Reviews
An involving and sneakily touching story whose twists feel less like the conventions of a genre than the convolutions of a heart--any heart., Porter Shreve has always had a keen feel for a story and an instinct for what is interesting in the world. He is a wonderful and accomplished young writer.-Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America, [Porter Shreve's] narrative nicely counterpoints Daniel's coming-of-age story with the bewildering, and even endearing, goofiness of this memorable time in his-and the country's-growing up., WHEN THE WHITE HOUSE WAS OURS is as good as it gets. Porter Shreve tells the story of the Truitts, a most unusual displaced family who come to Washington, DC from the Midwest to start an alternative school in a white house. They arrive about the same time Jimmy Carter, the man from Plains, comes to another White House with a credo about trust. The end result is a tale of sheer delight-beautifully told in perfect pitch. --Jim Lehrer, Host of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" read And author of Eureka and The Last Debate, In this absorbing and sharply observed novel, Porter Shreve offers rare insight into the anxiety that goes hand in hand with idealism. His thirteen-year-old narrator is a worried yet wonderful guide through this story of an imperfect family and an imperfect nation struggling to become their better selves. --Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of Madeline is Sleeping and Ms. Hempel Chronicles Porter Shreve does what few writers can-- he casts a spell, bringing you immediately and completely into a world you won't soon want to leave. This is a humane, tender and intimate story about what it means to be a family, to be idealistic in an all too pragmatic world. -- Joe McGinnis Jr., author of The Delivery Man WHEN THE WHITE HOUSE WAS OURS is as good as it gets. Porter Shreve tells the story of the Truitts, a most unusual displaced family who come to Washington, DC from the Midwest to start an alternative school in a white house. They arrive about the same time Jimmy Carter, the man from Plains, comes to another White House with a credo about trust. The end result is a tale of sheer delight--beautifully told in perfect pitch. --Jim Lehrer, Host of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and author of Eureka and The Last Debate Porter Shreve has always had a keen feel for a story and an instinct for what is interesting in the world. He is a wonderful and accomplished young writer.--Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America [Porter Shreve's] narrative nicely counterpoints Daniel's coming-of-age story with the bewildering, and even endearing, goofiness of this memorable time in his--and the country's--growing up. Kirkus Reviews [Shreve] tells smart, inventive, sociologically intriguing stories, and his latest is a fun-to-read novel with great relevance and charm . . . The coming-of-age element is irresistible, as is the impossible dream of an anything-goes school, and what a wild and crazy extended family Shreve has created in the age of free love and Watergate. Booklist, ALA The political backdrop is perfectly played, as is the bittersweet nostalgia that makes the book and its freewheeling gang irresistible. Publishers Weekly, Porter Shreve does what few writers can-- he casts a spell, bringing you immediately and completely into a world you won't soon want to leave. This is a humane, tender and intimate story about what it means to be a family, to be idealistic in an all too pragmatic world. -- Joe McGinnis Jr., author of The Delivery Man, WHEN THE WHITE HOUSE WAS OURS is as good as it gets. Porter Shreve tells the story of the Truitts, a most unusual displaced family who come to Washington, DC from the Midwest to start an alternative school in a white house. They arrive about the same time Jimmy Carter, the man from Plains, comes to another White House with a credo about trust. The end result is a tale of sheer delight-beautifully told in perfect pitch. --Jim Lehrer, Host of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and author of Eureka and The Last Debate, In this absorbing and sharply observed novel, Porter Shreve offers rare insight into the anxiety that goes hand in hand with idealism. His thirteen-year-old narrator is a worried yet wonderful guide through this story of an imperfect family and an imperfect nation struggling to become their better selves. —Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of Madeline is Sleeping and Ms. Hempel Chronicles Porter Shreve does what few writers can-- he casts a spell, bringing you immediately and completely into a world you won't soon want to leave. This is a humane, tender and intimate story about what it means to be a family, to be idealistic in an all too pragmatic world. -- Joe McGinnis Jr., author of The Delivery Man WHEN THE WHITE HOUSE WAS OURS is as good as it gets. Porter Shreve tells the story of the Truitts, a most unusual displaced family who come to Washington, DC from the Midwest to start an alternative school in a white house. They arrive about the same time Jimmy Carter, the man from Plains, comes to another White House with a credo about trust. The end result is a tale of sheer delight—beautifully told in perfect pitch. --Jim Lehrer, Host of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and author of Eureka and The Last Debate Porter Shreve has always had a keen feel for a story and an instinct for what is interesting in the world. He is a wonderful and accomplished young writer.—Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America [Porter Shreve's] narrative nicely counterpoints Daniel's coming-of-age story with the bewildering, and even endearing, goofiness of this memorable time in his—and the country's—growing up. Kirkus Reviews [Shreve] tells smart, inventive, sociologically intriguing stories, and his latest is a fun-to-read novel with great relevance and charm . . . The coming-of-age element is irresistible, as is the impossible dream of an anything-goes school, and what a wild and crazy extended family Shreve has created in the age of free love and Watergate. Booklist, ALA The political backdrop is perfectly played, as is the bittersweet nostalgia that makes the book and its freewheeling gang irresistible. Publishers Weekly, [Shreve] tells smart, inventive, sociologically intriguing stories, and his latest is a fun-to-read novel with great relevance and charm . . . The coming-of-age element is irresistible, as is the impossible dream of an anything-goes school, and what a wild and crazy extended family Shreve has created in the age of free love and Watergate., In this absorbing and sharply observed novel, Porter Shreve offers rare insight into the anxiety that goes hand in hand with idealism. His thirteen-year-old narrator is a worried yet wonderful guide through this story of an imperfect family and an imperfect nation struggling to become their better selves. -Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of Madeline is Sleeping and Ms. Hempel Chronicles Porter Shreve does what few writers can-- he casts a spell, bringing you immediately and completely into a world you won't soon want to leave. This is a humane, tender and intimate story about what it means to be a family, to be idealistic in an all too pragmatic world. -- Joe McGinnis Jr., author of The Delivery Man WHEN THE WHITE HOUSE WAS OURS is as good as it gets. Porter Shreve tells the story of the Truitts, a most unusual displaced family who come to Washington, DC from the Midwest to start an alternative school in a white house. They arrive about the same time Jimmy Carter, the man from Plains, comes to another White House with a credo about trust. The end result is a tale of sheer delight-beautifully told in perfect pitch. --Jim Lehrer, Host of The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer and author of Eureka and The Last Debate Porter Shreve has always had a keen feel for a story and an instinct for what is interesting in the world. He is a wonderful and accomplished young writer.-Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America [Porter Shreve's] narrative nicely counterpoints Daniel's coming-of-age story with the bewildering, and even endearing, goofiness of this memorable time in his-and the country's-growing up. Kirkus Reviews [Shreve] tells smart, inventive, sociologically intriguing stories, and his latest is a fun-to-read novel with great relevance and charm . . . The coming-of-age element is irresistible, as is the impossible dream of an anything-goes school, and what a wild and crazy extended family Shreve has created in the age of free love and Watergate. Booklist, ALA The political backdrop is perfectly played, as is the bittersweet nostalgia that makes the book and its freewheeling gang irresistible. Publishers Weekly, Daniel Truitt, 12, avidly collects quirky presidential trivia, a pursuit that neutralizes some of the misery of his vagabond family's latest upheaval because this time they're moving to Washington, D.C. It's the bicentennial, the year Jimmy Carter bests Gerald Ford, and Daniel has discovered girls. Daniel's dad hasn't been able to hold a job ever since a concussion put an end to his promising baseball career. He now has the quixotic idea of starting a progressive school in the nation's capital in a ramshackle, roach-infested white Victorian in an iffy neighborhood, a wreck owned by a former baseball rival turned Republican fat cat. Neither of Daniel's liberal parents is qualified to found a school, no matter how alternative, and things get even more nihilistic with the arrival of his hippie uncle, aunt, and her lover, con artists all. As in his two previous novels, Shreve's prose is somewhat mechanical and his psychological insights tentative, yet he sure tells smart, inventive, sociologically intriguing stories, and his latest is a fun-to-read novel with great relevance and charm., The political backdrop is perfectly played, as is the bittersweet nostalgia that makes the book and its freewheeling gang irresistible., In this absorbing and sharply observed novel, Porter Shreve offers rare insight into the anxiety that goes hand in hand with idealism. His thirteen-year-old narrator is a worried yet wonderful guide through this story of an imperfect family and an imperfect nation struggling to become their better selves. -Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of Madeline is Sleeping and Ms. Hempel Chronicles, In this absorbing and sharply observed novel, Porter Shreve offers rare insight into the anxiety that goes