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    Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
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    Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
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    Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
    Ebook794 pages10 hours

    Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls

    By Matt Ruff

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    Andy Gage was born in 1965 and murdered not long after by his stepfather. . . . It was no ordinary murder. Though the torture and abuse that killed him were real, Andy Gage's death wasn't. Only his soul actually died, and when it died, it broke in pieces. Then the pieces became souls in their own right, coinheritors of Andy Gage's life. . . .

    While Andy deals with the outside world, more than a hundred other souls share an imaginary house inside Andy's head, struggling to maintain an orderly coexistence: Aaron, the father figure; Adam, the mischievous teenager; Jake, the frightened little boy; Aunt Sam, the artist; Seferis, the defender; and Gideon, who wants to get rid of Andy and the others and run things on his own.

    Andy's new coworker, Penny Driver, is also a multiple personality, a fact that Penny is only partially aware of. When several of Penny's other souls ask Andy for help, Andy reluctantly agrees, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to destroy the stability of the house. Now Andy and Penny must work together to uncover a terrible secret that Andy has been keeping . . . from himself.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperCollins
    Release dateOct 6, 2009
    ISBN9780061983641
    Unavailable
    Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls
    Author

    Matt Ruff

    Matt Ruff is the author of Lovecraft Country and its sequel, The Destroyer of Worlds, as well as 88 Names, Bad Monkeys, The Mirage, Set This House in Order, Fool on the Hill, and Sewer, Gas & Electric: The Public Works Trilogy. He lives in Seattle, Washington.

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    Reviews for Set This House in Order

