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There are currently 16 member reviews
for The Madwoman and the Roomba
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Louise E. (Ocean View, DE)
memorable
The Mad Woman and the Roomba has a few memorable stories. I particularly like the story about Sally, her daughter, and her daughter's friend JJ. I also enjoyed the story about the Hindu monks' visit. But it took me a while to get into the book and I had a hard time relating to other stories. There were a few quotes I enjoyed including "The kitchenware of weddings is very beautiful!" It got me thinking and she's right. I'm not sure who I would recommend this book. Is it because I'm much older than the author, have never been divorced, or I live on the East Coast?
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Cheryl W. (Crosby, MN)
Easy read
I enjoyed the series of essays. We all find ourselves in at least one but the events are pretty insignificant. I may try another of the author's books.
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Susan S. (Lafayette, CA)
Uneven
I have read other books and articles by this author and have always enjoyed her writing a lot, so I was eager to read this new book. I found it to be uneven, and not as good as her previous work. She has always written about very personal things, but they felt very relatable. This time, a lot of the topics felt much less relatable to me, and the book was sometimes very funny, sometimes tedious. I very much enjoyed (and agreed with) her take on the slow food movement; I found other sections less interesting. I wish I could give a rating of three and a half stars.
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Barbara Brumfield
Just slightly humorous
Perhaps if I was reading this novel at a different time in our world, I might have found it more humorous. The author has a strong personality that comes through in her memoir, and she writes about insignificant events in her life without taking herself seriously. Compared to today’s daily news offerings about baby boomers suffering from illnesses, her writing makes light of the over 55 generation. Somehow it just fell short of being enjoyable. Thanks to BookBrowse and Net Galley for allowing me to read and review this book.
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Sandi W. Illinois
Neurotic !!
2 stars Thanks to BookBrowse and W W Norton and Company for allowing me to read this ARC. Publishes June 2, 2020
Totally neurotic!! Throughout the whole book there was only a couple of spots that I could relate to this woman. Having been born to a hypochondriac drama queen, it was easy for me to recognize the type. Every simple little itty-bitty thing blown out of proportion. A knack for taking the mundane and dramatizing. A book of individual essays - each mundane, boring, yet fabricated as something special.
I believe that this author, Tsing Loh, has a syndicated radio program. I do believe that had I ever heard the program I would never have opted for the book. And now having read the book - will certainly never go looking for the radio program.
Totally not my taste in book, writing or authors. I suffered enough as a child - this exaggerated hype, while all too familiar to me, is the last thing I ever want to come close to again!
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Margaret R. (Claremont, CA)
A Disappointment
Only once have I simply stopped reading a book and put it down because it was so bad. If it were not for my responsibility as a reviewer to finish Sandra Tsing Loh's new book, this would have been the second time.
What has happened to Sandra Tsing Loh? Her books were a joy, smart, funny, irreverent. We now see an often frenetic, fractured writer who is narrating the dry run of a stand-up gig that has gone terribly wrong. That said, there are passages of beautiful and heart-wrenching writing, such as the moment with her father right after his death. There are also passages of real, knee-slapping humor found in "Me and My Massage Chair". That said, the alarm is signaled early on in the book, "I literally have no idea what I just said." The last few sentences sweep up the pieces and blow them into a dark place, "Ah, well. For today there are tipsy four-year-olds who got into the margarita punch, savoring their first Bic lighters. Waving them, cackling, in the dark."
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Evelyn G. (Union, NJ)
If funny is money, this is poor.
Good comedy is hard to write. Great comedy writing is a gift. This book is not a gift if one is looking for hearty laughs and tears running out in hysteria. It is simply not funny despite it's author, Sandra Tsing Loh, trying very, very hard. Comedy has to have "magic" and there was none or it was extremely well hidden. While there is undeniable talent with the twist of the word and interesting life observations, it was in essence dull and each page turned like lead. Hopefully the future will hold a brilliant tome from this same author, but this was not it. If you won it at a raffle, you would be disappointed.
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