Review of Home Comforts : The Art and Science of Keeping House (Hardcover)

I bought this book without knowing anything about it. As a thirtysomething single man who just bought his first house, I've been looking for thepractical information that I never got growing up (more my fault thanmom's), and after idly flipping through this book in the store, I wasconvinced that I'd found it. The amount of venom contained in many of thereviews here was frankly astonishing to me, and for a moment I wondered ifI'd wandered onto the wrong page by mistake.

Home Comforts is not"the fascists guide to spotless houses at the expense of friends,family, career, and joy". Indeed, the author repeatedly stresses thather methods and schedules are suggestions, nothing more, and goes to greatlengths to explain why each task should be done in the first place, and howto balance the effort against the benefits. I found nothing in it tosuggest that I, living alone in my brand-new house, should be forced intohours of weekly drudgery in order to meet an irrational white-glovestandard; what I found was a set of clear explanations that would allow meto make informed choices on how to set my own standards and keep up withthem in a reasonable and realistic way.

Attempting to read it from coverto cover in one sitting is indeed overwhelming, and I can see why it leftsome people feeling inadequate or with the false impression that the authorwas looking down her nose at the readers. I didn't know most of thosethings either, and much of what I thought I knew was wrong.

Some aspectsthat others find off-putting added to the charm for me. Who but a lawyerwould, when faced with the complications of laundry care labels, reachimmediately for the federal regulations governing them? The book gets a bitchatty, but if I didn't know what sort of person the author was, how wouldI know what motivated her advice in a particular area? I don't think I'dreached page seven before I was wondering "if there were any more athome like her", and not because I wanted to hire one as a full-timehousekeeper; Mendelson is a "rational romantic", mixing equalparts of enthusiasm and sensibility into her writing.

As for omissions,I'm hard-pressed to find any significant ones. Doesn't say anything aboutdoing your own plumbing or electrical work? Why should it? The informationit does supply is geared to living in a home, not repairing or renovatingone. For those who choose to do more in that area, she makes a point ofrecommending other sources. Personally, the only thing I've noticed so farthat it doesn't say anything specific about is getting stains out ofconcrete floors, something I'm willing to research on my own, since she'ssaved me the trouble for pretty much every other kind of floor and wallcovering I'm likely to encounter.

Oh, and I bought Mom a copy. Hopefullyshe'll take it the right way...

-j



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