Books on Tap discussed Starling House by Alix E. Harrow on Thursday, June 4th at Random Row.  The author grew up in Kentucky, and currently lives in Central Virginia.  Starling House was a Reese’s Book Club selection and was shortlisted for several literary awards.

Set in a poor, mining region in Kentucky, Starling House tells the story of orphans Opal and her younger brother Jasper, who live in a motel but are trying to find a way out of their situation.  Opal takes a job cleaning the historic and mysterious Starling House mansion, and meets the latest caretaker and Starling family descendant, Arthur Starling.  Due to the location of the house, there are various greedy parties interested in the property, but there are also fantastical elements to the house itself and what happens beneath the foundation and through various doorways of the house.

Our readers had varied opinions on this selection.  For many it was outside of their normal reading genre.  It’s classified as Fantasy here at JMRL and many found it to be southern gothic with a touch of romance.  Akin to a “Beauty and the Beast” kind of story. 

The titular house was definitely a character in the story and had some agency. But some of our readers could have done without the underground story and Arthur’s demon fighting. Another reader pointed out that Opal was fighting her own real life demons as she struggled to gain security with a storyline that is very familiar among families with generational poverty. One reader felt that the story very closely parallels the experiences of families living with generational poverty, but that the social issues got lost amidst all of the fantasy.

The librarian character was a safe person and the town library was a refuge for Opal and her brother. Was the relationship between the librarian and motel owner necessary? Or did the author add it to make a point in a conservative community?

Themes included care (of others and of the house) and what makes a home and a family. 

A few of our readers disliked this book. They found the writing frustrating and repetitive and just couldn’t get into the story; the characters fell flat.  Several listened to the audio book and one said they couldn’t get into the story, even while listening to it. While it was a fictional book, there were footnotes on some pages and our readers weren’t sure what to make of the footnotes.  Were they real? Readers found themselves thinking “Who is talking to me/telling the story now?”. 

Yet other readers did like the book. Some readers found the Bible thumpers at the Tractor Supply humorous. Most people found Opal to be an interesting character and liked her sense of humor. The majority felt this selection pushed them to read a book they wouldn’t normally have picked up. After all, isn’t this part of the point of being in a book discussion group?

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