Sugarhouse: Turning the Neighborhood Crack House into Our Home Sweet Home

I bought this book initially to support a friends family member. I am so glad I did, I truly did love the book.---A. Reid - Excellent reviewPerfect !! You put into words exactly what I felt, after reading this book.The below quote sums this book up for me."The story is far more human and real than I was expecting, and I found myself caring quite a bit what happened with Matt and his family (all of it) as I went along."

I thoroughly enjoyed spending the last few days in the world of Matt and Jenae Batt in this charming book. Having fixed up a house myself (well, ten years later I still am...), I loved hearing about the weird projects and problems with the house. I also appreciated the family story here, which was poignant and funny and made me feel a bit better about my own "crazy" family (we all have craziness in our families, for sure). Batt's writing is splendid--eloquent but also conversational. There's really something for everyone in this lovely memoir: great wit, Batt's pleasing intellectual and literary sensibility, construction projects (!) and authentic depiction of an American family. Nicely done!

If you've ever bought a house (especially a fixer-upper) you will understand this book and the writer. The more excited the author was the more he had run-on sentences. At first it bothered me but after I thought about it I realized he was writing like he would be telling another person when really excited. You will laugh out loud when you least expect it. I loved it!

Enjoyed the book as I live in Sugarhouse. Many parts are very well written and flow well. Some parts seem a bit disjointed. Overall interesting.

Author has shared some insights on first time home buying and some dumb things to avoid. Fun reading, but hardly memorable.

Not too impressed. Nothing really came together. It seemed as though the author was working toward 3 different stories and they never tied together.

This is one of the best coming of age and marriage books I've read in a long time.

Sometimes the title is such a grabber, I can't resist.This is the story of a young couple who was at the same time rootless and also very tangled up with their families. They were essentially independent, trying to establish a direction for their lives. At the same time, their families were pulling them back as families do, with the common dramas of everyday lives. The solution for Matt and Jenae Batt is to buy a house in Salt Lake City. A fixer-upper is all they can afford.While I like this book quite a bit, I can't recommend it wholeheartedly.The good:1) Matthew Batt's voice - he is self-aware without being egotistical. This is a hard trick to pull off for a memoirist. Batt is funny and self-deprecating, a lovable Everyman. He seems like a guy you'd want to have a few beers with. He loves his family even when they are hard to love. He is not afraid to show his own warts and shows his family's warts only with the greatest compassion. Again, a hard trick to pull off.2) I like Batt's depiction of Salt Lake City. Having spent some time there, I enjoyed reading about the place where you have to assume everyone you meet is Mormon - even those criticizing Mormons in the most sarcastic way. It is a gentle city, physically quite beautiful, where the arts flourish. Of course, Batt's SLC is more like the underside of the SLC I have visited on business trips. I enjoyed his perspective.3) This book made me feel like anyone could buy a house that seemed completely hopeless and turn it into something livable. I walk into Home Depot and the chant starts drumming in my head: "You don't belong here. You are an impostor." Of course, I am usually there for minor items like hooks or sandpaper - or a gift card for a friend. Batt was renting sanders and visiting lumberyards. And he had to either rely on contractors or do it himself, two things I try to avoid as much as possible. He made it through and ended up with what sounds like a pretty cool house.The bad - there is really only one downside for me, and that is the pacing/storyline. Roughly the first 1/3 of the book is devoted to the search for a house. This part is funny and leisurely, focusing on the quirks of neighborhoods, realtors, sellers. The next section, which is substantial, is about transforming a truly dreadful-sounding space into viable living quarters, while simultaneously dealing with complicated family relationships. This part is also funny but occasionally gut-wrenching. Then suddenly he is wrapping up. The house can't possibly be habitable yet, based on the work that took place during Section 2 - but no, they are selling it and moving on. It felt to me like Batt was on deadline and had to slap on an ending before he was quite finished telling his story. Considering that he is a creative writing teacher, I was surprised that he did not follow basic plotting guidelines. This would have been a stronger book if he had expanded the renovation section. Maybe he only focused on the funniest or most compelling or most successful parts. But surely there were plumbing or electrical stories to tell.I do recommend this book. The strengths outweigh the shortcomings. Matthew Batt is a funny and compassionate man.