus mėgstančius skaitytojus.
Bet kas niekaip man nepramušė, tai... ta „neįprasta meilės istorija“, žadama ant (be galo gražaus) viršelio 😶 Pegė milžiną Džeimsą įsimyli, kai jam yra... 12 metų. Iškart užbėgsiu už akių ir įspėsiu, kad Pegė savo jausmų paaugliui neprimetinėja, bet jie pas ją yra. Ir sakykim, kad vaikinas spėja užaugti, iki kol jų santykiai pakrypsta kažkiek romantine linkme. Bet net neabejoju, kad jeigu situacija būtų atvirkštinė ir knyga būtų apie 25-erių metų vyrą, kuris „visiškai tyra“ ir „besąlygiška meile“ įsimyli 12-metę ligotą mergaitę ir ją globoja, tai tokia knyga būtų užmėtyta akmenimis.
Knygai artėjant link pabaigos dar svarstyklės ėmė svirti Pegės naudai ir jau buvau ją su savo keistenybėmis beprisijaukinanti, o tada... ji ėmė ir padarė kai ką visiškai neįsivaizduojamai bjauraus. Kas tik patvirtino per visą knygą it šešėlis lydėjusį jausmą, kad Pegės meilė visgi ne tyra ir besąlygiška, o savininkiška ir liguista. There, I said it.
Kaip mes bibliotekoje apie tokias sakom, šita knyga bus išskirtiniam skaitytojui – ir tai tikra tiesa. Taip pat manau, kad ji labai tiktų knygų klubams – joje daug erdvės diskusijoms ir skirtingoms nuomonėms, tad grupiniai aptarimai tikrai turėtų būti įdomūs.
May 26, 2008
"Space is the chief problem. Books are a bad family-there are those you love, and those you are indifferent o; idiots and mad cousins who you would banish except others enjoy their company; wrongheaded but fascinating eccentrics and dreamy geniuses; orphaned grandchildren; and endless brothers-in-law simply taking up space who you wish you could send straight to hell. Except you can't, for the the most part. You must house them and make them comfortable and worry about them when they go on trips and there is never enough room."
As a circulation aide in my college town public library, i can't help but deeply appreciate, and often laugh at, McCracken's description of librarian neurosis.
Yet, while some may find it hard to empathize with the lonely, cynical Peggy, it is her rare true self-reflection-still tinged with egocentricity- that endears you to her, and at times, forces you to pity her. McCracken does a brilliant job of peeling back the judgments and nuances of a character's psyche-even one who is deathly afraid of what she will find.
As a circulation aide in my college town public library, i can't help but deeply appreciate, and often laugh at, McCracken's description of librarian neurosis.
Yet, while some may find it hard to empathize with the lonely, cynical Peggy, it is her rare true self-reflection-still tinged with egocentricity- that endears you to her, and at times, forces you to pity her. McCracken does a brilliant job of peeling back the judgments and nuances of a character's psyche-even one who is deathly afraid of what she will find.
Read
January 6, 2014I read this years ago but just came back to re-read it again. It's a quirky, bittersweet love story, and McCracken does such a good job of imagining her way into both the giant's body and the mind, and voice, of the woman who loves him. Lovely, sad, weird, and warm all at once.
January 20, 2015
My local public library is doing a great promotion right now that encourages participants to read books either published or set in different decades within the last 100 years. Normally that's the kind of challenge I might shy away from—I gravitate strongly toward contemporary books, and my to-read list is mostly full of books written within the past few years. What can I say, I'm a creature of the moment.
Then I found out the finisher's prize is a tote bag, and I immediately started hunting for books that would fit the bill. Because (and I'm not ashamed to say this) I would do a lot of things for a free tote bag with a book-related logo on it.
I chose The Giant's House because it was first published in 1996 and the story is set in the 1950s, giving me a couple options for how to record it on my entry form. And it turned out to be a win-win, because not only did it get me one step closer to a tote bag, it was also a good-if-a-bit-weird read.
