From Publishers Weekly: "A fixer-upper is just the thing to usher a young couple into adulthood, in this winsome memoir. Writing professor Batt and his wife, in the midst of the housing bubble, found their dream home-and when that deal fell through, settled for a Salt Lake City crack house that came complete with an eye-watering stench, tacky wood paneling, and hidden structural defects. The ensuing renovation gave the neophyte handyman an epic test of masculine resolve, a new appreciation for the aesthetics of slate flooring and poured-concrete countertops, and insight into the foundation of a successful marriage-namely, complete submission to female authority over decor. Meanwhile, Batt weathers upheavals among his extended relations-deaths, tensions, his cantankerous grandfather's embarrassing fling with a younger gold digger-that form an alternately antic and glum commentary on the ricketiness of the home-building enterprise. Batt's home-rehab picaresque is hilarious, engrossing, and stocked with a cast of squirrely tradesmen and manic realtors."
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