Who Occupies This House

Much as in her first novel, Still Waters in Niger, Hill's lyrical prose and astute observation compensate for narrative abstraction and lack of plot. Structured primarily in short sections, the story is of an Irish-American family, the Carmody-Conroys, who have lived in the same house in Pelham, N.Y., for four generations. The unnamed narrator, prompted by the recent death of her mother and the imminent sale of the house, as well as by the storytelling impulse in response to 9/11, traces the family's history. Utilizing photographs, artifacts (illustrations of which appear in the novel), journal entries, and her own imagination, the narrator attempts to "create characters out of these long-ago people..." Indeed, what really unites these generations more deeply than their shared familial background, their real estate, or their legacy of loss is this narrative project that aims to make sense of tragedy, and of life in general, through storytelling. Hill's unconventional approach, as well as the novel's documentary feel and rambling style, may frustrate some; persistent readers will be rewarded with a memorable portrait of a family's identity. (Oct.)