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melissa_withthelonglastname's review against another edition
4.0
I ADORED parts of this book, and others didn't really grab me. Catherine Newman is excellent in writing short essays/blog posts about raising her children, who both seem to be adorable little people. I couldn't quite get into her first book about pregnancy and babies, but this one was a great summer read. (And big hugs to whoever helped her divide the content up into nice, short chunks. That was my main complaint about Waiting for Birdy.)
roanfrancis's review against another edition
3.0
I read this whole book not really meaning to. It was kind of better than I expected without really holding my interest much? But here were many sweet parts. It read like a blog.
caitylino's review against another edition
fast-paced
4.0
Enjoyed the first 3/4 of the book; generally I love any stories like these that give a glimpse of motherhood in the little years. Solidarity.
librarylady10's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this collection of essays by Catherine Newman. They center on the growing up of her children Ben and Birdy and the inexplicable (to non-parents) intertwined-ness of joy and sadness that comes with raising children. I cried like a baby many times and then needed to restrain myself from going in to look at my babies as they slept.
alicebme's review against another edition
3.0
Loved the last 3 especially. The honesty is good here.
jesslolsen's review against another edition
4.0
Catastrophic happiness
This was a really easy book to read, the layout of the chapters - with each chapter being a short story from her parenting experience - made it easy to pick up and read one or two in spare moments. Some chapters I liked more than others, and some chapters I disliked more than others.
I liked the brutal honesty (pg 153, I’m sure we all think something similar at some stage during pregnancy) although it was sometimes to the extreme. My suggestion for an alternative title: “Catastrophic Mindset...How to Chronically Overthink Yourself into a Nervous Breakdown” 😂
Birdy sounds like a character with some of the things she says. She has very intelligent conversations with the kids, it’s hard to imagine if I will too, when my children are a similar age.
A book I’d recommend to all my mum friends.
This was a really easy book to read, the layout of the chapters - with each chapter being a short story from her parenting experience - made it easy to pick up and read one or two in spare moments. Some chapters I liked more than others, and some chapters I disliked more than others.
I liked the brutal honesty (pg 153, I’m sure we all think something similar at some stage during pregnancy) although it was sometimes to the extreme. My suggestion for an alternative title: “Catastrophic Mindset...How to Chronically Overthink Yourself into a Nervous Breakdown” 😂
Birdy sounds like a character with some of the things she says. She has very intelligent conversations with the kids, it’s hard to imagine if I will too, when my children are a similar age.
A book I’d recommend to all my mum friends.
nattygsmith's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Ever since I had a child of my own, I have steered clear of parenting memoirs. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's a fear of what might feel like judgmental advice, or of the kind of saccharine sentiments that follow parents around, or an absurdly confident feeling that I already know what anyone else might have to tell me. I am so glad that I suspended my skepticism and read this book. Newman threads the needle between hilarious journaling of her children's hi-jinx and vulnerable reflection on the emotionally fraught roller-coaster of parenthood. There's an earnestness to her writing that feels par for the course when writing about raising children—but in my opinion, when it becomes sentimental, it's for good and entirely relatable reasons. There was a refreshing lack of judgment, and an honesty about the aspirational values parents might hold versus their family's daily reality. She captured so many of the absurdities of parenting a small child, and also so much of the bittersweet love, hope, and pain that come with it. I may have to revisit this book in a few years when my own child is older.