"Diatribe of a Mad Housewife" is the tenth episode of the fifteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons.
She completes the book, titled The Harpooned Heart, and after it receives positive reviews, she decides to get it published.
Lisa tells Bart that she fears that Homer and Ned's altercation may end the same way as The Harpooned Heart, in which both the hero and villain died.
In the episode, reclusive author Thomas Pynchon has a cameo "appearance", his face hidden by a paper bag with a question mark on it.
cites a section of dialogue from the episode to illustrate its point that "Homer and Marge don't seem to be very good at communicating before making important decisions".
[4] DVD Movie Guide commented that the episode over-explained a decent joke – about Moby-Dick – making it lose its funniness.
The article commended Robin J. Stein's writing as well as Pynchon's and the Olson twins' cameos while pointing out the episode "travels a well-worn path in the Simpsons story arc.