Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The title is misleading in that it does not do justice to how sarcastic, offbeat and crazy this book is. The title alludes to some kind of Marvelous Misadventures that could be easily converted to Abnormal Atrocities and sum the book up perfectly. Ingrid is neurotic, she is only a thought away from "stress cancer" or some other malady that plagues her every waking thought. There is an underlying darkness that follows her, something she calls a "Tehom"(literally the Deep or Abyss). Ingrid just seems to naturally fall into these patterns of behavior that suck her into disorder, trouble and even greater anxiety. BUT even with this anxious undercurrent running through the book the story is wonderful. Ingrid ingratiates her way into my empathy and instead of laughing at her stupidity you laugh at her seriously screwed up situation that just seems to progress into some kind of surreal melodrama. ie: while trying to sell her house she (Ingrid) is convinced that the couple who have showed up for a private tour are actually Replicants. Yes, biorobotic androids from the movie Blade Runner have come to her suburban home. More than a marvelous misadventure? I think so. The f bomb is used in the book but not gratuitously. Two passages from the book that kind of sum up the whole experience of the book and kind of give you a taste of how funny the story goes: Ingrid muses to herself; "maybe I just need to be more scared than I've ever been before. Maybe that would help me develop some kind of superpower". While teaching a class on Henry James' literary masterpiece The Turn of the Screw Ingrid feels that she has at least half of students on the verge of an educational epiphany. She thinks to herself that "The whole lecture was like one enormous victory lap. When a student who had never opened his mouth raised his hand toward the end of the class, my joy was complete. Sweaty and exhausted, like a cross-country skier flinging herself over the finish line, I called on him expectantly. Yes? Hey eyed me from under his ball cap and waited a moment. "I think we've had enough of a mindf*ck for one day" Mindf*ck? Did he really just say that?" So those two passages from the book perfectly sum up just how Ingrid's mind is working through the book. She is pretty off the rails on her thought process sometimes and yet she is a college professor, she has three lovely children and her husband is a successful lawyer who does seem to genuinely love her. He even manages to forgive her for almost bankrupting them and kissing another man while under the influence of cough syrup. And wait till you read about those evil scheming co-workers of hers. She'll be stuck singing Old MacDonald had a farm to preschoolers if she can't figure out a way to out maneuver their manipulative goals. The book is funny and I recommend it to those looking for something humorous to read. Ingrid is the antithesis of woman who has got it all together but she is relatable in a marvelous way.