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Summary: Inspirational and practical lessons!
Review: I received Lu's book from a sweet, dear friend. I finished reading her book two nights ago, and I loved it to bits. It was hard to put down. The book contains lots of wonderful, useful insights!!! The book is written in a very hands-on, friendly style...you feel like you are enjoying a good chat with an old friend. And, it is very helpful in prepping me for some of the events (fun and harder) to come with the arrival of our baby son. I earmarked some pages for future reference! ;-)I felt like hugging Lu after completing the book. I am so inspired by her, and thank her with my heart for sharing her wisdom and fun spirit with us. It's nice how someone one never met (Lu for me) can touch one's (my) life so much.
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Summary: From a Dad who read this book...
Review: I think I am the first man to write a review about this book. I usually don't write reviews. I have actually not read so many books that fit in this category, but this has been a unique experience for me. I read on the way to work in the bus. I always wondered what people think of a guy who reads a book which cover is mostly pink and purple. The fact is people on the bus must think I am a little strange because they see me everyday either grinning uncontrollably, trying to suppress exhilarating laughter, or unsuccessfully hiding the fact that I am crying. Yes, guys do that. When they are parents, and read books like Let the Baby Drive, and think about their babies, what they have gone through raising them, and they feel an incredible bond with a writer because she has lived the same emotions, anguish, joys and pain. I recommend this book to every man out there who wants to know what their partner has gone through emotionally in these first years of our children's lives. I recommend this book to every man who wants to read the words that we so often are not able to find, but express so clearly and so justly the emotions that we have all felt with our beloved little boys and girls.I recommend this book to every man who wants to get a revelation. Parenting creates a melting pot of emotions and thoughts that are so hard to see through. Lu Hanessian writes with the clarity and the intelligence that helps us find the clues in our own experiences about where we really want to "drive" with our children. Like an other reviewer said, Let the Baby Drive is not a "how-to" book. It does not lecture us about what we should be doing with our children, but helps us find the answers in our own thoughts and experiences. I recommend this book to every man who is not afraid to let the tears flow when reading about the wonders of people who can bring out the best in our babies, not bring them down, fail them, let them fend for themselves. But above all, I recommend this book to every man who wants to learn. Who wants to discover a different side of the story, the side of the story that defines the essence of Mothering.
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Summary: Brilliantly written
Review: If there is one book I would recommend to mothers, it is LET THE BABY DRIVE.
The title alone is SO clever: it is 1) part satire of all the how-to parenting books out there that have no bearing on your child; 2) it is partly a call to us all to think like a child and figure out what DRIVES that child in order to parent him according to his nature; and 3)it's partly a not-so-desperate plea of an incredibly gusty, smart, self-aware woman who, during the height of her raw ambivalence, nagging anxiety and self-doubt as a new mother being flooded with unsolicited advice from everyone, just says to herself: what do I really believe? And what does this baby really need from me?
The result is a narrative that comes alive, and shares with the reader this intimate, soulful, laugh-out-loud story of a mother and child as they figure each other out from birth to five, and ultimately, gradually find their way "home."
I can't say enough about how beautifully written this book is. Lu Hanessian writes so lyrically, with such power and rhythm, and such a rare blend of honesty, insight, and humor.
I am reminded of Annie Lamott's book "Traveling Mercies" at times in the way both authors' gift of writing can take you somewhere, paint a world for you, then drop you off in an entirely different place from where you started.
A brilliantly crafted book that has changed me!
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Summary: Amazing!! Empowering!! Uplifting!!.......WOW
Review: Let the Baby Drive is the most powerful book on mothering I have ever read. This is the book I have been waiting for!! There are hundreds of authors who claim to be experts on parenting and motherhood but Lu Hanessian is the first that empowers mothers to be the expert of their own baby. If we just follow our instincts, our children will be our guides to understanding and enlightenment. We know more than we think!Written with sensitivity, humor, humility, and courage I was at times crying in empathy and laughing out loud at the honesty. Let the Baby Drive gave me the courage to filter out the outside "advice" and find MY way with my baby. Lu Hanessian has given women everywhere a precious gift and this should be the book that defines mothers for generations to come! A must-have for mothers and women planning to be mothers everywhere. This book has the power to unite women in motherhood!! I give this book 10 stars!!!
