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Sunday 26 August 2012

The Pile Of Stuff At The Bottom Of The Stairs by Christina Hopkinson

Too Close To Home?
review by Maryom

Mary is fed up with husband Joel's attitude to cleaning and tidying. She feels every spare minute she has is spent clearing up after him and their 2 children, while he gets to do the fun stuff in life - his idea of childcare is a trip to the zoo, not getting them fed, bathed and into bed, all such mundane tasks are left to his wife. Adapting the star-chart system used so successfully with children, Mary sets up a spreadsheet listing all Joel's faults, tracking every time he commits them and occasionally allowing him a gold star for a good deed. If he doesn't start to improve, she'll...well, what will she do?
Even though Joel doesn't show signs of improvement,when Mary starts to compare her life to that of rich friend Mitzi or gay couple -Cara and Becky - she discovers that happiness does not necessarily lie in a tidy house.

The Pile of Stuff at the bottom of the Stairs is a wry look at the problems besetting the modern marriage, though a little too true-to-life to be hilarious. If your children are still young, you might find it too close to home to be funny; anyone with teenagers might think 'just wait!' I really felt Mary's frustration with the endless daily chores but unfortunately it made my endless list of 'things to do' seem larger than ever!


Maryom's review - 3 stars
Publisher - Hodder & Stoughton
Genre - adult fiction

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