Review: Rooms by Lauren Oliver

Publisher: Ecco
Publication Date: September 23, 2015
Rating: 3 STARS
 
Wealthy Richard Walker has just died, leaving behind his country house full of rooms packed with the detritus of a lifetime. His estranged family—bitter ex-wife Caroline, troubled teenage son Trenton, and unforgiving daughter Minna—have arrived for their inheritance.

But the Walkers are not alone. Prim Alice and the cynical Sandra, long dead former residents bound to the house, linger within its claustrophobic walls. Jostling for space, memory, and supremacy, they observe the family, trading barbs and reminiscences about their past lives. Though their voices cannot be heard, Alice and Sandra speak through the house itself—in the hiss of the radiator, a creak in the stairs, the dimming of a light bulb.

The living and dead are each haunted by painful truths that will soon surface with explosive force. When a new ghost appears, and Trenton begins to communicate with her, the spirit and human worlds collide—with cataclysmic results.

Soooooo, this was a weird book.  I'm not even sure where to begin. So, a family returns to their old home to clean it out before it's sold, and everyone's a mess basically. The house is also haunted so we're told about the story not only from the families perspective, but also the ghosts. I'm not sure what to say about this book. It wasn't really a ghost story in the classic sense, no one was haunted. It was interesting learning about the lives of the ghosts and the family, but if it wasn't for the same mysteries in the book, I'm not sure I would have finished it. How did the ghosts die, who's the third ghost, why does everyone in this family seem to hate each other, but that was pretty much it. That's not to say it wasn't good, it just wasn't my style. The pace was a little slower than I would have liked. I don't know. It just wasn't my cup of tea I guess.