I’m enjoying the round of new releases that highlight the Vietnam War and the turbulent times and changes that took place during the 1960’s and 1970’s. Last House is part historical fiction, part family drama and focuses on the Taylor family, their remote family cottage in Vermont, the oil industry, and the volatile political events of the time. Reading this will transport you back to your childhood days (if you’re a Gen X-er like me). I’ve read reviews calling Last House sweeping and transcendent and I’d have to agree. Highly recommend this and think it would make a great book club book.

Thank you to William Morrow and NetGalley for this ARC.

There’s enough historical material about the oil industry and Iran in the 70s to make me want to finish reading it but overall I found the pace to be too slow and the characters were not as interesting as I had hoped. This ARC was provided by William Morrow publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is such an interesting story about a family. It is a multigenerational saga, telling a powerful story about the Taylor family. It has all the topics I love in a story: love, relationships, marriage, sibling relationships and the choices we all make throughout our lives and how those individual life choices we make impact those we love, especially our family. I enjoyed this book, which is set mainly during the 1950's and 1960's, and how these years during the Vietnam war, with social activism and the pursuit of wealth and economic gain ultimately impacted this family by the choices they each made in their lives. I also loved that the Last house became a central character in the story. It is told and written so beautifully. It was dramatic and tragic, but also touching and insightful.
Thank you, Net Galley, the publisher and the author for the advanced copy.

I'm going to go with a scarce 4-stars for this one; in general, I thought it was quite good, but I had some major issues with it. While there is definitely a historical fiction aspect to it, it really was more of a family saga, and that was where it hooked me. It's a detailed account of one family - their struggles and successes, their dysfunctional but loving relationships. Because of this, I felt the descriptions of Nick's time in Iran to be a bit more detailed than necessary. While they were certainly relevant, I was far more interested in the family dynamic, so the Iran passages were more filler to me. The character development was spectacular; because the book focused on a single family of four, there was so much room to build them from the ground up so the reader truly understood who they were and how they evolved over time. The family's story was told through the perspectives of different family members over time; the author did a good job of weaving them together in a way that flowed seamlessly. The writing was quite vivid and descriptive, without a lot of unnecessary prose or phrasing. Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit!

I absolutely loved this book and was blown away by the author’s writing. While the plot was an interesting one, I’d describe this as a character based book. Shattuck developed each character well, and I felt like I understood them on a deep level. I think she did a particularly good job painting the differences and similarities between the Greatest Generation and the Baby Boomers. I found myself highlighting so many passages on my kindle because the writing was really so beautiful. This is a great read for fans of Ann Napolitano’s Hello Beautiful.

I sadly did not finish this book, even though I had high hopes for it and it was a much anticipated release of 2024 for me. It was just not for me.

I LOVE historical fiction and a family saga, and while I was invested in the Taylor family, I found the context provided for the various eras of American history to be a bit shallow. I was very into the early post-WWII part of the book, but by the time the family got to the 1970's, I was less interested, and slow to pick this book up. Some of the ground has already been trodden too - it reminded me a bit of The Brothers K, which is one of my favorites, but is not as good.

I love family sagas, but this one wasn't the right fit for me. The writing felt a bit clunky and I didn't feel connected to any of the characters.

"Last House" is a multi generational novel about a family with a backdrop of current issues to the times such as post world war II living, the role of women, the protests of the 60's, and the fight against our reliance on oil. The three narrators are Nick and Bet, a married couple, and Katherine, their daughter. Nick is a lawyer for an oil company who gets involved in negotiating agreements that bring the Shah to power in Iran. Bet is a college educated woman with her sight set on a PhD who becomes a code breaker during WWII but soon ends up married with kids before she can realize her personal dreams. Their daughter, Katherine becomes involved with various protest movements during the 1960s which ends up bringing tragedy to this family. This sweeping story moves too quickly in some parts and slowly in others, but it is easy to get caught up in what happens to this family and wonder if they will all come together before it ends. There are many parts of this story that could almost be a book on its own but each time we return to the family dynamics before we get too caught up in what is happening outside of these characters. It was interesting to see how children love their parents, rebel against them, and finally understand them. This story comes full circle. We do also get a bit of a lesson about the evils of oil, what the US has done to contribute to this problem, and a brief glimpse into what could happen if we aren't careful with our future.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early copy. My opinion is my own.

I enjoyed this book and it was an excellent historical fiction because it provided so much backdrop that framed the lives of the multi generational family. I was immediately drawn into the story and felt the beginning flowed nicely. Once we got to Katherine I started to lose interest a bit as it this part of the book seemed to drag a bit. Overall a great read. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this very interesting book.

I enjoyed the concept of this story. You take a piece of land located in a remote area of a sparsely populated country and you follow it through the years; the farmers, families, children, crops, animals, good people and greedy people. As the purpose of the land and the ideals of the people living on the land evolved, so too did the nation. But more so, vice versa.
This story elaborates on one specific era. A man made rich in oil buys the land and sells pieces to his closest friends. The idea is no matter what happens in the rest of the world, this establishment will survive.
Nick Taylor buys into this dream and spends a major part of his children’s childhood living at Last House, learning about crops and nature, about coexisting with nature. But this is in stark contrast to the way Nick and his wife made the money to buy the land. Nick by dealing in oil and arms, his wife by being a covert code-breaker during the war. Their wealth and comfort comes at a cost, and the conscience of their two children questions the ethics of this as they mature. And the land quietly watches.
The Greatest Generation butts heads with the radicals and anti-establishment; the parents versus their children. Told with great insight from both perspectives, vilifying neither, this typical American family, for this particular eighty years, lives on this piece of land.
Thanks so much to William Morrow for an ARC in exchange for my honest review. The publishing date is May 14, 2024.

