BOOK REVIEWS Courtesy of Beaverdale Books
‘The House of Tomorrow’
By Peter Bognanni
Amy Einhorn Books
Pub Date: 3/4/10
$24.95
352 pp
When I find my favorite book of the year by March it has to be pretty special, and Des Moines native Peter Bognanni doesn’t disappoint in his first novel, “The House of Tomorrow.”
We meet 16-year-old Sebastian with suction cups strapped to his hands and knees as he is attempting to scrub the panels of the geodesic dome he lives in with his Nana, a disciple of R. Buckminster Fuller. She home schools Sebastian in Fuller’s futuristic principles and on weekends the dome is available for tours. It is during one of these tours that Nana suffers a stroke, and it falls upon the “tourists” — local harried mom Janice Whitcomb and her son Jared — to get Nana to the hospital and see that Sebastian is cared for.
The Whitcomb family has their own set of problems: Janice’s husband has left her, Jared recently had a heart transplant and both he and his sister Meredith act out in ways to conceal their insecurities. As Sebastian tries to fit in with the family, he discovers the wonders of grilled cheese sandwiches, friendship and first love.
Central to the plot is the punk rock band that Sebastian and Jared form. Your older and wiser self will chuckle at the delusions these two have about their band, and their debut performance at a church talent show will have you laughing out loud.
Rich, complex and refreshing all at once, “The House of Tomorrow” is a must-read. Bognanni’s characters and dialogue simply sparkle, and the careful reader will find all sorts of hidden gems in its pages. CV — Review by Alice Meyer
