The Big Rumpus: A Mother's Tale from the Trenches

Rating:
Summary: Words that come to mind:
Review: 1. Shows the absurdity of my thinking I knew how to parent...
2. Shows that "Parenting Skills" is king of oxymorons...
3. "A-yun" is now my decorating style of choice...
4. "To Halliday" is the verb I now use to describe the hide-&-seek of a preschooler's laundry...
5. I now extend the 10 second rule for fallen food items to minutes, maybe even days...
6. I smile every time I see a babysitter with young children...
7. I smile WIDER every I see a mother with her young children...
8. I have totally fallen in love again with my stay-at-home wife...
A WONDERFUL read, Ayun... I rolled on the Maypo-&-Cheerio-encrusted floor the entire time, cover-to-cover... Give us more, please!

Rating:
Summary: Big Rumpus Rocks!
Review: 6 Stars out of 5?! You bet! While lapping up the delicious stories of Ayun's life adventures, I cut into many sacred "graveyard shifts"(sleeping)hours and loved every minute of it! A true testiment to this witty and original brilliant bit of writing. Ayun's talent deserves major recognition...she is one rocking author and woman! A great read for all.

Rating:
Summary: I'm Hooked!
Review: After reading Ayun Halliday's No Touch Monkey (an amusing and zany travelogue)I grabbed The Big Rumpus. No less zany, Ayun keeps you turning pages with her quick wit, her brutal honesty, and her flair for stream of consciousness type of writing. Ayun holds nothing back about her life with the wee ones, and boy is it appropriately titled a big rumpus. Reviewed largely as a "parenting" book, you'll enjoy it even if you don't have kids (I don't!) But it sure will give you a new apreciation for people who do! I was dissapointed to see The Big Rumpus end, but look forward to her brand new book, Job Hopper. Look for the book with the big green amphibian on the cover.

Rating:
Summary: Mothering some Hilarity
Review: After reading Ayun Halliday's story in Bee Lavender/Ariel Gore's collection of motherhood stories, Breeder,(also highly recommended), I sought out The Big Rumpus, basically to hear what happened NEXT. I ended up reading Halliday's book in two days of nursing sessions (Boppy pillows are great for perching book spines as well as babies). I'm a first-time mom who hasn't gotten comfortable yet with leaving the house with a newborn, so what a soothing, inspiring experience it was to read about Halliday's family chaos, love, expeditions, emotions, laughter, all from my safe spot under the boppy pillow. Halliday leads an unusual life, but much of her stories with her children address universal themes of motherhood. I felt empowered after her book, as if, well, maybe I won't start a zine, or dare to get a crew cut, or navigate New York City with an infant, but I can get out with my daughter and grab hold of the textures of a swath of my smaller city, and let my new daughter experience it all too, on our own terms. By writing her accounts with such humor and acceptance of foibles, Halliday shows us newbie moms how laughter (not any one parenting philosphy, not any one bit of baby gear, and definitely NOT perfectionism)is the ticket to the motherhood trip. I look forward to her other books, too. Oh, and lastly, my husband and I are already using the term "bukiluki" -- Halliday's promotion of this wonderful term for female netherregions may be one of the greatest contributions to social discourse in a long time!

Rating:
Summary: Big Rumpus a Big Treat!
Review: As a fan of Ayun Halliday's East Village Inky, I was anxiously awaiting the release of this book. I have not been disappointed. Although the book is not in Ayun's own handwriting (like the magazine), her voice is there, and it's as real and hilarious and vivid as ever. I was introduced to Ayun's work while expecting my first child, and I swear, this is every real mother's spokeswoman. Great next step for this extremely talented writer.

Rating:
Summary: Ayun Halliday is a genius.
Review: As a young woman with no children in my immediate future (knock wood), I shouldn't really relate to this book. But I do. As I've discovered from reading the author's zine, the East Village Inky, everything this woman writes is just brilliant and hilarious, and everyone with a brain and/or a sense of humor will appreciate it. Like Grace Paley, Ayun Halliday makes it clear that raising kids is a worthwhile and interesting occupation, without idealizing or romanticizing motherhood.

Rating:
Summary: Parent or not, you must read this book!
Review: Ayun Halliday is my new hero! This book made me laugh, cry and shake my head in empathy. She has an amazing ability to capture her readers with intelligence, wit, and honesty. I'm not even a parent yet and I enjoyed it so much, I'm buying copies for my friends who are (though they won't have time to read it, but one day they might and they will shake their heads and laugh) because I don't want to give up my copy just yet! Like her engaging and humorous zine (East Village Inky), The Big Rumpus is worth rereading.

Rating:
Summary: Still Laughing
Review: Ayun Halliday is SO openly honest in The Big Rumpus. She lets it all hang out and doesn't care who sees. She's proof that you CAN still hang onto that creative shred of a life that once existed before your children came along. Ayun doesn't just make it okay that your children wear hand-me-downs and find some of their tastiest snacks on the unswept floor beneath the kitchen table - she makes it something to be proud of! What a refreshing take on the world of motherhood!

Rating:
Summary: The Whole Enchilada
Review: Ayun Halliday is the perfect combination of artsy New York sophistication and Midwest down-to-earth modesty. She manages to reach into the reader's heart and mind, extract everything most real and vital about motherhood and spread that knowledge and love out for all to see. Nobody can make you feel as proud about having gone through the delousing experience as Ayun does in 'Nitpicking.' Nobody articulates the unthinkable so clearly, so beautifully horribly, as Ayun does in 'Spare Us.' She does all this by sharing her own stories, told with the same sideways earnest wit that makes countless subscribers squeal with pleasure when the latest East Village Inky arrives in the mailbox. Only, The Big Rumpus has more words (lots of 'em!), less pictures and an even bigger heart. EVI is the still-warm chips and fresh salsa that brings you into the restaurant; The Big Rumpus is the Burrito Grande. Yum.

Rating:
Summary: excellent
Review: Ayun Halliday writes with a hip voice that speaks authetically of parenthood today. Her book is a life-affirming, excellent read. Her sense of humor is keen. I look forward to reading more from Ayun Halliday.