Will they shape the world, or will the world shape them?

Nick and Bet Taylor meet in Washington DC during the WWII years, he a soldier soon to ship overseas and she a Vassar graduate working on a secret cryptography program. Bet has dreams of pursuing her PhD in literature after the war and leading a meaningful career, while Nick’s experiences will sharpen his desire to marry and create a stable basis for his life. Their upbringings were different: Nick’s father was a strict Mennonite whose family led a somber, no frills life, while Bet’s family of Irish immigrants had worked hard to better their lives and those of their children. Neither comes from the type of wealthy families in which their classmates and ultimately colleagues and neighbors were raised, and both feel not quite accepted within their milieu. Nick becomes a lawyer and goes to work for the American Oil Company, traveling to the Middle East to hammer out contracts and climbing the corporate ladder, while Bet finds herself a suburban housewife, raising their two children in the New England town of Mapleton. The oil industry provides the Taylors with a very comfortable life, and through it Nick meets the charismatic Carter Weston, who works with the CIA to further US interests in the Middle East. Carter recruits Nick to work alongside him even as he pursues his own work for American Oil to help tip the political structure in Iran towards a favorable partnership with the US, resulting in the reinstatement of the Shah and the dominance of the American Oil Company in that country. Through Nick’s friendship and work with Carter, the Taylors will buy a house and plot of land in a Vermont valley inherited by Carter and which Carter establishes as a retreat for a cluster of likeminded friends…an acceptance into the social sphere which had for so long eluded them. The Last House, as it is known, becomes the Taylor family retreat and their children, the fierce-minded Katherine and the gentle, nature-loving Harry spend summers there throughout their childhood. Katherine and Harry come of age during the turbulent late sixties, and each will come to look at the oil company that has been the source of their family’s income and success to be something insidious, part of an industry that is funding wars and ruining the environment. The family becomes increasingly strained, and ultimately a tragedy will forever alter their lives.
A saga that examines the ambitions of a generation who comes of age during WWII and the very different paths and morals that their children will pursue later on, bringing the two generations into conflict, Last House uses the oil industry as the prism through which this American family prospers and later splinters. Nick lives the American dream, working hard to rise above his modest beginnings to create a life for his family far more comfortable than what he experienced, and earnestly pursues a profession which he believes is bringing positive progress to a country struggling to shed its old ways. Bet loves her family but does not find an intellectual or creative outlet as an average suburban wife, and wonders about what her life would have been had she chosen to remain single and pursue her career instead of marrying Nick. Katherine judges her mother harshly for the choices she made, but as she eschews the life that her parents chose for her and instead becomes involved with political activism she too will make choices that will reverberate throughout her life, some she will deeply regret. Harry, the idealist and pacifist, will get pulled into Katherine’s circle, and that group in turn will intersect with Carter and his machinations. This is a story told through the eyes of many characters, well fleshed out and with their own dreams, agendas, and failings that combine to drive the sequence of events against a vividly painted background. Two turbulent periods in American history, where nothing can be seen as simply right or wrong, black or white…..professional life, personal life, and politics are hopelessly intertwined, and love and other passions are never quite enough to bring about a perfectly happy ending. Readers of Julia Glass, Claire Messud and J. Courtney Sullivan should find this novel greatly appealing, as should those who are intrigued by the actions of the US in Iran at the beginning of the Age of Oil or what life was like in the trenches of the protest movements in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. I felt great empathy for each character, what they wanted to achieve and the struggles through which they lived. Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for allowing me access to this novel, with themes that resonate in struggles on college campuses and elsewhere in society today.

