The Way of the Househusband: The Gangster’s Guide to Housekeeping Review
The Way of the Househusband: The Gangster’s Guide to Housekeeping Review
Written by: Laurie Ulster
Recipes by: Victoria Rosenthal
Created by: Kousuke Oono
Published by: VIZ Media
Man, I need to do laundry, make lunch, get some exercise, and throw a birthday party but I want it to have some pizzazz (which I lack). Who has pizzazz? Clowns? Absolutely not. Train conductors? Only on Tuesdays. Gangsters? Yeah, they do. Yakuza? So nice. Sadly, I don’t know any Yakuza Gangsters so I can’t ask them to teach me. Ugh. It would be nice if a retired, legendary gangster wrote a book about housekeeping and general life skills.
OH WAIT, ONE DID.
Thanks to VIZ Media, The Way of the Househusband: The Gangster’s Guide to Housekeeping is available for those who want to add a little swagger to their day-to-day. Based on the Netflix series Way of the Househusband, this book gives you expert instruction on the basics of life with chapters like The Way of the Housekeeper and The Way of the Urban Explorer. Who needs Martha Stewart, when you have Tatsu guiding you on home makeovers?
The book boasts 23 legitimately good-looking recipes as part of the Way of the Chef chapter that also includes knife skills and tricks of the trade. Will I be making the Wood Ear Mushroom Salad and the Salmon with Creamy Walnut Sauce? You can bet your booty I will. Will I be making it for guests? Genuinely yes. Will I tell them it was from a book about gangsters doing housework? I’m saving that little tidbit for myself.
While I know this book is meant to be satire, it’s genuinely enjoyable and educational. If I knew a young person (I feel so old saying that) just starting out I’d absolutely give them this book. Disguised with humor it has a solid foundation of skills a lot of us lack. For example, there’s a part about decluttering your house. I’m a nerdy packrat so my house is at capacity. The advice given is not only helpful but presented with enough personality to want to read and absorb it. Is my house less cluttered? No, but I’m following the guidance to get it there.
This book sits on my shelf of cookbooks, DIY, and home repair because it belongs there. Anytime I see it I chuckle a bit, but want to reach for it first. Sure, I could Google home projects OR I could learn to make a headboard with upcycled wood from Tatsu. I’m not kidding. That’s in there. See! You need this book. Zero question. Go buy it.
Sabrina “Amazeballs” Clark
Do I know Sabrina? Sabrina…Sabrina….Oh, you mean her? Yeahh. She’s wild. Homegirl throws solo dance parties in her bedroom. She writes like nobody’s reading…because they aren’t (yet). She is an award winning baker, and has seen every episode of every season of ALL the Star Treks, and Stargates except Stargate Universe because it wasn’t right. Perpetual teenager. 4’11 of sass and sarcasm. She’s obsessed with cats. Single if you can believe it. All around nerd, and just too weird for her own good. AND SHE’S PROUD OF IT?
Why do you ask?
