The House of Tomorrow

by Peter Bognanni

Book Overview

Sebastian Prendergast lives in a geodesic dome with his eccentric grandmother, who homeschooled him in the teachings of futurist philosopher R. Buckminster Fuller. But when his grandmother has a stroke, Sebastian is forced to leave the dome and make his own way in town. Jared Whitcomb is a chain-smoking sixteen-year-old heart-transplant recipient who befriends Sebastian, and begins to teach him about all the things he has been missing, including grape...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399156097
• ISBN13: 9780399156090
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: Penguin Adult HC/TR
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.12 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.8" x 6.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

A memorable read

This book is a memorable read. It's been years, and many other books, since I read it and I can still recall the entire story. Would recommend. A very solid, underrated YA novel.

MaryinHB www.maryinhb.blogspot.com

ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT This is wonderful debut with a unique voice. I think it is somewhere between The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and The Life of Pi with my favorite punk songs mixed in. This is the best book I have read so far the year. This coming of age story really captures some great geek moments and the account of two misplaced teens finding meaning in their lives just hits right on every note. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK! You won't be disappointed...well, you might be if you like normal.

Bodes well for tomorrow!

This gently humorous novel, loosely and comically attached to the life and philosophy of futurist architect Buckminster Fuller, introduces an exciting new voice to the fiction scene. Some other reviewers here seem to suggest that it is a book for young adults, which is kind of like calling "Harold and Maude" a film for teenage boys, but I think it is much more than that. The story brings together a passionate and visionary grandmother, a recently abandoned wife with a desperately ill son, a teenage girl starved for a touch, and the protagonist, the young man who longs to touch her. Most importantly, it describes the genesis of a friendship, comically but legitimately defined as one person who believes in another's "stupid ideas." Offering a generous definition of family, it spans generations and makes self-sacrifice seem like a form of joyful communion. Through the narrator, it also delicately inhabits the voice and mind of a kind of "enfant sauvage," that is someone artificially kept away from ordinary society. But rather than "sauvage," our narrator is hyper-civilized -- and quite charming!

Reviews from Brizmus Blogs Books

Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances, said "I adore this book." That's my "just finished this book" reaction as well. I absolutely ADORED it. It's so gritty and heartfelt and REAL that I couldn't help but feel attached from sentence one. Sebastian, a 16 year old who grew up in a geodesic dome with a grandmother obsessed with Buckminster Fuller, and Jared, a 16 year old whose family is screwed up and who just recently underwent a heart transplant, are not your average teen boys. But they could have been. Their flaws are so understandable, their anger and frustration so real, that despite their odd circumstances, they are, in the end, just two completely identifiable teen boys, and the bond that they form is believable and touching in a way rarely seen in books nowadays. Bognanni's way of dealing with Jared's problems through the music he listens to and creates was masterful. Music allows Sebastian and Jared to discover themselves and reveal themselves to each other in a way that most teenage boys would be unable to do. They are the music, and the music is them, and if you've ever had any kind of relationship with music, you need to read this book. There is no better song to explain how Jared and Sebastian felt than "Teenagers from Mars" by the Misfits, and the way he wove this in and allowed it, along with other punk rock music, to create a bond between Jared and Sebastian, was absolutely genius. Something else genius: the way he used punk rock to set a mood for the book without letting the mood of the book be the punk rock. Let me try to explain that better. I knew, going into the book, that I would be reading about some of my favorite punk. So I made a playlist in iTunes with things like the Misfits, Minor Threat, the Ramones, the Dead Kennedys, the Clash, the Sex Pistols, the Business, etc. . ., and I set it to go when I started the book. At first, it was okay. But as I read more and more, it wasn't angry, fast music that I wanted to be listening to. While the music perfectly described the fears of these two teenage boys and allowed them to express themselves without acting like retarded girls (I'm sure that's something Jared would say), it was all just a cover up for their deeper problems. The story of their frienship was so sweet and sad that, while gritty, angry music worked for them, it didn't work for me while reading. Reading this book, I felt like I could tell that Peter Bognanni put his heart and soul into it. He raises interesting questions and gives you just enough of the answers. He breathes so much life into his two unique, quirky characters that I can't help but wonder if one of them is his son. One of them was my brother, even if he didn't mean for it to be, and my guess is at least one of the boys is someone in your life as well. His writing is lyrical and beautiful and, I say it again, heartfelt. One more thing I'd like to say as an afterthought - referring to Napoleon as the first punk rocker: totally RAD! I a

Great read for older teens (and adults)

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. When I first started The House of Tomorrow, I thought it was going to be another story of a homeschooled teen raised by a new-age, out-of-touch grandmother who is forced into the "real world." It did start out that way. Sebastian's grandmother has been raising him in their geodesic dome house, where she homeschools him on the teachings of a futurist philosopher. He rarely leaves the house and his contact with others is mainly with people coming to tour their unique home. When his grandmother has a stroke, he is taken in by a family who is going through some pretty major problems of their own. A single mom is raising two rebellious teens, one of whom has had a heart transplant that his body is rejecting. Sebastian learns about punk music and experiences first love . . . and really his first friendship as well. This book was so much deeper than I expected and really touching and funny. I was hooked from the first page and wasn't let go until the last. This is a book for older teens as their are sexual references and bad language. I highly recommend this thought provoking, as well as entertaining book.

Great book for older teens and adults

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. When I first started The House of Tomorrow, I thought it was going to be another story of a homeschooled teen raised by a new-age, out-of-touch grandmother who is forced into the "real world." It did start out that way. Sebastian's grandmother has been raising him in their geodesic dome house, where she homeschools him on the teachings of a futurist philosopher. He rarely leaves the house and his contact with others is mainly with people coming to tour their unique home. When his grandmother has a stroke, he is taken in by a family who is going through some pretty major problems of their own. A single mom is raising two rebellious teens, one of whom has had a heart transplant that his body is rejecting. Sebastian learns about punk music and experiences first love . . . and really his first friendship as well. This book was so much deeper than I expected and was really touching and funny. I was hooked from the first page and wasn't let go until the last. This is a book for older teens as their are sexual references and bad language. I highly recommend this thought provoking, as well as entertaining book.