"Rooms" by Lauren Oliver

I have never read anything else by Oliver but I know of her other titles which I've been told are a must read. I am going to have to read them now. This is a ghost story told by the members of a dead man's family who've come to prepare to sell the place and the ghosts that are inhabiting it. This is not a happy family; they are dysfunctional to say the least and are only in the house because they have to be but the ghosts are there because they have no other choice. The house is them and they are the house. This is a very evocative story, it is not written to bring a sense of peace about dying, if anything the result is an unsettling view of the many lies and tricks we use to avoid facing the realities of our lives. We fabricate webs of illusion so that we can manage our existence but even in death the truth still needs to be faced in order to set one free, no matter what the cost to the living.