Housewife Blues and Chihuahua Stories

Book Info
Paperback, 372 pages
Published February 2014 by Multum In Parvo Publishing (first published January 26th 2014)
ISBN 0991304659 (ISBN13: 9780991304653)
edition language English
other editions (3)
Source:Digital copy from author

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BOOK SYNOPSIS

BATHING & THE SINGLE GIRL is the smutty, mercilessly irreverent and laugh-out-loud funny debut novel by actress Christine Elise McCarthy. Inspired by her one-woman short film of the same name, it’s the kind of novel Jonathan Ames might write if he’d dropped out of college and had been working as an actress in Hollywood for the last 20 years.

The life of an actress in LA isn’t all glamour, money, and bedding rock stars. Sometimes it’s more about humiliation, red wine hangovers, and the bad decisions they fuel. Ruby Fitzgerald has barely worked in years, not that anyone remembers her for anything but her short stint on a long-canceled but iconic TV show. But that was back when her career prospects seemed on the upswing -- longer ago than Ruby cares to admit, and awkward sex with regrettable partners is doing nothing to take the edge off. Everything once functional in her house is going on strike, but the unemployment checks barely cover the mortgage, and a self-respecting girl needs to be able to pay her bar tab -- so repairs are on hold. One more bubble bath and a few more cocktails. A gal can always get responsible tomorrow.

With everything mounting against her, a cranky and increasingly despairing Ruby will have to find out if her life’s larger indignities are the result of bad luck, or a chronically bad attitude. What follows is a walking tour of the hilarious depths you can sink to if you stop exercising your best judgment.

My Thoughts

From the clever chapter titles to the in depth honest look into the day to day life that Ruby Fitzgerald finds herself flailing through this one will grip you and pull you in despite any misgivings that it may be too close to reality that many people have faced at one time or another in their lives. Awesome laugh out loud bawdy humor mixed with a strong dose of sarcastic honesty combine to create a read that will fly by too quickly and a female lead character that we all would love to have every dream come true.

You really cannot help but like Ruby, she is so focused on a goal she made so many years ago she does not seem to realize that maybe it is really time to rethink what she needs to be happy. Acting was and is her dream career, however in a world that reveres youth more than talent she does not seem to have a place anymore. For the past 10 years of her life jobs have been getting fewer and fewer until what is offered her is so absurd that even as desperate for cash flow as Ruby has become there is no way she can in good conscience associate with the production her agent wishes her to try out for.

Ruby grows on you, even as you wish there were a way to tell her that the bad judgment she seems determined to keep succumbing to is only going to make things worse for her not better in the long run.

Funny with a clear cut message of hope at the end, Ruby Fitzgerald embodies many women and her path to self discovery as well as her path to overcoming self destruction is cluttered but realistic.