I absolutely love Laurie Notaro's non-fiction books, and had high hopes for her first novel. But, for me, while it was funny, it wasn't laugh-out-loud funny like her other books. [return[returnIt's a wacky story, but some of the characters were just TOO unbelievable, or TOO stereotypical. The plot was also predictable - it didn't take me long to figure out the "mystery", and I'm not usually the type of reader to pick up on plot clues. [return[returnIt's a fast read, and does have it's share of silly moments, but I'd recommend her other books over this one.

It has been said before, but I will have to agree that the title is one of the best parts of this book. While I never expected anything but fluffy reading from this book and was more than willing to suspend my disbelief for some of the plot there were still too many bumbling and awkward moments in There's a (Slight) Chance I Might Be Going to Hell: A Novel of Sewer Pipes, Pageant Queens, and Big Trouble.

Actually, take a moment to read the title again in its entiretly. In some ways this title is a good tip off for some of the prose that is to be contained within. Notaro has a habit of run-on sentences, especially those which have had some sort of long-winded simile stapled on to them. In a couple of cases, Notaro accomplishes her goal of making a humorous comment or comparison, but generally they just come off as terribly awkward. The story starts off slow with the main character Maye preparing to leave her home and friends in the city and set out to a smaller and seemingly quaint town. Right from the start, a certain awkwardness creeps into the story from the opening scene (Maye dumpster diving for boxes... I think?...) to a very forced farewell party with her closest friends. The book picks up steam and stops clunking about quite so roughly when Maye arrives at her new residence. Here the characters are more flavorful and the humor somewhat less forced. Unfortunately, as Maye struggles to find new friends in her town and then enters the Sewer Pipe Queen Pageant and the story builds to a dramatic ending all of the stilted quality of the prose returns. The dramatic climax of the story is just baffling rather than amusing. The ending is so abrupt and unbelievable that I am forced to conclude that Notaro was just typing away and had no idea what to do with the story once it had actually reached the pageant that Maye had struggled towards for the majority of the book...

Occasionally amusing, this book was good for a couple of laughs, but not nearly as many as I had hoped for.

Not as funny as I had hoped, and the way the book ended made me roll my eyes.
On the plus side, it was a "light" read...just what I was looking for in the summer heat. And it gets a star just for the title.

Funny story, but it didn’t make me laugh out loud.

In the front of my ARC was a letter from the editor warning that you dare to read this book in a public place to be aware that you WILL laugh out loud and people WILL look at you funny. I didn't believe him. And then I read the book in a public place and I DID laugh out loud and people DID look at me funny. :)

I loved Maye's character and her struggle to find friends in the small town of Spaulding (home of the sewer-pipe king and host of the annual Sewer-Pipe Queen Pageant). After mistaking the local wiccan group for a book club, lying to Vegan Bob about her eating habits, and accidentially performing an impromptu striptease at her husband's new boss's dinner party... well, let's just say, Maye's only hope for finding a friend is to win the Pageant. And Maye's only hope to win the Pageant is to find the Queen of All Queens, Ruby Spicer, who vanished from town more than 50 years ago.

I really enjoyed the book and, trust me, you'll never watch Pat Benatar's video for "Love Is a Battlefield" quite the same way again... :)

This was a local thrift store find. How could I pass up a book with that title?
I got my 25 cents worth of enjoyment out this humorous novel. Best book ever? No, definitely not. But that doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy Notaro's wacky characters and outlandish situations that they landed in.
As some one who has moved quite a bit, I understand how hard it is to break into predetermined social circles (thankfully, I never had the need to fit in so bad that I would take things to this level!). Entertaining read. Worth the time.

A somewhat disappointing read.

I wanted to like this book as much as I've liked Ms. Notaro's other books, but her first foray into fiction wasn't very compelling, nor was it all that funny. Sure, it had its moments where you might chuckle, and while it did read a little bit on the autobiographical side, it didn't have those moments where you nearly pee your pants laughing as in her non-fiction books.

If you're looking for a harmless read, this is as good as any.

This would be one of the books where I really wish Goodreads would allow us to use 1/2 stars. It's not really worthy of a three but is more deserving than a two. I'll give it three but only because I can't have that extra 1/2 point.

This book had everything, including the kitchen sink, thrown in--metaphors, similes, stereotypes, and an underlying Karate Kid theme (only less inspiring for all the dog poop). Sometimes it all worked and sometimes it didn't.

The story is over the top, for sure. Some of it is really funny. For example, the main character, Maye, having moved to a recycling, no meat eating town in Oregon finds herself telling lies to find friends. This, she reflects, is earning her places in the different degrees of hell. My favorite being intermediate hell where one is forced to live out eternity in Wal-Mart "the day after Thanksgiving as shoppers jostled, pushed and rubbed against her to secure the cheapest things hellishly possible, while their children, also known as demi-demons, cried, screamed, and begged for hell's cuisine, corn dogs and Mountain Dew."

However, some of it seems very forced and unfunny. That aside, I liked the main character the minute she purposefully wore a tacky Christmas sweater complete with two cow-like reindeer, a giant snowball, and a blind Santa just to show the Dean's wife (Wicked Witch of the West incarnate) a thing or two.

Language and innuendo--PG-13.

I kept reading it to give this "first novel" a chance, but it was dull. It was supposed to be a humor book, and I could tell the author was really trying to be funnier, which of course means, she wasn't. Pop culture references and details don't automatically equal humor, Laurie. Of course, she has gone on to publish many books, while my list of publicized books remains at zero. But still, I expected more from a main character who claimed they may possibly be going to hell. At least kill someone, or unapologetically make fun of people with diseases. No real reason to go to hell = boring.

This was actually a very funny book and I would give it 3.5 stars if it was possible to give "half" stars here. I just didn't think it deserved a 4, hence my rating of 3. This is a very funny book about a women who moves to a new town and does everything she can to try to make new friends. She has some hilarious catastrophes along the way. You will laugh out loud... enjoy.

A crazy, funny read. I enjoyed it and look forward to reading this author's short stories. Loved the quotes and references to old movies and the not so subtle mystery about who burned down the town.

I read this right when I moved to Colorado. It was very fitting since it's was about a freelancer who moved to a new town in which her husband landed a college teaching job. Her trials of making new friends made making friends out here seem not too bad at all! not as funny as her other books, but really related to this book.