"Set This House in Order" by Matt Ruff

Here is rundown of the book’s description via Amazon.Com along with additions of mine through the help of Regina Schroeder at Booklist:

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"Andy Gage was born in 1965 and murdered not long after by his stepfather. It was no ordinary murder. Though the torture and abuse that killed him were real, Andy Gage’s death wasn’t. Only his soul actually died, and when it died, it broke in pieces. Then the pieces became souls in their own right, coinheritors of Andy Gage’s life.

The “new” Andy Gage was “born” just two years ago, called out of the lake near their house by his father to be the public face of a multiple personality. While Andy deals with the outside world, more than a hundred other souls share an imaginary house inside Andy’s head, struggling to maintain an orderly coexistence: Aaron, the father figure; Adam, the mischievous teenager; Jake, the frightened little boy; Aunt Sam, the artist; Seferis, the defender; and Gideon, who wants to get rid of Andy and the others and run things on his own.

Andy’s new coworker, Penny Driver, is also a multiple personality, a fact that Penny is only partially aware of. When several of Penny’s other souls ask Andy for help, Andy reluctantly agrees, setting in motion a chain of events that threatens to destroy the stability of the house. Now Andy and Penny must work together to uncover a terrible secret that Andy has been keeping, from himself."

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There was part of me that was worried when I bought this book that it might be too complex to really enjoy. Not that I can’t handle a complex plot, but that the multiple personalities and switching between them would become too much, maybe even surreal. However, Mr. Ruff’s delivery makes it so easy to discern between that I am embarrassed that I ever thought it would be difficult.

This book should appeal to almost any reader. The style is very straight forward. The reading level needed is not very high. But unlike other books that I have read that fall into those categories, this book contains very deep characterization. The presentation of the story gives two sides, both of Andy and Penny, at times overlapping or going back to replay from the other perspective. Often times there are complete chapters that go back in time to give background on some of the reasons events just happened in the chapter previous. The story doesn’t march straight forward in chronological order, making it more interesting and engaging, especially when learning more of the characters involved.

One thing about this book though that might put purists off is it’s lack of depth on the disorder itself and it’s controversy. Like one reviewer at Amazon said:

"Centered on the fascinating, very rare and controversial condition of multiple identity disorder. This condition raises questions which go to very nature of consciousness. However, the author here is more concerned with weaving a satisfying, fantasy style storyline around the basic concept, than exploring these questions in any depth."

One other thing that hit me was the ability to talk to other personalities. This comes from being uneducated on the subject. I was under the impression that if someone is diagnosed as such, they switch personalities without any real control, and without knowing or communicating with the other(s). Another issue is that many of the characters in the book that don’t have this disorder are accepting of it. This didn’t really bother me until much later in the book when one character doesn’t believe it to be an actual condition. Though it can be easily explained that Andy would surround himself with people that would believe and not have issue, or move on until he would find those tolerant people. And what are the chances that two people with the disorder would be in such close proximity to each other?

Even with these shortcomings, it doesn’t take away from a great story being told. The reader is still brought into the story’s world to see the struggles of someone afflicted with the disorder from different sides and different degrees. The explanations are quick and to the point, not too drawn out and stuffed with too much jargon. Most of the explanations are in first person through Andy, and he doesn’t understand everything, so why would he over-explain things? It makes for easy understanding of the inside of Andy’s head, yet still has the feeling of being complex. The differences between the points of view of Andy and Penny give you a good idea of the struggles one could go through with this disorder. And it also is an added feature to the story telling that makes it more engaging, not giving away too much, drawing out some scenes, but in a good way.

Maybe not a true representation of someone with a multiple personality, but it does come together as a very well thought out and crafted story. And that’s all I could have hoped for.

8/10