    4.5/5

    435 ratings16 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Andrew Gage is only two years old, but he’s a grown man. He was born in 1965 and murdered when he was young. These statements are all true. Andrew has MPD- multiple personality disorder. Andy’s soul died when he was a child, killed by his stepfather. A large number of personalities now live within the body, splintered off through the years as Andy’s stepfather abused him. Penny Driver also has MPD, but doesn’t know it when she first meets Andy. Andy’s boss, Julie, who knows about Andy’s diagnosis, recognizes the same symptoms in Penny when they meet, and she hires Penny to work for her, bringing Andy and Penny together. Julie says she hopes Andy can help Penny, but all hell breaks loose when the two meet. Andy’s carefully constructed ‘house’ in his head, which holds all his souls, breaks down. There follows an adventure of discovery that takes place in both physical space and in the space and time of Andy’s head as what really happened in Andy’s past is brought to light. While the first part of the novel seemed rather slow to me, after a while it picks up and starts moving at breakneck speed. Just as you think you might know the truth, something else is revealed that changes everything. In the last quarter or so of the book so many things were happening that I was starting to wonder if some of the flesh and blood characters weren’t real, but just more personalities in Andy’s head. Given all that was being revealed, it really wouldn’t have been surprising. The truth is so complex that I’m amazed that the author was able to keep track of all the strands and tie them up in the end. Once I got past the slower bit in the beginning, I couldn’t put this book down. I couldn’t wait to see which personality would win out and run the body. I couldn’t wait to see what the truth of Andy’s abuse was, and the truth behind his stepfather’s death. It’s a book not just about MPD, psychology, and child abuse, but about relationships, and the pathology of people who are supposed to be ‘normal’ but allow horrible things to happen. More than anything else, it’s about the strength of the human spirit and its will to survive.
    • 5/5
      A wonderfully written book, although potentially triggering for readers with abusive childhoods.
    • 3/5
      Strange. I know I wrote a review of this many months ago but let me try to reconstruct. Spoilers noted. I learned a lot about multiple personality disorder, including that it is now referred to as dissociative identity disorder (DID). Ruff's main character, Andy Gage, who suffers from DID is compelling, and I loved the way the character deals with his subpersonalities, to whom Ruff has done justice. The different therapeutic approaches are interesting too. Great research, inventive story, I blame the publisher or editor. Somebody should have reeled Ruff in.***Mild spoilers***The rough Ruff stuff though: I simply could not buy that Julie would stumble upon not one but two people with DID in this town. Further, the Julie character is a mess, both her characterization and Ruff's characterization of her.Mouse/Penny? I liked the addition of this character aside from having been brought into the story via the Julie DID-whisperer.***Bigger spoiler***Then there's the very unnecessary business with Andy's landlord having lost her family to a harassing serial murderer. Why, Matt Ruff? And the car crash business with Andy being triggered by watching the guy abuse his kid. Too much. And the denouement with the rogue sheriff from the past. Nah, dude. Too much. Much much too much. Too over the top.
    • 5/5
      What a great story! The main character is Andrew, a man suffering from multiple-personality disorder. Andrew meets a new co-worker named Penny and discovers she also has MPD, but is only partially aware of it. When several of her souls ask him for help, he reluctantly agrees. I loved the subtitle "A Romance of Souls". The relationships and camaraderie of the personalities in Andrew’s head were entertaining to read about. Highly recommended.
    • 4/5
      Obwohl das Buch nicht mit Matt Ruffs Erstlingswerk Fool on the Hill zu vergleichen ist, schreibt Ruff hier wieder eine fantastische Geschichte auf realem Boden mit realen Problemen. Mit diesem Buch beweist er einmal mehr, dass seine Werke in keine Genre-Schublade passen. Sie sind ein wenig fantastisch, aber zu real um gänzlich Fantasy zu sein. Vielleicht zeigt das auch nur, wie viel Phantastik in unserer Welt verborgen liegt.Dennoch: Dieses Buch ist schwere Kost. Nicht im sprachlichen Sinne und auch nicht was seine Verständlichkeit angeht. Nein, Ich und die anderen (Set This House In Order) bleibt hängen und windet sich für eine ganze Zeit fest um die Seele, melancholisch, traurig, ein wenig hoffnungsvoll, auf jeden Fall ernüchternd. Wer aber glaubt, ein Buch um das Thema multiple Persönlichkeit müsse zwangsläufig ausschließlich ernst und trocken aufgezogen sein, um dem Thema respektvoll zu begegnen und Humor habe darin keinen Platz, der täuscht sich. Neben den durchaus ernsten und bedrückenden Schicksalen der Hauptpersonen kommt der Humor keinesfalls zu kurz. Dieser Roman steckt nämlich voller Überraschungen und ist so wandlungsfähig, dass es einen so unvorbereitet trifft, wie ein Schlag mitten ins Gesicht.Gerade die erste Hälfte des Buches animiert zum Schmunzeln und auch mal zum lauthals Auflachen. Bis zum Schluss ahnt man so nicht im Geringsten, wohin dieser Roman seinen Leser führt. Manchmal ist das Buch so spannend, fantastisch und komisch, dass man es kaum zur Seite legen kann und dann wieder so bedrückend, dass man es eine Weile zur Seite legen muss, um die geschilderten grausamen Ereignisse erst einmal verdauen zu können. Eben jene Ereignisse, von denen an dieser Stelle nichts verraten wird, haben zur Spaltung von Andy Gages Psyche geführt und damit wiederum eine ganz andere, für den Leser charmante Situation erschaffen, die auch für einen fantastischen Roman ungewöhnlich ist.Ich und die anderen beginnt mit einer absurden Komik und wunderbar gezeichneten, starken, teilweise imaginären, Charakteren, nur um in einer vollkommen unerwarteten Ernsthaftigkeit zu gipfeln, die dem Buch zu seinem wahren Erinnerungswert verhilft, den Leser aber auch ausgesprochen unsanft in die Realität zurück holt. Es lässt die Krankheit dabei weniger als Krankheit erscheinen sondern vielmehr wie eine alternative Lebenseinstellung.Dieses Buch spielt mit Gegensätzen, die auch Wochen später immer noch beschäftigen. Es fällt selten so schwer ein Buch angemessen zu beschreiben, da man Ich und die anderen viel mehr erfühlt als begreift und nur schwer in Worte fassen kann. Die nachhaltige Wirkung dieses Romans geht über das normale Begreifen des Verstandes hinaus und zwingt den Leser zu einer emotional erfühlten Bewertung des Gelesenen und der letztendlichen Frage, ob man im realen Leben einen an MP erkrankten Menschen mit derselben liebevollen Sympathie begrüßen würde, wie man es bei der Lektüre über Andy und seine Hausgemeinschaft beinahe selbstverständlich macht.Empfehlenswert für alle, die nicht zu zartbesaitet sind und nicht nur seichte Unterhaltung oder Phantastik nach Schema F suchen.
    • 5/5
      Utterly original and completely engaging, Ruff creates a cast of characters that is unforgettable. What's more, he left me wondering about what it really means to be me, to be you -- why anyone is who they are, and even more how they are. He left me questioning the fine lines between sanity and insanity, between rational and irrational, between protection and escape. And he did all that while telling a mighty fine story. A new favourite.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 4/5
      This is the first book of Matt Ruff’s that I’ve read, and it was recommended to me while I was doing some research on Multiple Personality Disorder. The book is fiction, however a lot of research went into creating the characters in this story and keeping them all straight was just short of amazing.

