The Roommates

July 14, 2014
Certainly thorough and wide-ranging, these anecdotal portraits of good roommates and bad roommates have been smoothly edited by Wu (a culture editor at Town & Country and founder of MochiMag.com) for understated readability. These briefs are occasionally hilarious: in “The Faulty Wiring” a college roommate climbs on top of her desk at night and pees on her own laptop, then wonders the next morning if the electricity had gone out. Elsewhere, incidents possess an over-the-top quality that strains credulity, such as the depiction of Midwestern Sandra in “The Multiple Personalities,” who suffered from dissociative identity disorder and whose five other church-going roommates made peace with Sandra’s various personalities (with names like Blue Eyes and Playgirl, for example) and even attended therapy with her. Divided into life stages such as “Growing Pains,” “Freshman Year,” and “Recent Grads,” the tales cover the gamut from sharing dorms in small college towns to roach-infested pads in New York City or RV traveling, while the most eclectic section, “Adventures Abroad,” even attains an inspired quality, as in the strange and beautiful influence one Botswana roommate wrought over her American counterpart in “The African Exchange Student.” There are, curiously, several essays about living with Mormons, lots of party boys and girls, bed bugs, suicide attempts, and kleptomaniacs, but mostly there remain the all-too-familiar, agonizing chronicles of the passive-
aggressives and the plain incompatibles.

July 1, 2014
Town & Country editor Wu compiles a wide variety of tales about "an incredibly universal ritual that we can all relate to."At 27, the editor has shared living quarters with 20 roommates, and her curiosity surrounding the topic springs from the environments in which she has lived. In New York City, astronomical rents have forced young professionals and increasingly more members of the middle class to share housing-"the number of people residing in nonfamily households increased by more than 40 percent from 2000 to 2010. Throughout America's biggest cities, rising rents and an increasing age of marriage have allowed people to embrace roommates long past college graduations and the early twenties." The author separates the stories into the categories of Growing Pains, Freshman Year, Student Struggles, Adventures Abroad, Recent Grads and Young at Heart. The ages of the roommates range "from a non-relative newborn child to a seventysomething with a proclivity for nudity." Technology has played its part in the situation, as well. Though a handful of the stories take place more than two decades ago, pre-Craigslist, many illustrate how social networks, smartphones and texting have made finding a roommate much easier. The collection covers a wide emotional range, from funny to poignant to bizarre. Wu includes recollections regarding creative bullies, an alcoholic genius, a suicide attempt, a recovering addict, a kleptomaniac, pot smokers, a passive- aggressive personality and a down-on-her-luck widow running an escort service out of her apartment. The living environments are just as varied, and they include a Mormon household, a former gang headquarters, a yacht, a vacation home and an RV.A fun, quick read that pulls back the curtain on the dramas, joys and quirky memories of living with roommates.

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September 1, 2014

This collection is one of the first entries in Picador's new series of true stories. It's comprised of short, first-person narratives that seem less edited than transcribed and are very much off the cuff. Most of the material was collected from late twenty or early thirtysomethings, and the book is loosely organized into sections ("Student Struggles," "Adventures Abroad," "Recent Grads," etc.). A few themes pop up over and over within sections--questionable housekeeping, mental illness, dubious hygiene, and kleptomania come to mind--making this reviewer wonder if thematic organization would have made the book feel less frivolous. But, as it seems designed to be picked up and put down easily, with digestible bite-sized tales, a scattershot approach doesn't necessarily detract from the reading experience. VERDICT This volume may be eaten up by young New Yorkers used to the roommate experience. It would be a fun title to read on the subway, on a bus, or on a plane and is relatable and enjoyable. Anyone who has ever had a roommate should find something here that resonates. [See Prepub Alert, 3/31/14.]--Audrey Snowden, Orrington P.L., ME

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