It was a fun book to read. I think the title threw me off...I was expecting more straightforward advice on how to declutter one's life as she learns them throughout her year. Instead, I found a person coming to terms with being an almost-hoarder and trying to do something about it (which is still pretty amazing!).

This book would be great for someone who doesn't feel as if s/he is living a cluttered life and/or has a hoarder mentality. A book like this should be gifted to that person. This book is less for people like me, who are actively trying to declutter their lives while already living an average (non-hoarder) lifestyle

Eve Schaub is on a mission: to rid herself of the family's "Hell Room", a huge room in her home that is stuffed with everything she can't face throwing out. It is the repository of all her clutter and allows her to pretend that she has a tidy house while keeping the door very much shut on the Hell Room. This book charts her attempt to clean it out while she tries to understand her family history of hoarding and why she struggles to throw things out.

I struggled through this mostly. I think the author's voice grated on me a bit and I found her a little self-absorbed - but isn't that the point of these memoirs? So I read on and I'm glad I finished it because yes, they cleaned out the Hell Room but there was no massive epiphany, no amazing transformation that means Eve can now throw everything out and live in a white box. The room is tidy and yes, she CAN throw things out easier now but life goes on. She still keeps some things and is not going to go overboard and cut out clutter FOREVER and I appreciated that.

In her honor, I may actually take that big bag of donations to the op shop today without "rescuing" anything before I do it!