Last House by Jessica Shattuck is a historical family drama involving the environment and oil from the 1950s to the present day. The novel is about family secrets and coverups but manages to do it all for love. The Last House serves as both a metaphor and a psychical house. It is the house that gets the family through the storm of secrets and lies also a literal storm. The house is called the Last House due to the precious land owner with the last name Last built the house and land around it as a last refuge, which the next generation will use as well. The book is a little all over the place at times, when the plot is focused the book is great. The book switches focus from oil to family then at the end works hard to connect them. I wanted a lot more consistency throughout the novel to nail the concept. The story tells multiple generations of the Taylor family and how they have changed throughout the years. This book had the worst transitions to next generation characters I've ever read. The perspectives of the family change with each generation, but it switches before we can even get to know the characters through a father or mother's eyes. The book is best when it is in the 1950's writing about a slice of life. The oil chapters are interesting and based on history. The bulk of the book hangs out in the late 1960s counterculture as everyone was striving to find their own identity out of the shadow of their parents. The book strays from oil and family as it takes a while to get back to this connection. I found the beginning and the end the best parts the middle slows down as the character and the book work to find themselves. Thanks to Netgalley and William Morrow for letting me read Last House in exchange for a review. Last House was published on May 14, 2024.

Plot Summary: Nick Taylor is a former soldier from World War II and is now a lawyer for the oil company set to do work with Iran. The problem is the political leader just elected does not want to rely on oil. Nick meets Carter from the CIA and involves him in a coup to throw out the leader and replace him with the Shah to get better oil prices. Nick does the deal for a better life for his family but the deal has consequences later in life, as Nick's son and daughter become activists protesting the Oil and what it is doing to the environment. Nick takes the money and buys a remote house called the Last House which will service his family for decades as secrets and lies catch up to the family.

What I Liked: There's a metaphor about oil or fossil fuels being the ghost that haunts the environment that I found very profound. I liked the slice of life of the 1950's it was fun to read and see how far we have progressed. Bet, Nick's Wife, was my favorite character I wish her code breaking during the war was explored more. I liked how the Black Panthers, Abbie Hoffman, and the Weather Underground were used in the story. Harry's story and where it ended up was shocking but written well. I liked all the secrets that were revealed at the end. I like the ending of Last House.

What I Disliked: this novel is full of great moments, but it is so unfocused at times making it a frustrating read and hard to get behind. The transitions to the next generation were so jarring, at times I was like were following them now I barely got to know them. The pacing was great at the beginning and the end, but the middle was slow and lost the family, oil, and house theme the novel did so well setting up.

Recommendation: The Last House had so much potential, but was just too unfocused for me to recommend. Shattuck has moments of great writing throughout but it was too inconsistent for me. I can not recommend this novel.

Rating: I rated Last House Jessica Shattuck 2.9 stars out of 5.

When I read the synopsis for “Last House,” by Jessica Shattuck, I was instantly intrigued. I love historical fiction and was especially interested in the time periods this book covered. Overall, I think it was definitely an interesting family saga, although at times a little slow. I really enjoyed the author’s writing style. I loved the way she described various elements throughout the book. I personally didn’t really connect with any of the characters which made reading it challenging. I would definitely read another book of the author’s in the future, however. She is a fantastic writer.

ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.


I really enjoyed the pace of this story. It felt like one of those books that becomes a classic American novel. Spanning over decades in the life of a family and all of the changes and sacrifices they endure. I enjoyed the good amount of history that sets the scene for the events happening at the time. It was well written and the characters were developed so well, it almost felt like I knew this family! I would recommend to anyone interested in historical fiction and family drama!

This was a really great book that kind of snuck up on me. I liked The Women In The Castle but didn’t love it, and I requested this one from NetGalley and then promptly forgot what it was about, so I went in totally blind. The only complaint I really had about the book was that the transitions felt abrupt, from Nick and Bet’s story, to Katherine, and back to all three. I wanted a little more in between. This story will envelop you and will definitely keep you reading. The characters are very finely drawn, the prose is great, the relationships are very detailed and complex. I loved the background of Last House and what it meant to the family at different points during the story. This book mainly involved a time period in the US and specific perspectives I don’t read a lot about and that was fascinating. I will certainly be reading more by Shattuck.

Nick Taylor was a poor scholarship boy from the Midwest who was raised by a strict Mennonite minister. Bet O’Malley had planned to attend Vassar and obtain a PhD in literature, but she was recruited to work on a cryptography project for the U.S. Army Signal Intelligence Program and then she met Nick. Within four weeks, the pair become engaged before Nick left for duty in the Pacific. After the war, Nick served as a lawyer for American Oil, making numerous trips to the Middle East, often with Carter Weston, a gregarious, fourth-generation prep-school type, who worked for the CIA. Beth raises their two children in suburban comfort in Connecticut. The Taylors enjoy post-war prosperity, including the purchase of a weekend retreat in Vermont, on property inherited by Carter, and formerly owned by John Last, a widower with seven children (hence, the titular “Last House”). As Beth reflects, “It was a fine life, a good life she and Nick had in Mapleton, such a long way from the meager, poverty-shaped lives of their grandparents.”

