I would love to have a beach house, but know it's not within my means, so I thought this would be a fun read of one family trying to fulfill their dream of a beach house in the Hamptons. Unfortunately, while the book was about trying to make the beach house dream come true, I didn't really enjoy this debut novel.

I found the characters not only hard to relate to, but very shallow. The entire story was shallowish and too snarky, if there is such a thing. I typically enjoy a snarky, sarcastic look at things, but there wasn't anything else to help back up the snarky sarcasm.

I realize this is a debut novel and I'm hopeful that in future the author has a little more direction from a strong editor who can polish her next book until it shines and become the book everyone raves about. I definitely look forward to reading this author's next book.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an ARC at my request.

Raised in a middle class town in the Mid-West, Shelly's married lifestyle of being a rich stay-at-home mom in New York is a bit surrealistic at times, but she enjoys it and "works" to keep up appearances and stay in step with mothers in her "career field." Her new project: a weekend home in the Hamptons. Unfortunately, Shelly's husband lost his voice acting gig and is a little panicked about money (but not too much -because things always work out, don't they?) and Shelly's dream home of three bedrooms, a heated pool and Japanese toilet continue to dwindle, until she is left with a modern-concept shipping container home which the new neighbors hate and are petitioning against.

I feel like the humor in this book was sarcastic (which I appreciate): Shelly continually maintains how difficult her job of being a stay-at-home mom is and how difficult it is to get all the things done-because she is constantly having to monitor the hired help for all the jobs- and how no one appreciates her hard work. The part I couldn't wrap my head around was when Shelly's dog started talking to her- that took it past sarcastic humor and I didn't really know what to make of it. This book was... quirky? That is the best word I can think of to describe it.

i found this book to be just ok.The wife wants a beach house and this is the story of her pursuit in obtaining it.

With a snarky and funny narrator, this little whirlwind of a story will keep you on your toes.
This satiric novel will out all the unnecessary, out of hand actions the narrator takes just to "keep up with the Joneses". It will have you laughing and questioning what you have done similar!?

I received this book as an ARC and this is my review. This debut novel is indeed quirky and I enjoyed the creative edge. The characters are interesting and flawed - including the dog who talks to the Mom. It is funny and a bit sad but definitely worth the read. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a different slant on life and appreciates unusual situations from the everyday.

At times parts of this book made me laugh out loud- but ultimately, I did not like the narrator/main character. First half- great satire very funny.- interesting character sketches. But second half I became frustrated that the main character learned literally nothing and the plot seemed to drag on.

There were so many funny small moments in this book that I really enjoyed; the writing is light and engaging. However, it just never added up to a full novel, and the demarcation between satire and earnestness was at times non-existent. It was essentially the book equivalent of eating a bag of gummy bears for dinner: pleasant at the time, but ultimately not adding up to anything satisfying.

This contemporary novel is funny at times and attempts to satirize the notions of motherhood, consumerism, and wealth, but doesn't quite get there. I liked it, but it didn't "wow" me with its characters or the trajectory of the story.

Shelly Means is a stay-at-home mom living in Manhattan who is thrilled to be building a beach house in the Hamptons. She justifies using the money earned by her husband to do this since the house will be in the "worst" part of the Hamptons and her house will be built out of less-expensive shipping containers. Told from Shelly's point of view, we hear her simultaneously complaining about living off of her husband's salary (he's a voice-over artist) and breezily sharing that she has a house cleaner and dog walker. She got kicked out the PTA for throwing a bottle of water at the president, which both makes her feel bad and powerful. This vacillating between one emotion to its opposite, or one end of the spectrum to the other end takes up most of the novel and ends up making Shelly seem contrarian at best and thoroughly annoying at worst. She's not a character I could understand or relate to--or, eventually, root for.

This is an odd little book. It has such a silly premise that will make you roll your eyes, shake your head, but also laugh your ass off. The main character is SO ridiculous, but provides oodles and oodles of entertainment. If you’re in the mood for something quirky, or need a good palate cleanser, then The Means is just the book for you. 3.5/5 stars for this short, sassy, and silly read!

