Really enjoyed this book until the ending p which felt a little forced. The rest of the book is spectacular though. Great job for a debut novel. Loved the writing and the fairytale adjacent bits. It just felt like the ending didn’t really do the arc of the story justice.

Who would have thought that the housing crisis could inspire a quirky, offbeat story about a girl who ends up living in a shoe while finding love and purpose? I certainly didn't when I started reading Dwelling. Admittedly, it did take me a while to get into the story, partly because I wasn't sure what it wanted to be. It also takes a while to get going, and if you persist, the second half delivers.

But once I let go of my preconceptions, this was such a fun read. The surreal elements created the feeling of a fairytale, but it also turns out to be a quest when Evie goes to rescue her sister, Elena. A lovely, original read that offers some escapism in a time when it's needed.

Such a fascinating read

Emily Hunt Kivel's "dwelling" defied genre bounds and bent reality in interesting ways. Personally, I felt as if this leaned a little too heavily into the absurd, sometimes neglecting coherence in the quest for creativity. Overall, a very curious, experimental read!

Whimsical and lyrical. Complete odd and incredibly charming.
This book grabs you from the very first chapter makes you think and confuses you and makes you wonder just what the heck is going on.
At times both funny and emotional, Dwelling, and its characters will tug at your heartstrings and make you care about what delves into a strange fairytale with humour and joy.
So different and fun and a great read.

As always thought and opinions are mine. Thank you to NetGalley for the arc.

This hit a litttttle too close to home, but I'm so glad Kivel is raising such awarness of the housing crisis as is. This is a story that needed to be told, and while its on the nose often, I think thats the point.

Emily Hunt Kivel’s debut novel Dwelling is a strange amalgam of social realism, absurdist situations and a fairy tale sensibility. Taking it’s cues from the current housing crisis that seems to be impacting young people all over the world, Dwelling then pivots to something stranger and ultimately pretty wholesome.
One day Evie finds herself, along with every other renter in New York, kicked out of her apartment. She reaches out to the only relative she knows of – a second cousin who lives in a small town in Texas. That cousin is a realtor and after reluctantly taking Evie in, determines to find her a house. That house turns out to be a giant boot and just living there gives Evie a whole new view of the world.
Once readers learn of the boot house it is not hard to see the fairy tale connections that Hunt Kivel is making. And there are plenty of other fairy tales involving shoes and show makers that eventually come into play. But while this segue into the surreal is fun, it feels like it undermines the premise of the novel which is a take down of the current housing crisis. In fact, beside a sub plot in which Evie is trying to get back the furniture that she has in storage in the basement of her old building, not much is made of this issue except as the event that sets Evie on her journey of self discovery.
Dwelling is full of quirky characters and situations, buildings that only appear at certain times of the day, magical items (and their artisans) and it works as a fairly breezy modern fairy tale. But its opening promises much more than this and in that respects Dwelling feels like a missed opportunity.

I really enjoyed this! I love how this was written as a modern fairytale. It was a fun and easy read that I couldn't put down.

Starting as a reflection on society, this book developed into a story of what we will do for family and how the journey can be odd but ultimately leads us to where we need to be. This was an interesting book with many unanswered questions. These unanswered questions didn't distract from the story but the premise and format were different. There's a tiny bit of speculative fiction, some magical realism, and a lot of realistic fiction - all seemingly ill fitting but everything works to make a good read.

Dwelling was a delightfully deadpan fairytale. Packed with ingredients I adore (houses as subjects, magical realism, fairytale elements with an understated delivery), I was sure I’d love this book. The first half, unfortunately, fell a little flat for me. The second half, by contrast, was fantastic, where Kivel strikes an expert balance between the fantastic and the ordinary, sending our stoic heroine to traverse strange landscapes, both inner and outer. Also, there’s a lot of pertinent commentary and allegory around the housing crisis and the general perils of late stage capitalism.

If the second half was a perfectly dry red wine, the first half was just dry, but it was worth the buildup in my opinion, and I’d recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys the elements I’ve named. Over all, liked it a lot, four stars.