The next section, which is told in first person, is from the perspective of the Taylor’s eldest child, Katherine. She recently graduated from Bennington College, is teaching at a private girls’ school in Manhattan, and becomes involved in the counter-culture movements of the late 1960’s, writing for a radical underground newspaper that was “anti-war, anti-exploitation, anti-poverty, pro-self-expression, pro-socialism, pro-transparency.” Katherine’s boss becomes increasingly fixated on big corporations and their role in fueling the American war machine, particularly Big Oil, “the heart of American imperialism, the cause of dysfunction in the Middle East.” Katherine is hardly a militant believing that having dinner with a Black Columbia law student on whom she has an unrequited crush is transgressive. Shattuck shows how the protestors’ sense that they had the power to shape the country diminished as the Vietnam War dragged on abroad, and racism and injustice persisted at home.

The final section sees how Big Oil and American imperialism led to tragedy for the Taylors. Nick had helped to place the Shah on his throne and had helped oil to make him rich. He reflected that “he had mistaken the currency of greed for the currency of progress.” Although foreshadowed, the climax of the book is a bit of a letdown lacking the anchors to give it the emotional heft it deserved But, Last House is ambitious in its scope, covering 75 years of history — touching on such diverse subjects as the United States’ efforts to intervene in the Middle East, the Soviet invasion of Hungary, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Abbie Hoffman, the space race, an oil spill in Santa Barbara — but remains an intimate family saga. Last House is beautifully written and propulsive and, despite some flaws, is an engaging and compelling read. Thank you William Morrow and Net galley for an advanced copy of this sweeping novel.

It really ages me to say that I am reading more and more historical fiction books that span my own lifetime. It always amazes me how much was happening that I was scarcely aware of at the time. That's why it's so important to read books like this. I am reminded of how much has changed as well as the ways that history tends to repeat itself if we're not careful. There are many aspects of this story that we can relate to current-day events. Thanks to NetGalley, William Morrow and the author for an advance copy to read and review.

I loved this book. I loved its efficient pacing, its really interesting and complicated characters, and the way that I learned about the 1950s to present day, including Communism, the relationship between American and Iran when it comes to oil, protests--so many things! The structure of the book was also well done. In the first part, we learn about Bet and Nick. Bet is a housewife who is often bored and claustrophobic, and maybe has some regrets about not completing her PhD in English Literature. Nick is away on business a lot, and it turns out, is helping the United States negotiate oil deals. Nick meets a man named Carter who enlists him in clandestine work for the United States, and through Carter, Nick buys a house in the middle of nowhere called Last House. For much of the book, you're watching this family, and wondering when the shoe is going to drop. They spend summers and vacations at Last House, and joke about it being where they will spend the end of the world. And the end of the world is always almost happening: nuclear war, Vietnam, climate change, etc. The book beautifully makes those big ideas really personal as we watch how each character navigates life on the edge of apocalypse. Because of Shattuck's beautiful characterization, I sympathized with each person in the novel. The ending is sweeping, and it took my breath away. I highly recommend this book.

Thank you NetGalley for the free digital ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Within a few pages of LAST HOUSE, I was deep into Jessica Shattuck's story of a family at the center of Big Oil, with all the political, social, cultural complexity associated with a resource supporting so much of daily life. Starting in the early 1950s,. the story ranges deep into marriage, gender roles, secrets, house, home, and what is means to be a patriot. I particularly enjoyed Katherine, the irrepressible daughter of Bet and Nick, but all the characters felt true to life, their struggles difficult and important. Shattuck has written history through the eyes of the people living it -- and she has done so brilliantly. The vivid scenes were such that I could picture the movie that could be made with such a rich, wise story. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

1953, Nick Taylor, a WWII veteran who is also a company lawyer who works for American Oil. In 1968, protestors against the. Ietnam War fill the streets. Multiple generations, this is the story of an American family.

