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Rating: 
Summary: Outrageously Funny
Review: "Food and Whine" had me laughing so hard I cried. Jennifer Moses' descriptions of exhausted, stressed out motherhood are hilariously on target. A must read for any new parent who's awake enough to focus on a printed page.
Rating:
Summary: Outrageously Funny
Review: "Food and Whine" had me laughing so hard I cried. Jennifer Moses' descriptions of exhausted, stressed out motherhood are hilariously on target. A must read for any new parent who's awake enough to focus on a printed page.
Rating: 
Summary: Rantings of a Whiiiiii---nerrrrr!
Review: A lover of wit and a good read, I picked up this book after reading the back cover's rave reviews. I opened "Food and Whine" with excitement when I read Moses is "the Erma Bombeck of the Beltway."I made it through fifteen pages of Moses whining about her therapist, her children, her mother, her life...until I could take her no longer. With a rolling of the eyes, I shut the book once and forever. I could go no further. Even her therapist avoids her--no wonder.
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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: 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: 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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Summary: Moses has the recipe for humor down pat
Review: Like Jennifer Moses' father, I don't cook. So why am I reading a cook book? Because the recipes are irrelevant. To wit: I sat in an airport, mad as a snake about a late night plane that was seriously late. As I started this book, I began to laugh so loud that the woman next to me said "You sure are having more fun than I am , watching this dumb TV". She was right . From first to last , Moses has written a book that is food for the soul... and for the funny bone.
Rating:
Summary: A laugh out loud look at modern motherhood.
Review: This is a great book. Full of humor & warmth -- all about the fun & not so fun challenges of raising a family while keeping your own life. Moses takes us through a year in the life of a mom struggling to deal with three kids, a sick mother, & a husband who decides to switch careers. It's very funny -- even when it turns serious. I read it -- and really enjoyed it -- over a vacation weekend.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious
Review: This is the funniest book I have read in a long time. I am so thrilled that I found this book and I hope to see more from Ms. Moses soon!
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