Diary of a Househusband by Sam Holden

Diary of a Hapless Househusband by Sam Holden happened to be a book which i just couldn’t put down till i finished it within 24 hours. (this doesn’t happen to me often because real life intrudes!) You know, one of those books where you just can’t tear your eyes away because the narrative just flows!

At the face of it, the book is about a husband, Sam Holden, who loses his job and ends up becoming a househusband. And then starts his almost disastrous attempt at trying to take care of their 2 kids, 3 and 1 respectively. Written in the form of Sam’s diary, the narrative makes us laugh at the clumsy man trying to be a housewife and a mother to the infants. But it also ends up having us see through the serious issues that arise while taking care of young children full time.

The story of rearing children takes a twist in the book because it's a man doing it. Apart from struggling through the endless daily chores of cooking, cleaning, feeding and laundry, there is the inflated ego of a man doing a woman's job to be dealt with. Sam goes through the same depression that probably a woman goes through while doing unlimited rounds of nappy changing with nothing else to give a sense of purpose to life. He realises that while he is neck deep in unfulfilling work day after day work, he is falling back on being able to converse on manly talks with his old buddies. His pride goes through an all time low with no opportunities to try and salvage it. The fact that his wife works necessarily means he has to continue in his current role.

Not wanting this post to be a spoiler, suffice it to say that he lands in a few sticky situations trying to cope with his predicament. And also makes a couple of attempts at making him feel macho once again.

Though it was undoubtedly a great read, i thought it could have been a 100 pages shorter. Somewhere in the middle of it, i felt it went on and on about the daily routine of child rearing and wondered what will happen next.

Last word: You can't miss this one!! :)