House of Earth
Author: Woody Guthrie
Famous folk songwriter and singer Woody Guthrie is a reminder of the 60s at its best. But few know that the author of “This Land is Your Land” was an author and painter of talent. When his 1947 book House of Earth was discovered, it found its way to release in October 2013. An astounding novel, Guthrie depicts his own version of Grapes of Wrath.
The Great Depression is at its peak, and Tike Hamlin and his wife Ella May are trying to make a living as tenant farmers in the Texas Panhandle. They are strongly connected although their life seems to get ever worse: they cannot save the money to buy a piece of their own land, and live in such poverty that their house is falling apart.
Tike sends for a pamphlet from the Department of Agriculture with instructions on how to build an adobe home from the cellar up, and this becomes Tike’s dream. The wood that houses them rots in the arid desert climate and dust winds and Tike and Ella May feel that if they could just built a mud adobe they could allow their first child some basic comfort and assure that they survive.
As Guthrie depicts the marginalized lives of the tenant farmers of the Texas Panhandle, he utilizes language and metaphor and strikes powerfully at an America that allows the rich to prosper and the poor to suffocate.
House of Earth proves as powerful as the message it sends. Guthrie’s writing evokes a passion of survival, a collage of emotion, and throws up characters that are real and striking. This is a novel of force and message, and will certainly become a classic and stirring novel of fiction written by a man who understands the universality of the underprivileged and poor.
Ratings are based on a 5-star scale
Overall: 5
Review by Broad “A” – Ava
We received a copy of this title for our book review. All opinions are our own
House of Earth: A Novel
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