Dour, slightly misanthropic Peggy is a small-town librarian who at twenty-six has already given up on love. It's hard to be too surprised by this, because her crotchety narration makes it clear that she's not exactly Miss Congeniality. She became a librarian because she loves order and knowledge, but most workdays finds herself silently stamping books and filing cards behind the desk, unappreciated and unacknowledged. Then one day eleven-year-old James comes to the library, and everything changes for Peggy.
James is literally a giant—he's already over six feet tall and will continue to grow for the rest of his life. He's also a sensitive soul and a voracious reader, and Peggy goes out of her way to supply her fascinating patron with a wide variety of books. Over the years, Peggy does whatever she can to stay in James's orbit, despite his mounting physical problems and her own solitary nature.
In order to like this book, you have to not only like love stories, but like them weird. There is nothing normal about a cranky librarian falling in love with an eight-foot-tall man fifteen years her junior. But book lovers will find something to relate to in Peggy—some of her musings about her library and the books in it are humorously memorable. (At one point, she characterizes library books as slutty, opening their pages for anyone who wants to read them, as opposed to the virtuous books purchased in bookstores and married to their owners for life.)
And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to claim myself a tote bag.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
Then I found out the finisher's prize is a tote bag, and I immediately started hunting for books that would fit the bill. Because (and I'm not ashamed to say this) I would do a lot of things for a free tote bag with a book-related logo on it.
I chose The Giant's House because it was first published in 1996 and the story is set in the 1950s, giving me a couple options for how to record it on my entry form. And it turned out to be a win-win, because not only did it get me one step closer to a tote bag, it was also a good-if-a-bit-weird read.
Dour, slightly misanthropic Peggy is a small-town librarian who at twenty-six has already given up on love. It's hard to be too surprised by this, because her crotchety narration makes it clear that she's not exactly Miss Congeniality. She became a librarian because she loves order and knowledge, but most workdays finds herself silently stamping books and filing cards behind the desk, unappreciated and unacknowledged. Then one day eleven-year-old James comes to the library, and everything changes for Peggy.
James is literally a giant—he's already over six feet tall and will continue to grow for the rest of his life. He's also a sensitive soul and a voracious reader, and Peggy goes out of her way to supply her fascinating patron with a wide variety of books. Over the years, Peggy does whatever she can to stay in James's orbit, despite his mounting physical problems and her own solitary nature.
In order to like this book, you have to not only like love stories, but like them weird. There is nothing normal about a cranky librarian falling in love with an eight-foot-tall man fifteen years her junior. But book lovers will find something to relate to in Peggy—some of her musings about her library and the books in it are humorously memorable. (At one point, she characterizes library books as slutty, opening their pages for anyone who wants to read them, as opposed to the virtuous books purchased in bookstores and married to their owners for life.)
And now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to claim myself a tote bag.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
May 25, 2011
I am addicted. From the moment I began reading (I'm only on page 35), I was hooked. Lock, stock and barrel. Wow! Perhaps it's the time of year. Perhaps it's the stunning freshness of style, compassion for her topic, perception of life, dexterous use of metaphor, imagery, irony and humor. I underline, annotate, circle on and on her aphorism, truths about single women, truths about librarians, truths about favorite patrons and the need to be needed. The need to impart, share, and advise patrons in finding information, identifying reading material and simply communicating to the public is so huge. I am glad that I have found Elizabeth McCracken. My pen has a lovely blue ink. When it runs out, I shall take out a new one and continue making the book mine.
February 4, 2015
All it took was someone else to mention this book for me to have to take it from my shelf to re-read. I tend to buy books when I know they are 5 star as GoodReads would have it. Librarian who doesn't like people, a description of someone's buttocks as wide as an open dictionary. My opinion of Elizabeth McCracken's genius here is well-known to all my non-virtual friends. James and Peggy are both remarkable characters. I could continue but why waste time reading this when you could be having your heart broken, very slowly, by Elizabeth McCracken?
