The Passion of the Hausfrau: Motherhood, Illuminated

by Nicole Chaison

Behold, brave readers! Herein lies the first epic hero’s journey told by a mother–the Hausfrau, whose odyssey is a 24/7 adventure of pandemonium, sleep deprivation, madness, and transcendence. But beware! This journey is not for the faint of heart, as Nicole Chaison (a.k.a. the Hausfrau) boldly demonstrates in this brilliantly witty and vivid graphic memoir. The Hausfrau weaves a tale of sidesplitting trials and addresses age-old Does a good mother have to give up her own dreams? What is a good mother, anyway? And is there a bathing suit that will fit her gargantuan behind?And so the journey unfolds, illuminating all things mommy, includingThe an intricate maze of hormones, exhaustion, and ego struggles.the Björn Can a mother go to the bathroom with a slumbering newborn tethered to her chest?Monsterfrau Hell hath no fury like a sleep- and serotonin-deprived Hausfrau.the Unhip Piercings, spiky hair, and tattoos do not a trendy mama make.a Hausfrau Holiday yet another portrait Norman Rockwell forgot to paint.Fiercely funny, wholly original, and sure to be recognizable to mothers everywhere, The Passion of the Hausfrau is filled with the messiness, meltdowns, mayhem, and bliss of modern motherhood.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Graphic Novels, Parenting

256 pages, Hardcover

First published June 16, 2009

Reviews

[Momm DePlume · Rating 1 out of 5]

Oh look another * hey I can write about being a mom* book. This one is sadly lacking. If you sift through her countless efforts to prove to us that she is still an intellectual, the continuous mention of her * nightly tonic* ( honey get help ), and her blathering on about her mother/ how it's really herself projecting onto her mother's passive aggressive gifts with a mirror of her soul and self doubt blah blah blah, you'll find very few stories about being a mother. Those that you do find lack the wit and tenderness found in many other books on the topic.

The book's layout is excruciating. Each page is bumpered by artistic renderings of the contents of that page. These comics are not optional reading as the author will stop in the middle of an anecdote and say ( see left ) and then move on to something else. Then there's the issue of the footnotes on almost every page. Seriously? Get over yourself.

In case you weren't absolutely sure that the author was a drunken ego maniac by the time you finished the book the author bio includes information about her mom-zine and one woman show based on the same stimulating autobiographical drivel she used to fill far more pages than were deserved.

[Ginny Soutiere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book!! ...a mom must read! Will go down as one of my favorites. I haven't laughed that much while reading in a long time!! ...so funny!!!

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nicole's book is utterly hilarious!

[Literary Mama]

My first introduction to the literature of motherhood was through zines—booklets photocopied, stapled, and mailed directly from writer to reader in the days before blogs, Twitter, and Instagram. Often humorous, sometimes heartrending, and always real, these handmade, and sometimes hand-written and hand-drawn, missives made me feel less alone in my struggles with parenting two infants and a disenchanted four-year-old, and they inspired me to dream that maybe I, too, could write about this wild ride called motherhood. One of my favorite zinesters, Nicole Chaison, collected the stories from her illustrated zine, Hausfrau, into a hardcover graphic memoir, The Passion of the Hausfrau: Motherhood, Illuminated. Formatted in the style of a medieval illuminated manuscript and following the arc of the hero's journey, The Passion turns harried and harrowing stories of everyday mothering—from attempting to grocery shop or bake cookies with two tired and hungry charges, to young boys' tendency to turn every object into a gun, to the humiliation of having one's castoff clothes rejected from the hip consignment shop, to facing impossible-to-eradicate lice—into hilarious episodes sure to win over readers' sympathy and cause audible laughter. Even though my kids and I are long past the days of public meltdowns and diaper disasters, I still turn to The Passion of the Hausfrau when I need a good laugh and a reminder that I'm not alone.

[Kristi (OneBookMore) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't remember the last time a book had me actually laughing out loud. This was so honest and funny and easy to relate to, that it took me about a day to read the whole thing. Just plain enjoyable.

[Ciara · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is a bit of an ambitious plan: to essentially transform a journal into an illuminated manuscript in the medieval tradition, modernized as the newest take of the new millennium's mommy memoir craze. i was pleasantly surprised when i read the author bio & discovered that chaison has been publishing a zine for a while, & the acknowledgments section was checkered with names of zinesters with whom i am acquainted. i'd never heard of her zine, which kind of surprised me. how could i not have heard of a zine that morphed into a book? i thought i had my ear to the ground. but i guess i haven't read too many parenting zines lately.

it took me a little while to get into this book, because sometimes the biggest parts of the story were in the little drawings along the side of each page, & sometimes i would forget to look at them & be confused when a story seemed to just trail off. or i would look at the drawings first & be totally confused by what was going on. once i figured out that i have to teach each page one at a time & thoroughly read the text & examine the drawings, i got into it more.

the book idea came about after chaison's mother gave her the gift of an "autobiography" "penned" by a football star with whom chaison attended college. due to chaison's thorny personal relationship with her mother, she interpreted the gift as a slight making fun of the fact that chaison had always voiced an ambition to be a writer, but was instead toiling away as a stay-at-home mother living in a currently-being-renovated victorian in maine while her husband tried to get his non-profit organization off the ground. in other words, this football player who has suffered like seventeen concussions "wrote" a book (with his ghostwriters & too many subtitles); why haven't you?

after a bout of pneumonia that involved hallucinogenic herbal treatments & chaison's son reading her journal & praising it for its hilariousness, she decided to turn the journal into her book. & this, i guess, is the product. yeah, it gets a little meta, being the story of the journal being turned into a book told through excerpts in the journal...with footnotes...& illustrations. but i enjoyed it.

