Really, really darkly funny. The narrator begins this terrible downward descent as he makes one housesitting mistake after another. His super perfectionist college friend asks him to care for an immaculate, perfect apartment and it just instantly starts to fall apart. At times I felt I was reading the most pretentious thing in the world but then I didn't care because this poor guy. Oh gods. So funny. ( )

For transparency's sake: I read the first 1/4 of the book.

When I read a review of this book, the impression given by the reviewer was that this was an observational comedy about a man who house sits for a fussy college friend. Through a series of farcical mistakes, he manages to do pretty much the exact opposite of all the things asked of him by the apartment's owner.

In actuality, this is a book about an unlikable (and unrelatable) main character who was so blah that the book never really hooked my interest. While the little notes peppered about the apartment by Oskar (the owner) were funny because they were so over the top these were not enough to save the book overall. If your character is as dull as dirt then you'd better draw the reader in with an exceptional storyline or else you lose the reader which this book absolutely did. ( )

Started well but withered away as it was essentially one joke, which wore thin long before the end. ( )

As I read this book my opinion changed so many times it was distracting. The premise - housesitting for a compulsive neat freak, intrigued me. I am one who is never comfortable staying in other people's homes as I am always fearful of doing damage. In this book the main character is asked, by an old college friend, to house and cat sit his meticulously renovated apt. while he is away. What ensues is somewhat predictable, often annoyingly so, a bit funny, and then; ridiculous. The plot of the novel began to aggravate me quite a bit, and then, just as I was ready to send it back to the library, the author would throw in some especially deep, insightful, thought provoking passages, and I was drawn back into the pages.
I wish the author had shown some restraint with the apt. sitting fiascos and focused more on his perceptive writing, but in this case I will take the bad with the very good. ( )

I'm always impressed when I stumble upon a book that seems to have such a sparse plot that it can't possibly meet the requirements of a full novel and then proves me wrong. This story doesn't just spiral out of control; it faithfully logs each mistep. And you are so willing to pitch in and suspend any disbelief with a spade and fresh soil that you forget the thread that brought you there (oh, that's right--we were planting something). Painful and funny and tense. If he'd only used the coaster, like Oskar had said. Out, damn'd spot! ( )