May 6, 2012
The premise of the novel The Giant’s House reads like it was ripped from the headlines of a supermarket tabloid: LIBRARIAN WEDS GIANT! It’s No TALL TALE! See page 13 for the Big Shocking Details!
While it’s true that Elizabeth McCracken’s novel is built around sensationalism and while it’s also true that the spinster librarian weds the world’s tallest man, it’s also true that this is one of the oddest, sweetest romances you’ll ever read.
Nominated for the National Book Award in 1996, The Giant’s House is the story of Peggy Cort, a lonely librarian in a small Cape Cod town in the 1950s. One day, James Carlson Sweatt, the world’s tallest boy (six-foot-two when he was eleven years old), walks into her library and asks for help finding a book. Here’s how McCracken describes their first meeting:
"He first came into my library in the fall of 1950, when he was eleven. Some teacher from the elementary school brought them all trooping in; I was behind the desk, putting a cart of fiction in order. I thought at first he was a second teacher, he was so much taller than the rest, tall even for a grown man. Then I noticed the chinos and white bucks and saw that this was the over-tall boy I’d heard about."
From that moment on, neither of their lives will be the same. Over the years, Peggy develops a close friendship with James—a friendship that sprouts into a romance, then blossoms into, yes, the world’s strangest marriage. Not since Tom Thumb wed his midget bride has there ever been such a tabloid-ready romance as this one.
Peggy helps James pick out size-30 shoes and supervises the construction of his built-to-fit cottage in his mother’s back yard. He, on the other hand, breathes life into her dull spinsterhood. He’s sweet and honest; he’s tender with his compliments; he writes her love notes:
Love Poem for a Librarian
Although her love for me is infinitesimal,
Her eyes are as Dewey as any old decimal.
Who could resist someone who wrote verse like that (no matter how much his head scraped the ceiling)? James is indeed a very endearing character and is just the right tonic for Peggy’s bitter depression. Gradually, we come to see that this is a universal love story, a fable for our own romantically-troubled times. What begins as a romance worthy of P.T. Barnum soon becomes something that can apply to any number of relationships in society. It’s a fairy tale for oddballs, yes; but it also applies to us "ordinary" folks, too.
It’s not a perfect novel by any means. McCracken’s style is at times too heavy on the metaphor and there’s an unexpectedly wrenching sadness, especially in the closing pages. But there is also some absolutely stunning writing at work on these pages. I especially like this early description:
"Everyone knew him as The Giant. Well, what else could you call him? Brilliant, maybe, and handsome and talented, but doomed to be mostly enormous. A painter, an amateur magician, a compulsive letter-writer, James Carlson Sweatt spent his life sitting down, hunching over. Hunching partly because that’s the way he grew, like a flower; partly to make him seem smaller to the others."
In fact, leafing back through the pages, I found so many quotable passages that it was hard to pick just one. This is writing that is so lovely, so majestically composed that, just like its main character, it looms large on the page and in your memory long after you’ve closed the last page.
While it’s true that Elizabeth McCracken’s novel is built around sensationalism and while it’s also true that the spinster librarian weds the world’s tallest man, it’s also true that this is one of the oddest, sweetest romances you’ll ever read.
Nominated for the National Book Award in 1996, The Giant’s House is the story of Peggy Cort, a lonely librarian in a small Cape Cod town in the 1950s. One day, James Carlson Sweatt, the world’s tallest boy (six-foot-two when he was eleven years old), walks into her library and asks for help finding a book. Here’s how McCracken describes their first meeting:
"He first came into my library in the fall of 1950, when he was eleven. Some teacher from the elementary school brought them all trooping in; I was behind the desk, putting a cart of fiction in order. I thought at first he was a second teacher, he was so much taller than the rest, tall even for a grown man. Then I noticed the chinos and white bucks and saw that this was the over-tall boy I’d heard about."