[Allison Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I devoured this book, laughing and nodding my head with understanding on nearly every page. Motherhood is difficult, and humorous, and worth it and Nicole Chaison captures it all.

I'm going to steal Debra Spark's review off the back of the book because I couldn't agree more:

"Read The Passion of the Hausfrau and you'll feel like you've just spent the afternoon with your best-ever girlfriend - the one who's hilarious, compassionate, sneakily erudite, and endearingly confessional. You know the girlfriend I mean. She's conflicted, guilty, wise, left-wing, and (though she doesn't know it) dauntingly talented. So put down that sippy cup, wipe the baby vomit from your back, and head out and buy Nicole Chaison's book. It's the most fun you'll ever have with an illuminated manuscript. Guaranteed."

[Chelsea · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only thing I really liked was the footnotes. Terrible format, and awfully self-indulgent (her life is so hard, you don't even understand). She was funny in person, but I enjoyed her brief reading far better than the book itself. I'm guessing her story is more suited for the blog/zine world it came from originally (anecdotes, in small doses, with wacky comics to keep them company).

That said, I'm not married, nor do I have children, so maybe I'm missing some of the jokes? (Though I'm not a teenage boy in a British wizarding school, I wasn't a serial killer during the Chicago World Fair, nor was I hiding in an attic during the Holocaust, and I had no problem connecting with and adoring those characters and books.)

Um, yay Maine author! That's all I've got.

[Kelly Dowling · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's always nice to read the thoughts of a mother who doesn't take herself too seriously. That said, I occasionally found the pace of this book too slow. I also (being a fairly liberal person - both politically and in life) found myself rolling my eyes at some of the far left parenting opinions and experiences described by the author. Since the Chapters are short and there is no definitive "through-line" this is probably a book best enjoyed a chapter at a time over a longer period. (I tend to read things in one or two sittings. ) I doubt it will appeal to the more traditional/conservative mother as it scews very heavily towards the hippy-trippy at points :-) Still, a fairly fast and mostly enjoyable read. The chapter on sitting in cat poop is basically worth the price of admission!

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an enjoyable read! This is a sort of medieval-style illuminated manuscript and Joseph Campbell-esque hero's journey ruminating on modern motherhood. I just LOVE the art and the stories are by turns funny, sweet, heart-achey, but mostly funny. The author's experience of motherhood has a lot in common with my own and I just tore through this book, laughing and often thinking, "Yes! That's exactly how it is!"

[Angie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Its not that I didn't like this book I, as another reviewer said, I got the same impression; another Mom writing a book about the trial and errors of Motherhood. Some of the stories were funny, and others made me feel as if I was not the only Mother who experienced the hard times of Motherhood; I did find the story of lice hilarious, especially her frustration led to her shaving her head. But overall, I did not care for this book too much.

[Rachelfm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was pretty funny at points (I LOVED how she catalogued how her 32 serotonin molecules got used up through the day) but found that the relationship with her mother was complicated and under-explained and that the relationship with her gonads was complicated and over-explained. On the whole, a welcome, light chuckler, one that many women raising young'uns can cop to.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book on a day when I REALLY needed it. I laughed until I cried b/c I could SO relate. I think every mama needs a little "mama humor" once in awhile. It's nice to know that you're not alone in all the craziness that motherhood entails.

[Libby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me laugh and know that I am not the only one with motherhood mishaps in the world. I loved the cartoon drawings that went with the hilarious text.

[lisa Goodfellow · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved it!!! highly recommend to anyone with a pulse.

[Kai · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny, Highly recommended.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book! It was as if the author was chronicling the last six years of my life! I am not alone, and it feels good to know it.

[Deanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally a book which captures the true essence of what it means to be a mom. I laughed until I cried.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth the read, if just to see the contents of the Dad's version of Mothering Magazine: "Sire!"

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chaison is a Portland author and friend of mine. This book is hysterical, but really no one should read it before they've had kids!

[marmix · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'll admit that what first attracted me to this book was the quote on the front cover from Alison Bechdel. I liked this, but I won't be following her blog...

[meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

funny and honest.

[Heidi Chase · Rating 5 out of 5]

a must read for a laugh out loud parenting experience

[McArthur Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic memoir captures the true essence of what it means to be a mom. I laughed until I cried! The author lives in Portland, Maine.

[Janell]

Just wasn't getting into this one.

[Maleka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some parts amusing, some parts boring.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it from start to finish! Funny, honest, kind.