I read a previous work by author Jessica Shattuck and absolutely loved it (WOMEN IN THE CASTLE) unfortunately, LAST HOUSE did not fascinate me the same way. LAST HOUSE covers the time period post WWII until a few years beyond current time. Everything centers around one specific family and its members and friends. I must say I never really found any of them particularly engaging or redeeming. The time period offers plenty of exciting plot devices and excitement but without the engagement of compelling characters, the book is flat. I received my copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Last House by Jessica Shattuck

In my opinion, this book tried to be too many things. It covers too much ground, adding too many characters. Each grouping of people seem to be almost distinct stories.

The author spent a lot of time on the character Katherine, making her someone who knew every revolutionary in the 1960s U.S. Just highly unlikely she’d be in the center of all that unfolded in that time period.

Katherine and her brother Harry are children on one page and young adults on the next. Really? The same for characters at the end of the story.

This is just not a story with characters that grabbed me, so I’ll settle on three stars for those who may enjoy it.

Many thanks to NetGalley and WIlliam Morrow publishing for the free s-ARC in exchange for my honest review.

After surviving WWII, Nick Taylor realized he wanted to go home and marry the girl he left behind and build a family with Elizabeth "Bet" O'Malley. They settle into life in postwar America with Nick, a lawyer, working for a major oil company in Manhattan and Bet, a housewife, taking care of the home.

Fast-forward to 1953, Bet meets Nick at the train station to find another man with him, Carter Weston, who will have a major part in all their lives. Carter works for the CIA and recruits Nick to help him in Iran, where American oil companies want the Shah to return to power.

In the late 60's, Katherine, post college, finds herself disillusioned with her job and the current world affairs. She soon falls in with a radical group which publishes a newspaper airing all the grievances from all over the world. Her younger brother,Harry, drops out of college and wants to fight in Vietnam, but fails the physical. He starts hanging out with Kathryn and her friends instead. But Kate doesn't realize how much Harry is being radicalized.

The climax of the story comes in 1971, while Nick and Bet are in Iran at the Shah's infamous party in the desert, and things at home take a disastrous turn.

Spanning approximately 80 years, this is a story of post-WWII America and how the Greatest Generation made a better world for their children, but their children's dreams of a better world are not the same as their parents' dreams.

Last House by Jessica Shattuck delivered an epic tale that spans eighty-years as Shattuck follows Nick Taylor, his wife Bet and their children, Katherine and Harry in this rich, poignant tale of love, loss and ideals set against American history.

Shattuck shares a slice of American history with us that spans almost eighty-years through the eyes of the Taylor family. It begins at the end of World War II; the beginning of the age of oil.

It’s 1953 and Nick is home from the war and working as a lawyer. He’s building a life for his wife Bet and their two children, Katherine and Harry. The story is told mostly from Bet’s point of view, but some from Nicks. Fear of communism is on the rise and Nick works on overseas oil negotiations. We meet Taylor’s business associate, Carter invites them to Last House, in Vermont. An idyllic cabin on the lake that allows the Taylors to escape the mundane.

We follow Bet and Nick, but also their children as they grow up in an era that questions, and protests, Vietnam, big oil and more. The second half of the book begins in 1968, and is told from Catherine’s POV. Catherine is finding herself in college and joins a radical newspaper.

The author beautifully weaves the political climate and historical events around their story, creating a poignant family saga that is impacted by the changing times. Emotional and well crafted, I found myself wrapped up in their lives and struggles.

Last House is perfect for book club, fans of historical fiction and family sagas that span generations. I found myself caught up in the Taylors story and their Vermont summer house.

Jessica Shattuck's new novel The Last House is a decent, if disjointed read.