From that moment on, neither of their lives will be the same. Over the years, Peggy develops a close friendship with James—a friendship that sprouts into a romance, then blossoms into, yes, the world’s strangest marriage. Not since Tom Thumb wed his midget bride has there ever been such a tabloid-ready romance as this one.
Peggy helps James pick out size-30 shoes and supervises the construction of his built-to-fit cottage in his mother’s back yard. He, on the other hand, breathes life into her dull spinsterhood. He’s sweet and honest; he’s tender with his compliments; he writes her love notes:
Love Poem for a Librarian
Although her love for me is infinitesimal,
Her eyes are as Dewey as any old decimal.
Who could resist someone who wrote verse like that (no matter how much his head scraped the ceiling)? James is indeed a very endearing character and is just the right tonic for Peggy’s bitter depression. Gradually, we come to see that this is a universal love story, a fable for our own romantically-troubled times. What begins as a romance worthy of P.T. Barnum soon becomes something that can apply to any number of relationships in society. It’s a fairy tale for oddballs, yes; but it also applies to us "ordinary" folks, too.
It’s not a perfect novel by any means. McCracken’s style is at times too heavy on the metaphor and there’s an unexpectedly wrenching sadness, especially in the closing pages. But there is also some absolutely stunning writing at work on these pages. I especially like this early description:
"Everyone knew him as The Giant. Well, what else could you call him? Brilliant, maybe, and handsome and talented, but doomed to be mostly enormous. A painter, an amateur magician, a compulsive letter-writer, James Carlson Sweatt spent his life sitting down, hunching over. Hunching partly because that’s the way he grew, like a flower; partly to make him seem smaller to the others."
In fact, leafing back through the pages, I found so many quotable passages that it was hard to pick just one. This is writing that is so lovely, so majestically composed that, just like its main character, it looms large on the page and in your memory long after you’ve closed the last page.
March 24, 2022
McCracken is a great storyteller. That might sound like an obvious statement, but IMHO many writers, even good ones, are not necessarily that. Fiction can be compelling, and beautiful, and well crafted without necessarily really telling a story at all, let alone telling a story well. McCracken gives us Peggy as our narrator, introducing her as a repressed small-town librarian who loves the books, their order and unchangeability more than she loves anything in them. As we get to know her she turns out to have unexpected depths, a dry but truly amusing sense of humor, and some inarguably creepy characteristics. This is not completely subjective -- she falls in love with James a 12 year old when she is in her mid 20's, and she clearly states this is not a motherly or sisterly love, this is romantic love, and it is a love that becomes the center of her life until that child dies as a young man of 20. (James' death is revealed at the beginning, I have not spoiled anything.) James has a pituitary disorder and he grows to be the tallest man in the world, his body taxed beyond its capabilites fails to work in the ways it must for a happy fulfilling life, and his personal tragedies are many, but James is a generally happy boy and later a generally happy man. This attraction is not dissimilar to that of Humbert Humbert -- Peggy, like Humbert, is a person whose place of origin is sullied and ugly and who has a desperate need to suck in the optimism of uncorrupted youth. Who knows what sparks Peggy's ardor for this boy, but I expect it has something to do with the fact that in many ways James is a very ordinary uncomplicated man inside the body of a freak, and Peggy is a complicated deeply freaky woman, a woman who calls herself fundamentally unlovable, inside the most ordinary of bodies/lives.
The story of James is fascinating, even if the man is not and Peggy is as compelling a guide as one could want. That said, the story goes off is some baffling and unfulfilling directions, the story of James' mother, for one, takes up a lot of real estate it does not deserve. Also, its not clear why Peggy becomes the woman she does. It would seem that she was not so wildly in love with her own unhappiness as a college student. We meet her in her mid-20's, but the book never tells us what happened in the 5 years since college to change her. I also am not sure I was wild about the rather melodramatic resolution of the story -- Peggy's choice on how to deal with the group is out of character, and the repercussions seemed both obvious and implausible, which is weird. A good read, I enjoyed it, but not what it could have been with a little more craftsmanship.
