Product Description

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!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1237586 in Books
• Released on: 2004-04-27
• Original language: English
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 304 pages

From Amazon.com
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

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.

From Library Journal
Linc Menner's wife, Jo, is given the chance to climb the corporate ladder, but it means moving from California to Rochester, NY. Tired of running his own landscaping business, Linc agrees to give up his job to take care of their young daughter, Violet, while they move and get settled into their new home. Linc immediately bonds with Violet and has the house running smoothly, but he soon discovers the downside to being a stay-at-home dad: most of the neighborhood women snub him, he wonders if he will ever get back into the "real" workplace, and he feels that Jo doesn't truly appreciate what he does. Hudler, who is a househusband himself, creates a light and humorous tone that is a perfect match for this entertaining look at how much work really goes into keeping a house clean and a family fed. A scattering of real recipes is included, and somewhere in between the cooking, cleaning, and childcare comes a genuine glimpse at the guilt and joy that only other stay-at-home parents really understand. This first novel is a great choice for most public libraries. John Charles, Scottsdale P.L., AZ
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Horrible depiction of parenting
I thought this book may have potential to be witty and filled with great observations from the other half (dad being primary care giver). It was a disappointing, whining, boring, "soap box" that made not only working mothers look bad, but also stay-at-homers and everything in-between! I had a very hard time finishing it, and then considered it a complete waste of time. This guy does more whining and complaining then both of my children on an eight hour car trip! YUCK - - -
AND - It's easy to raise one child - I would love to see the character when number two and three come along!
Good Luck!

Deeper than I'd expected
While this book is a laugh-out-loud read it says some very deep things about the relationship of a husband and wife, and also about gender roles in modern America. I'm intrigued that some of the reviewers seem to think this is an autobiography and not a novel. They seem to be reacting very strongly to Linc, the main character. But it IS a novel, and the fact that Mr. Hudler can paint such vivid, living characters with such pitch-perfect dialogue and thus evoke such strong emotions in his readers shows what a fine novelist he is. I'm out to buy his other novel right now.

Had potential but couldn't live up to it
The story line was an intriguing one and the writer has talent but the book got so bogged down with preachiness and whining that after a while it became a chore to read. It's nice that Mr. Hudler has gained some insight into women's lives but someone needs to tell him that he is not now nor ever will be a woman. And however well he (or the character in the book) might be at doing a "woman's job" of childcare and cleaning it still doesn't occur to him to do it the way women do, that is without constantly whining about how hard it is.