Tenemental: Adventures of a Reluctant Landlady

By Vikki Warner

Detouring from the traditional timeline of marriage-kids-house, twenty-six-year-old Vikki Warner skips straight to homeownership. She buys a downtrodden three-story house in Providence, Rhode Island, and suddenly finds herself responsible for a rotating cast of colorful tenants. Adulthood comes with unforeseen challenges: backed-up sewage, gentrification, global economic downturn. A candid portrait of how sharing space profoundly reshapes our lives, and forces us to grow into ourselves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Feminist Press at CUNY
• Release date: Jun 12, 2018
• ISBN: 9781936932221

Reviews for Tenemental

[froxgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Besides having the best title of 2018, this reportage of urban homeownership is a counterpoint to all the HGTV shows you've ever seen, and in a good way. Author Vikki Warner, an only child who grew up mostly in a trailer park, decides in her late 30s to buy a triple decker in Federal Hill, Providence, RI. The book’s plot can be measured in thirds, the first being Warner's quest to keep a tired romantic relationship afloat during the miserable and expensive rehab phase, while seeking to create a congenial atmosphere for her tenants. She also spends a great deal of time analyzing the neighborhood, a former Mafia stronghold, still home to many older Italian families who resist and resent the inevitable influx of hipsters. Warner ultimately reaches back into her own childhood, with mixed feelings about her parents' frugal habits, which she simultaneously revolts against and revels in. There's a delightfully pungent sense of humor throughout, making for a memorably cautionary "be careful what you wish for" tale.Quotes: "Our culture's obsession is with busyness and the pervasive inkling that we are only worthwhile when we are producing something.""When I clean something, I irrationally expect it to stay clean indefinitely. If I scrubbed the bathroom sink two weeks ago, I'll feel that a grave injustice has occurred upon noticing that a layer of toothpaste spittle has formed."