The House of Tomorrow by Peter Bognanni

Penguin, March 2010

     Cross the visionary philosophies of Buckminster Fuller with the raw energy of punk rock music, and the result is Iowa Writer's workshop graduate Peter Bognanni's debut novel, The House of Tomorrow.

     Sebastian Prendergast is a 16-year-old boy who, since the loss of his parents at 11 years ago, has been raised and home-schooled by his grandmother on the outskirts of a small town in Eastern Iowa. Their home, a geodesic dome, and every other facet of Sebastian's upbringing is informed by the teachings of early 20th century futurist, Buckminster Fuller, of whom Nana is a devout disciple. She has a grand plan for   Sebastian and insulates him from a world of people and ideas that would cause any deviation from that plan. Each morning, Sebastian is required to read the four guiding principles that Nana has tacked directly above his bed:

1. Every day I will give myself wholly to futurist thinking. Not to useless past thinking, which will steer me very far off course.
2. I will learn all the organizing processes of the universe, so I may use them to accomplish startling feats of triumph.
3. I will use my mind, not just my regular brain lobes.
4. I will forge my journey alone to keep accepted and totally boneheaded notions from blinding me to truth.

     Jared Whitcomb's experience couldn't be more different. His parents' separation has fractured the family, and a recent heart transplant means that his very life is in question daily. Life at home has spun wildly out of the control, and while Jared's mother desperately tries to piece the family together, the sullen black-clad teenager takes his solace in the rebelliousness of punk rock.

     Bognanni reels his readers in with Sebastian's unusual circumstances and idiosyncratic narration, and the author's intertwining of seemingly dissimilar philosophies is well done. The House of Tomorrow is an affecting coming of age story as well as an exploration of our human desire for control and the utter lack of it in our lives.
     Sebastian, at one point, envisions a giant hand grasping and shaking the "snow globe" in which he and his grandmother dwell. Indeed, while the ordered principles that shape Sebastian's home and life contrast starkly with Jared's punk rock energy and discordant household, they are ultimately unable to shelter him and Nana from certain chaotic realities. It's life, and everyone's snow globe gets shaken now and again.

http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/fiction/fr/house-of-tomorrow.htm