Sun House: A Novel

This is the most unusual and most affecting novel I have ever read. I read its 776 pages aloud to Gene. That includes the five pages of acknowledgment stories, and the six pages of bibliography. Yes, bibliography, with personal notes regarding his personal connection to the books and which ones can be read in large doses and which only in bits. They include Meister Eckhart and the Christian Beguines, Hindu and Buddhist myths, the Upanishds, and Zen Master Dogen. In introducing the bibliography he states the purpose of the book which he took seventeen years to write. He notes that he has seen countless op-eds calling for a change of consciousness if humanity is to survive these challenging times, yet few descriptions of what such a change would look like or how it would be lived. That is what his book addresses.And address it, he does. He introduces a number of characters individually and finally brings them together in an “unintentional” community in the mountains of Montana, where the author lives. Without sentimentality, and with a kind of wildness and unpredictability their stories are full of humor and hope. Another surprising aspect of the story is that its author is revealed to be one of the folks in the community. Appropriate, because the author himself notes that the characters are based on his friends and their experiences.This might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I found this book to be life-changing. I highly recommend it.

WHILE IT IS A LONG BOOK IT IS A BRILLIANT ONE. IT GIVES YOU MUCH TO THINK ABOUT. THE CHARACTERS ARE FASCINATING, QUIRKY AND AT TIMES ANNOYING. I HAVE READ IT TWICE. THE SECOND TIME NOT CONSECUTIVELY BUT SKIPPING AROUND AND IT ALL MADE SO MUCH MORE SENSE. AND WHILE ONE MAY NOT AGREE WITH ALL THE CHARACTERS DO OR THEIR PHILOSOPHY IT SURE IS INTERESTING TO DISCOVER A DIFFERENT POINT OF VIEW. I MORE THAN HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK. SO LOOK FORWARD TO READING HIS OTHER BOOKS.

Moments of brilliance and some of the most creative language and ideas I've ever encountered. The reason I give 4 rather than 5 stars is that it's unnecessarily long. I got lost many times in the spiritual colliloquy.

Near perfect condition - slight warping of pages - otherwise seems new.

David James Duncan has written an extraordinary novel. While there are no dragons or wizards – well, there may be wizards, just not identified as such, I classify this as a fantasy, because it details my every fantasy from interpersonal relationships and connectedness with nature to a sustainable future for our planet and some kind of “after life” for our mortal soul. How does he do this? You must read the novel to see. I can tell you that I so sympathized with and related to every character that my breath rate increased with every passion and my blood pressure rose with every fury. Chapters allowed me to get to know characters throughout time lines before they were ever, no spoiler here as I think it could be predicted, are brought together. It’s like DJD took his lifetime of experience, knowledge, reading, writing, parenting, traveling, practicing and synthesized it all into this opus that celebrates myriad spiritual traditions and honors the feminine and the masculine, all beings, and Gaia. It’s a pantheist hymn to living in the despair and doubt that rocks all who care about life and our planet while touching that part of us that says, love it all while we are here. Love it anyway. I love this book. When I look up from the pages, I remember to love the world and those in my circles more. What higher accomplishment is there for an author?

First I will say, The River Why and The Brothers K are my two favorite books. If you are expecting that kind of exciting/heartbreaking/humorous writing from this book, you will find it in very small parts between long drawn out sections that are a struggle to get through. I honestly would read several pages and have no idea what the heck I just read. The Spiritual/Buddhist themes in this book are so complex and drawn out, there were several times I almost gave up. Some of the scenarios and transformations of character are incredibly unrealistic. However some of the character building was definitely Duncan at his absolute best! Overall the idea of the storyline is a good one and there is some definite DJD writing here, however, there is just too much mind numbingly cerebral writing in this book for me.The length of this book could have easily been cut in half without losing any of the story and it would be pretty darn close to the caliber of my two favorite books. In fact, you could buy the book as is and any time Risa goes on one of her Vedic soliloquys or High Elevation Grady starts Elkmoon journaling, just skip to the next chapter. LOLAs much as I hate to say it, I would recommend this book...... As a sleep aid.

I wish I was a better reviewer and could articulate how this book reached parts of me so deeply! Beautifully written, combining such a diversity of concepts, personalities and emotions — it is truly revelatory.

I consider Brothers K one of my twenty favorite books of all time. According to a Washington Post article today I am in the top 1% of readers-those who read more than 50 books a year. Times 70 years old and I've read a lot of books.Like others here, I was really looking forward to this release, and I could not have been more disappointed. I bought it and read it as soon as it came out but couldn't bring myself to write what I knew would be a negative review until now because of my respect for the author.But this was not my bag at all. It was advertised as a comic novel but the only time I laughed was in two places where the dialogue was unintentionally hysterically bad.It was advertised as an epic presumably based on its' length as opposed to its impact.I finished it but wish I had the fortitude to quit about 600 pages earlier.This was truly the novel that needn't have been written. That it took as long to write as it did set me up for a much higher expectation.I would definitely recommend this book to my worst enemy.

As another reviewer wrote, "I tried". I got through 278 pages and it was all the same theme told in story after repetitive story. I guess he became a Buddhist recently and wants everyone to know it. Blech. A far, far cry from "The Brothers K".