American Housewife

Sassy, spirited and oh-so feisty. And weirdly dark and ominous. That pretty much sums up this smart-alecky collection of short stories about life in the American kitchen and beyond.Written by Helen Ellis, the stories are wildly creative (emphasis on the word "wildly") and somewhat deranged. But they are also wildly fun to read! One after the other with each one zanier and more manic than the one before.For example:• The has-been writer who competes on "Dumpster Diving With the Stars;"• The woman who moves into a ritzy New York City condo and then daringly sends the most appallingly candid emails to her hated neighbor;• The man known as Mr. Fitter, who has an uncanny ability to look at a woman's breasts and instantly match her with the perfect bra;• The novelist who is writing a book that is sponsored by Tampax and the unnerving things Tampax the company does to "encourage" her writing.These are the kinds of stories that belong in demented dreams.But wait one second. There is something else here, too. It's subtle. It's quiet. And it is very shrewd. Underneath the astonishing laughs and madcap humor, there is a grounding of female redemption and power, hope and longing.Read it and weep—be it with tears of laughter or redemption.

This is a quirky, sometimes dark, incredibly unique collection of short stories. Actually "stories" doesn't desribe the variety of writings in this book. Some of the selections catch the reader off guard at the onset and some passages are truly laugh out loud. It's not a book for those who are easily offended by some dark subjects, real life language and serious sarcasm. I bought this for my sister to read on an overseas flight and when she returned from her trip she brought the book to me and said I needed to put my other books aside and read it. It is the most unusual, smart, snarky collection I have ever enjoyed. Buy this book and share it!

I'm perplexed by all the hype on this book. The first story was ok, a bit dark, but kept me interested. It went downhill after that. I know the author was trying to be funny, but it fell short. It's one of the few times I couldn't even finish the book. With so many wonderful books out there and for me, I didn't want to waste anymore time on this one.

Nice enough pool-side read when something very light was desired. Some parts were funny, others harder to relate to and less engaging. I'm in my early 30s and I judged the book by the title and cover (and a NYTimes review) and thought it might be more relatable to me, but, at the risk of sounding ageist, might be more relatable to someone a decade older and up...or maybe I just haven't had similar enough life experiences to really engage.

Ellis has written a group of essays that are mostly funny, in part because of the truth woven into them. Some were funnier than others. For someone looking for Erma Bombeck’s replacement, she isn’t it. Still, I’d read another book by her.

Not much here. The only good chapter in the book is the first one. The rest is pretty mundane.

Short, entertaining read. Nothing groundbreaking. Its a collection of short stories, some funny and some weird. There are not that many stories and they are more silly then realistic but if you want mindless entertainment, its good for that.

I am speechless. I just finished reading this series of short stories and am amazed at how ridiculous this book is. Unfortunately, this book was a book club selection so I had to finish it. Otherwise, I would have put it down after the first few pages. What a waste of two hours of my life!!!

I couldn’t find a list of story titles to copy and paste so I’ve had to just number them.1Very short story about the things a housewife frets about before hosting a party. It’s amusing but in an obvious way – it’s trying a little too hard to be funny and quirky. It’s just a handful of pages so it’s difficult to say much of anything about it as it’s finished as soon as it’s started. A generous 3 out of 5.2An email exchange between two new neighbours arguing over a shared hallway. It’s funny (though not laugh out loud or anything like that) as it becomes increasingly absurd. It’s gleefully silly. 3 out of 5.3An obscure writer participates in a reality show searching for cheap items that are worth more than they paid for. It’s decent enough but the ending is rather stupid and twee. A generous 3 out of 5.4Code words southern women use. Super brief at a couple of pages. It’s amusing as far as a blog post of decoded phrases goes. A generous 3 out of 5.5A woman tries to talk you into joining a book club. This was just a bit crap. It did nothing for me but it was readable. A generous 2 out of 5.6The wife of a bra fitter is concerned that other women are trying to seduce him. Her limitations as a writer are become very apparent. She has no range. This feels like too much of a repeat of the previous stories. It goes around in warped circles in a Miranda July style (filmmaker and author with a distinctive quirky style). It’s failed surrealism. I felt left out on the outside of the surreal world she had created. A generous 2 out of 5.7Another super brief couple of pages giving advice for ladies. It’s essentially the same as stories 1 and 4. There’s no story here. There’s no actual point. She could have joined these three ‘stories’ together and made a longer piece. This amount of repetition doesn’t look good as it becomes increasingly less impressive when she keeps repeating herself so much. She’s a very limited writer with a narrow band of subject matter. 2 out of 5.8A woman describes her move from failing author to art patron. More of the same sub-Miranda July musings. It doesn’t quite work. This story felt pointless. This book started with lots of potential but my expectations for finding another good story have pretty much disappeared. 2 out of 5.9A story about a woman’s interactions with the doormen in an apartment building. It’s okay. It’s perhaps a little too silly but that’s not a real issue. I neither liked it nor disliked it. 3 out of 5.10A pre-teen beauty pageant contestant is taken into ‘protective custody’. Like the one about the book club (story 5) it’s written as a character talking to the reader. I think this is the author’s default writing style. I think it’s technically called second person as the reader is a character in the story. A lot of these stories are written in this general style, such as the short advice ‘stories’. This one was just sort of blah. 2 out of 5.11Another brief page or two of advice. Just like the previous non-stories (1, 4 and 7) except maybe even shorter than any of those. This couldn’t have taken more than an hour to write, rewrite and proofread. Totally pointless but hey, it’s readable so I’ll give it 2 out of 5.12A novelist becomes enmeshed in surreal corporate issues as she tries to write a novel. This is stream of conscious nonsense. It starts very silly and bad but it did start to work better as it progressed. It ended up okay with a few amusing moments. 3 out of 5.Essential there are only eight stories as four of them (1, 4, 7 and 11) are brief blog posts of no substance. To call them stories is to stretch the truth.It started promisingly but it became obvious to me that she was a limited writer with a weak surrealist bent that pales into insignificance beside Miranda July’s quirky work.

What the hell? I've just looked this book up again, having read it a while ago, to check the details whilst recommending it to someone else. I'm flabbergasted at the negative reviews. Anyone giving this hilarious medley of sharp vignettes about modern American Housewifery has clearly missed the point. Or is a man.But don't just take my word for it, read this review (it's much better for a start. I haven't had my morning coffee yet and, as I said, it's been a while since I even read the book. I just know I peed my pants laughing when I did.)[...]

Bravely bitter collection with some real highlights and some clever flash fiction. I think I would read pretty much anything further that Ms Ellis puts out. This was deliciously dark in places. Terrific reading.

I don't usually enjoy reading about the lifestyle of American women. But this was an exception. It proved to be a thoroughly good read, making up for some disappointments.

Disappointment. I was looking for something funny amusing and light hearted. Struggled to get to end of book. Was supposed to be funny, but most of the stories were sad, and characters just plain nasty. Maybe it doesn't translate well for English audience. Read like a collection of school essays.