      Andrew Gage has MPD. He suffered extreme trauma and abuse at the hands of his step-father, and spent many years hiding away inside his own mind as other personalities, or souls as he calls them, came forward to protect him. There is nothing graphic, or too detailed about the things that happened when he was younger, but you don’t need to know what happened specifically to feel sick about it. Certain scenes are hard to stomach, but in order to understand the character, we need to know what happened to him growing up.

      Andrew has many personalities, but his job is to run the body. After years and years of therapy, in order to keep some sort of control, he has had to build an imaginary house in his mind, for the “souls” to live in. He has come to terms with his MDP and knows that these other personalities exist within him, and allows them out on occasion, but in a very controlled fashion. For example, one of the personalities loves to take showers, so he lets her out to control the body for the 10 minutes they are in the shower. (you find out later, why this particular soul loves the shower)

      Andrew meets another woman who also has MPD, however she doesn’t know it. She finds herself with many blackout moments where she’s lost time and has no idea what has happened or what she might have done during that time. Case in point, she has a job as a programmer, but she doesn’t know how to program, but somehow the work gets done. She just doesn’t remember it. Andrew understands this because he too, before he built his house, had had blackout moments, where he lost time and didn’t know what he’d done or what happened during that time.

      Andrew tries to help her get treatment, but eventually she ends up helping Andrew to remember his past. He’s afraid he may have killed his step-father, and needs to go back to the “scene of the crime” to make sure.

      I liked the book because the author has set up this world inside Andrews head so completely and managed to keep it all straight. Since I don’t know anyone with MPD, but was researching it myself when I started this, I think, in a lot of cases, he was very accurate as to what can happen to someone after this type and other types of trauma. I do think there were some fantastical parts too, for the sake of the story, but it’s still a heartbreaking read, however it does end on an uplifting note.

      One note, it took me a bit to understand what was happening in the beginning and I started it, then stopped it for a few days and went back to it, and pushed through, after about 10-12 pages I started to understand what was going on. If you decide to read it, give it a chance and push through it, it will make sense before too long. Or as much sense as it can given the topic.