hand in hand with idealism. His thirteen-year-old narrator is a worried yet wonderful guide through this story of an imperfect family and an imperfect nation struggling to become their better selves. e"Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of Madeline is Sleeping and Ms. Hempel Chronicles Porter Shreve does what few writers can-- he casts a spell, bringing you immediately and completely into a world you won't soon want to leave. This is a humane, tender and intimate story about what it means to be a family, to be idealistic in an all too pragmatic world. -- Joe McGinnis Jr., author of The Delivery Man WHEN THE WHITE HOUSE WAS OURS is as good as it gets. Porter Shreve tells the story of the Truitts, a most unusual displaced family who come to Washington, DC from the Midwest to start an alternative school in a white house. They arrive about the same time Jimmy Carter, the man from Plains, comes to another White House with a credo about trust. The end result is a tale of sheer delighte"beautifully told in perfect pitch. --Jim Lehrer, Host of eoeThe NewsHour with Jim Lehrere and author of Eureka and The Last Debate Porter Shreve has always had a keen feel for a story and an instinct for what is interesting in the world. He is a wonderful and accomplished young writer.e"Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America [Porter Shreve's] narrative nicely counterpoints Daniele(tm)s coming-of-age story with the bewildering, and even endearing, goofiness of this memorable time in hise"and the countrye(tm)se"growing up. Kirkus Reviews [Shreve] tells smart, inventive, sociologically intriguing stories, and his latest is a fun-to-read novel with great relevance and charm . . . The coming-of-age element is irresistible, as is the impossible dream of an anything-goes school, and what a wild and crazy extended family Shreve has created in the age of free love and Watergate. Booklist, ALA The political backdrop is perfectly played, as is the bittersweet nostalgia that makes the book and its freewheeling gang irresistible. Publishers Weekly, A loosely autobiographical story of free love and family set against the hopeful but disappointing Carter presidency, Shreve's third novel skillfully interweaves the story of teenager Daniel Truitt with that of the United States at a crossroads. On the eve of the nation's bicentennial, the Truitts relocate to a deteriorating Washington, D.C., mansion after Daniel's father, Pete, loses yet another teaching job. Pete plans to launch an experimental school where students and teachers are equal, but Daniel's mother, Valerie, weary of their peripatetic life and her husband's failures, sees the school as their last chance. Soon, Valerie's hippie brother shows up, bringing trouble with him in the form of his wife and her lover. When the ragtag group manages to attract a few students for Our House, as the school is named, the family's hope for success grows in proportion to its members' enthusiasm for a Democratic president. The political backdrop is perfectly played, as is the bittersweet nostalgia that makes the book and its freewheeling gang irresistible. , In this absorbing and sharply observed novel, Porter Shreve offers rare insight into the anxiety that goes hand in hand with idealism. His thirteen-year-old narrator is a worried yet wonderful guide through this story of an imperfect family and an imperfect nation struggling to become their better selves. -Sarah Shun-lien Bynum, author of Madeline is Sleeping and Ms. Hempel Chronicles Porter Shreve does what few writers can-- he casts a spell, bringing you immediately and completely into a world you won't soon want to leave. This is a humane, tender and intimate story about what it means to be a family, to be idealistic in an all too pragmatic world. -- Joe McGinnis Jr., author of The Delivery Man WHEN THE WHITE HOUSE WAS OURS is as good as it gets. Porter Shreve tells the story of the Truitts, a most unusual displaced family who come to Washington, DC from the Midwest to start an alternative school in a white house. They arrive about the same time Jimmy Carter, the man from Plains, comes to another White House with a credo about trust. The end result is a tale of sheer delight-beautifully told in perfect pitch. --Jim Lehrer, Host of "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" and author of Eureka and The Last Debate Porter Shreve has always had a keen feel for a story and an instinct for what is interesting in the world. He is a wonderful and accomplished young writer.-Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America [Porter Shreve's] narrative nicely counterpoints Daniel's coming-of-age story with the bewildering, and even endearing, goofiness of this memorable time in his-and the country's-growing up. Kirkus Reviews [Shreve] tells smart, inventive, sociologically intriguing stories, and his latest is a fun-to-read novel with great relevance and charm . . . The coming-of-age element is irresistible, as is the impossible dream of an anything-goes school, and what a wild and crazy extended family Shreve has created in the age of free love and Watergate. Booklist, ALA The political backdrop is perfectly played, as is the bittersweet nostalgia that makes the book and its freewheeling gang irresistible. Publishers Weekly