In Still Rooms - by Constantine Jones (Paperback)

About the Book

IN STILL ROOMS draws its aesthetic equally from ancient Greek drama, ecopoetics, and the Gothic tradition. In this house, saints speak to mothers from their plaques on the wall; ancient deities manifest in the minds of children; a Chorus of the dead address the reader directly; and ultimately, the house itself begins to speak.

Book Synopsis

In Still Rooms is more than a haunted house novel--a strange hybrid drawing its aesthetic equally from ancient Greek drama, ecopoetics, and the Gothic tradition. Set in an old house in rural East Tennessee, three generations of a Greek-American family mourn the loss of a matriarch who reveals herself to each of them uniquely. Regardless of the family's comings and goings, the reader remains always in the house. In this house, religion, mythology, and superstition all rule equally. In this house, saints speak to mothers from their plaques on the wall; ancient deities manifest in the minds of children; a Chorus of those who have previously died there address the reader directly; and ultimately, the house itself begins to speak.

Review Quotes

"Constantine Jones is a prophet for our times. Their writing contains truths, ghosts, gods, love, the unknown, the past, the present, and the future. "But it's alright every now and again," the narrator says, which is a constant theme throughout the book, showcasing that life is neither one thing or the other, but gradient of everything. How do the characters react? This book is a case study in humans and how they act in all times, with grief and love and loss. Families, family identity in America, and how families function and dysfunction is such a crucial part of our everyday lives, and for the lives of Greek Americans and Greek American immigrants. This is a wonderful look into that world, both familial and religious, and examines the roles all family members fall into, and perhaps, out of, fluidly and not so fluidly."--Joanna C. Valente, author of Marys of the Sea and editor of A Shadow Map: Writing by Survivors of Sexual Assault

"Misted by the East Tennessee mountains, the house at the center of In Still Rooms echoes with the fading words of a family's Greek heritage and the unsteady steps of two siblings trying to edge out into the world. Bereft of their Greek-American matriarch, Eleni and her twin brother Evan must put their own specters to bed and venture into their own possibilities. Their house becomes an intimate amphitheater of memory and discovery. Written in lovingly evocative and poetic prose, and animated by a sharp-edged chorus of Southern ghosts as well as the ultimate voice of the house itself, Constantine Jones's beautiful debut novel gives us a story infused with the power of mythic places past and present, ancient and American."--David Groff, author of Clay and Theory of Devolution