A review by almond
The New One: Painfully True Stories from a Reluctant Dad by Mike Birbiglia

4.0

Listening to this as a one-time reluctant mother and a currently excited soon-to-be grandmother, I had really mixed emotions over this one. On the one hand, he seemed to whine a lot about wanting his wife back without seeming to be willing to do what he needed to get her back. On the other hand, I think maybe there's a huge difference in the parenting experience when the baby is wanted vs. unwanted. It's a massive amount of work, and when you feel like you didn't even sign up for it, it's easy to get resentful. It's one reason why I feel so strongly about access to birth control. I think so much unhappiness, both for the parents and for the children, results from people getting forced into parenthood.

Also, I found the poems sprinkled throughout deeply moving.