Rating: 
Summary: Not just for new moms!
Review:
WOW! Let the Baby Drive is a great read. I attended a book signing last night where I met author Lu Hanessian. I bought two copies for friends with new babies and headed home. (My kids are older now (5,7,and 8) and I was not sure the book was really for me.) When I got home, I gently pried open one copy thinking I'd read a few paragraghs before gift wrapping it. Before I knew it, the spine was cracked right open and I devoured the whole thing. It took me two hours, start to finish!
I laughed out loud very early on when I read "I am so tired. My hair hurts." I related to all kinds of bits including the story of one woman who'd call her husband at work just to share how chaotic it was at home, and then I cried like a baby later in the book when, after relating the story about Lu finding her husband David in the closet, reading to their son Nicholas,flashlight in hand and ski goggles on his head, she concludes: "Home is not a house, a teepee, an igloo or a mansion... It is something we build within us, behind our eyes, between our hearts". I am going to copy that quote down and put it up in our house as a reminder of what building a family is really about.
I was grateful for the personal 'check up' the book made me give myself. Overall, I think I scored okay. I believe I am doing a pretty good job of letting my babies drive, but the book has really inspired me to listen to them better and ask myself why they are behaving the way they are. This book will absolutely make me work harder to make sure I don't inadvertently extinguish the fire in their individual personalities.
"Let the Baby Drive" will now be my gift of choice for many, many friends. The wisdom it imparts will last way longer than Old Navy Sleepers.
Rating:
Summary: All Mothers should read this book
Review: "I laughed, I cried...it moved me Bob."
(Larry the Cucumber in "Vegetales' Dave and the Giant Pickle")If you are a first (or second or third)time mother you're sure to find some inspiration and pearls of wisdom in Lu's book about loving your children just as they are. All that and it's funny, too!
Rating:
Summary: Must read for all mothers and mothers to be!
Review: Fantastic!!!
In the uncertainty of motherhood it is comforting to hear another woman's trials and tribulations without the complexity of the advice of experts. What better expert than a mom? We are all professionals in our own right, and this book beautifully portrays the wonderful and sometimes chaotic journey of motherhood. I loved it and have recommended it to all of my mommy friends :)
Rating:
Summary: Biased_Perspective is WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: First of all...I am really MAD to have read the NASTY review by Biased_Perspective. It is sooooo annoying to read mis-informed reviews by people who haven't even read the book!!! I got curious and read the "about me" page for Biased_Perspective and noticed that 99% of the reviews written are NEGATIVE!!!! AND your real name is AARON!! That sounds like a Man's name to me!!
Why is it a spot light review??? According to Amazon those are supposed to be "helpful"
Anyone reading my review, there is a GREAT review by a father(Laurent) who read the ENTIRE BOOK.
LET THE BABY DRIVE is without a doubt THE BEST book on mothering I have ever read!! It was given to me by a friend who insisted it would change my life and now I can't stop talking about it!! My husband also is reading it, and he says it is masterfully written with such earnestness and love. He tells me that this book has made him see what an amazing role a mother plays and he never would have realized without the help of the amazingly poignant writing of Lu Hanessian.
This book is a GEM!! PLEASE read all the glorious reviews here on Amazon. This is an ABSOLUTE MUST BUY!!! I know you too, will be writing a praising review when you read this!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring...Captivating...Hilarious
Review: From the first page, I was drawn into this beautiful, heartwarming, and very real journey of mother and child. This is a book all parents should read...mothers and fathers alike. This is a book that anyone contemplating parenthood should read. It's candid and humorous nature and sensitivity to everyday family issues makes me want to go out and start a family of my own!
Rating:
Summary: This book came to my rescue!
Review: I am only half-way through reading this unbelievable book & just had to write! I have a 4 month old -my first child- and feel scared, confused, beyond exhausted, guilty & basically lost!
"Let the Baby Drive" is literally SAVING me. I read with tears of joy & feel relief that someone, Lu (the author), understands me. It's as if she is speaking directly to me, expressing my inner thoughts & knows me and my life like a best friend. My husband is also reading the book & agrees with me that this book(& the author, Lu) is our new best friend! I always heard that having a baby changes your life but thought I/we were different. "Let the Baby Drive" addresses all of the changes, questions, insecurities and ambivalences I am feeling. Lu's profound, intimate and often hilarious accounts of marriage, societal/family pressures, daily routines, and life after the baby arrives, hit home so accurately. It actually gives me hope for the months to come. I laugh out loud & re-read parts of the book over & over to my myself and my little one as I nurse! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for this truly life-changing new book!
