When I first started reading Gutted, I
was a bit slow coming around to the idea of reading about someone’s
home-building project in Sag Harbor. But LaRose has such a witty way of
describing  everything; I ended up actually laughing out loud.

   LaRose is good at understanding how his
marriage and his  life were reflected in how they managed the renovation. I
have a new  appreciation of how hard it is to build a house, hold down a job,
and know a  baby is on the way. An overly ambitious idea turned out to be the
real deal,  his home and wife and child. And LaRose was even willing to work as
a carpenter  for meager wages during the whole time.

   Essentially, the book is about buying a house
and renovating  it with his new wife. The project turns out to be much more
than they ever  thought, both emotionally and material-wise. And as it turns
out, his wife became pregnant just a few months after they started the building.

  I went looking for the other book by LaRose at
the bookstore,  but they weren’t carrying it. It’s too bad, because LaRose
deserves real  respect in the world of writing as well as home-building and
humor. I’m sure  there are others out there who have gone through similar
things and who would  appreciate Larose’s view of things. I’d recommend his
book to anybody looking for some humor in hard times.

© 2007
Patricia Ferguson

Patricia
Ferguson, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist as well as writer and
cofounder of an online magazine, Apollo’s Lyre (www.apollos-lyre.com). She has contributed to numerous books and
journals as well as medical and psychological journals and currently working on
a book based on her column in Apollo’s Lyre.  She and her husband and son
live in northern California.   

Categories: Memoirs