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March 22, 2015

Sunday Lately, 12

March 22, 2015

March has gone by so incredibly quickly.  It feels like there are things that just happened yesterday, like the March Levo Pittsburgh event, though now it’s actually two weeks ago.  Does that happen to anyone else?  Ugh!  Just when I feel caught up, things sneak up and tap me on the shoulder and say, “Ha, thought you had a handle on me, didn’tcha?”

What have you been doing lately? Link up and let me know!

Doing

Last weekend, I spent hours clearing things out of my father’s house.  There’s still more work to be done, but it’s getting cleaner.  It’s a sad and surreal experience.  I’ve lived in different places and grown up in my mom’s house, too, but my first memories are in that house.  It’s hitting me that I’ll probably never read a book on the back porch underneath all the trees or see the really big Christmas tree in the living room…and I’m now going to cry.  So onward with the other things!

Appreciating

Seriously, the small things.  Like the ice cream glacier Jonathan brought me on Tuesday night.  (For those of you who aren’t near a cute little mom-and-pop ice cream stand, a glacier is like a Blizzard – I hope you’re all familiar with DQ.  If you don’t know your ice cream, we can’t be friends.)

Also suuuper appreciating when traffic isn’t that bad in the mornings.  I’ve been leaving my house on the early side, a little after 7am, just so I can avoid traffic.  I get to work about 30 minutes early, but I’d rather do that than sit in rush hour traffic.  I hate traffic.  Boo hiss traffic.

Designing

My blog blah blah blah I say this every week and nothing ever gets done.  Ugh!  I just need someone to tell me how to make the content area wider.  I can probably figure out the other CSS changes myself, but I’m just not figuring out how to make this one (kinda big deal of what I want this to look like) change.

Humming

I have a co-worker who likes to sing one line of popular songs over and over again.  That results in me leaving work with “Uptown Funk” stuck in my head on repeat.  Not cute.

Expecting

Quite honestly, I have no idea what to expect anymore.  I know I wrote about getting back into hyper planning mode last week, but I have no idea how to plan for half of the big things that are looming over me.  I have no idea how to sell a house.  Or help to clear out a house.

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So that’s what I’ve been doing.  I’ve also been reading a lot.  If you missed it, I’m giving away a copy of Hausfrau to a lucky reader.  Check out this post to see a review and enter!

What have you been doing lately?

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2 Comments · Labels: Life, Right Now Tagged: giveaway, hausfrau, lately, weekly wrap up

March 20, 2015

Hausfrau book review and giveaway

March 20, 2015

There are so many questions I have after reading Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum.  I’ll try not to give any spoilers here, but I seriously read the last sentence and was like, “Is that all?!?  What happens next?!”

I’m not going to lie, it took me a while to get into the action of the novel.  I didn’t dislike Anna, but I didn’t like her either; that made for some pretty bland action at first.  Basically, Anna is this exhausted, complacent, lonely hausfrau (who never confirms that she is lonely/bored/etc) and enters affairs…because she can pretty much.  Again, we never know why.  I love that we don’t.  Some things in life aren’t explained and just happen.

The more I read this, though, the more intrigued I became.  How is Anna going to disengage herself from these lives of lies?  What will her husband do?  How will she get found out?  Will she get found out or will she extract herself no harm, no foul?

It was sort of like reading about a train wreck.

Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum is beautifully written and has crazy amounts of intrigue. Review and giveaway!

There were more than five things that stood out to me as I was reading this that really made me wonder.  (I tried not to do this, but there is a spoiler and it’s noted as such.)

The Bruno Scale

When Bruno is around more, Anna acts out less.  The more attention she gets from him, the less she needs it from other people.  That’s a pretty basic observation, but I do think it’s worth mentioning.  His presence in the present can’t undo the past, so there must be some retribution for Anna’s actions (and oh is there ever).

But he’s trying!  You see him trying!

I actually like his character.  He appears to be the only one who is active.  It’s true, Anna is doing the cheating, and she’s probably doing it because he’s passive towards her, but when we see him interact with other characters, he’s always active whereas Anna closes herself off.

Mary

Oh lordy, I do not like Mary.  Everything would have been fine if she just kept her mouth shut.  Trust me, I’m not rooting for Anna here, but I’m definitely rooting for Mary to mind her own damn business.

She’s the catalyst for both good and bad.  She brings Bruno back to Anna, but she also really, really breaks Bruno and Anna apart.

There is a lot to say about her character, which is interesting because she only appears for part of the book.  She sets a lot of things into motion.  She’s almost like Anna’s affairs themselves: provides something to feel good about for the moment but ultimately is a downfall for Anna.

Maybe I’m reading this at a basic level, and every book needs a villain, and I’m just inserting Mary into that slot where it wasn’t the intention.  Help me out here, anyone else see that in her character?  Perhaps foil is a more appropriate term.

Anna’s birthday

Here’s another thing that Mary screwed up!  [Spoiler alert] She planned a birthday party for Anna when Anna expressly said not to do anything.  Mary and Tim / Anna and Bruno had a fantastic day together with their kids.  You see a hint of humanity in Bruno and a switch slowly turning for Anna.  I almost thought this was the pivotal moment moment for them.

And then Mary doing Mary got in they way.  Lady, if someone says “I don’t want a party,” you don’t force them to have a party, especially when they’re as standoffish as Anna.  And have so many different lives.

What happens when Bruno finds out?

This is kind of a big question that drove me to keep reading.  So, Anna is cheating, this we know.  What we don’t know is what will happen when Bruno finds out.  I can tell you – it’s good.  And all Mary’s fault!  Well, okay, Mary didn’t force Anna to cheat.  But she started it!

I wrote this one down as I was reading and it seriously bugged me.  Like I mentioned, this question drove me to keep reading.  If Bruno is one of the most active characters, what action will he take when he finds out he’s been cuckolded?  We never see him get scary-angry, but his power and authority is definitely conveyed.

Fire…what?

What does the fire symbolize?  Playing with fire, I guess, but where does it come from?  It happens when Anna meets Stephen and carries throughout, but it only appears at certain times.  I guess it’s play with fire, but maybe it’s also destruction and may be renewal (like a phoenix).  Pay attention when you’re reading this for the fire references and tell me what you think they mean/where they come from.

I’m almost leaning towards destruction, but 90% off the book is destruction and there aren’t that many references to fire.  Perhaps it is referring to Stephen and his particular involvement in the novel.

Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum is beautifully written and has crazy amounts of intrigue.

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So, have I piqued your interest in Hausfrau?  Good!  The book is already out (released on a lucky day, March 17th) and one of my readers can win a copy of the book thanks to Penguin Random House and 20SB!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What have you been reading lately?

[disclaim]I was provided a copy of Hausfrau to read and review and another to give away bu Penguin Random House and 20SB.  These are my honest opinions about the book.[/disclaim]

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10 Comments · Labels: Five Things, Reviews Tagged: book club, books, five things, giveaway, hausfrau, review

Who’s Angelica?

Life Un-styled Blogger, Gardener, Shoe Lover..among other things

I'm here to encourage and empower you to grow where you're planted and embrace the weeds that sometimes pop up. I'll share inspiration, products I like (and you may too), and stories from the garden.

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