Product Description An acclaimed journalist who has written about everything from chefs to pediatric surgeons now turns his attention to the subject of home. In 2001 Michael and Donna Ruhlman purchased a 100-year-old house in suburban Cleveland. Then they set about making it their own. In relating this story—whose details he invests with novelistic drama—Ruhlman moves readers to consider what ''home'' means in a nation of vagabonds: why Americans long for a home of their own even as they feel compelled to move on. Here, too, is a deft unraveling of the relationship between a physical structure and the family life that transpires inside it. Thoughtful, elegant, and provocative, House is a must for prospective homebuyers and lovers of bravura journalism.
What Others Say
A very mixed book, though ultimately satisfying
House: A Memoir interested me as a native Clevelander and a former resident of Cleveland Heights. It also happened that I had recently sold an old house (in Atlanta) and had happily cast off the annoyances of homeownership.
For Ruhlman, the old house that he & his wife buy becomes imbued with many meanings of home. Ruhlman grew-up in the nearby suburb of Shaker Heights and the house becomes a meditation on growing up in suburban Cleveland and being able to recapture some of that life as an adult and for his children. Cleveland Heights once rivaled Shaker Heights for prestige, but was never as carefully as planned a city and always had a socially and economically more diverse population. Shaker Heights is a beautiful suburb, but Cleveland ... Read More
One of the reasons we moved home...
My husband is a native Clevelander, and we met in the city before moving to Florida shortly after our marriage. We were there 2 years when I read a review on House: A Memoir, and it was one of the catalysts in bringing us back to Cleveland, snow and all. Michael Ruhlman is a gifted writer, and this is clearly his love letter to his home and neighborhood. I loved it, although I'm not sure if it will be as well-received by people who do not know and love Cleveland Heights the way I do! Fascinating.
Old House Woes
As a native Clevelander, House: A Memoir about an old house right around the corner from where I went to college really hit home (no pun intended). I enjoyed reading about the history of Cleveland and the venerable neighborhood where the Ruhlman family live, and sympathized with them as they undertook a massive home remodeling. A good mix of history, house and family issues. Definitely would recommend this one, along with the author's other books.
Historic home revisited
Ruhlman's latest book focuses on his family's renovation of a hundred year old Victorian home in the Cleveland Heights section Cleveland. Ruhlman manages to weave a history of suburbia, and America's tense relationship with its very idea, with a personal remembrance of renovating something from the studs. His discussion of the history of the Cleveland Heights section as well as his own home's owners helps to bring the area to life; I found it to be an interesting look at a city that is struggling to regain some of it's urban power. The changing nature of suburbia is the backbone for much of what he writes - how America, an ever moving nation, has changed it's view on not only suburbs but also on the very notion of home and family. He also discusses ... Read More
A House Is Not A Home.
The movie, 'House' in which Kevin Kline starred was not based on this memoir. His house was built in a tree. Here, the Ruhlmans give a detailed account of their acquisition of a 100-yr-old place in Cleveland and how their lives were changed drastically. It is in a neighborhood meant for the city's elite, an aristocratic Anglo Village, but that was long ago. Sounds like the Fort Sanders area here.
Chuck played 'This Old House' recorded by Rosemary Clooney about a worn out, tuckered out place and no one who has the time to fix the shingles. The house on the cover of House: A Memoir has shingles. Unless there is a resident ghost, no old house is as good as a brand-new one. Years ago, I tried to save Tennessee Hall in Pulaski, and my group ... Read More
