Very strange beginning but then it drew me in. Still don’t know if i actually liked it. ( )

Interesting kind of push-me-pull-you thing going on with this book, and I imagine Beagin was aiming for a love/hate experience for her readers. The main character is equal parts alienating and relatable, as was the storyline(s) themselves. But I enjoyed it overall. I particularly like the two books' subtext of the ways we (especially women, I think, though it probably crosses gender lines) are defined by our relationship to cleaning. I spend... my god, a HUGE amount of my very limited free time just keeping my house from looking like shit, and I think about the whole time I'm vacuuming/mopping/dusting/putting crap where it goes—the unpaid labor aspect, the class aspect (because if I were more successful I'd have someone "come in" once a month), the woman's work aspect... so I particularly liked the books for their musings on that. Plus the cleaning tips, which were kind of awesome.

Caveat: Lots of raunchiness and bodily functions, so stay away if that bothers you. I liked it. ( )

I read this book as an electronic advance reading copy provided by Edelweiss, and I have submitted my comments to the publisher via that web site.

If I were a writer, this novel would be the type of book I would write! There is so much compelling weirdness here. The protagonist is immeasurably damaged--the past and the present just keep pummeling her with violence and betrayal--yet you cannot stop laughing at her narrative. Every character is insane but fascinating, and their stories stay with you. Highly recommended.

Favorite lines:
"Perhaps he was trying to find out if she was interesting enough for him, or if she'd suffered enough."

"She usually reserved just a tiny bit of disgust for whomever she was dating, especially when she pictured them as a baby or a geriatric..."

"'The white people around here are wimps,' Maria Maria said. 'I'm sorry, but do you really expect me to clean your bathroom with vinegar and water? It's like, go fuck yourselves.'"

"'There's a place between straight and gay,' Mona said, 'and it's a very real place, but most people think it's an imaginary place. Some fake, slutty island or amusement park.'"

"'The only shame I feel is that I've been too passive. I haven't said no enough in my life. If I had, I'd probably be a different person now. Less tormented, maybe. More...successful.'"

"Perhaps her preoccupation with home led her to terrible things--rape, murder, addiction, suicide."

"On the surface, snooping was about discovering the truth about others, but perhaps it was also about being discovered?"

"Strange, she thought, how affected you are by malice when you're a kid, how a mean word or look can unravel you, how devastating cruelty feels when you're too young to protect yourself. But eventually after all those defense mechanisms are firmly in place, it's the so-called positive shit--mercy, not malice--that brings you to tears." ( )