Jill Alexander Essbaum

Enduring private misery in spite of a well-appointed life in suburban Zürich with her distant Swiss banker husband and young children, Anna Benz experiments with unfulfilling hobbies before engaging in a series of surprising sexual affairs. A first novel.

A Novel

Hausfrau

Amy Thibodeau

I didn't enjoy spending time in the world of this book but I found the story impossible to look away from. It reminded me a bit of a Greek tragedy where you can see the hero continue to move towards their doom, but you can't stop them and so you watch, your heart beating out of your chest. 

I read this book with a feminist lens and with that lens, I could imagine myself and so many other women I know. I can imagine the desperation and lack of choice so many women felt and feel. It was a stark reminder of how easy it is to become lost in the duties of being a woman.

The language is beautiful book there are quite a few graphic sex scenes. The scenes were literary and not gratuitous, but if sex bothers you, this book probably isn't for you.

It was a hard to get through this, but it's a book I won't forget. I've already read the ending over three times since finishing the book.

Antonella Romani

It was an okay book for me. It was very slow paced and I struggled in keeping interest throughout it.
The overall story was good and simple. It had a very similar flavor to The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. Although I will say the main character, Anna, dealt with her issues VERY differently than Esther (The Bell Jar) did.

Rachel

K wow. I do not understand the mediocre reviews for Hausfrau. It is beautifully written, the author is a poet and it shows. Its tragic from start to end. Anna’s is depressed and isolated after spending 10 years in Switzerland, she hasn’t connected with anyone and is not part of the community. She has a history of this, but is has become too much. Anna has had affairs and continues to have them, she’s trying to fill a void/pain with sex, but its a short term solution. Her husband Bruno is reserved, she has 3 kids, one that isn’t her husband’s, no close friends in Switzerland or in the US, she’s just going with the flow and its making her miserable. The book is a mixture of past events with her first affair partner (father of her baby girl), her psychiatric meetings, and events unfolding in the present. The last third of the book is painful, the last chapter is beyond words.

Maybe I like Hausfrau because the emotions Anna describes are familiar. I think everyone can find something familiar about being passive to an extent. The book reminded me a lot of The Bell Jar and Anna Karenina, but in a style of it’s own. Highly recommend!

Hausfrau A Novel

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