Rating: 
Summary: Terrible. Just TERRIBLE!
Review: Just when I was warming to the idea of hiring someone to clean the house, I read this book and it FLAT made up my mind to never, EVER do such a thing! In all fairness, housecleaners in general are probably nothing like the nosy, critical, self-serving, not to mention LAZY Ms. Rafkin, but I shall not take the chance. What an incredible waste of time, money, and eyesight it was to read the blithering idiocy proclaimed on each page.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your money!
Review: Often, while reading a book, I think how I'd like to meet the author and learn more. Not this time. I would not walk across the street to meet the spiteful, smug, self-serving woman who wrote this book. She gives a bad name to housecleaners everywhere by proudly telling how she pilfers small items from various homes, makes fun of her clients' belongings, and reads personal papers. She lauds a colleague who throws away clients' photos which she deems offensive, she runs down all cleaning services based on her two-day experience with one, then criticizes people whose houses are too clean...or too dirty...or too large...or too small. She takes baths in clients' tubs, reads People magazine with the door closed and the vacuum running, and clearly breaks any kind of professional confidentiality, all the while proclaiming her superiority and cleverness and, of course, collecting money from the poor saps who hired her. I've always believed that money spent on books could not be wasted because all information is good - whether or not the reader agree with it. I've changed my mind. This book is a waste, and I feel very foolish for buying it and putting money in the author's pocket. I thought it would make me laugh, but it made me angry instead; if I could give it 0 stars, I would. Don't waste your money.
Rating: 
Summary: After reading it, I was possessed by a sudden urge to clean.
Review: I thought that Ms. Rafkin's book didn't carry any particularly deep messages -- just some amusing stories about former clients, some despised, some not -- and some "Miss Manners"-like instructions on how to behave as an employer of a cleaning professional should one find oneself in that situation. However, shortly after reading the book my toddler came down with a serious virus, and I discovered that, as I stayed up with him several nights in a row, cleaning suddenly had a remarkably calming and theraputic effect. I think Ms. Rafkin's book was more moving and persuasive than I had realized as I read it the first time. This book is particularly recommended for those people, such as myself, who look only to the results of cleaning rather than the process as the reason for doing it.
Rating:
Summary: Insulting
Review: Rafkin presents herself as superior to everyone she encounters -- while proudly revealing her own behavior which is beneath contempt.
Rating: 
Summary: Inspirational!
Review: I found this book inspirational! What greater incentive could you have to clean your house, and keep it tidy then listening to the complaints of a professional maid... I loved it. I bought it on cassette and play it while I clean the house! :)
Rating:
Summary: Inspirational!
Review: I found this book on tape funny and inspirational... After returning home, I pulled the cassette out of the car stereo, and put it in at home, and proceeded to SCRUB my house! I do agree that it would make someone with a maid shudder, but alot of the stuff is true. I enjoyed it, and I'm keeping it around to put in when I am cleaning the house!
Rating: 
Summary: God Bless Louise Rafkin!
Review: For anyone who has any interest in human nature, or anyone who would like to learn a little more about that invisible person who cleans up after them each week, I recommend this book. Ms. Rafkin has the ability to find both humor and meaning in what is quite often dull and unrewarding work. As a long time housecleaner, both in the States and in Europe (and a former less than Merry Maid), I can say with certainty that Ms. Rafkin captures the essence of this very intimate profession. Personally, I wouldn't want to work for anyone who hadn't read and enjoyed this book.
Rating:
Summary: Don't let this woman into your house! Clean it yourself.
Review: Initially, the idea of this housekeeper's adventures seem amusing. But, the amusement wears off as the reader finds that virtually all of her past and present clients are subject to her nosiness and attitude. Home owners are criticized for being too neat (hence, no cleaning is required); They are criticized for having a house that is too dirty. Damned if they do and damned if they don't. Ms. Rafkin thinks that it is her place to bite the very hands that have fed her in such blatant, and frankly, nasty, memoirs.
Rating:
Summary: If you like Jerry Springer, you'll love this book
Review: Rafkin's book is doing well, which is fortunate for her, because she surely has driven a stake through the heart of her cleaning business by publishing it. The self-portrait she paints reveals her to be the kind of woman who would stab you in the back just after proclaiming you her best friend. THEN she'd have the gall to "tsk, tsk" you because the knife's no longer clean! This book left me feeling soiled, not unlike the revulsion one feels after watching a Jerry Springer episode.
Rating:
Summary: A View from the "Other Side" of Life
Review: It's a bit difficult to determine when the author is stretching a point or stating the facts. She brings us inside the world that most of us never experience -- domestic service. It goes beyond cleaning to a calling. The books leads to the inevetable ending where she joins a commune of Japanese cleaners who try to live the noble life of self effacing service to her conclusion that it is time for her to go home and "clean house." Nothing here is a revelation. Just a peek into a world that few, if any of us readers, have experienced. A nice read with more than a bit of good humor.
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