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Summary: I felt like the author was a friend who finally understood!
Review: Lu Hanessian writes in such a wonderful voice- conversational and honest while being funny and poignant. I heard about the book on tv when my daughter was weeks old and I had read TONS of baby books by then and so, of course, had to have this one too. It's not a baby book like a Dr. Sears or "What to Expect" baby book, it's a real life account of life with a new baby. I felt weird that my baby didn't sleep in her bassinet until she was 7 weeks old while all of my friends' babies were sleeping in cribs from their first night home and so Lu's accounts of stroller anxiety and trouble in toddler yoga were easy to relate to and made me feel that I am not alone and there is no baby book that is going to mirror your baby's perferences and development milestones and that is ok. I felt like Lu Hanessian was a friend and I looked forward to reading each chapter and was truly disappointed when it ended. I would recommend this, and have, to any new mother who needs advice from someone who has been there.
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Summary: A Must-Have for New Moms
Review: This book is just wonderful. Lu conveys her message so eloquently and is so honest about what being a new mom is all about. She really has a great writing style. The best "baby" book I have read.
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Summary: Inspiring and hilarious
Review: This book is really funny, but captures the fact that parenting can be TOUGH and everyone has SERIOUS doubts at times about how to best raise their child. It gave me the confidence to trust that I really do know what I am doing- and not to be dictated by what everyone else says or thinks I should do. It was part comedy/part self-help/ and part purely- inspirational. Most importantly, almost everything that I have experienced with my daughter was discussed at some point in the book, with ideas and thoughts that were both inspiring and calming. As a parent, and particularly a new-mom, it is a must-read. It is all the information you want, without the stuffy or boring read.
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Summary: This book is a "baby bible"!!
Review: This book made me feel SO MUCH better about new motherhood. The fact is, I don't know about other people but I was scared, worried, tense and confused the first few months of my baby's life and this book completely zeroed in on all my worries and wiped them away. Forget that whole "What to Expect" thing; THIS is the book everyone who's having a baby should get. If you know anyone who's pregnant, buy it for them too because that way they won't feel isolated or alone. This author Lu Hanessian has SUCH a "voice" in the way she leads you through early babyhood: funny, poignant, focused, energetic, almost 'poetic' if I could put a word to it. I feel lucky to have found this book. It changed my whole perspective of motherhood! RUN, don't walk, to buy this book!!!! I love love loved it!!
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Summary: A true original!
Review: This is just an AMAZING book. A fearless book of hope and love that's much broader than babies and parenting. It's about one's self. I have honestly never read a book like this before. Let the Baby Drive is so thoroughly original, profound, human, hilarious, and heartachingly hopeful, I was hooked from the first page and didn't ever want the book to end.
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Summary: Extraordinary
Review: This is the story of a new mother's journey of how she learned to find and trust her voice-- and her child--despite the chorus of people around her warning her to "show the baby who's boss." The author, Lu Hanessian, wrote this book as she lived it, so we get to see her grow into her own through her son's eyes. The way it flows is as if the author is talking with you on your front porch over a pitcher of iced tea until the sun goes down. It made me bawl at times and laugh out loud throughout. But mostly, it made me think. The author has this remarkable way of finding meaning in the details that most of us don't notice--which makes this book so real. One of the key messages is about trusting in our children and accepting them for who they are.
In reading the reviews here, I see that the majority of people out there feel the same way I do. All but one, from "biased perspective"--I realized that not everyone can appreciate really great writing or even a book this meaningful. That one reviewer (who only read a third!) was put off by metaphors, and ironically (and mistakenly) cited an example of similes!! ("Life is a river" is a metaphor; "Life is LIKE a river" is a simile!)This irks me. I mean, if you're going to bother to sit down and review, at least, be informed. Read the whole book for starters. And if you don't like metaphors or similes, then clear every great piece of literature off your shelf from the Bible to Hemingway to Kingsolver.
For anyone considering buying this book, let me assure you it will be one of the most unforgettable and important books you will ever read. Not many books leave you feeling grateful for having found it--especially in the parenting or child care category. This one does.
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