Laurie Notaro, along with Jen Lancaster, Jenny Lawson and numerous other, is a very funny lady who openly shares her humorous life with an audience. It’s been awhile since she’s published a memoir although she appears to have written a novel last year!
In Housebroken Laurie is in her 50s, but she hasn’t matured much since we last met, she is still a bit of a hoarder who forces various neighbors try her homemade Twinkies after the Twinkie shortage panic of 2012 . Laurie is a bit of a mess but she’s a lovable mess. This memoir focuses a bit on her struggles with domesticity, the going-ons in her neighborhood as well as her relationships with her husband, parents, sisters and nephews. The one happy homemaker skill she possess is a talent for cooking; she shares her Nana’s authentic Italian recipes with the readers and talks about a cheese making class she hilariously takes.
The best stories are the one with her family. Her story about her father unfriending her on Facebook was hysterical and her relationship with her nephews is adorable.
If you ask the kids what I’ve taught them, David will wait a minute and then say, “‘Don’t be an asshole’ is probably one of the best. And never to wear a tank top.”
Nickm who has had more time under my tutelage, will be quick to answer,”How to wipe my ass.”
And what else?
That Waffle House is a microcosm of society and culture.”
And what else?
“That syphilis is making a big comeback, but I do have to add that herpes is far more common,”
And what else?
“That you’re my real mother, but I’m just about finished with a paper I’m writing on double consciousness and racial prejudice. Can I call you back? Love you.”
“Anytime, bub,” I reply. “Anytime.”