The story of James is fascinating, even if the man is not and Peggy is as compelling a guide as one could want. That said, the story goes off is some baffling and unfulfilling directions, the story of James' mother, for one, takes up a lot of real estate it does not deserve. Also, its not clear why Peggy becomes the woman she does. It would seem that she was not so wildly in love with her own unhappiness as a college student. We meet her in her mid-20's, but the book never tells us what happened in the 5 years since college to change her. I also am not sure I was wild about the rather melodramatic resolution of the story -- Peggy's choice on how to deal with the group is out of character, and the repercussions seemed both obvious and implausible, which is weird. A good read, I enjoyed it, but not what it could have been with a little more craftsmanship.
January 28, 2015
Somehow this highly unlikely bond between the two main characters is clearly drawn by this author. It was a story I would seldom choose or connect to (feel) if given the basic plot beforehand. I just knew it was about a librarian and a library patron. And to be truthful, I didn't like Peggy much at any point in the first half. But she did come off as honest in her bleakness and levels of disinterest.
But somehow the tale melded to an extraordinary degree. By Part 3, I did not find the progress or the ending all that impossible.
No spoilers! But it's not only about a "love" but much about cognition of reality to terminal or chronic condition. A subject that is horrifically deficient in moderns, that's for sure. This book is well worth the read.
Definitely will now look up the other works of this author. She's a young person who writes like a much older of experience and consequence human.
But somehow the tale melded to an extraordinary degree. By Part 3, I did not find the progress or the ending all that impossible.
No spoilers! But it's not only about a "love" but much about cognition of reality to terminal or chronic condition. A subject that is horrifically deficient in moderns, that's for sure. This book is well worth the read.
Definitely will now look up the other works of this author. She's a young person who writes like a much older of experience and consequence human.
April 30, 2020
“But you cannot fly away from people who have flown away from you; you cannot fly into your own arms...Once you have been left you are always left; you cannot leave your leaving.”
April 7, 2024
❝ Abejoju, ar meilė gali pasiūlyti tai, ko nesuteiktų sekso, draugystės, intymių pokalbių, pagyrų ir, žinoma, viskio, derinys.
❝ Bet lengviausia išeitis ne visada yra lengva.
❝ Bet lengviausia išeitis ne visada yra lengva.
April 3, 2024
Puiki knyga, lengva skaityti, įdomu, pabaiga labai netikėta.
January 7, 2019
The Giant's House by Elizabeth McCracken is the story of Peggy Cort’s obsession—some might call it love—with James Sweatt, a young boy whose pituitary gland is out of sync, causing him to grow unnaturally until he is over 8 feet tall.
It is the 1950s and Peggy, a very lonely twenty-six-year old librarian with no social life, focuses her attention on maintaining a clean, orderly, and organized library. Every aspect of her life has to be tidy and in its proper place. Her social interactions are limited to assisting patrons of the library. Peggy’s very regulated, orderly life comes to a screeching halt when the overly tall eleven-year-old James Sweatt enters the library with a request for books. Peggy’s world is turned upside down. She becomes obsessed with James, hanging on every word and every movement of this tall, awkward boy.
As the years progress and James gets taller and taller, Peggy’s obsession escalates. She befriends James’ family to get closer to James, eventually becoming his primary caretaker after his mother’s death. She realizes she has fallen in love with James and harbors romantic notions of their lives together.
When James dies at the age of 18, Peggy’s obsession assumes morbid overtones. She has a one-night stand with James’ father to get closer to James and then lies to herself and all in sundry that her ensuing pregnancy is a result of her intimate relations with James.