What I liked:
- Shifts in point of view. I like when writers are not afraid to try things that could potentially pull their readers out of the novel. The book focuses mainly on three people: Nick, Bet and their daughter Katherine. Katherine's chapters are told in the first person while Nick and Bet are in the third. This style fits the characters as Nick and Bet are a mystery to their children as well as to each other in a way.
- The father is a unique literary character. The novel mainly deals with big oil. Nick, the father, works for an oil company and is partially responsible for the Shah staying in power in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. At the same time, he grew up a Mennonite. It's a very interesting choice from the writer and creates a fairly interesting character.
- It's a historical novel that covers a portion of history that most historical novels choose not to deal with. Vietnam is occurring for a portion of the book and is acknowledged, but for the most part, the duration of the book is America's involvement in Iran post-World War II. Even if a majority of the book takes place in the US, you still get a sense of how the family is affected.

What I didn't like:
- The novel had a perfect ending point, but went on for two more chapters. It's okay for an author to end a book and leave parts up to the imagination. However, we used the last chapter for a "twist" that I don't think I cared that much about because of the next part.
- It seems like this would be a spoiler but it's not. The major climax of the novel involved the death of a character that had not just been foreshadowed, but explicitly mentioned for hundreds of pages prior. We had those annoying "if only I had known he would die after" or "if only I had seen it coming" sentences for far, far too long. To me, those almost fall into cliche.
- There's a somewhat long epilogue to the book that introduces a brand new cast of characters that feels disjointed and doesn't completely fit. The chapter does that thing where it refers to events that occurred between the end of the proper book and the epilogue as if everyone reading knows what has occurred.
- There is a decision by a character in the climax that does not make a lot of sense compared to the character in the rest of the book. Granted, the other characters also cannot make sense of it. Part of this, I believe, is that we don't have a lot of depth to this character. I believe the climax here is supposed to be emotional, but honestly, I didn't care because that character had been fairly one dimensional for the entire book.
- I feel like this book wants to be American Pastoral, but becomes more of a shadow of it.

Verdict:
The subject matter of this book isn't light enough for a beach read. At the same time, I don't think it takes itself too seriously. For the most part, the book moves well and is a decent read. I don't know if it would be at the top of the list of books I would recommend, but I would definitely check out more from Jessica Shattuck.

This is a multi-genre fiction and a fitting story for the current times- part family fiction and part historical fiction. It follows an American family, Nicholas, his wife Bet, their daughter Katherine and son Harry over several turbulent decades in American history from the 1950's onwards as also the history of the Middle East oil. It has several interconnected narratives.
Nick, a World War 2 veteran is a lawyer working for American Oil interests in Iran. In this part of the storyline, we get an honest and disturbing perspective of American interference in Middle East Politics, especially in the overthrow of a democratically elected government in Iran. A move which has global repercussions even till date. The Cold War is on and there is high phobia about Communism. There is also activism brewing among the American youth as evidenced by the anti-war protests against the war in Vietnam. The Climate change movement is veering towards violence. And there is a lot of discrimination including segregation and lack of equal rights to the Black Community. Katherine and Harry get involved in these undercurrents. It was a vivid picture of America of the 1960s.
I liked the Iran story, not so much the characters and family dynamics. The protests at Columbia University could be totally out of a newsreel of today. It is amazing how history tends to repeat on loop. Overall, an interesting crash course on major events of that period.
Thank you Netgalley, William Morrow and Jessica Shattuck for the ARC.

Last House was an interesting read with a focus on a subject I've never really read about before; Big Oil. I am aware that plastic is an oil-based product, so I know how important and prevalent oil is in our lives just from plastic alone, but I was still stunned by the list of oil-based products in the front of the book. It was astounding.

I liked the way the book was written spanning generations, giving us different viewpoints from different family members. I enjoyed reading the story of their family, how they all grew, changed, looked back on their lives and the decisions they made, etc. I would've loved a little bit more of Bet's life, but I also understood that the story took a realistic turn. Bet went from being a young codebreaker to being a wife and mother, giving up her potential career. That was not uncommon during the era this book took place, so it makes sense that the story wouldn't delve too much into the codebreaking years of her life.

I did really appreciate Nick and Bet's marriage and story. While flawed (like every marriage is), they seemed respectful of each other, even in their disagreements. They endured a lot of challenges that might have torn other marriages apart, and I loved that.