This is perhaps the strangest book I've ever read - and I've read a lot of strange books. This book really has no plot - it's just a series of chapters outlining everyday life for Shelly & George - Shelly doesn't work and George is a voice over guy for commercials. They have two kids and a talking dog. Shelly has dreams of owning a beach house in the hamptons and they are able to purchase a small plot of land. The rest of the book outlines events where they get their plans approved to have shipping containers repurposed into their new home. Did I mention this book was incredibly boring? It has funny moments and one liners, but I really felt like someone was strung out on drugs while writing this book. It just wasn't for me.

This book is funny. There are a number of humorous scenes that keep it light while it explores issues with money - wealth mindset, greed, hoarding, attitudes of the wealthy - are all targets.. While I appreciated the humor I found the main character unsympathetic, frenetic and unfocused. For me, the book had a similar quality, with storyline chapters interspersed with more philosophic chapters, it seemed to jump around and I never felt very invested in the ideas or story. The coveted beach house scenario could be very relatable for people with similar experiences.

1.75 out of 5. (its not one because i actually finished it) This could be the worst book i’ve read this year. I hate read it, and I was in a plane so kept reading feeling something might happen and the vacuousness of this book would be redeemed. The writing was strange, a chopped internal dialog that I could not get into. The concept of the dog speaking to the Shelly could have been great but it was haphazardous and had no purpose and happened at random times so it just did not even make sense. Do not get me started on the lead character, unsufferable and cliché. There are books with terrible main characters that are awesome but here the fact that she was so annoying and unsympathetic does not really make sense as I didnt really see the character arc, growth or her purpose. I don’t even understand at the end if we were laughing with her, at her or really did not understand any of the purposes of this book. Why was it written? is there a point to it? The topic has such great potential, why is the execution so bad. The exploration of motherhood and money didn’t really come through for me, I just saw a whinny entiteled character and that is sad.

Shelly Means has a lot of jobs. She takes care of her children. She takes care of her husband. She takes care of the dog. She takes care of their home. But she doesn’t get paid for any of these jobs, and she wonders about a society that doesn’t value these jobs enough to provide money to those who provide such services in their own homes. Maybe that’s why she’s so focused on getting her beach house. It’s what her vision board is all about, a beach house with a Japanese toilet.

However, there are obstacles to her getting her beach house. She and her husband George find a plot of land on Long Island where they can build, but building a house is very expensive. Shelly tries to save money towards her dream house and adds things to her vision board for it. But she also has to pay for the dog walker, their house cleaner, and her CBT therapy for when she threw a water bottle at the head of a speaker at the PTA meeting. That had ended her brief career as PTA president, but Shelly is okay with that. She just wants to focus on her beach house.

But then her husband loses her voiceover gig, and they have to cut back. But whether they have money or not, Shelly finds herself thinking about what it all means. She wonders if she is a bad person for wanting a beach house so badly. She wants to be valued for her contributions. She thinks about getting a job, but she doesn’t think her English degree will be enough to get her anything but a retail job. She consults a financial psychic. She talks with her dog Twix about the inequities of human life (he’s very wise).

But as Shelly juggles both the existential questions of financial literacy and the practical questions of her beach house, she learns more about what money is and how it can make a difference in a person’s life. Do you have to get paid for your work for it to have value? If you decide to build a house out of used shipping containers, does it matter what was in them before? Does transporting chicken nuggets offer your rescued shipping container home a better backstory than transporting shelves, and will potential renters think about that when they decide where to stay for a weekend at the beach?

The Means is a quirky family satire of being upper middle class in America and all the privilege and ethical questions that comes along with it. Author Amy Fusselman’s first novel takes a deep dive into how Americans think of family, of work, of wealth, and of ourselves in this dark and funny book.