The story is told in Peggy’s first-person point of view, which is an unfortunate choice for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Peggy engages in interminably long internal monologues in which she constantly berates herself, convinced she is unworthy of being loved. And secondly, her penchant for organizing and cataloguing is taken to an extreme when it comes to her obsession with James. She focuses on every minute detail of his person and analyzes every interaction she has with him, ad nauseum. It becomes tedious and exasperating to read this page after page after page.
Elizabeth McCracken shows great potential as a writer. She knows how to dance with words, conjure up descriptive detail, and write sentences that sparkle. Unfortunately, her choice to tell the story from Peggy’s point of view forces her to focus exclusively on the narrator’s internal machinations and all-consuming passion for James—a focus that quickly becomes old and slows the narrative to a snail’s pace.
It is the 1950s and Peggy, a very lonely twenty-six-year old librarian with no social life, focuses her attention on maintaining a clean, orderly, and organized library. Every aspect of her life has to be tidy and in its proper place. Her social interactions are limited to assisting patrons of the library. Peggy’s very regulated, orderly life comes to a screeching halt when the overly tall eleven-year-old James Sweatt enters the library with a request for books. Peggy’s world is turned upside down. She becomes obsessed with James, hanging on every word and every movement of this tall, awkward boy.
As the years progress and James gets taller and taller, Peggy’s obsession escalates. She befriends James’ family to get closer to James, eventually becoming his primary caretaker after his mother’s death. She realizes she has fallen in love with James and harbors romantic notions of their lives together.
When James dies at the age of 18, Peggy’s obsession assumes morbid overtones. She has a one-night stand with James’ father to get closer to James and then lies to herself and all in sundry that her ensuing pregnancy is a result of her intimate relations with James.
The story is told in Peggy’s first-person point of view, which is an unfortunate choice for a couple of reasons. Firstly, Peggy engages in interminably long internal monologues in which she constantly berates herself, convinced she is unworthy of being loved. And secondly, her penchant for organizing and cataloguing is taken to an extreme when it comes to her obsession with James. She focuses on every minute detail of his person and analyzes every interaction she has with him, ad nauseum. It becomes tedious and exasperating to read this page after page after page.
Elizabeth McCracken shows great potential as a writer. She knows how to dance with words, conjure up descriptive detail, and write sentences that sparkle. Unfortunately, her choice to tell the story from Peggy’s point of view forces her to focus exclusively on the narrator’s internal machinations and all-consuming passion for James—a focus that quickly becomes old and slows the narrative to a snail’s pace.
August 7, 2010
I picked this book to read because I read somewhere that an author I liked (can’t remember which one) recommended it as a great love story - a favorite of theirs. It was also a National Book Award finalist. How bad could it be? Well, after forcing myself to finish this book, I can honestly say it was one of the strangest stories I’ve read. In my opinion, it is definitely not a romance story. The love was one sided and oddly inappropriate. The main character is a thirty something librarian who falls in love with a teenage boy who suffers from giantism. The odd “love” story ends on an even stranger note, with an encounter between the librarian and the boy’s estranged father.
April 5, 2021
Having thoroughly enjoyed Elizabeth McCracken’s latest set of short stories, “The Souvenir Museum”, I immediately purchased some of McCracken’s earlier work; one such was “The Giant’s House: A Romance”, published in 1996 and a finalist for the National Book Award for that year.
“’Peggy Cort is crazy’, anyone will tell you so.” So says our first person narrator Peggy Cort, a spinster librarian. She also says this isn’t her story. She says the person whose memoir this is is dead, and he was the only person who DIDN’T think she was crazy. His name was James Carlson Sweatt and she met him when he was eleven and she was twenty-five. James is the eponymous Giant; 7’5” by the time he was sixteen.
Peggy falls in love with James. (It’s not a weird as it sounds.) So the story really IS about Peggy, and I fell in love with her!
It all comes down to Peggy’s wonderful narrative voice; she presents herself (faults included) as she sees HERSELF, but the reader understands that she’ is much more complex than she allows the world to see. I love stories where the characters “stick with you” as if they were real people that you were able to “walk along the road” with for a time. I won’t soon forget Peggy and James.
