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Silas House
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Eli the Good Hardcover – September 22, 2009

by Silas House (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 268 ratings
See all formats and editions
In his timely YA debut, a best-selling novelist revisits a summer of tumult and truth for a young narrator and his war-torn family.

Bicentennial fireworks burn the sky. Bob Seger growls from a transistor radio. And down by the river, girls line up on lawn chairs in pursuit of the perfect tan. Yet for ten-year-old Eli Book, the summer of 1976 is the one that threatened to tear his family apart. There is his distant mother; his traumatized Vietnam vet dad; his wild sister; his former warprotester aunt; and his tough yet troubled best friend, Edie, the only person with whom he can be himself. As tempers flare and his father’s nightmares rage, Eli watches from the sidelines, but soon even he cannot escape the current of conflict. From Silas House comes a tender look at the complexities of childhood and the realities of war — a quintessentially Southern novel filled with music, nostalgic detail, a deep respect for nature, and a powerful sense of place.
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Previous page
  1. Reading age
    12 years and up
  2. Print length
    295 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Grade level
    7 - 9
  5. Lexile measure
    950L
  6. Dimensions
    6.05 x 1.32 x 8.49 inches
  7. Publisher
    Candlewick
  8. Publication date
    September 22, 2009
  9. ISBN-10
    0763643416
  10. ISBN-13
    978-0763643416
  11. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Grade 5–8—Eli, 10, spends the summer of 1976 riding bikes with his friend Edie, reading Anne Frank's diary, talking with his Aunt Nell, and watching his Vietnam-vet father experience flashbacks. He observes his mother trying to ride out various storms: 16-year-old Josie's rebellious attitude; the anger between her husband and his sister, Nell (who protested the war); and the flashes of violence and despair that wrack her spouse. Eli is curious, thoughtful, and not above eavesdropping or snooping through personal letters to find out things that his family would prefer to keep private. He learns that Nell came home with cancer; that he and Josie do not share a biological father; and how his father felt after killing a man in the war. Nell nicknames him Eli the Good, and he is. He is a decent kid, just trying to understand his family and the world around him. He makes mistakes, but he learns from them, and simply wants the best for those he loves. House writes beautifully, with a gentle tone. He lays out Eli's world in exquisite detail. A Bicentennial celebration, along with mentions of pop songs and clothing styles, sets the stage, but never takes over the narrative. The story flows along as steadily as a stream, carrying readers and Eli to the end of summer and beyond, into a coda where he is an adult. Eli is good company and children will enjoy accompanying him on his journey.—Geri Diorio, The Ridgefield Library, CT
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

The story flows along as steadily as a stream, carrying readers and Eli to the end of summer and beyond, into a coda where he is an adult. Eli is good company and children will enjoy accompanying him on his journey.
—School Library Journal (starred review)

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Candlewick; 0 edition (September 22, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 295 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0763643416
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0763643416
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 12 years and up
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 950L
  • Grade level ‏ : ‎ 7 - 9
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.05 x 1.32 x 8.49 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 268 ratings

About the author

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Silas House

Silas House

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Silas House is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels and one book of creative nonfiction. His latest book is Southernmost (June 2018), which has been long listed for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction and was a top ten Southern bestseller and in July 2020 his first three books were reissued with new supplemental material, including new forewords, author notes, and a family tree.

A former commentator for NPR's "All Things Considered", House's writing often appears in The New York Times and he has been published in The Atlantic, Time, The Advocate, Ecotone, Newsday, Garden and Gun, Oxford American, and many other major publications. House is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. His awards include an EB White Award, the Storylines Prize from the NY Public Library/NAV Foundation, the Nautilus Award, the Appalachian Novel of the Year, the Hobson Medal for Literature, and many others.

House is also a music writer who often writes publicity campaigns. His clients have included Jason Isbell, Lucinda Williams, Kris Kristofferson, Lee Ann Womack, and many others. He also hosts a popular podcast called "On the Porch with Silas House" where he has been in conversation with people like bell hooks, Ashley Judd, Allison Moorer, Barbara Kingsolver, and others.

