The House of Tomorrow

While waiting to read The Passage by Justin Cronin (you mean we have to share?), I've perused several books, even started a few, before settling on Peter Bognanni's The House of Tomorrow.



I'm not sure what, exactly, attracted me to it. On the surface it doesn't seem much like my kind of book. On the cover (as you can see), is a drawing of a heart. Not a cute Valentine heart, but a kind of anatomical drawing, with arteries and veins. Kind of intense. From what I'd gleaned from the dust jacket, it's about a teen, Sebastian, who lives in a geodesic dome with his grandmother, who reveres Buckminster Fuller and his futuristic ideas. Sebastian meets Jared, who introduces him to punk rock. Again, not something that would draw me in, not being a fan of the punk rock genre.

However, drawn in I am. Sebastian has an interesting view of the world, almost certainly because he's been living almost in virtual isolation with his grandmother in the dome, and I'm thinking that his own quirky personality has something to do with it as well.

He and his grandmother have lived in the dome for many years. She has a stroke and Sebastian has to begin to navigate in the world.

Sebastian talks about watching television...
"I had never really watched much television before, and I was surprised to find so many lives full of constant torment and indecision. The people in the programs just endlessly wanted. They wanted things and other people and they wanted other lives. Then some music played, and it all began somewhere else."

So I'm interested. I want to see what happens with Sebastian and his grandmother and the dome and Jared and yes, even with the punk rock.