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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good quick read, March 29, 2000
A quirkily interesting book, worth at least the couple of hours it'll take you to read it. The author, a thoroughly educated sometime-writer, works as a cleaner, cleaning people's houses. She tells us something of what that's like, and she also pokes into other corners of the cleaning world, talking to someone who cleans up after murders, talking to folks who get paid extra to clean in the nude, and spending a week in a spiritual community in Japan that finds sustenance in service, including cleaning. The book is a somewhat uneven read; now and then we get close to an insight into the human condition, or a lovely bit of prose. More often, though, the text reminds me of Paul Theroux or William Least Heat Moon at their grumpiest: going to interesting places and having a lousy time, meeting interesting people and disliking them. The author of "Other People's Dirt" doesn't really seem to like anybody very much, and her dislike keeps her at a distance that prevents most real insight. On the other hand, she doesn't give in to the dislike enough to really get nasty; while she constantly claims to know lots of little intimate secrets about her clients, and apparently shares them with fellow cleaners, she doesn't share many with us, so we don't even get that naughty illicit fun. Anyway, the book is worth the read. You may get a laugh, or an interesting wince, or learn something about cleaners and their clients. But don't expect it to change your life.
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting topic; tiresome attitude, May 21, 1998
By A Customer
Although the notion of life as seen by a housecleaner is interesting--how much do our homes reveal about our "secrets"?--and the style is mildly entertaining, the chip on the author's shoulder detracts from the book. An example--she freely admits that she "overcharges" a lot of clients for various services, but then counsels those who use housecleaners to leave little uplifting notes like "you're amazing!" She wants top pay *and* ego-stroking for doing her job? Nice work if you can get it. In one nearly repellant episode, while cleaning for a commercial service she considers exploitive, she notices that the home's owner has many books on his shelves about the exploitation of labor. Interrupting him as he works, she waves one of the titles at him and expects him to join her in a discussion of the plight of certain workers, especially those in the cleaning business. The poor man is, understandably, less than enthused at this prospect....he was hoping for clean floors; instead he's being harangued about social issues by some woman he's never seen before, one who's being paid to dust the books, not wave them at him. The book is breezy and mildly entertaining, but the author's attitude is tiresome, and her manners are appalling (inviting your boyfriend over to make use of a client's bed when no one is home, and then charging someone for the privilege?). It's enough to make you scrub your own bathroom.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Wow! Such uproar over a little cleaning book., February 15, 2000
Amusing, especially in the beginning, but can't decide where it wants to go. Uneven execution of a clever topic. I appreciate the acecdotes, however, because I too am a cleaner. My clients have nicknames such as "Hair House" (too many dogs,) and "Witness Protection Program" (generic decor.) Therefore, I find her rantings funny much in the way a server finds commentary on the restaurant business a hoot. This book is not going to appeal to everyone, but doesn't warrent the outrage it generated. My main gripe with this book, and I have a few, is her half-attempt to explore the role of minorities in domestic employment. Search as she does, she never seems to find why, as an educated, white woman she fits so neatly into the cleaning business. Could it be that ultimately she sees herself as an outsider, perhaps even a minority? Maybe the answer lies in her lesbianism. We that are gay often fall into the non-traditional job role. It would have been interesting to see her explore this issue instead of conspicuously dance around it. In closing, to those finding it unreasonable/unacceptable for domestic help to ridicule employers I must ask: what planet are you from?
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