Katherine's story was very relevant to her generation as well, in regards to her being anti-war, anti-establishment, etc. I learned about the Weather Underground, which I knew nothing about, and liked that real people and events were referenced (which I determined by looking them up while reading the book). I learned something new from reading her story, even if I thought it was a little slow and drawn out.

I would have definitely liked more of Harry's story. We saw bits and pieces of his story from his family's point of view, but I would've really liked to see things from his perspective and gained a better understanding of who he was. I think this was a very intentional decision on the author's part NOT to give him his own portion of the book, but I think I would've liked it. I guess by leaving it out, however, it added a bit of mystery to the overall story.

While this book isn't one that I'll rave about to anyone who will listen, it was a solid read and I'm glad I took the time to read it. I appreciate historical fiction that focuses on an era other than WWII, as so much historical fiction does (and don't get me wrong, I also like WWII historical fiction, but it is really nice to read and learn about other time periods as well). This book was well-written, tackled subjects I hadn't read about before, and I thought it wrapped up beautifully.

Thank you to NetGalley and William Morrow for the e-arc in exchange for my review.

Last House by Jessica Shattuck was a lovely book. I found it to be well written with a deep dive into various parts of the 20th century and characters that were not always likable but were always intriguing and worth pursuing. This book was so readable, even though it was not fluffy. I was forced to keep thinking as I read this story which is not always true with historical fiction. It is definitely on the "literary" side of historical fiction and poses lots of good questions for readers to consider. It is philosophical but also relatable.

I always appreciate family saga type books, but at times there are so many characters it is hard to keep track of who is who. This is not the case for this book! This "family saga" focuses on just one family - Nick and Bet, and their two children, Katherine and Harry. Everyone is not always likable but each character has their charms which motivated me to keep reading. There are three sections of this book, and while I enjoyed the first and last bits the most, the middle section (from Katherine's point of view) was important to the story as a whole. For what it is worth, this section was not as readable as the rest... not quite sure why - perhaps it is Katherine at that age that I didn't like?

Much of the book centers around Vietnam and the politics of that era, as well as the role oil played in American life. Super interesting to me, especially since Dow Chemical was called out in this book (my grandfather worked for Dow for most of his career- 1950s-80s/90s). This book gave me lots to think about in terms of how America relates to the world. I would love to travel to the area where Last House is located and see that part of the northeast. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and am glad I took the chance on it!

Thank you to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this eARC. All opinions are my own.

Last House is a sweeping story of an American family linked by oil over the course of four generations. The Taylors’ wealth came from the oil industry, but so did their greatest tragedy. These are the years of communism, the Cold War, and counterculture, all of it told through the lens of a single family.

My feelings are a bit mixed on this book. There are many moments of brilliance but also moments where I almost gave up on it. Jessica Shattuck’s prose is evocative and insightful; numerous times a phrase or observation made me pause to reflect. Unusually, the narrative is most compelling when it’s told in third person: in the early years of the 1950s, when Nick and Bet’s family is young and Nick’s career as an oil industry lawyer is growing, and then again in Part III as the family moves on toward the future, irrevocably shaped by tragedy. The middle section is from daughter Katherine’s POV, and it’s here that I really struggled and nearly DNFed. Although told in first person, there’s very little dialogue and it ends up feeling more like a dry memoir recounting anti-establishment culture during the Vietnam era, and eventually I skimmed through to the end of this part of the story. I’m glad I stuck with it because Part III was lovely, cathartic, and hopeful. Overall, a worthwhile, well researched work of literary historical fiction that would be a great choice for book clubs.

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for providing me an advance copy of this book.

I used to read pretty much any family saga that I could find. Now, it's really hard to find a good family saga that can pull the reader back in time to live the eras as well as the families. Many of the events and gatherings would not happen today, the climate and the politics prevent neighbors from becoming friends and family. Last House has been so skillfully written that it is hard not to "see" this era as the story unfolds.
The story starts in the early 1950s, when people got their news from the televion and the newspaper. You based your beliefs on events of the near past with no clue as to what the national leaders planned for the populace. As the calendar turns, reactions to the news become more immediate and set the tone for politics to become less responsive, not more.

This book reminds me of so many of the family sagas I have read through the years and enjoyed. It adds to the knowledge of the past while still be a very good story.