This House Is Not for Sale: A Novel

by E.C. Osondu

Overview

The award-winning author of Voice of America paints a vivid, fully imagined portrait of an extraordinary African family and the house that holds them together.

A powerful tale of family and community, This House Is Not for Sale brings to life an African neighborhood and one remarkable house, seen through the eyes of a young member of the household. The house lies in a town seemingly lost in time, full of colorful, larger-than-life characters; at the narrative’s heart are Grandpa, the family patriarch whose occasional cruelty is balanced by his willingness to open his doors to those in need, and the house itself, which becomes a character in its own right and takes on the scale of legend.

From the decades-long rivalry between owners of two competing convenience stores to the man who convinces his neighbors to give up their earthly possessions to prepare for the end of the world, Osondu’s story captures a place beyond the reach of the outside world, full of superstitions and myths that sustain its people.

Osondu’s prose has the lightness and magic of fable, but his themes—poverty, disease, the arrival of civilization in an isolated community—are timeless and profound. At once full of joyful energy and quiet heartbreak, This House Is Not for Sale is an utterly original novel from a master storyteller.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062097781
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/17/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	194
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

E. C. Osondu is the author of Voice of America. Born in Nigeria, he received his MFA from Syracuse University and is the winner of the Caine Prize for African Writing and a Pushcart Prize. His fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, n+1, Guernica, and other publications. He teaches at Providence College in Rhode Island.

Editorial Reviews

★ 12/08/2014
Osondu’s (Voice of America) novel captures the depth and breadth of African society in a neighborhood in a nameless country where fable-like stories revolve around a marvelous ancestral house run by the narrator’s grandfather. It begins with a captivating tale about how one of the nameless narrator’s ancestors, “a strong juju man,” beguiled a king and got the “Family House” out of it. From there, the vibrant cast of characters is introduced, each given their own chapter. These characters have impact on the lives of those in the Family House in myriad ways: from the humiliated Ndozo, a seller of goods who is severely punished for stealing from the family till, to the oddball Uncle Aya whose devotion to “End of the World Ministries” is a cautionary tale about pastors predicting the apocalypse, to the unlucky Gabriel, who, no matter what he does, always seems to get the short end of the stick. Throughout, a marvelous chorus of community voices chimes in, passionately commenting on the action and swaying from jealousy to awe to amazement, as fates rise and fall. Osondu uses the house as a prism through which to depict the events of the neighborhood, proving that our stories outlive the places we inhabit. Agent: Jin Auh, Wylie Agency. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

The home in the magisterial This House Is Not For Sale becomes much more than a building. The structure defines and divides a family over generations. Osondu has more to say about life and love than most of the classic novels we adore.” — Essence

“Remarkable. . . . Though Osondu tips his hat to tradition, this book is a distinctive and singular achievement, all the more remarkable for being a debut novel.” — Jeffery Renard Allen, author of Song of the Shank

“A marvelous chorus of community voices chimes in, passionately commenting on the action. . . . Osondu uses the house as a prism through which to depict the events of the neighborhood, proving that our stories outlive the places we inhabit.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Vivid. . . . Beguiling in their simplicity and resonant in their universal themes, This House is Not for Sale offers a striking appraisal of people’s basest ambitions.” — Booklist

“Osondu brings his characters to life with love. The dialogue, flavored by its ever-present chorus of unnamed voices, sparkles with humor, playful wickedness, and zest. Osondu gives us a strong and joyful sense of place in this novel. . . . A celebration of a place and its people.” — BookBrowse

“The timelessness of this ambitious debut reminds the reader of J. M. Coetzee’s Life & Times of Michael K. The characters, sheltered by a house from which they also try to shelter themselves, tell the stories of every one of us.” — Yiyun Li, author of The Vagrants

“A very modern, compassionate voice. . . . Osondu is ceaseless in his willingness to examine the human condition in all its glories and frailties.” — Kirkus

From the Publisher

Remarkable. . . . Though Osondu tips his hat to tradition, this book is a distinctive and singular achievement, all the more remarkable for being a debut novel.

Jeffery Renard Allen

The timelessness of this ambitious debut reminds the reader of J. M. Coetzee’s Life & Times of Michael K. The characters, sheltered by a house from which they also try to shelter themselves, tell the stories of every one of us.

Yiyun Li

Vivid. . . . Beguiling in their simplicity and resonant in their universal themes, This House is Not for Sale offers a striking appraisal of people’s basest ambitions.

Booklist

Osondu brings his characters to life with love. The dialogue, flavored by its ever-present chorus of unnamed voices, sparkles with humor, playful wickedness, and zest. Osondu gives us a strong and joyful sense of place in this novel. . . . A celebration of a place and its people.

BookBrowse

The home in the magisterial This House Is Not For Sale becomes much more than a building. The structure defines and divides a family over generations. Osondu has more to say about life and love than most of the classic novels we adore.

Essence

The home in the magisterial This House Is Not For Sale becomes much more than a building. The structure defines and divides a family over generations. Osondu has more to say about life and love than most of the classic novels we adore.

Essence

Vivid. . . . Beguiling in their simplicity and resonant in their universal themes, This House is Not for Sale offers a striking appraisal of people’s basest ambitions.

Booklist

A marvelous chorus of community voices chimes in, passionately commenting on the action. . . . Osondu uses the house as a prism through which to depict the events of the neighborhood, proving that our stories outlive the places we inhabit.

Booklist (starred review)

11/01/2014
A young resident tells the mythlike story of a remarkable house in an African neighborhood untouched by time.

Library Journal

2014-11-18
The patriarch of a large extended family rules over his kingdom in a family home on the edge of an African village.Although nominally a novel, this full-length debut by Osondu (Creative Writing/Providence College; Voice of America: Stories, 2010) is more a collection of portraits of a diverse body of characters, sometimes related and sometimes not, all living under the protective wing of "Grandpa," a generous and mildly sinister father figure to the very large household—he's somewhat Godfather-esque in putting in the fix. Settling the future of a man who shot his wife's alleged lovers, Grandpa tells him, "You have killed one man. The other man is still alive, he survived. I will talk with the police. They will understand. I will help them understand." Although there's a common narrator, a young family member, each chapter focuses on the story of a different character. There are the eccentrics, like Uncle Aya and the befuddled "Baby," saddled with the nickname while her father was away and never properly named. There are the disavowed, like Ndozo, who's publicly humiliated after she steals money the family earned selling in the market. There are also ministers, soldiers and grieving parents, all lovingly described in a style that strongly reflects Osondu's affection for Raymond Carver. While there's a sense of myth here—the denizens of the Family House are deeply superstitious, prone to gossip and virtual prisoners to community ritual—the stories have a very modern, compassionate voice as well. Whether describing the uncle whose job is to burn discontinued currency arriving home with pockets of old money or the grieving widow who sells her own daughter's virginity to a stranger, Osondu is ceaseless in his willingness to examine the human condition in all its glories and frailties. A wide-ranging portrait of an African community largely at odds with itself.

Kirkus Reviews