Houses, it turns out, know everything. They see with their windows, hear with their roofs, and know their new owners before they come up the walk. They recognize the others, not in bodies anymore, who travel through their walls, hover near the living. Actually, houses can talk. Sometimes they whisper. In I Am House , the house itself opens each chapter with a poem, taking us into a realm we have not known, piercing the veil of normal perceptions. I am House is the beyond-all-odds-story of a tear-down estate and a human - both deeply affected by alcoholism-who meet and save each other in the worst of times. Using her last 800 dollars as a down payment, Kathy O'Brien signs a contract on the worst fixer she has ever seen - and goes for it. This is her dream - the estate that she has always wanted." It just needs a little work." A little work? Most would have said, "Tear it down! Bring a bulldozer!" But she defiantly walks onward, convinced that if she gets into the place, she'll resurrect it. "I dreamt I bought an old mansion," she writes in her journal. "I should say it became mine, sight unseen.