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Summary: Lamott's support for new parents is like a good friend's.
Review: I was alternately moved to laughter and tears on first reading of Operating Instructions and have reread my favorite bits many times. When I loan out my tattered copy, it's usually to parents, but there's something about Lamott's honesty about the good, bad, and ugly of life that offers comfort for all. You get the sense that Anne's got her priorities - care of her child, not how clean the house is. In life where we all struggle to do it all, it's good to be reminded of what's important.
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Summary: She's a little angry, yes..
Review: I'd heard so much about his book that I picked it up at the bookstore yesterday. I happened upon one of the first entries, which delt with the subject of circumcision. She went into why she got her son circumcised. I found these two pages to be very negative! As my 7-month-old son is not circumcised, I felt that comments of hers like "...needs Q-tips and 409 constantly to keep clean..." to be extreamly ignorant and very misleading to other new mothers who might not yet have thought about this delicate and personal subject. I agree with others who have reviewed this book: the author did seem in a negative mindset-- at least when she wrote this entry. END
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Summary: This should be called WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN YOU'RE EXPECTING
Review: I read this while I was pregnant with my first child, during his first year, after my first daughter was born and after my second daughter was born - I have given it to every pregnant person I know - therefore...... I have spent over $100 on this book and over 20 hours of my life - READ IT!
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Summary: Entertaining with Sprituality, Insight and Zany Observations
Review: I turned on to Anne Lamott as an author after listening to her on radio a few weeks ago on a program broadcast out of Wisconsin, "What do you know?" Her rye, zany observations struck me as a little more "sixties" than Erma Bombeck but were a mixture of humor mixed with the sadness some of us frequently live with.
Although I'm male and not a mother obviously, her descriptions of men, breast feeding, and post-partum depression certainly provides some insight to males.....her friend who gets cancer is a story males need to hear more about too.
She does not like males with two qualities: those who voted for George Bush and those who won't "go south of her waist". Her angst is heart felt
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Summary: Fabulous and funny diary of a Mom's first year
Review: This book was a gift from a friend when my first son was born. Like any new mother, the only free time I had to read was between 3 and 4am while I rocked and rocked and held and rocked my baby. During those small hours I laughed and cried at Anne Lamott's honest and tender insights of motherhood and friendship. Anne's lovely rhythm of writing and hilarious dark thoughts are refreshing. I have since become a fan of many of her books
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Summary: Highly recommended
Review: Anne Lamott is a gifted writer who pulls us into the very best and worst moments of one year of her life, and makes us care. At 22, I have yet to give birth to a child or lose a best friend to cancer, but reading this book has left me feeling as though I experienced these events right along with the author. Operating Instructions is about love, betrayal, sorrow, frustration, humor, and joy. This memoir is a gift to her young son and her best friend, but I felt as moved by it as if it had been written for me
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Summary: The truth about first-time parenting
Review: Even though Operating Instructions was written by a single mother, any parent, mother or father, partnered or single, will not only relate to the feelings expressed by Ms. Lamott, but often laugh or cry in recognition. There isn't a parent alive that hasn't felt Lamott's rage, joy, and fear over their new baby, hasn't reassessed their own parents, hasn't been grateful for two hours alone.
This book would be a great gift for any new parent--much more useful than another rattle, bathtub or blanket, because it will leave them feeling like someone understands how they feel AND survived it.
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Summary: A Must Read for First time Mothers
Review: While pregnant I read the book and said "WOW, it's got to be different than this. A child has to be total bliss." After my son was born, and I reflected on the book, I couldn't believe how Anne Lamott was able to describe the wide range of emotions new mothers go through. I now give it as a gift at baby showers; and re-read it periodically just to experience the emotions I felt during my son's first year. Most encouraging to me: I wasn't the only new mother who had disturbing thoughts. Or, the only one who felt such extreme emotions! I guarantee you'll be searching used book stores for Anne Lamott books after you read this one
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Summary: Hilariously funny and deeply touching
Review: In "Operating Instructions," Anne Lamott gives a day-by-day, hysterically funny, portrait of her son's first year. Her difficulties with sleep deprivation, colic, struggles to stay free from her various addictions, grief at her own father's death and her son's father's disappearance are conveyed with self-deprecating humor and wit. Especially poignant are the entries in which she mentions the enormous love and support she receives from her friends, her discussion of her faith, and her close friend's illness.As a veteran nanny, all I can say is that this book ought to be required reading for any teenager, male or female, or anyone else who might think that raising a baby is all sweetness and light and moonbeams. Ms. Lamott offers a wonderful, funny, and realistic look at the challenges, difficulties and rewards of parenting. A very good, well-written, and interesting book.
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Summary: The most beautiful description of a life given purpose
Review: I read this book at the end of my son's first year. He was the third child and I thought we had this "kid thing" down pat. Anne LaMott gently showed me that each little boy or girl is not just a little bundle of fun to add to life's blessings, but the foundation of a life rededicated to accepting sorrow, looking for hope and bringing joy. She drags herself forward, out of a less than perfect past, with a soft, radiant humor that almost belies the pain and regret she has struggled to overcome. I was completely charmed...enchanted by the wonder she felt and so richly, beautifully shares....and laughing my self silly at trials and tribulations offered up with her trademark sweet sensitivity and self-deprecation. Hey! she told me, there's nothing routine about your baby! Not this little life...nor mine, I learned. Thanks, Anne...
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