Diary of a Mad Housewife: A Novel

Diary of a Mad Housewife is predictable and yet - not. Bettina Balser is a middle-class housewife and mother in New York City. She has two daughters, ages seven and nine and an up and coming lawyer for a husband. She thinks she is slowly going out of her mind until her husband plays it big in the stock market and moves up in his law firm. By all standards they are now rich. Suddenly, Bettina's mental stability goes from questionable to outright mad. She thinks she has every phobia in the book. As the Balser family status changes life unravels even more for Bettina. Her husband Jonathan's demands for only the finest everything has Bettina running around like his personal assistant, even in the bedroom. The only way Bettina can sort show more through her emotions, resentments and increasing mania is to start a journal. This diary is her release, the outpouring of everything.
In the end, and the end is somewhat predictable, Bettina comes to understand that every stability (mental health included) comes at a price and everyone is paying at some level. show less

1967. A proto-feminist classic. Bettina Balser, née Munvies, is a middle class mother on Central Park West. Her husband is a lawyer and a hopeless social climber. He forces her to accompany him on an endless round of cocktail parties, art gallery openings and theatre events, in hopes of breaking into the next level of society. She is very depressed and just barely holding it together with booze, nembutal, and an extra-marital affair.

It's a very accurate portrayal of depression, but sometimes I had a hard time feeling as sorry for her as I might otherwise because they have a maid and people who come in to do the laundry and caterers and live on fucking Central Park West fer chrissakes. But all that obviously doesn't make debilitating show more depression much easier. show less

This 1967 gem is one of my all-time favorite books -- which I'm currently re-reading. I originally swiped Diary from my "mudther's" collection of book club books as a tween or early teen. I've always enjoyed the The Balser Family Thanksgiving dinner scene...a true classic, but as an adult, I'm catching so many other nuances I missed the first time around. Have things changed? Not as much as you'd think. The New York City housewife from my mother's generation is a classic archetype, and I was amazed at how much I could relate to her particular problems. Put this on your list for your next book club discussion.

Have to disagree with the previous review in terms of the book portraying depression. Although the clinical aspects of depression may be reflected in the story, I believe that the emphasis is actually on the fact that the protagonist wasn't depressed at all, but rather supressed or oppressed (lots of pressing anyway!) by her husband, class expectations and so on. The prose is marvellous, the descriptions vivid and a window on upper class New York "Society" with a capital "S". Tina, the protagonist, is an example of what Betty Friedan termed women with a "problem that has no name"

This book seems a little dated now, but I still like the descriptions of Jonathan Balser's excesses as he tries to become one of the "Beautiful People". Tina, his wife, sees clearly that these new & unwelcome friends think Jonathan is Not Our Kind, Dear but good enough to sponge off. Tina's situation was one of the great arguments for the feminist movement: "Without a checking account, without a penny of my own..." - she can't even pay for her own abortion should she need one after her affair with George. She has to wait for Jonathan to pay the household bills, while he procrastinates to the point where the neighbourhood stores won't let her charge things anymore. Tina's ultimate decision is that she loves her life (with some show more much-needed improvements), but she doesn't want to be a career woman and she wants to stay home and raise her own children - "Tabitha-Twitchit-Danvers-me". A very fun capture of a moment in time in 1960s New York. show less

I can see why this was considered a contriversial feminist novel in its time. A lot of truth in the storyline that still holds together today though it pulls back on the ending dissapointingly.

No sé por qué, esperaba una comedia, pero es más bien un drama.