3.5 
 The Smell of Other People's Houses introduces us to the lives of 4 adolescents in rural Alaska in 1970. Ruth is being raised by her grandmother, and her life is about to be turned upside down again. Dora is living with her best friend Bunny in an effort to escape her abusive father. Alice is helping her father on his fishing ship, and trying to ignore how badly she wants to be dancing instead. Hank is escaping with his brothers, and trying not to buckle under the pressure of being responsible for two extra lives. Their lives will weave in and out of each other's in unique ways. 
 The voice and tone of this novel is bananas. Hitchcock paints a very real, visceral rural community in very little space. The pace of life in this novel feels slower, and the narrative reflects that. This is a world that may not be connected by Facebook, but town gossip proves stronger yet. These are a people that are flawed, but also take care of their own. This is a poorer community, passing socks on down generations and dreaming of using contest winnings to buy new garments from Sears Roebuck. 
 These teens feel like old souls. While their problems feel familiar, it is obvious these are teens that have had to grow up fast and tough. It is imperative that the reader feel connected to these characters as they are what drive this narrative. These are not lives that feel familiar to mine, but I was engaged with them. I did have favorites, especially Dora. All of these teens were fighting for something, but I felt Dora's fight the most. I would have liked to see these teens overlap even more, but the way Hithcock lets us put a lot of the pieces together instead of spelling everything out is surely better writing. And I could have read more from them. 
 This is an atmospheric book. It is episodic. It does not have a traditional climactic plot structure. But the pacing is done well. Hitchcock gets in and gets out and gets the job done. You can tell every word is very specific so that it does not overwhelm the narrative. I feel like when my high school teacher was trying to introduce us to different narrative structures, if she had introduced something like this novel instead of Dandelion Wine I would have been more on board.