Area Woman Blows Gasket: Tales from the Domestic Frontier

Patricia Pearson

Random House of Canada, Apr 30, 2010 - Humor - 256 pages

From the author of Playing House comes a sharp and sophisticated collection of essays that takes us on a hilarious tour of our twenty-first-century obsessions and distractions.

Patricia Pearson is a working woman, wife and mother on the verge. Whether it’s being humiliated by the Beauty Bullies at the Lancôme counter or failing to live up to the Serene Mother ideal, Pearson is fed up with negotiating our present-day myths and fads. In Area Woman Blows Gasket, Pearson plumbs every facet of modern life, marriage and motherhood: from choosing the right vegan-bran-hemp diet for your family to confronting your husband’s irrational fear of mayonnaise. Adult education classes, psychotherapy, $100 haircuts, the latest news on what may or may not cause cancer, Christmas shopping — all come into sharp focus with the help of Pearson’s comic eye. Her wry brand of wisdom is a refreshing and long-awaited release from the contradictions thrown at us by society.

About the author

Patricia Pearson is a columnist for Maclean’s and a former columnist for the National Post. She is also a frequent contributor to USA Today and the author of the novel Playing House, which was nominated for the 2004 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour. Her work has also appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian and Cosmopolitan, and she has won three Canadian National Magazine Awards. She lives in the Gatineaus with her husband and two children.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Area Woman Blows Gasket: Tales from the Domestic Frontier
• Author: Patricia Pearson
• Publisher: Random House of Canada, 2010
• ISBN: 0307370895, 9780307370891
• Length: 256 pages
• Subjects: Family & Relationships / Parenting / Motherhood; Humor / Topic / Marriage & Family; Literary Collections / Essays