I struggled a little with this book, as it is different. The way Fusselman has crafted this story is masterful but also unusual. It doesn’t read like a typical novel, or even a typical satire. I also had issues because I got sick in the middle of reading it and my brain just wasn’t processing at its best for a while there, which is my experience and I hope only mine. Had I not gotten sick in the middle, I would have had a lot easier time getting into the flow of the story. But either way, when I did get back into the novel, I greatly enjoyed both the storytelling and the overall message of The Means. It’s smart and sassy, with moments of genuine hilarity and moments of genuine strangeness, and I’m really glad I got to know Shelly and her journey to a beach house.

Egalleys for The Means were provided by Mariner Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

A really enjoyable book and look at the Hamptons culture. Very fun, a must for beach reading. I wish it was a little longer so I could live in this world !

I wanted to love this one. I feel like the author was trying to channel the characters in Where’d You Go Bernadette or a Sophie Kinsella novel, but the writing fell flat for me. I did enjoy how much we get into Shelly’s mind, but it made the plot too scattered. Good concept, but not for me.

The Means was a light-hearted, funny, satirical look at one woman’s unrelenting desire to “keep up with the joneses” by building a house in the hamptons despite not (really) being able to afford it. It was a super quick read and I enjoyed it!

This book was ridiculous and the MC was a moron. And not in a funny way. I don’t know what the point of this book was. It wasn’t funny, it was annoying.

I can't recall when I finished a book in one day.

This debut was so funny I swore I laughed on every page. Shelly and George (a commercial voice artist) lived in New York City with their 16 old son and 10 year old daughter. She was a stay at home mom who was guilty for not working and hiring a dog walker for their dog Twix since she never worked.

Shelly wanted a beach house in The Hamptons and was determined to get it, one way or another even if it was on tick infested land made out of shipping containers. Some of the containers she nixed for various reasons, i.e., cat food and chicken nuggets (her son was a vegetarian). I loved her vision board with a Japanese toilet which did everything and the brand name was Toto. Then her vision board which kept getting smaller and smaller since the house was going to be tiny.

As a side note, when she would walk Twix, she started talking to Shelly like she was a human. She was a smart dog that's for sure.

They tried to get rid of the land/house but no such luck. In the end they ended up renting the house out for a location shoot for a movie.

Shelly Means has a dream. After selling their lake house, Shelly and George bought a plot of land in the Hamptons to build her dream beach house. She has created a vision board that reminds her what her ideal house will have, including four bedrooms, three bathrooms, a heated pool, heated floors and her dream Japanese toilet. Georg is a successful voiceover artist whose hobby is shopping at thrift stores and finding treasures in other people’s discards. With two children and a dog named Twix that she holds conversations with, life is good. That is until George has some disappointing auditions and begins losing out on jobs. Now money is tight, but Shelly has hired an architect and can not give up on her dream.

Amy Fusselman’s The Means begins with a comical invasion of the lake home by a raccoon that inspires the sale of the property. The money from the sale fuels her dream, but by her own admission she is not very good with finances. Her answer to frustrating situations is to throw things, which has had her banned from the PTA and undergoing therapy to manage her anger. George is more pragmatic but he does not want to disappoint her. She has an architect who has created a plan to build the house from shipping containers. Shelly’s next obstacle is the HOA, which rejects the container idea. Shelly’s observations of life and the problems she encounters are faced with acceptance as she watches her must haves cut back one after another. This story is an observation of family, money, society and the dreams that drive our lives. It is humorous, entertaining and I thank NetGalley and Mariner Books for providing this book for my review.

Unfortunately, this book was just not my cup of tea. I found the main character boring, whiny and overall annoying. Although it was a quick read, very little actually happened during the book. I found myself bored and annoyed while reading it. The book is written from the main character's perspective - and she spends the majority of the book complaining about how she doesn’t have the money to do all the things that she wants, which includes building a beach house on the land that they own. Although she blames herself for the lack of funds, as she does not have a paying job, she does very little to try and improve her situations, except complain non-stop. It was a quick read, just not very engaging, in my opinion.

Thank you netgalley for my advanced reader copy.