Thank you to Farrar Straus and Giroux, Emily Hunt Kivel, and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

We all need to live somewhere but, perhaps more importantly, we all want to feel at home somewhere as well. What happens when you find yourself utterly adrift? Could that, somehow, be the push you needed to make yourself a home? Dwelling is a novel all about belonging and finding yourself and manages to be profound while being utterly surreal. Thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Belonging is something that is crucially important to humans, to the extent that Maslow included it in his hierarchy of needs. We need to feel that in some way we are a part of something larger, of something solid, and that there we can be accepted for who we are. When we lose this belonging, or struggle to find it, even if we merely perceive it to be threatened, it can lead to deep unhappiness and depression. I think in our current modern world, we somehow both have countless of new ways to belong and truly struggle with finding genuine belonging. Social media allows us to find others like ourselves, who share our specific interests, likes and dislikes, and this is frequently a good thing. It has also made it more difficult for many, however, to find that connection in real life, in a physical, tactile way. If you add to that the fact that our societies are becoming every more split between different news bubbles and ideologies, that life is becoming more and more expensive, and that the earth is becoming less hospitable due to climate change, and we can find ourselves in something of a belonging crisis. In Dwelling, Emily Hunt Kivel tackles this perennial need for belonging, and all that it entails, in a world that seems to have gone mad. While the novel in form and story becomes delightfully surreal, at its core it remains very human and genuine and thereby manages to provide a beautiful kind of solace to its readers.

Evie has been forced out of her apartment in New York, alongside every other renter in the city. With abandoned furniture and dashed dreams piling up on the sidewalks, she has only one option, which is heading towards Texas and a second cousin, who will hopefully take her in. With her sister, hopefully, safely ensconced at an institution, Evie sets out on her journey. Gulluck, Texas, however, isn't just any town, and Evie quickly finds herself in a surreal place full of odd people, weirder destinies, and the strangest abodes. Is this where a house, and perhaps even a home, can be found? I loved Evie as a protagonist, in part because the narrative voice itself seems to be quite fond of her, while being very aware of her failings as well. When we first meet her, she can just about be said to live. She has a job, she has a place to live, and ... well, that's sort of it. There's nothing wrong with it, but her life is far from magical. The expulsion of all renters is the call to adventure which Evie cannot afford to reject and with a kind of weary bravery, she sets out into the wider world. Kivel manages to take a premise which is not all that far-fetched and turn it into something that becomes utterly enchanting. Every time the narrative takes a surreal turn, I found myself more engaged and more enamoured with Evie and the whole novel. The characters surrounding her, including the town Gulluck itself, are also delightful in their oddity, at once sketches in absurdity and yet somehow truly human.

Dwelling is Emily Hunt Kivel's first novel and it feels incredibly confident for a debut. It is the kind of novel where nothing feels out of place, or rather, where everything, every word and every scene, feels necessary to the whole. In that way it is meticulous. But it is also a novel of wonders, which takes its time for beautiful descriptions and moments of wry insight while maintaining a very solid pace. Kivel also captures a certain kind of yearning which infuses all humans, I think, for something wonderful, something meaningful. One of the main characters alongside Evie, for example, is Bertie, who makes keys. In order to make a key, however, he needs to know about the door, what it looks like, what it's made of, how it makes you feel, what is around it. In Dwelling, it is all about the whole picture, about the whole person, about the small detail as well as the obvious thing, about noticing and seeing what is around you. Due to this, there is a lot of magic to reading Dwelling and to letting Kivel take you on a journey. I was on a journey myself, while reading the novel, and it made me pay closer attention to where I was and who I was with, injecting a gentle sense of wonder back into the ordinary. For those who enjoy surrealist fiction, or realism infused with a solid sense of the fantastical and magical, this is something of a must read. For those who adore fables and fairy tales and wonder whether modern fiction can achieve that same sense of wonder, this is also a very strongly recommended read. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future books from Emily Hunt Kivel!

Dwelling is one of my favourite books of 2025! I loved how Kivel takes her readers from the very real world to a beautifully fantastic and surreal place that somehow feels more genuine than where we started.

Evie's world is bleak. In Evie's Manhattan, renters are being evicted en masse to make way for lucrative vacation rentals. Left with few options, she packs up her meager belongings, including those her dead parents left behind, and heads to Texas in search of a distant cousin.

Bleak.

When she finds her cousin, the novel takes a turn. Everything in this part of the country is slightly off, and Evie is disoriented with the change in scenery, trying to find her footing.

Her cousin helps her find a place to live and the dwelling itself drives the rest of this novel into fairy tale land, complete with wizened and assorted fantastical creatures, an enchanted forest, an epic journey.

It was cute, but I had trouble getting over the utter bleakness that kicked everything off.

My thanks to NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux for the Advance Reader Copy. (pub. date 8/5/2025)

‘Dwelling’ is like an old fantasy featuring current anxieties. The description delivered on it’s promise of a housing crisis fairy tale.
I couldn’t tell if certain happenings had deeper meaning that I was missing or if this is really just a ‘go along with it’ story. Which is kinda accurate for a fairy tale story anyway. I still liked it regardless.
I flew through the second half and loved the magical realism though I think the tonal shift will lose some people. My confession is I might like it even more knowing many will find it ridiculous. 3.75 rounded up.