An interesting multi-generational family saga!. This book shows how each generation makes decisions regarding life and relationships based on their experiences of their respective current cultural and political landscapes. Thanks #NetGalley #WilliamMarrow

A sweeping family saga. From the start, I was drawn in. I really liked Bet and Nick's story. I found their family life fascinating and the story flowed well. But somewhere around the middle, it started to really slow down. I found myself wondering what was next instead of focusing on what I was reading. I did like how it covered sweeping parts of history and the family dynamics. It's an interesting, slow burn but was a very quick read. I liked it!

A huge thank you to the author and publisher for providing an e-ARC via Netgalley. This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.

The book begins by listing all the ways we use oil in our daily lives. It then transitions into a multi-generational family saga centered around the Taylor family. Nick is a corporate lawyer working for a big oil company. He marries Bet who gives up a promising career to tend the family hearth. They have two children, Katherine and Harry. Early on in the story, they buy a second home called Last House. It is situated in a secluded Vermont valley with few homes and close to nature. It becomes a sort of refuge for the family throughout the years.
It’s an intriguing story. You get some history about how the CIA helped the Shah of Iran and about all the protests happening in the U.S. during the 60s against war, racism, etc. Fascinating to see how each generation views the world in a different way and to see the similarities of that era to the present. A story about secrets, familial bonds and how we deal with grief. This would be an ideal book club read. I can imagine a lot of interesting discussions taking place. 4 stars

"Just because you believe something doesn't make it true. But what's the alternative? To believe nothing at all?"

Last House is a a sprawling family drama that follows the Taylor family, specifically father Nick Taylor, wife Bet Taylor, and kids Katherine and Harry Taylor, from the 1950s through the present. Nick Taylor worked his way up from humble beginnings and, thanks to a job in oil, is able to grant his kids the life he never had, including an idyllic vacation home known affectionately as "Last House." But life is not a vacation, and as Katherine and Harry grow up they each reckon with their place in the world and the ethics behind the source of the money that got them there. Enter the 1960s and the rise of militant political groups, explosive rhetoric, and actual explosives, where the decisions Katherine and Harry make have the potential to change all the Taylors forever.

I had mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, I really enjoyed Nick Taylor's perspective - reading about American oil and its influence globally on countries like Iran was intriguing and kept me hooked. I would have read an entire book just about that. I struggled once the book switched to Katherine's perspective, and this is probably why it took me so long to finish. Where I saw Harry as a kid just trying to find his way in the world, I found Katherine whiney and privileged, and while the author was likely making a point about the kids who were involved in such movements at the time, I really wanted to reach through the book and bounce her back to reality.

This is a book I would recommend for book clubs, but maybe not as an individual enjoyment read.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the ARC, which was received in exchange for an honest review.

This is a boomers book for sure. It was well written and discussed a lot of the stuff we all went through. Brought back a lot of memories for sure. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher!

Loved this poignant story of generations looking for love and understanding as they confront heartbreaking social, political world events. Well written and powerfully evocative.

I often think of historical fiction taking place at least 100 years ago. Not so for this family saga. Baby Boomers, this is about us.
If you are not sure of the backdrop of Last House, all you have to do is skim the first three pages -- a lengthy list of products that exist due to oil. The novel traces Nick (a lawyer involved in oil deals in the Middle East) and Bet's life and their children's lives as the decades tick by. Daughter Katherine is outspoken and opinionated; son Harry, nature-loving and sweet. All the characters reminded me of people I knew (my mom) reflected in the times -- from jello and instant potatoes, to the Vietnam War and finally solar panels, generators and vegetable gardens. The frequent setting is rural Vermont and the Last House and those in the "End of the World Club".
I read Last House twice to pause and bookmark passages and savor the author's reflections and writing. Have already recommended this to friends and family. Thank you, Jessica Shattuck, for a memorable read.

I thought this book would be about a spy. I wasn't sure if the spy would be Bet Taylor the mom or Nick Taylor the dad, as it could have been either; but then her cryptology career ended, and his activities in the Mideast turned out to be purely commercial. Last House ended up being about activism, involving Bet and Nick's daughter Katharine and son Harry. There were so many interesting characters and locations in this sprawling story, about travesty and injustice and history and oppression and entitlement and so so much more that I feel like I just finished reading three of Jessica Shattuck's books rather than one.

Chapters are based on alternating family member points of view, but Katherine is more of a narrator than the rest of her family. Tellingly, she describes herself as the plain one. The grief and guilt that each family member carries is moving. I felt a shift in the pacing at the end, where time went into turbo drive and the family grew exponentially; it was a lot to try to follow but I appreciate that the ending went beyond tragedy to fruition and happiness.

3.5 stars
Family saga spanning the 1950s to the present. Successful young family: the man is a lawyer in the oil industry and the woman is a mother and housewife. The children grow up to rebel against the world their parents' generation has built. Last House, their summer cottage in Vermont, is a family refuge.

I was never able to connect with any of the characters and found that the story dragged quite a bit.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a free e-ARC of this book.