Househusband [Mass Market Paperback]

Ad Hudler (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 27, 2004

When his wife, Jo, is offered her dream job, Lincoln Menner leaves his thriving landscape business in Los Angeles and moves to Rochester, New York. This will be his chance to start over, spend a little time with their three-year-old daughter, and finally do things right at home.

But Linc had no idea what it really meant to be a househusband: to stay home every day, folding laundry, cleaning soap scum, and teaching his little girl to use the potty. To be ignored at parties by his wife’s colleagues who see him as just a homemaker. Though he soon has the house humming, Linc misses the outside world. Most of all he misses Jo, who works too late and barely notices the fabulous dinners he slaves over. Drastic action must be taken to make his efficiently run house truly a home, sweet home. And Linc knows he is just the man for the job!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The premise of Ad Hudler's first novel, Househusband, is as simple as the book's title: narrator Linc Menner tells us all about adjusting to life as the primary caregiver to his 3-year-old daughter Violet. The pleasures the book yields are, however, surprisingly complex. There's a weird thrill in reading the trials of domesticity described by, well, a man. In the opening comic set piece, Linc prepares for a dinner party he's throwing for his wife Jo's boss. "Jo had said the house was already clean, that it wouldn't take much to get it ready for guests, but she doesn't understand these things. It wasn't dinner party clean." Hudler has a real knack for observing the inner workings of what is traditionally considered woman's work--he's not shy about devoting page space to dusting and nutrition and plant care. He also gets off some good, quiet social commentary: "There's a reason women read more than men. They get stuck in undesirable locales and situations more often--soccer fields, hospital rooms, bedsides--and a book helps pass the time." In the end, Hudler's book amounts to both a celebration of the art of homemaking and a lovely, funny way to pass the time. --Claire Dederer --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

The novel of feminist awakening is given an unexpected twist in Hudler's entertaining debut: its protagonist is a man. Lincoln Menner, once a California landscape designer, is now a stay-at-home dad who knows every creak and crevice of his huge suburban Rochester, N.Y., house. He is plagued by insecurities about wife Jo's high-profile job, three-year-old daughter Violet's schooling and development and his own wrestling with wanting and not wanting to be the perfect man to everyone. In a burst of self-pity, he contemplates his situation: "I felt as helpless as Amelia Earhart, alive on some island, reading a copy of Aviation Today that had washed up on the beach." Meanwhile, Linc's mother, Carol, a deferential wife who temporarily escapes her unimaginative car-salesman husband after stealing one of his own vehicles and driving off to explore the country and herself, provides an alternate voicing of desire and longing through her on-the-road e-mails to her son. The themes of career, family and power struggles between the sexes are prosaic, and the occasional recipes inserted into the text seem out of place, but Linc's plaintive observations about passing days alone and, finally, his self-acceptance, redeem his narrative. 5-city author tour.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (April 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345470621
• ISBN-13: 978-0345470621
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.6 x 6.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,351,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ad Hudler is a best-selling author, blogger, speaker and recovering stay-at-home dad who frequently gets into trouble for the things he writes and says. New York Post called his latest book "required reading." Dallas Morning News calls him "warm and engaging." Omaha World-Herald calls him a "master storyteller." ... Ad splits his time between Fort Myers, Florida and Nashville. He is working on his first memoir.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shocked me, April 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Househusband (Hardcover)

I live in Las Vegas and am an avid reader of westerns, mob books, history of Las Vegas and war books. I guess you might refer to me as a macho sort of character even at sixty-four years of age. Getting to the book Househusband, a friend of ours and his wife gave us this book as a present, they are close friends of the authors parents. I told my wife, nice of them, but this looks like a book for you, but certainly not for me. My wife told me, as much as you read, you better read this one because you know who will ask you what you thought and you best know what you are talking about or your buddy will not be happy with you. I am so thankful my wife made that statement, as I then started reading the book, by the third chapter I was hooked. Some four hours later I finished the book, what a delightful and enjoyable book and even though it is fiction there is so much truth in it about todays world and role reversal and the love a macho father who made the decision to do what he felt best for his family. A must read for all women and the macho man who is not afraid of his other side.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not what I thought, May 23, 2002

By 

Susan - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Househusband (Hardcover)

I bought this book thinking it was going to be a very sarcastic spoof on househusbands. Never did I expect it to have serious undertones.

Nevertheless, the book was thoroughly enjoyable and I read it in one sitting (I was down with the flu). The story revolves around Linc, who has just moved his family cross-country so that his wife can take a new position. He decides to settle his family into their new life and becomes a househusband.

Linc struggles with depression as he searches for a new balance in his life. He seems to seek some sort of control which he finds in domestic duties. Between running a perfect house, cooking gourmet meals and raising a perfect daughter, this guy is supermom!

Thoughtful and funny, the story is a good lesson in life change for all of us. By the way, the recipes in every chapter are scrumptious!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What an eye-opener!, June 26, 2002

By 

S. Wynne "love to read" (St. Petersburg, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Househusband (Hardcover)

Having a 4-year-old child myself, it was fascinating to read about what I've been through the last few years, but from a male perspective. You can tell the author has lived this world of potty training, whipping together dinner fast and trying to keep up your self esteem in a world that measures people by job titles and career tracks. Add to that the gender issues and assumptions that we put on men and women, this novel has surprising depth while being very funny. I found myself examing my own knee-jerk reaction to househusbands, that they must be sponges who live off their high-earning wives. Yet I'd never think that of a housewife. Yikes, I'm a sexist and didn't know it!

On a lighter note, I just loved how he ended a number of chapters with a recipe for the dinner or lunch Linc had prepared in that chapter's scene. I have made the tortellini and the spring rolls and they are both easy and delicious.