Described as a surrealist tale, when mass evictions and city shutdowns send multiple people on the street, Evie looks to who to turn to. Her parents are dead, family in a psychiatric ward and a long lost relative she cannot even remember the name of. A small town in Texas seems to be her saving grace in a very interesting house that inspires her to be who she was meant to be.

In the ridiculous society we live in how is this surreal and not just realistic? This lives a lot in the housing market descriptions at the beginning, and would leave me wanting some sort of progression, either in plot or character development. But a lot of comparisons early one, what you can afford in the city to the country. I was missing some of the magical realism the story felt like it could have done more with and could have been integrated. The back half did introduce more but took on a new idea to a point that the story almost felt sectionalized.

I love the idea of this, very fitting in today’s times but execution didn't quite land. A lot of it comes back to missed opportunity. This was the kiddie pool of surrealism, and I wanted the deep end of imagery and descriptions to dive into. Oh well. But if you’re wanting an intriguing concept but in a subtle way, this may be a good pick. Overall a literary story of found family and starting over.

I loved this one! Emily Hunt Kivel’s brilliant and grimly funny novel “Dwelling” follows Evie, a graphic designer in a near-future New York where rent laws are gone and a vacation rental company called Aha! (Apartments and Homes Anywhere) helps wipe out entire neighborhoods.

Evie’s tragicomic odyssey for housing takes her all the way to Texas, hoping to find shelter with a cousin she doesn’t really know. From a vitamin shop basement to a house shaped like a shoe, her journey is a powerful reminder that property is a legal construct we all buy into—and a fairy tale!

This novel is a surreal and painfully real fable about eviction, displacement and the legal frameworks that no longer even pretend to be fair.

Kivel blends the biting social commentary of Dickens with a weird, hilarious modern edge. “Dwelling” feels like a nightmare you can’t wake up from—and yet, somehow, it’s familiar.

If you’ve ever felt like a rental listing was gaslighting you, this book will make you feel seen!

I could call this a horror novel when I really think about it. A surreal fairy tale? Absolutely. The American housing crisis? Terrifying!

Evie has been evicted from her rented apartment in New York City. Her sister is in a mental institution, so she has nowhere to turn. On a quest to reconnect with a distant cousin in Texas, she tries to get back on her feet. But, the economy is in turmoil so more people than ever are looking for work and stable housing. It's bleak.

Then the story turns into something else. Something more whimsical and weird. I mean, Evie lives in a damn shoe.

I understand people like to try new things, but I'm still struggling to find how the two storylines connected. One was The Road, then next was a LSD trip.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This was unfortunately a DNF for me at 50%

It just was not the type of book i am into.

Out of respect for the author, I will not be speaking about it on my channel as I don't like to add too much negativity to an author, and because I didnt finish it.

I thank you for the ARC though

This is definitely one of the stranger books I have ever read in my lifetime, but I mean that in the best way possible. What begins as a dystopian-like commentary on the country’s housing crisis turns into a fairy tale-esque magical realism. I just—this is truly the most unique book I have had the pleasure of reading in a long time. The commentary is striking and hits so close to home, especially in a time when the majority of the population is struggling with the affordability of housing. Kivel also lends commentary to the bleak view that much of the younger generations have grown to have; they no longer have strong hopes for the future due to the state of the world and its continuing decline. How hard it becomes to find ourselves and believe in the good of the world when we are fighting to survive.

This is a book I can confidently recommend to anyone and everyone. This story holds so much between the commentary and astounding fairy tale elements, I truly believe there is something in this for everyone.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this. An incredible debut novel, I cannot wait to see what you will come up with next.

This starts as a dystopian commentary on the housing crisis and turns into an odd retelling of Mother Goose. Yep. The housing market has gone topsy turvy and when Eve loses her apartment in New York, she goes to Texas when she finds herself living in a shoe. Yep. It worked for me until it didn't. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. Over to fans of literary fiction.

Honestly loved this so much. It was bizarre, funny, and ultimately heartwarming. There were occasionally sections of the book that seemed a little pointless, but in the end they added to that dreamy, fantastical feeling that is found in a fairytale. The book also isn't that long, so I can forgive it for meandering a bit.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!

Strange, surreal little novel that takes the absurdity of apartment hunting, pushes it into a full dystopia (in which everyone in the big city is being forced out due to mandated renovations to appeal to AirBNBs), and then decides to let it wander into a kafkaesque fairy tale, in which our main finds a home, eventually is able to retrieve her stuff in storage, retrieve her sister who has been institutionalized (that eventually morphs into a cult) and also lives in a giant shoe shaped building, for funsies. Interesting debut, and worth a read when it comes out this fall.