I love a Philly books! This book feels like home. Stunning debut! The way the author pays attention to the physicality of every element of the story was such a treat. From the bodies of her characters, their animals, inanimate objects, and even the landscape itself, You get a really rich, almost tactile experience of the world she created.

This book celebrated being queer, heavier set, messy, and dysfunctional yet happy, and that's an amazing and raw thing to read.

this book is truly for the “artsy” crowd. in a very sally rooney manner the author uses no quotation marks which I always find to be such an interesting choice. this book is slammed full of details which really helped paint a picture especially when we finally embarked on the roadtrip aspect of the story. I did struggle with the narrator aspect of this story, couldn’t figure out if it was third person and/or first person and it never really wrapped around to why the book was being told through that character. fully possible some of the nuisances went entirely over my head but nonetheless I did enjoy it I just was also a bit confused ! anyone in the mood for a contemporary artsy queer roadtrip novel through rural pennsylvania this is the book for you !

Thank you to Random House Publishing Group and NetGalley for the advanced copy!

Thank you so much to Random House for the eARC of this book!

This book is out now.

If you are looking for a love letter to Pennsylvania, this book may be for you!

I appreciated the sense of community in this book and the feeling of living with other people and the complications that can come from that. I appreciated her diverse characters especially Leah. I love seeing their type of body being described in the book. They had a quote that really stood out to me: "Do you think it's people's eyes or their brain that makes them hate fat people?" In which Bernie replies, "Brain. There's nothing wrong with our eyes." That whole section was a dagger to the heart. Bernie was also an interesting character as she is the woman in a crossroad of her life where she doesn't know what she wants to do. She is this talented photographer but the mentor who taught her everything was not a good person. She has these conflicted feelings on if she proceed with these skills from this man.

I loved the chapter taking place in Lancaster, PA. My husband and I love traveling to our neighboring county and it really is such a beautiful area! And even though I have seen the Amish just about every time I take a trip there, I am still fascinated by them & their culture. I am not sure if the interaction with the Amish kid would happen but I guess it could? Of course selfishly I would have loved a stop in my town of Reading, PA but maybe in another book.

This book is written from a perspective of someone looking into the lives of these people specifically Bernice and Leah. And it did not occur to me until much later in the book that this was the case.

I have not read anything by Emma before. I know that she also writes articles for publications which I am interested in looking some of the pieces she wrote about the lack of fat characters in books (she's not wrong). The way that Emma writes was just so beautiful. Her description to the characters & the setting really helped placed the scene. This book does not have quotations mark so if that is something you're not into or haven't tried, just be warned.

I love that this was written about a real life couple whom is lost in history. I had no clue that Bernie was based off a real photographer, Bernice Abbott. I love when author's find these people who were impactful in their life but are not known.

3.5

Thank you to the publisher, Random House, and Netgalley for providing me with an early copy of this book in exchange for my unbiased review.

This book was fantastic. A love letter to Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and the people you live with in your 20s. I don't have a lot to say about this other than that I really enjoyed it. It's easy to read but delves into so much and is so smart. Would absolutely recommend.

I Didn’t enjoy this, Read about 25% of it and was bored and annoyed at many things. I wouldn’t sell this at my store and i wouldn’t reccomend it to anyone unless they wanted a book to bore them for the first quarter.

I really, really tried to stick with this book, but ultimately ended up DNFing at 30%. I found the pacing to be a bit too slow to hold my engagement, and this was likely just a case of right book, wrong reader. I struggled with the writing style, but would consider coming back to this one in the future. I would definitely still encourage others to check out this book if it sounds interesting to them. This one just wasn't for me (right now)!

Thank you to the publisher and to NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Housemates is a 'once in a lifetime' kind of book. A contemporary, queer triumph. It has everything you could ever want in a book. It's gay, it’s messy, there's found family, there's finding yourself, a celebration of our bodies and what it means to really live in them, a road trip, the meaning of art, the creation of art, failures and successes. All of this is woven together in a brilliant and thoughtful way. It is unlike anything I have ever read before and it will be in my heart forever. I will be thinking about Bernie and Leah for the rest of my life. I loved these characters, I loved their story. Housemates felt like home while I was reading it. This is one you're absolutely going to want to read.

Housemates was an excellent read. I really appreciated the author's insight into being queer and figuring out what that means to yourself. I liked the different dynamics of the housemates and the slight satire of how they were a little bit ridiculous in their politics/beliefs. I loved the exploration of photography as a way to reveal the world and the appreciation for taking time to make art. I liked the road trip part more than the house living part.

I couldn't get into this book, had to DNF. I didn't like the writing style and really disliked that there weren't quotes.

I went into Housemates geared up for a classic road trip novel and, in many ways, it was that, but also much more…

Emma Copley Eisenberg has a sharp, observational lens that results in highly specific, intentional sentences commenting on everything from sexuality to bodies to relationships (both romantic and platonic) to art. I was especially intrigued by the questioning around the ethics of appreciating and benefitting from bad men who create good art *.

