Bernie and Leah are both struggling to find themselves. Leah is pursuing a PhD while working at an alt newspaper writing stuff she is not truly invested in and Bernie, who went to school for photography, isn’t getting anywhere with her art. Leah is in this sort of stilted relationship. It’s very hot and cold. And Bernie is a little awkward and timid in that area—she feels awkward and timid as she moves through the world. So when they meet and come together, neither of them really believes in themselves. But somehow, they begin to believe in each other. And they make art together that I think neither of them could have made or would have come to make on their own. Their relationship is transformative and alchemical.

Housemates is a joy to read. It is a moving commentary on the continuum of queer artists. It is an embodied embrace of fatness. It operates on several level at once, all of them profoundly moving

I think this book is well-loved for a reason, but unfortunately it just wasn’t for me! I didn’t love the writing style, though I’m not able to pinpoint what it was exactly that didn’t do it for me. Overall I think a lot of people would really enjoy this book, despite it not being my favorite. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eArc in exchange for my honest review!

So witty and so fun!! It was the perfect American lesbian road trip novel that you can’t put down until you feel like the characters have become known

I will say this is the first time I have read about a fat character that felt real. There was no talk about her losing weight, she was actually fat and not just midsized, and Bernie found her beautiful. It was really appreciated. Also love the brief Pittsburgh mentions

I knew that I would be a sucker for this book going in, as a West Philadelphian and an admirer of Eisenberg's other writing, but I was really bowled over by how much I loved it. It's a road trip novel, but also a meditation on creativity, queerness, bodies, making art, and the messiness of love. Eisenberg writes characters beautifully—Bernie and Leah were so vivid I practically expected to bump into them at the co-op. And Bernie's relationship to large format photography, and the complicated mentor who taught her its ins and outs, felt bracingly honest about how human connections are never simple, and never just one thing. I loved it, and I can't wait for her next one.

So sorry, but one chapter in and I can tell this isn't going to be for me. The writing choices are just odd to me in a way that I can't exactly wrap my head around, and judging by the reviews the semi-omniscient narrator bit doesn't really pay off in any way or get better. Also, based on the synopsis I assumed this would follow young/millennial characters. These characters are boomers, FYI. I found it funny how the one woman in her 70s remarked about a delivery driver being underpaid...no boomer would ever actually think that, lol.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

thank you netgalley for the e-arc. what a lovely little queer roadtrip story! more of this please!! i think the writing was really good and the story flowed well.

- a photographer & a writer embark on a road trip across pennsylvania to accept a former professor’s inheritance & document america thru words & images
- incredible depictions of land, food, art, & bodies, and was a celebration of the many different facets of being alive
- it’s messy & it’s queer & i felt very seen in a lot of ways while reading this

“housemates” is a great example of “all vibes, no plot” and if you don’t mind that you just might enjoy this book. unfortunately for me that is the very last thing I’d want from a road trip novel. the trip itself took a while to set up (the first 30%) which made being bored during even more of a let down.

for a story centered around bernie and leah’s relationship, the author really sacrificed their character development by spending so much time on secondary characters like the narrator and daniel dunn. I couldn’t tell you how or why they fell in love but I remember several flashbacks from a nameless outsider who felt detached from the book the entire time. on a similar vein, “housemates” promises messy housemate dynamics, but whenever conflict arose between them it wrapped up so quickly it almost didn’t feel worth mentioning.

despite the overly descriptive narrative I was still struggling to differentiate between bernie and leah halfway in because they felt so similar. I didn’t feel like I knew anything about either MC outside of their body types and art mediums. interestingly enough this author has some great pieces about fat characters in fiction (unrelated to her book) and yet this fat representation wasn’t anything to write home about.

last thing re: characterization - I think the blm protest mentions and free palestine meme posting were attempts to give leah some identity but it came off as cringey/pandering more than anything else. bernie’s moment about being american had a similar effect because it was just as fleeting.

this was a fun idea that lost direction along the way. thanks to netgalley and random house for the advanced copy. all opinions are my own.

I LOVED this book. The writing is superb. The themes speak to my reader soul: the co-creation of art; the queer love; the existential work angst; the road trip to reignite the spark of creativity; the accessibility of art and education; the ode to Pennsylvania. I loved it all. The framed narrative structure was a clever choice that took me a minute to get used to, but I ultimately found it to be a brilliant way to add commentary to the story. Most of all, I loved the way the author wrote about photography and writing (and the intersection of photography and writing). If you enjoy character-driven lit fic, I highly recommend reading Housemates! Thank you to NetGalley and Hogarth Books for my advanced reader copy.

I thought this would be an exciting road trip full of artistic insights but I was bored almost the entire time.

unfortunately had to dnf. i just couldn't get into it. i will try to read it again in the future. i would like to thank the publisher for sending me an arc. i'm rating this 3 stars, but please know that i don't think it is bad, it's just because i couldn't get into this.

House Mates by Emma Copley Eisenberg 4.25/5 ✨

This was an interesting take of a story told by an outside (yet slightly connected) character! I found myself really identifying with certain lines (see next slide) in a way that made me stop and immediately read out-loud to my partner. I found the relationship between Beanie and her mentor to be written really well. I felt like I could see the dissonance she was experiencing when reading about her experiences and what others experienced.

I loved that this was set in the state of Pennsylvania because there were places that I’ve been to having lived and worked in Central PA (also can’t forget the line about Penn State that made me actually laugh out loud!)
Overall I enjoyed this, and I think the things that made it less than 5 stars for me are just me being picky!

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

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.