American Housewife by Helen Ellis

American Housewife

by Helen Ellis

Meet the women of American Housewife: they wear lipstick, pearls, and sunscreen, even when it's cloudy. They casserole. They pinwheel. They pump the salad spinner like it's a CPR dummy. And then they kill a party crasher, carefully stepping around the body to pull cookies out of the oven. These twelve irresistible stories take us from a haunted prewar Manhattan apartment building to the set of a rigged reality television show, from the unique initiation ritual of a book club to the getaway car of a pageant princess on the lam, from the gallery opening of a tinfoil artist to the fitting room of a legendary lingerie shop. Vicious, fresh, and nutty as a poisoned Goo Goo Cluster,American Housewife is an uproarious, pointed commentary on womanhood. --Publisher

Reviewed by Hillary on

5 of 5 stars

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This book was blowing up in the book blogging world, so I had to read it. My hold at the library came up quickly. I read it while recovering from surgery but I was in no condition to write, so I am just now getting it up.

First, I read this through the haze of Percocet. I think that made the bizarreness of this book even more fascinating. I am sure reading this sober is fine also but through the haze of Percocet it was like the stories just made sense in a way that I doubt it would sober. I am not to sure that I would have liked this book as well if I had not been doped up.

It is a series of short stories that I think is supposed to be satire. I hope. Anyways they start off mudane, and I was left with oookkk why is this book so popular? Then I read more and with each passing story they got more and more bizarre. Like i said, i was doped up, and I felt some kinship with the characters that seem even more fucked than I was while reading this.

This book has dark undertones, so if you are looking for happy stories, this is not it. It is crude and bizarre. I know some bloggers did not like it for that reason. I can see why there is a lot of offensive materials in the book. If you want to enjoy it, you must like dark crude humor and expand your mind.

I liked this book. I did. It may even make my top ten list in December. I wonder if I had read it while sober if it would have had the same effect on me? I have no idea.

Have you ever read a book while under the influence that you would not have under normal circumstances?This review was originally posted on Adventures in Never Never Land

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 19 May, 2016: Finished reading
  • 19 May, 2016: Reviewed