A review by toniclark
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum

4.0

Reading Hausfrau is like watching a disaster — one that ought to be avoidable — unfold in slow motion. I didn’t want to keep watching, but I couldn’t stop. Not a perfect book, and I’ve seen many legitimate criticisms — but I really liked it. I picked it up first thing in the morning a couple of days and stayed up late to finish. The writing is probably somewhat uneven, or is it me? There were times I thought it heavy-handed; other times, accomplished. I happen to like unlikeable characters, so I didn’t have a problem reading about Anna, even though she’s difficult and boring and (most would say unjustifiably) depressed. And selfish, yes. And self-absorbed. Constantly. I’d have to take issue with some of the “plot” elements (I’m sure many would say there is no plot.) But it’s a novel, and I found myself perfectly willing to suspend disbelief. Anna is who she is, and this is what she does and does not do. There are consequences of both action and inaction. One can’t help knowing how it’s all going to end (painfully obvious foreshadowing). Yet the last third or so of the book is still riveting.

Rachel Cooke, writing in The Guardian, after listing several problems with this book, says: “But in spite of all this, it succeeds. It is that impossible thing: a page-turner about depression.” I agree. Did not want to put it down.