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.