This was cute, and funny.....laugh yourself sick funny! Maye and her husband move across the country to a small town, where outspoken Maye struggles to fit in, finding it even hard to make friends with her neighbors and the mailman (That's Letter Carrier to you!) After an incident sends her dog to reform school, Maye steps up her game to fit in - and to find a friend. Funny, touching, and quick-moving, I read this with a grin on my face nearly the whole time. Her characters are awesome and her predicaments original - I'm going to look for more of her books!

I so wanted this to be better, but-that said- it still had some very funny parts that had me laughing.

About 3/4 of the way through the book, I started to see a glimpse of where the friendship could have been taken with Ruby and I wished it would have been fleshed out more. The relationship seemed to stay on more of a superficial level, where I think the friendship could have had more richness and would have been an interesting juxtaposition to the humor.

I felt like the pageant contestants were all so one-dimensional and expected, and the finale was so over-the-top. If she would have had some more interesting characters competing rather than the ones you figured would be there- the "Toddlers and Tiaras" style kid beauty queen with the overbearing stage mother, for instance- it would have made the ending so much better.

I am all for "willing suspension of disbelief" but spontaneous combustion??? Really??? Can't quite go there.

Although I liked the prologue to the book very much, it never quite connected back into the book again for me.

I guess overall, it seemed like this was a disconnected novel that had a lot of potential to have been better.

Laugh Out Loud Funny!!!! So the book I needed at the moment. Light Hearted, FUNNY, Heart warming at the end. Great Read!

I picked this book up at Bangkok Bookcrossers, snagging it after hearing about the setting in a quirky Northwest town.

After reading about half-way, I was struck by the thinly disguised references to Eugene, Oregon--the lady who lives under the tree on the university campus (RIP Hatoon); the self-righteous recycler/vegetarian; the Sewer Pipe Queen contest (read: Slug Queen); the wacky personal ads; the pagans; the over-educated/under-employed; the drum circles.... It's a nice reminder of home on the one hand. On the other, I wish I'd thought of it myself.

What also struck me is that the voice of the book would have worked better in the first person. I understand the author has written several memoirs, so maybe that voice is seeping into the third person story.

I like the protagonist, Maye, and the story of her efforts to make friends in a new town which leads to her entrance in the Sewer Pipe Queen competition. It was a fun book full of quirky people.

Her characters remind me of a ariel, cindy, me, abbie hybrid. Of course she is really funny.

I thought the first half of the book was a bit slow and had too many colloquialisms. For example:
"Anything synthetic will not only cling to your wet, leaking skin like a hickey on the neck of a school senior on picture day but will cost you more than a reckless cocaine habit in dry cleaning." Fortunately, the author tones down those comments in the second half.

It is a decent summer read.

Merged review:

The first half of this book was a bit slow until the main character found the person whom she sought. I liked the middle to ending much better. Another good summer read.

It's the title's fault. It made me expect a little bit more. Almost four stars, but not quite.

Maye has lived in Phoenix all her life, when her husband gets a job at a small university in Washington State. She leaves her network of friends and moves to what appears to be an ideal small town... and doesn't make a single friend. Which drives her nuts. Her every attempt fails in some embarrassing and spectacular way.

The town is founded on a sewer pipe manufacturing company, though it's been closed for years now. The big annual event is the Sewer Pipe Festival, complete with the crowning of a queen. And if you're Sewer Pipe Queen, you're automatically the most popular person in town for a whole year and get tons of friends. Just what Maye wants.

Her nemesis, the Dean of the university's evil wife, hates her. Rowena is an "Old Queen," and every contestant must be sponsored by an "Old Queen." Maye sets out to find the most popular and mysterious queen of all times to sponsor her, so she can beat Rowena's contestant and have friends.

Quirky talent segments, her attempts to befriend and win over the Old Queen... and a long-hidden mystery in the town fill out the story.

Problem with one of the elements in the final scenes, though. It's inexplicable, improbable, and annoying... it was unnecessary.

So far not as funny as Autobiography of a Fat Bride, but Notarro's writing still appeals to me!
I was reading it for so long that I miss it now! It wasn't that great, but it was likable.

Perfect book to have sitting by when I ended up stuck in bed for over a week with a bad back. A bit of a quirky story and I don't feel like the overall story lived up to expectations, but it was still a fun read and in parts of the story, it really was hard to put down and not find out if her dog learned how to play the piano or not. The ending was too abrupt...sort of felt like the author found she had written enough pages and thought of some quick and creative ways to end the book. I would have enjoyed a bit more effort and details being put into the ending of the story and would have found it more consistent with the rest of the story then.

I laughed out loud while reading this book - always a good sign. She had an Annie
Lamott-esque quality to her writing. If you've ever felt gawky in a social situation, at least I'm sure you haven't been caught by your husband's boss and colleagues with your sweater over your head and your blouse up there with it. A book with a unique heroine and plot.

This is the first work of Laurie Notaro's I've ever read. While I was surprised at the number of lengthy metaphors, they were nevertheless entertaining and this book as a whole is extremely funny. I really enjoyed it.

Maye moves from Phoenix to a small town in Washington state and has a number of misadventures while trying to make new friends. An acquaintance suggests she compete in the annual Sewer Pipe Queen contest, as the winners are always popular - but she needs to find a sponsor to help her prepare.

Without giving too much away, Maye searches for a mysterious former, extremely popular queen for assistance and in the process finds so much more than she expected.

Very funny voice...would make an hilarious comedic movie.