'''Original air date:''' 1/25/2004 ''(produced in 2003)''

'''Production code:''' FABF-05

Marge writes a romance novel with Homer and Ned as the men who fight for her love. Meanwhile, Homer gets a job as an ambulance driver.
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!!This episode contains examples of (YMMV tropes can be found [[YMMV/TheSimpsonsS15E10DiatribeOfAMadHousewife here]]):

* AntiClimax: Homer and Ned's car chase ends hilariously abruptly:
-->'''Homer:''' Flanders, pull over! I'm an ambulance.
-->'''Flanders:''' Well, he's got me there. ''*instantly stops car*''
* AsHimself: Authors Thomas Pynchon and the late Tom Clancy, and Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen.
* BaitAndSwitch: A long one involving Homer furiously hunting Ned down for learning about the novel showing Ned as a model husband and Homer as a violent drunk as seen by Marge. Turns out Homer only wanted to beg Ned to give him pointers.
* BaitAndSwitchComment: When Homer sees a Help Wanted sign at a car dealership, he says it gives him an idea: he'll steal the sign so the dealership will pay him to make a new one. Upon catching Homer trying to steal the sign, the dealership owner says he'll show what he does with people like Homer: he hires Homer as a sales representative.
* CompanyCrossReferences: Bart only really freaks out about Marge's novel becoming popular because he's afraid Homer will see it be parodied on ''Series/MadTV1995'', which was also airing on Creator/{{FOX}} during the time this episode aired.
* CriticalDissonance: InUniverse, while Marge’s book is popular with the town, the reviews for it are terrible.
* CuttingTheKnot: What winds up being the means of which Homer finally learns about the plot of Marge's book? An audiobook by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: When Lisa starts to worry about Homer finding out about his negative portrayal in Marge's book, Bart (initially) doesn't feel concerned:
-->'''Lisa''': If Dad ever reads that book, he's gonna be so humiliated.
-->'''Bart''': He'll never read it.
-->'''Lisa''': [[MovingTheGoalposts What if they]] [[FilmOfTheBook make it into a movie?]]
-->'''Bart''': He'll never see it.
-->'''Lisa''': [[TheTriple What if they]] [[CompanyCrossReferences parody it on MADtv?]]
-->'''Bart''': ...''[[OhCrap we're doomed!]]''
* DistinctionWithoutADifference: How Homer defends himself when confronting Marge
-->'''Homer:''' How can you say such horrible things about me?!\\
'''Marge:''' You told me you liked it! (''realizes'') You didn't read it ''at all''! You lied to me!\\
'''Homer:''' I didn't lie! I was writing fiction with my mouth!
* EskimosArentReal: Implied: When grilling Marge over the contents of "The Harpooned Heart", Homer asks if ''[[ExactWords any]]'' of it was true. All it takes is Marge confirming Nantucket exists for Homer to instantly assume the worst.
* HiddenDepths: Homer asking Ned for help reveals a number of things about himself:
** He trusts Marge implicitly.
** He knows Ned is too much of a goody-goody to seduce her.
** He is able to comprehend and address his inadequacy.
** He understands his drunken irascibility is harmful to his relationship with his wife.
** Whilst being disappointed that ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' did not live up to its title (see below) he was still able to learn its true meaning about racial discrimination (he just didn't think that applied to him).
* HypocriticalHumor: Homer complains about Marge writing a novel without letting him know, even though he just had changed jobs twice and bought an ambulance without telling ''her''.
* JerkassHasAPoint: As callous as Mr Burns is, he was ''very'' justified in firing Homer this time, considering Homer crashed his car into the power plant and caused a lot of damage.
* KarmaHoudini: A massive one. Homer straight up kills a power plant safety inspector as a result of his own reckless driving. He receives no other punishment for this other than Mr Burns firing him.
* LikeFatherLikeSon: When Homer fails to actually read Marge's book, he pretends he did once asked, [[CouldSayItBut only to keep moving one of his eyes side-to-side in a "No" motion]]. Later on, [[NotWhatItLooksLike when it seems like Homer is chasing after Flanders to murder him]], Lisa compares this to the end of the book, a connection that flies over Bart's head. Once asked if ''he'' bothered to read it, his only response is the eye gesture.
* LiteralMinded: Homer says he once read ''Literature/ToKillAMockingbird'' and the book disappointed him for not teaching him any ways to kill mockingbirds (to be fair to Homer, he did understand its deeper message).
** He also speculates that Lee Harvey Oswald wanted to steal the Jack Ruby.
* MistakenForCheating: Everyone thinks Marge and Ned are having an affair.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Mordecai, Homer's character in ''The Harpooned Heart'', ended up killing Cyrus, Ned's character, for being his rival for Temperance's affections. After Homer finishes the audiobook and goes after Ned, Lisa and Marge fear that he's going to kill Ned for the same reason.
* PinocchioNose: Before he lies, Homer shifts a single pupil from his eye back and forth, ''then'' he tells the lie. As a BrickJoke, Bart does the same thing.
* SelfDeprecation: [[invoked]] Creator/ThomasPynchon makes fun of his ReclusiveArtist status in his [[TheCameo cameo appearance]].
-->'''Thomas Pynchon:''' ''(waving at passing cars)'' Hey, over here! Have your picture taken with a reclusive author! Today only, we'll throw in a free autograph! [[ButWaitTheresMore But wait, there's more!]]
* SequelGoesForeign: We don't learn much about it beyond the opening line, but Marge had planned on a sequel to her book set in Australia: "The Harpooned Heart II: Thunder Down Under".
-->'''Marge''' (while typing) "Temperance Barrows stared at the shrimp on the barbie-" (is cut off by Homer's appearance)
* SkewedPriorities: As Marge pointed out, Homer left two jobs (one of which he was fired from, the other one he quit) and bought an ambulance without any warning. Yet, he felt the need to text her when he stopped to feed a group of ducklings.
* StatingTheSimpleSolution: When Homer can't see through the car windshield after his burrito splatters all over it, he opts to steer by the reflection in his watch. A better thing to do would be to just pull over, something ''he himself admits'', yet he doesn't take his own advice, causing him to crash into the power plant and get fired.
* UnexplainedRecovery: After almost ten seasons of having the audience [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E1WhoShotMrBurnsPartTwo believe]] he was KilledOffscreen, [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS1E4TheresNoDisgraceLikeHome Dr. Marvin Monroe]] shows up at Marge's book signing, stating that he'd just "been very sick" all these years.
* WriteWhoYouKnow: InUniverse. Marge's protagonist is herself, and her opposition is Homer and Ned.
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