American Housewife

Stories

By: Helen Ellis

Narrated by: Kathleen McInerney, Lisa Cordileone, Rebecca Lowman, Dorothy Dillingham Blue

A sharp, funny, delightfully unhinged collection of stories set in the dark world of domesticity, American Housewife features murderous ladies who lunch, celebrity treasure hunters, and the best bra fitter south of the Mason Dixon line.

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.

Sarcasm in small doses

I enjoyed listening to the variety of voices that this audiobook had. The first story was absolutely hilarious, but as the book progressed, I found a few of the other stories to be mediocre. Nice read overall.

If you think you don't like short stories…

Don't pass this one up if you're not a short story fan or think you're not. I admit, I did not realize they were short stories until I started listening and don't know if I would've picked it up otherwise and I am so glad I did. The stories were wacky, brilliant and just so very different. The narration gave each story its own flavor and tone. The women in the stories were not truly housewives in the traditional sense but the stories focused on the different roles women play. I was sorry when it ended.

The narrators make the difference

I really felt that having these short stories read with Southern accents and character quirks made all the difference. Some of these are little gems and are LOL funny. This is a mixed selection; I didn't love every one of the stories, but I recommend this for the humor.

Loved it

I want to hear more from this writer her voice is interesting and just sucked me in.

Different, but fun

I actually would recommend reading this in book form rather than audio. Several different odd and sometimes funny stories. Very entertaining.