House serves as the NEH Chair at Berea College and on the fiction faculty of the Spalding School of Creative and Professional Writing. Visit him at www.silas-house.com.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
268 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ruthi Q Skinner
5.0 out of 5 stars Deep, insightful and heartfelt.
Reviewed in the United States on February 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
Silas House hurts your heart. But, the emotion is never bought cheaply. My grandma and grandpa lived in the beautiful mountains of Eastern Kentucky; Lost Creek, to be exact; and I spent most of my time with them until I started First Grade, then spent all my school vacations with them, until I graduated high school in 1963. I KNOW everyone in this beautiful book.
Also, not only were my very best, most fiercely loyal friends all from Breathitt County, KY, but I identified with Mr. House's love of nature, especially the trees. My own favorite tree was on top of the ridge on my grandpa's farm, and had a grapevine swing. My husband and I have such a love of trees that we built our house 38 years ago right in the middle of 5 acres of woods. Later, we bought 30 acres of land which abut our original property. We gave our daughter and her husband 9 acres of land on which they built their house and home occupation, and have saved another 9 acres for our son and his family, for when they are ready to build. We have our organic veggie and flower garden (award-winning heirloom tomatoes, etc.) and Native BlueOrchard Bees on about one Half Acre. Then, in 2007, the KY Dept. of Forestry helped us start a 4-acre Stewardship Forest of hardwood trees, mostly 5 types of Oaks, with added Wild Plums, Kentucky Coffee Trees, Red Buds, Wild Cherries. Every year since then we have planted a few shade trees such as Red and Sugar Maples, and nut-bearing trees including Black and English Walnuts, as well as some Hawthorne Trees, these all from The Arbor Day Foundation.
My husband and I can also identify with everything written about The Vietnam War here (I read this book aloud to him, which I often have with deep, soulful books. I read him my First Edition copy of The Lovely Bones, which I thought just might end up killing us both, but that's another story). I was a Freshman in college when President Kennedy was killed. This event, along with such things as The Freedom Riders being killed, kids our age being taunted, having firehoses turned on them, or worse, having dogs set upon them for nothing other than wanting to sit at the front of the bus, or be free to attend school alongside the White children were already raising our consciousness. Then there were the assassinations of MLK and Robert Kennedy. Our entire country was reeling. When Vietnam really started heating up, it was so difficult to understand why we were even there, and who was our enemy. My husband and I married during his Freshman year of dental school. By the time he graduated in 1969, we had come to believe that the war was a huge mistake, and we should never have gotten involved. But, needing to do the honorable thing, he allowed himself to be "allocated" into the Navy, where he served for two years taking care of the dental needs first of the kids (yes, I said kids) who were getting ready to ship out to Vietnam; then, after having been given his own clinic, taking care of the ones returning from the war with their hellish stories of just how it had been.
Silas House gives such a loving account of both (all?) sides of this sad and very complicated part of our history, as well as the ways the events of 9-11 impacted us so deeply individually and collectively. He also accurately conveys how deeply loving, yet fraught family relations can be in Eastern Kentucky. You will end up believing Silas House Is Eli the Good.
Read this book!
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Jenna OBrocto
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for all ages.
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2023
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As an ela teacher seeking a book for the classroom, I found it in Eli the Good. A beautiful, thought provoking look at the relationships that make up our lives. I'm suggesting it to my school tomorrow!
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K Dunn
4.0 out of 5 stars Great characters
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2013
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The characters in this book- as with Silas House's other books- are well thought out and you understand where they are coming from and/ or why they do or say the things they do. And you don't have to go through pages and pages of information in order to understand their traits and personalities.
I loved the story as well. It's low key without being boring- you don't feel like it's dragging on and on.
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Sam
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved Eli
Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2012
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I want to be Eli when I grow up (60+ years old now!). What a wonderful story of family and the damages war can do to individuals and those that love that person. I was in my early 20's when the Viet Nam war was ongoing. I know those that lost their lives there and those that returned. I do not know any that talk about their experiences. This story helped to let me know what they might have experienced and the damage this war did to them. I feel like it would help anyone who has a loved one in the military understand what they might have been through - no matter which war. I wish that veteran's from the Viet Nam war could talk openly more often because so many of us do care. Eli the Good was a wonderful book and I highly recommend it to anyone - not just young adults (although I think it might need to be required reading to any young person with a parent in the military today!)
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Daniel Young
5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful reminiscence of a boy's tenth summer
Reviewed in the United States on April 18, 2021
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Once again Silas House brings Eastern Kentucky to our reading tables. Eli is ten and experiencing a summer he'll remember the rest of his life. There's his father's struggle with PTSD from the Vietnam War, the Bicentennial Celebration, his aunt's cancer, his best friend's family problems, and his Beech tree in the forest where he goes to get away from the world. This is an wonderful read that will be enjoyed again and again.
(Although the protagonist is 10, this is not a middle-grade novel.)
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mimi
5.0 out of 5 stars A book for all service members families and friends
Reviewed in the United States on January 8, 2012
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I don't usually cry while reading a book, but I was brought to tears several times. We all know people who have served or are serving. It is a good insight of what a servicemen and women deal with when they return home. Eli was a son we could only hope to have. What insight he had. Please let us all reconize with kindness and understanding those who are currently serving and those who have served. I sent this to my sister as a suggestion to read. She has a son experiencing a bad time since he returned home from serving. We are headed to NY City this am to the Veterans hosptial where her husband will have heart surgery due to agent orange. It lives with all for the rest of their lives. The family support is so needed and we need to thank them too!!
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Geri Janzen
4.0 out of 5 stars A New Appreciation of Humanity's Many Faces
Reviewed in the United States on June 24, 2014
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I give it a four star because after I read the sample version I liked it well enough to order the book. I found it increasingly even more interesting as the story progressed. The author is new to me and his world of characters is a bit foreign to my life experiences, but that makes it more interesting and broadens my understanding of all God's people. Also, I have recently ordered another of this author's works and am just a few chapters into it. His characters are much the same as those in Eli the Good which leads me to believe that his background certainly lies in the Kentucky mountain coal mining area. I am an elderly person (almost 86) and my childhood was lived during the great depression. I felt a kinship with many of the characters because of this even though our era historically speaking differs. I'm not sure why this is so; perhaps the limitations that poverty engenders can be felt the same way although experienced under different circumstances and times.
2 people found this helpful
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