Housemates appeals to anyone in its humor and views on how to simply be in the world and find your path, but is also delightfully written specifically for a queer audience without a lens shift to over explain cultural norm nuances, which is a breath of fresh air in an age where education fatigue is high.

*if you’re looking to go even more in-depth on this topic pick up one of my favorite reads from 2023, Monsters by Claire Dederer.

This unfortunately didn't work for me.

While I can acknowledge the writing style will work for many, it meandered a bit too much for my liking. It took awhile to get into the road trip element of the story. This, in tandem with the latent stalker vibes the early sections game, made it difficult for me to become invested.

4.5 ⭐️. this was such a lovely love letter to the state of Pennsylvania. I fell in love with Bernie and Leah's resilience and their warm coming of age story. this story felt so familiar and cozy.

my only critique is that this book desperately needed a pennsylvania editor. the geographic connections did not work logistically. my small lil town was mentioned as a "stop-over" chapter and while the town was described EXACTLY like it's layout, the drive Bernie & Leah took after does not geographically make sense-- it realistically would have added an extra hour (or more) to their journey and they would have had to backtrack their drive to get to their next stop.

thank you to NetGalley and Random House Publishing for an Advance Reading Copy in exchange for an honest review

This is a delightfully fresh take on a genre which has been dominated by straight white men. Eisenberg's compassionately human protagonists make great companions for a long trip. A perfect summer read.

“She felt fond of life. Where had that come from? When did it go missing?”

Filled to the brim with feeling, art, & rich characters, Housemates by Emma Copley Eisenberg is a beautifully queer road trip novel.

Bernie was just looking for a place to live. When she responds to an ad by Leah, looking for a housemate in the home they shared with other queer people, she’s starting a new chapter in Philadelphia. Both queer artists, and incredibly different people, they find themselves drawn to each other and their friendship blooms as they explore how their art (photography for Bernie, writing for Leah), and how they can create something meaningful together. When Bernie finds out she has inherited a former professor (and disgraced artist)’s collection of photographs, Bernie & Leah set out on a road trip to retrieve the photographs using the trip as a catalyst to create their own collaboration.

Housemates is a stunning gem of a book. It brings something new & electric to what we know as the road trip novel, filling it with modern queer artists whose longing for connection and meaning isn’t all that different from all those who came before.

The writing will envelop you; you'll see here, feel and smell it all. The characters that Eisenberg creates are complete; they are living, breathing, flawed, and charming real people. Each character is treated with such love, tenderness, and care, while never shying away from their rough edges. She explores the facets of what it is to be a human person in a body; from trauma to entitlement to food to loneliness to weight, there’s no judgment anywhere to be found, just a deeper understanding. You’ll see parts of yourself in each character, maybe one more than the other (I think I’m a mix of them both). I loved Bernie’s slowness and intentionality and Leah’s curiosity and talkativeness. Brilliantly, their methods of expression are extensions of who they are and how they navigate the world.

Housemates is a wonderful, warm book that embraces its characters, their feelings, their bodies, & their art. And like any good road trip, you’ll wish this one wouldn’t end.

This was not what I was expecting, but I had fun with it regardless. The writing felt vivid and poignant in the moment, but I am unsure if I will remember much of it in the long run (but that could just be a me problem). I loved the nuanced discussions of absolutely every topic imaginable (it feels so genuinely mid-20s to know a little too much about everything and nothing). Also, I am always a sucker for a road trip aesthetic, so this was a solid novel in my eyes.

This book is for you if you’re REALLY into photography.
This book is not for you if you hate books with no quotation marks around the dialogue.

-1 star for this feeling like Photography 101.
-1 star for the boogers, poop smears, and sebum descriptions.
-1 star for the road trip not being long enough, and starting like 40% into the book.
+1 star for the oddly specific description of the 1991 film Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken. The author didn’t even mention the title and I knew exactly what they were watching.
+1 star for the LGBTQ representation.

QUEER ROAD TRIP!! This book feels like sitting on your porch on a summer evening and watching the sunset peek through the lingering clouds after an abrupt rainfall.

Thank you, NetGalley for the arc!

A road trip book that instantly captures your heart and your attention. Another great Pride Month read and I love seeing this representation. Celebrating everyone as they are - truly spectacular

3/5 stars

I read this one for book club that meets this month! I'm eager to chat with others about it as I still don't know how I feel about it. It seemed a bit disjoined between the present and Leah and Bernie's life growing up and I was very confused as to why it was told as if there was a third person along the road trip with them.

This book tackled a lot of heavy topics such as racism, classism, gender norms and eating disorders. There was also quite a bit of talk of the pandemic and thankfully it didn't feel like too much by making it a present-day book. I did really enjoy the small towns they visited and the people they met along the way. Seeing Bernie and Leah's relationship grow throughout the road trip was beautiful. This was a book where I could picture myself there too!

The premise was good, but the execution was lacking a bit, and the ending felt a bit rushed. I overall am glad I read this book for book club and learned a lot and am excited to chat with others about it!