      It’s extremely long, (500 pages) and there were lots of sections that could have probably been taken out because they didn’t really add to the story, but all in all, extremely good, and definitely recommend if you’re interested in this sort of thing.
    • 5/5
      This is a great thriller, about a guy whose multiple personalities all live in a house inside his brain.
      This is another book I'm always trying to get people to read but it never seems to appeal.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 4/5
      Andy Guage has Multiple Personality Disorder. The personalities though separate seem reasonably well intagrated. Then his impulsive boss spot some ne else with MPD Recruits her and pushes Andy into helping the new woman bring some order to herself. But Andy is not as well integrated as first appearences suggest.Another Tiptree award and once more one that did little or nothing to affect my thinking on gender issues.
    • 4/5
      Andrew Gage is only two years old, but he’s a grown man. He was born in 1965 and murdered when he was young. These statements are all true. Andrew has MPD- multiple personality disorder. Andy’s soul died when he was a child, killed by his stepfather. A large number of personalities now live within the body, splintered off through the years as Andy’s stepfather abused him. Penny Driver also has MPD, but doesn’t know it when she first meets Andy. Andy’s boss, Julie, who knows about Andy’s diagnosis, recognizes the same symptoms in Penny when they meet, and she hires Penny to work for her, bringing Andy and Penny together. Julie says she hopes Andy can help Penny, but all hell breaks loose when the two meet. Andy’s carefully constructed ‘house’ in his head, which holds all his souls, breaks down. There follows an adventure of discovery that takes place in both physical space and in the space and time of Andy’s head as what really happened in Andy’s past is brought to light. While the first part of the novel seemed rather slow to me, after a while it picks up and starts moving at breakneck speed. Just as you think you might know the truth, something else is revealed that changes everything. In the last quarter or so of the book so many things were happening that I was starting to wonder if some of the flesh and blood characters weren’t real, but just more personalities in Andy’s head. Given all that was being revealed, it really wouldn’t have been surprising. The truth is so complex that I’m amazed that the author was able to keep track of all the strands and tie them up in the end. Once I got past the slower bit in the beginning, I couldn’t put this book down. I couldn’t wait to see which personality would win out and run the body. I couldn’t wait to see what the truth of Andy’s abuse was, and the truth behind his stepfather’s death. It’s a book not just about MPD, psychology, and child abuse, but about relationships, and the pathology of people who are supposed to be ‘normal’ but allow horrible things to happen. More than anything else, it’s about the strength of the human spirit and its will to survive.
    • 4/5
      This book is a wild imaginative ride of two people with Multiple Personality Disorder. In the book, both of the main characters "die" or at least, their souls die due to abuse. As a result, their souls are splintered into different personalities. Both characters, Andrew Gage and Penny Driver must find a way to live with their diagnosis through "lost time", fighting with other souls in their head, as well as learn the secrets from their pasts. I read Bad Monkeys first and really loved the writing style of the author. It is highly imaginative and daring. The writing leaves you at the edge of your seat, not knowing what will happen next. I don't know anyone with Mulitple personality disorder, but I have seen some documentaries on it. I am not sure if things transpire in the heads of the character as they do in real life, but the story was very real to me and believable. When Andy Gage would transform to a different soul, the transformation looks very physical. From Seferis the protector to Adam the teenager, the transformations are very believable.
    • 4/5
      I thought this book was entertaining and that it conveyed the chaos that would probably occur in someones life with MPD (or what I imagine it might be like at least).The only thing that I didn't really enjoy was the ending. I found that it seemed that it had been thrown together quickly as a means to tie up lose ends with a few pages at the end of the book.If you have read any other Matt Ruf] books and enjoyed them I would not hesitate to recommend this one. The witty style that he brings to his works is present here as well and helps to lend a realistic voice to the souls in the household.
    • 4/5
      The plot and resolution don't quite live up to the idea and characterisation. Nevertheless, very enjoyable read, and I'd like to do some further reading on MPD now.
    • 4/5
      The author shifts among the narrator's various personalities in a masterful and inventive way that builds suspense. I don't feel that the ending lives up to the rest of the story, however. It seems to bog down a bit at the end and seems to be rushed to a conclusion. I still give it 4 stars for the unique expression of the interior voices of multiple personalities living in one mind, and the overall excellent story telling.
    • 5/5
      about two friends who both have dissociative identity disorder (or multiple personality). completely addictive. this stayed with me for a long time after i finished it.
    • 5/5
      Andrew is the personality in charge of "driving" the soul-ridden body of Andy Gage. Born from the ashes of Andy Gage's mind, the society of multiple personalities live in a stable arrangement together thanks to a helpful therapist. Andrew is a recently born personality trying to give the body a fairly normal life, starting with a new job at a software company. But Andrew's stability is threatened when his impulsive boss, Julie, hires Penny, another victim of multiple personality disorder. Julie wants Andrew to help Penny tame the chaos in her head. Penny doesn't understand her condition, but some of her other personalities do. Andrew is reluctant to get involved, but Penny's group of protective personas make a plea for help. When his own house of souls collapses under the strain of several shocks, Andrew and Penny end up on a road-trip to confront the past.This is one of the best fiction books I've read this year. Ruff's handling of the multiple personalities is both inventive and sensitive. He is straightforward in dealing with the abuse that led to Andrew and Penny's fractured state - it's clearly important, but not sensationalized. In spite of the serious subject matter, Ruff manages to incorporate a good measure of humor into the story. Andrew's journey gives a whole new meaning to "finding yourself." Ruff's excellent characterizations make it easy to root for Andrew, Penny, and their collective internal societies.I like that Ruff avoids the trap of a cliched, sappy ending, instead making it clear that there are no easy solutions. Ruff's plot was engrossing in all its twists and turns, and only one late section seemed to jump a bit off the tracks. This is a compelling book that will entertain you even as it makes you think about how we all interact with the world.5 Stars