Additional information
by Matthew Batt (Author)
An improbably funny account of how the purchase and restoration of a disaster of a fixer-upper saves a young marriage.
When a season of ludicrous loss tests the mettle of their marriage, Matthew Batt and his wife decide not to call it quits. They set their sights instead on the purchase of a dilapidated house in the Sugarhouse section of Salt Lake City. With no homesteading experience and a full-blown quarter-life crisis on their hands, these perpetual grad students/waiters/nonprofiteers decide to seek salvation through renovation, and do all they can to turn a former crack house into a home. Dizzy with despair, doubt, and the side effects of using the rough equivalent of napalm to detoxify their house, they enter into full-fledged adulthood with power tools in hand.
Heartfelt and joyous, Sugarhouse is the story of how one couple conquers adversity and creates an addition to their family, as well as their home.
They thought buying a house would solve their quarter-life crisis. Instead, it introduced them to the world of home improvement--and a whole new set of problems.
- A Fixer-Upper with a Past: From its mysterious stains to its former life as a crack house, this dilapidated building in Salt Lake City is more than they bargained for.
- Salvation by Power Tool: With zero experience, Matthew and Jenae tackle everything from rotten foundations to septic carpets, learning that adulthood looks a lot like a trip to the hardware store.
- Laugh-Out-Loud Funny: A witty, self-deprecating story about the absurdity of trying to save a marriage by taking on a project practically designed to destroy it.
- A Relatable Story of Adulthood: For anyone who's ever felt like a perpetual grad student or waiter, this is a hilarious and heartfelt account of finally, messily, growing up.
Front Jacket
An improbably funny account of how the purchase and restoration of a disaster of a fixer-upper saves a young marriage
When a season of ludicrous loss tests the mettle of their marriage, Matthew Batt and his wife decide not to call it quits. They set their sights instead on the purchase of a dilapidated house in the Sugarhouse section of Salt Lake City. With no homesteading experience and a full-blown quarter-life crisis on their hands, these perpetual grad students/waiters/nonprofiteers decide to seek salvation through renovation, and do all they can to turn a former crack house into a home. Dizzy with despair, doubt, and the side effects of using the rough equivalent of napalm to detoxify their house, they enter into full-fledged adulthood with power tools in hand.
Heartfelt and joyous, Sugarhouse is the story of how one couple conquers adversity and creates an addition to their family, as well as their home.
Sugarhouse is hilarious . . . Anyone who has ever argued over floor tile, loved a willful grandparent, or wondered what an orbital sander is will enjoy this charming book. Anthony Doerr, author of Memory Wall
Back Jacket
Winning, funny, and crackling with life, Sugarhouse is a can t-put-down chronicle of a bad house gone good and a good family gone in directions the author didn t expect. Matt Batt s book about glue, grace, gumption, and the grit it takes to keep on living is an unforgettable and sweet read. Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild
It s hard to write funny, especially when your world is crumbling around you, but in this utterly compelling memoir, Matt Batt makes it look easy. This is a sweet and deeply memorable debut by a writer who s clearly the real thing. Andre Dubus III, author of Townie
Sugarhouse is a whale of a book an uproariously funny and deeply affecting account of home ownership and its discontents. Matt Batt has written a must-read manifesto for anyone who s ever faced off against a fast-talking real estate agent, an impossibly stubborn varnish, or a family on the brink of heartbreak. Steve Almond, author of Candyfreak
Matt Batt proves himself an oddball cousin to Thoreau and Tracy Kidder in Sugarhouse, a charming and compelling memoir in which a professor of writing decides to renovate a disaster of a house. Billy Collins, poet laureate (2001 2003)
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