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Summary: For men, too
Review: Although women are the natural audience for this book, Judith Newman's unflinching and always very funny day-by-day account of having children in 21st century Manhattan should be must reading for any man with kids--or any man who's thinking of having a family. I can't think of a better gift to give a new dad than this book.
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Summary: If I could give this book six stars I would...
Review: As an REI (fertility doc) and a mother, I found this book immensely enjoyable on many levels. I could not stop reading this book (and almost got hit by a bus b/c I was reading and walking at the same time). The author gives an accurate but non-self-pitying account of her long course of infertility therapy and then an incredibly humorous and honest account of the first year of (basically single) motherhood with twins (!). I typically don't like "memoirs" or autobiographies but this reads like well-crafted fiction and is truly one of the best books I've read in a long time. I'm waiting for the sequel...
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Summary: I laughed out loud...
Review: Being a mother of 2-year old twins in my early (very early) forties myself, I found myself looking forward to reading every page of this book and was sad when it was over. At this stage of life, if we can't be truthful and also have a sense of humor - we're in trouble. Judith, thank you for writing such an honest and totally enjoyably book - I can't wait for the sequel!
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Summary: I wanted to like this book, I truly wanted to like this book
Review: but I was very disappointed with it. As I was reading it, I kept closing it and looking at the spine label to see if it was really non fiction because I couldn't believe the nasty things Judith Newman said about the people in her life. Aspiring to be an over-40 mom myself, I saw how little Newman's life related to my own experiences. More than that though, the tone of the book left me cold. I guess if you are a well-to-do Manhattanite in an unconventional marriage who believes acerbity is charming, this is a book you would like. I wonder what Gus & Henry will think when they are old enough to read the book?
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Summary: More true than most mothers will admit
Review: Even acknowledgely humorous books provoke me into laughing out loud maybe once or twice but I howled with laughter more times than I can count in Judith Newman's ode to late motherhood and the birth of twin boys. The reviewers who found her laments off-putting need to grow a sense of humor before their children become teenagers. Ms. Newman tells it like it is!
I, too, had some babies who were no one's idea of beautiful (although most of my friends lied and the babies got better with age), who were always last among their playmates in reaching developmental milestones (yet have grown into successful and very intelligent adults), and I too, like Judith, thought about buying them toys labeled "Warning: Choking Hazard - Contains small parts not suitable for children under 3 years". I was also bullied by momzillas who charted their progency's every "brilliance" and convinced me I had a brood of morons destined for sheltered workshops. The only difference between the author and most mothers who can see the truth behind parenthood (and still laugh about it) is that she had a full-time nanny. Most of us manage to muddle through alone as best we can and not rear serial killers along the way.
This memoir is also valuable reading for those mothers married to much older men who are not as enthralled with babies as we may expect. Judith's husband who, in the best marriage arrangement I've heard of, lived in a different apartment, avoided the babies as best he could out of fear they would grow to miss him if he died before they grew up.
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Summary: Laugh out loud funny
Review: Every mother will recognice all the feelings, if not the actual incidents, described in this book. We've all had them, but only Ms Newman had the skill and wit to write them all down, validate our collective hysteria in those early years, and make us roar with laughter at it all. There are twenty years of this madness ahead of her and I'm looking forward to reading about it (hopefully!) in her future writing.
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Summary: I laughed, I cried, I loved this Book
Review: Evocative of Heartburn, Nora Ephron's masterpiece about being an older mother with an ambivalent spouse and evolving literary career, Newman's book is a bittersweet look at trying to be a mother and wife of an exentric and interesting husband, John. The book is not treacly or preachy, but Newman writes heartbreaking passages of warmth and wisdom. It is not a comedy, but I lauged out loud dozens of times. The book is heartfelt, moving amd excellently written. I would heartly recomend this book, not only to anyone who is a mom and wife, but for anyone who enjoyed "Heartburn."
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Summary: Finally
Review: Finally there is someone who is writng about being a parent without being dipsy deweyed. Judith Newman has incredible, sharp, honest humor that will offend sanctimonious people and will cause those of us who love the truth to rejoice. Her stories of motherhood are brutal and touching. Her evaluation of her existence is harsh but never ceases to impress me. Finally someone is not telling me to have a baby at 54 and find Nirvana, Judith is making me laugh and be wary and I thank her for it.
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Summary: Disarmingly honest memoir of infertility and motherhood
Review: First of all, Judith Newman is honest, and fearless. She doesn't pull any punches, and hardly changes names. It's difficult not to admire someone who can be one of the few people to paint both the good and the bad aspects of conquering infertility, and keep her sense of humor.As a woman who went through IVF and late-life motherhood myself, I consider this book essential reading. While Newman admits she put off motherhood for reasons other than infertility, the ensuing treatments and desire for motherhood drive her forward. It is clear that she desired a child because of her biological clock and, perhaps, as an accessory, but by the time her twins are born and she falls head first into their care, her love for them is apparent. Judith Newman exists in a successful Manhattan world where people have children late in life, only to have the nannies take the children to birthday parties and Mommy & Me classes. Newman is more hands-on with her children, however she employs a Jamaican nanny with whom she conflicts regularly. Still, she takes her own children out and to parties, and tries her best to raise them without her husband, a man 25 years her senior who, although an active participant in the IVF, is virtually absent from the children's lives. Newman and her husband even share separate apartments, and she spares no bile toward her husband, although she can be charitable. This book is not for people who like things sugar-coated. Although I have been through much of what she has been through, I still didn't relate to some of her experiences. One has to have a sense of what she went through, I think, to truly appreciate what she has to say. The book is written with caustic wit and honesty, and I admire her for her courage.
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Summary: quick read but gets annoying just as fast!
Review: I am not an 'older mommie' but do have a preemie and she was one of two. There are some really fun moments in this book. However the people in it are are pretty self centered. I enjoyed the parts about henry and gus. The nanny has got to got though. She acts as if she is paying the mother. The father of these children is an old crab. Ms newman is pretty much a single mother. There is one statement in these book that was stupid. She states that a woman who could get rid of her dog, can just as easily get rid of her child. What the heck? Yet, as another poster stated she at one point wishes her children dead. This is a woman who starts off with around the clock help from a nanny!!
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