McNeil uses a straight-forward and clean artistic approach, and the choice to work in black-and-white gives the town of Failin a melancholy feel, as if it were once something much greater. Particularly interesting is the way that his relationship toward physical objects manifests its way into his relationships with some very important people from his past in a way that he can’t let go of. The pain that he has kept hidden over the years reveals a much sadder, somewhat sympathetic (albeit still misguided) character. Most fascinating is a character named Fred, an antique seller who barges his way through estate sales like a freight train with no regard for those around him. The people in Lewis and Anne’s lives all have different feelings about what they value in life and end up in conflict with one another over feelings that were buried under the clutter. As Lewis and Anne’s friendship continues to develop, the intimacy of that small town and the history of the characters within begins to have an unraveling effect. Whether you live in a big city, or the small fictional town of “Failin, Oregon” (a clear play on its status as a failing logging town falling further and further into irrelevance) where everyone knows you – at least you have your home to keep things to yourself. While “Bad Houses” is mainly about the physical idea of owning, buying, accumulating, and selling physical “objects”, it’s also about clearing out the cobwebs in your soul and learning to accept what you have. The two of them have a meet-cute at an estate sale and begin to help one another unpack their lives. Whether it’s Lewis, who seems trapped helping in his overly demanding mother’s estate sale business, or Anne, the other defacto main character of the story, who is frustrated by her hoarder mother – everyone seems to carry with them a lot of excess baggage.

The relationships between them are complex and oftentimes damaged because of this. It’s fair to say that almost every character in “Bad Houses” has work to do to get their own metaphorical houses in order. Anne and Lewis refuse to succumb to the fate of the older generation as they discover-together-the secrets of their hometown and their own families.

Now the town’s businesses are crumbling, its citizens bitter and disaffected. Failin was once a thriving logging community. Lives intersect in the most unexpected ways when teenagers Anne and Lewis cross paths at an estate sale in sleepy Failin, Oregon.

Bad Houses by Sara Ryan