Rating: 
Summary: A disturbing portrait of a disturbed mind.
Review: I can best sum up Food and Whine by stealing words from the book itself: on page 146 a literary agent in New York to whom the author had sent some short stories replies, "I'm sorry, Jennifer, but I just don't see that your work really *goes* anywhere."The only way I can review this book is to imagine that it is fiction, because I cannot see how anyone would willingly publish such intimate details of what seems to me to be glaringly apparent mental illness. The protagonist of this work is a grown woman who has never grown up, one who continues to blame especially her mother. As stated by her sister (page 108), "Don't you get tired of playing the role of the perpetual angry adolescent?" Tellingly, the protagonist replies, "No." And that's what this book is all about -- her kvetching about her mother, her life, and her children. Admittedly, I'm sensitive to this issue, having an older sister of my own who hasn't gotten over her childhood issues yet, and I could forgive a lot, if it weren't for the atrocious parenting practices depicted in the book that make me want to run and rescue the three poor little ones. The worst example of this occurs on page 185, when the protagonist is feeding her oldest son, age somewhere between 3 and 6. There follows no fewer than 14 statements beginning with "tell him," including "tell him this used to be his very favorite dinner," "tell him if he doesn't eat he can go straight to his room for . . . the rest of the month," culminating in "Ask him where he came from? Mars?" When the child cries, the protagonist herself bursts into tears. Will someone please instruct this deluded soul in the basics of child development and reasonable expectations for a child of this age? Will someone tell her that she is the mom, not the child? In summary, I wish Moses would but listen to herself. On pages 174-75 she states, "one of the ill effects of being in therapy for a long time, and changing therapists every few years as you move from town to town, is not only that you dwell on all your old aches and pains . . . boring all your friends to tears, but also that you tend to think that every little blip that crosses your mind is not only significant, but ought to be shared . . . ." Not only shared, but published!! Erma Bombeck this isn't!!
Rating:
Summary: A disturbing portrait of a disturbed mind.
Review: I can best sum up Food and Whine by stealing words from the book itself: on page 146 a literary agent in New York to whom the author had sent some short stories replies, "I'm sorry, Jennifer, but I just don't see that your work really *goes* anywhere." The only way I can review this book is to imagine that it is fiction, because I cannot see how anyone would willingly publish such intimate details of what seems to me to be glaringly apparent mental illness. The protagonist of this work is a grown woman who has never grown up, one who continues to blame especially her mother. As stated by her sister (page 108), "Don't you get tired of playing the role of the perpetual angry adolescent?" Tellingly, the protagonist replies, "No." And that's what this book is all about -- her kvetching about her mother, her life, and her children. Admittedly, I'm sensitive to this issue, having an older sister of my own who hasn't gotten over her childhood issues yet, and I could forgive a lot, if it weren't for the atrocious parenting practices depicted in the book that make me want to run and rescue the three poor little ones. The worst example of this occurs on page 185, when the protagonist is feeding her oldest son, age somewhere between 3 and 6. There follows no fewer than 14 statements beginning with "tell him," including "tell him this used to be his very favorite dinner," "tell him if he doesn't eat he can go straight to his room for . . . the rest of the month," culminating in "Ask him where he came from? Mars?" When the child cries, the protagonist herself bursts into tears. Will someone please instruct this deluded soul in the basics of child development and reasonable expectations for a child of this age? Will someone tell her that she is the mom, not the child? In summary, I wish Moses would but listen to herself. On pages 174-75 she states, "one of the ill effects of being in therapy for a long time, and changing therapists every few years as you move from town to town, is not only that you dwell on all your old aches and pains . . . boring all your friends to tears, but also that you tend to think that every little blip that crosses your mind is not only significant, but ought to be shared . . . ." Not only shared, but published!! Erma Bombeck this isn't!!
Rating: 
Summary: A Fun, Insightful Read
Review: I love books that make me laugh out loud! This book brought to light many of the issues women who stay home with their children face. I loved Moses realism and frank descriptions. It was a light, fun read and I'm glad I stumbled upon it.
Rating:
Summary: A huge disappointment
Review: I love reading about women and how they juggle career, family, and personal time, and was looking forward to doing so in a humorous light by reading Food and Whine. I just found the book to be too cute and too self-conscious to be realistic. By the end, I felt like I had spent a long time on a family trip with the Moses clan, and wanted out of the minivan!
Rating: 
Summary: funny and touching
Review: I read Food and Whine in two sittings, and would have done so in one, except I had to go to work. This book is so funny that I actually got a stomach ache laughing. But it's not, as the flap copy contends, some kind of updated Erma Bombeck. It's more like a memoir than like a series of stand-up takes on various mommy-related subjects. Also, the author grapples seriously with serious things, like her mother's cancer. In general, I found it to be a incredibly honest and refreshingly real account of motherhood -- and unlike most other books on this subject that I've read over the years, there's nothing gloppy or sentimental or trite about it. It's the author's disarming honesty, and ability to laugh at herself, that makes this book such a joy to read.
Rating:
Summary: So enjoyable, I bought a copy for my sister!
Review: I truly loved this book. I'm at a loss to understand some of the absolutely scathing, negative reviews from some of the other readers. Here is a stay-at-home mom, dealing with a young child and a set of twins, while at the same time dealing with her mother's diagnosis of cancer and that the fact that she (the author) never wanted to grow up and be a "domestic goddess" but rather, a painter, a writer, a skinny person in black, living in a garrett in France. I've been there and so have many of my friends. The stories she relates about the jewish holidays are right on track, as are the stories about different relatives. Jennifer Moses is funny. I wish she were a neighbor of mine!
Rating:
Summary: So enjoyable, I bought a copy for my sister!
Review: I truly loved this book. I'm at a loss to understand some of the absolutely scathing, negative reviews from some of the other readers. Here is a stay-at-home mom, dealing with a young child and a set of twins, while at the same time dealing with her mother's diagnosis of cancer and that the fact that she (the author) never wanted to grow up and be a "domestic goddess" but rather, a painter, a writer, a skinny person in black, living in a garrett in France. I've been there and so have many of my friends. The stories she relates about the jewish holidays are right on track, as are the stories about different relatives. Jennifer Moses is funny. I wish she were a neighbor of mine!
Rating: 
Summary: I tried...oh, how I tried!
Review: I wanted to like this book; I really did. The author was witty and the recipes she mentioned sounded yummy and easy to prepare. But if she were my next-door neighbor, I'd constantly be finding excuses not to talk with her. Her excessive whining and inexcusible self-centeredness in the face of family tragedy overshadowed everything else and left me completely disgusted with her. To sum up: this looked like a fun book to take on a long flight; instead, I left it in the airport ladies' room.
Rating:
Summary: Annoying
Review: I was all set for some fun, light reading, having read all of the reviews above... instead, I found the author highly annoying. She strains for humor, and the result is tedious. The recipes seem to be included largely to fill up enough space to make this qualify as "book length." Erma Bombeck she is NOT. I'm a stay at home mother of three myself, so I know a thing or two about living with children,and there are a lot more witty and wry things to write about than endlessly discussing projectile vomiting, things kids can spill on the couch and clueless husbands. Shirley Jackson's Raising Demons and Life Among the Savages are funnier and more "timely" than this (are they still in print?) Peg Bracken's old recipes are better than these.
Rating:
Summary: I tried...oh, how I tried!
Review: I was looking forward to reading a funny book about the perils and joys of parenthood and I was extremely disappointed! Erma Bombeck is funny and witty. Moses is definately not!
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