“’Peggy Cort is crazy’, anyone will tell you so.” So says our first person narrator Peggy Cort, a spinster librarian. She also says this isn’t her story. She says the person whose memoir this is is dead, and he was the only person who DIDN’T think she was crazy. His name was James Carlson Sweatt and she met him when he was eleven and she was twenty-five. James is the eponymous Giant; 7’5” by the time he was sixteen.
Peggy falls in love with James. (It’s not a weird as it sounds.) So the story really IS about Peggy, and I fell in love with her!
It all comes down to Peggy’s wonderful narrative voice; she presents herself (faults included) as she sees HERSELF, but the reader understands that she’ is much more complex than she allows the world to see. I love stories where the characters “stick with you” as if they were real people that you were able to “walk along the road” with for a time. I won’t soon forget Peggy and James.
December 2, 2017
A beautifully imagined and totally unconventional tale of love in a small-town Cape Cod setting wherein a young man meets the town librarian. The young man James grows to be the tallest man ever, but his needs are faithfully tended to by the librarian. Bizarre, you may ask? Yes, perhaps a bit.
I do love libraries and have just visited the Provincetown Library as well as the Chatham Library on Cape Cod, so this may have helped me accept this story in a more open way.
I do love libraries and have just visited the Provincetown Library as well as the Chatham Library on Cape Cod, so this may have helped me accept this story in a more open way.
November 18, 2016
McCracken is a brilliant writer, though sometimes over-careful in this book. If every sentence is exquisitely, meticulously crafted, the mind has nowhere to rest. I think you need some boring old regular sentences mixed in to let a book breathe. That's a small critique though. The pace, which lagged a little in the first half (so careful) was much improved in the second half, and I read compulsively through the second part of the book. I loved the notion of it; the giant, the librarian, Cape Cod, I found it all really delicious. The ending was a little weirder than I thought we were headed for, but it was fine. I thought a couple times that the narrator was a midget, and I'm glad I was wrong and the author resisted going in that direction. James was a likable character, the perimeter characters were shallow (purposely, I think) but interesting, and the librarian was rich. It's a good read.
Ok, there turned out to be nothing unseemly, no weird statutory giant sex, but from the synopsis it's possible to think this was a book with a very uncomfortable topic. And the other book I've read by McCracken, her masterful and incomparable memoir about stillbirth, is another topic that many people find off-putting, or too hard. She's very daring, but it's almost like she's dodging commercial success with these choices. I almost didn't read this one, read it mostly on credit due to her memoir. I don't know, strange choices.
Ok, there turned out to be nothing unseemly, no weird statutory giant sex, but from the synopsis it's possible to think this was a book with a very uncomfortable topic. And the other book I've read by McCracken, her masterful and incomparable memoir about stillbirth, is another topic that many people find off-putting, or too hard. She's very daring, but it's almost like she's dodging commercial success with these choices. I almost didn't read this one, read it mostly on credit due to her memoir. I don't know, strange choices.
February 5, 2013
I read this book because Ann Patchett mentioned it as one of her favorite books. Having liked Bel Canto by Ann Patchett a great deal, l was intrigued by what book had an influence on her. The Giant's House is a very odd story - written with a strange dispassion. I was slightly put off with the voice of the narrator which was more like a newspaper than a raconteur - as though the events were being reported rather than "told". However, the story does build and it is impossible not to be curious about what will happen. The characters are strange - the librarian with her self-described repression. The giant who is charming even though we really don't know too much about him because we only know him through the eyes of the librarian. The giant's weird mother was a strange curiosity and the giant's aunt and uncle are difficult to picture even though they are presented with quite a bit of description. The ending is quirky and sad and the appearance of the giant's father adds a twist that annoyed me. However, all that said, I am glad I read the book. I always appreciate stories about complex and unexpected relationships and The Giant 's House is definitely that. A very original tale.
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