Rating:
Summary: This book came to my rescue!
Review: I am only half-way through reading this unbelievable book & just had to write! I have a 4 month old -my first child- and feel scared, confused, beyond exhausted, guilty & basically lost!
"Let the Baby Drive" is literally SAVING me. I read with tears of joy & feel relief that someone, Lu (the author), understands me. It's as if she is speaking directly to me, expressing my inner thoughts & knows me and my life like a best friend. My husband is also reading the book & agrees with me that this book(& the author, Lu) is our new best friend! I always heard that having a baby changes your life but thought I/we were different. "Let the Baby Drive" addresses all of the changes, questions, insecurities and ambivalences I am feeling. Lu's profound, intimate and often hilarious accounts of marriage, societal/family pressures, daily routines, and life after the baby arrives, hit home so accurately. It actually gives me hope for the months to come. I laugh out loud & re-read parts of the book over & over to my myself and my little one as I nurse! Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you for this truly life-changing new book!
Rating:
Summary: Zen and the Art of Motherhood
Review: I finally stopped laughing long enough to write a review. Reading "Let the Baby Drive" was like having my best friend in the nursery in the middle of the night to commiserate and comfort me. All at once I knew I was not the only new mom second-guessing herself and that - surprise! - I didn't have to any more. Lu Hanessian has written a hilarious and reassuring book about trusting your instincts to love your baby just exactly the way your baby needs to be loved. A must-read for all new mothers!
Rating:
Summary: A one-of-a-kind book for mothers everywhere
Review: I have just finished "Let the Baby Drive"", so it is fresh in my mind and heart. To say this book inspired me is an understatement. In fact, I don't recall the last time I read a book that quite literally changed the way I think about myself my children, my husband, my mother and my friends.
I am a mother of four, 15, 13, 9, 7, two girls and two boys. I have read a lot of books in my life, and taught literature for a number of years. After I saw the author on CNN a few months ago, I picked up this book for a friend's daughter who is expecting her first baby in less than a month. I thought I'd skim the first few pages out of curiosity. But I couldn't put it down. I ended up dog-earing so many pages that I ended up keeping it and buying another one for my friend.
Lu Hanessian is an exceptionally gifted writer. There are parts of this book that stunned me, moved me to tears, made me LAUGH out loud so hard I had to put the book down and think about what I had just read. So much of the book just pulsed with an energy and a vibrancy of spirit.
I am awestruck at the author's ability to express in words such profound insights and share them with such ease, humor, tenderness, and truth. She gets to the very heart of the matter, using cleverly written stories, really interesting anecdotes, and has this unique way of letting the reader in on her struggle, then sharing in a very casual and humble way these incredible insights and lessons that make you go "Wow, I honestly never thought of it like that before..."
The book is divided into Year One, Year Two, and Years Three& Four. There are seven sections within: FRONTIER, VOICES, IDENTITY, REFLECTION, RITES, HOME, and WORLD. All in all, she write 26 chapters from the time she brought her son home right up to the point where is out in the world (school, open to societal influences, etc.) at nearly five.
She writes about the myth of baby-spoiling, marriage changes after baby, night-waking, competition among mothers, the relationship with her own mom, identity changes, trying to understand a child's fears, instilling values in a material world, toddler sharing--an absolutely fantastic chapter called "Sandbox Politics." :)
One of my hands-down favorites is a chapter on learning gratitude from a child called, "Thank You, Beach." I never read anything like that before on the subject of gratitude. It's a completely fresh perspective.
I think the beauty of it is that this is not an advice book. It's not another dry how-to. It's the story of the author's journey through her first few years of motherhood, and how she paved her own path.
She never preaches, yet the book is filled with insight. She shares personal stories, but somehow, you never feel like the book is about her, but instead about ALL of us. By trying to pave her path, she subtly gives the reader the powerful and empowering message that each mother's journey is her own with her child. Gosh, I really wish I had this book when my kids were babies so I could have saved myself all the self-doubt and guilt and worry that I wasn't doing it "right."
Thank you for such an unforgettable book. I will pass it on.
Rating:
Summary: Wow! Pure JOY!
Review: I have never taken the time to write a review but simply had to after reading "Let the Baby Drive." What a sensitive, honest, funny, HELPFUL book!! It's unlike any other book I've ever read on parenting & children, and I've read many! I felt like the author knew exactly how I feel as a mother, wife & person.
She shares such candid thoughts & truly beautiful stories (also very funny!) which have opened my eyes and heart. Although it's not a "how to" approach, this book makes me a better mother. Looking forward to the author's next book...hopefully soon!!!
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