Customer Reviews

Amy's Answering Machine: Messages from Mom

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Amy Borkowsky recently was a guest on NPR Morning Edition, where she discussed the origins of this book and they played excerpts of some of Amy's Mom's wonderful words of wisdom. It was so funny I almost drove off the road because I was laughing so hard! I just had to have this book!
I looked high and low--checked all my local bookstores, but no one had it in stock. Finally, Amazon.com to the rescue, I got my hands on a copy.
It was a great read. Amy's commentary between the messages helps to convince the reader that Amy loves her mom, and adds a nice counterpoint and balance to the book.
This book (supposedly) is also available with an cd so you can actually HEAR the messages for yourself. Now, I wasn't able to find that edition of the book, but trust me, if you can find it, it is worth it! Since I had already heard Amy's mom on NPR, I read the book superimposing her voice in my head as I as I read the messages, which made it WAY funnier. I'm passing this book around to all my friends, it's a lot of fun!

Anyone who has heard Amy Borowsky talk about her mother and her messages knows how funny those messages are. This is a very funny book, but something is lost in the transition to the written word. This book contains some of the funniest messages Amy's mom has left...but anyone who has heard the CD, or even snippets of the CD may be disappointed. The missing ingredient is her mother's voice, the tone and phrasing and concern in each message, the sincere and unselfconscious way Amy's mom imparts her advice and care.You can laugh yourself silly listening to that CD. The book is funny, the messages about the red bathrobe, the single Jewish guy in Alaska, underwire bras and metal detector at the airport, and the Jewish rye with suspicious origins. You can't help but laugh. There is a very witty dialogue in the book as Amy moves from catagory to catagory, "Why a mother is better than a guy", "If I still lived with my mother she would dress me", and "What's wrong with this bachelor?". It is funny and tender and insightful. A good book to give to a friend dealing with a mother giving regular ovary alerts. Better yet, buy the CD and give them both. (Amy's mom, I'm sorry I didn't give it five stars. Please don't call).

My daughter and I both read this book and were laughing so hard we had mascara running down our cheeks. We took turns reading the messages and, while my daughter claims they sound exactly like me, I really don?t think I?m that overprotective, but then we don?t always see ourselves objectively. The illustrations were really fun, my favorite being the one where Amy?s mother puts Amy?s picture on a milk carton after she?s ?missing? for an hour or so. My daughter especially got a kick out of Amy?s running commentary; for example, where Amy lists the reasons that a mother is better than a guy, the main one being that when a guy says he?s going to call, you never know if he?ll follow through, but with a mother, she?ll call come hell or high water. (I forget how Amy phrases it. I probably butchered her prose!) My only criticism, if there is one, is that unless you read the introduction that explains that ?Amila? is the mother?s nickname for ?Amy,? you might be confused as to whether her name is Amy or Amila. Okay, minor point, but I tend to be a stickler for details. All in all, though, this book is proof that truth is much funnier than fiction, and it makes great reading for yourself and would be a great gift for anyone who suffers through life with a mother whose love and good intentions can be somewhat suffocating yet, at least in this case, very entertaining.

This book is sooooo funny, I just love it! I took it to an office party my company hosted and what an icebreaker. It was great for conversation and a laugh. I am buying it for all of my friends so they can enjoy it too!!

For every woman and her mother, or anyone that knows anyone that has a mother! This is a hilarious, real-life account of a loving, over-protective, unintentionally hilarious Jewish mom and her lengthy, insightful and sometimes bizarre answering machine messages that she leaves for her daughter. Most people couldn't invent anecdotes this entertaining. Laugh out-loud funny, this is a wonderful gift for almost anyone. My sister, my mom and my grandmother and have lent it to almost everyone I know. It's a smash favorite!

This book and the hilarious cd that came out before provide ample ammunition for moving as far away from your mother as possible. At least when they leave a message they can't criticize the way you look (yet)! I understand Amy's mother and my own much better now. I have thrown away my lambskin condoms and burned my red bathrobe.

I thought this book was just OK. It really wasn't the 'laugh-out-loud' book I was expecting. I definitely think the CD would be a million times better. I just didn't think her little comments after each message were very funny. Maybe for a stand-up act...but not when your reading it. I think Amy's Answering Machine is something that needs to be heard...not read.

Got this book as a gift last week and still laughing!!! Sounds like my mother to a tee, with all the extreme worrying and the unnecessary warnings. There were several phone messages in the book that weren't on Amy's Answering Machine CD. The comments and jokes in her book were right on the money. A real riot!

This book was just okay for me. It was funny, I did laugh, but I finished it in about an hour. For $11 I wanted something more, it was just way too short.

After a long day of work, you come home and see that the light on your answering machine is flashing. You feel that little twitch of excitement. Could it be someone calling to offer you your dream job? Could it be the man of your dreams, finally calling to ask you out?

Nope. It?s Mom. She?s calling because she?s heard it?s going to be cold overnight, so she wanted to remind you to close your bedroom window -- and maybe put an extra blanket on your bed. And it might be a good idea to wear your flannel pajamas. You never can be too safe, you know.

We?ve all gotten the calls -- but only Amy Borkowsky has saved them all. Yes, that?s right. You can buy a CD of all the strange answering machine messages Amy?s gotten from her mom. She?s also compiled them into a book, filled with her mom?s messages, Amy?s commentary, and even the occasional cartoon.

I got a good laugh out of Amy?s Answering Machine because I can relate. Every once in a while, I get those messages. But, then again, I think I loved this book even more because my mom?s not nearly as psychotically overprotective as Amy?s mom. I?m quite sure my mom has never called to remind me to empty my bladder before going to the DMV. And she never once tried to set me up with an Italian millionaire bachelor featured on The Maury Povich Show. Amy?s mom, however, has.

A small book, Amy?s Answering Machine is a super-quick read. It?s one of those books that you can pick up for a minute while you?re waiting for dinner to come out of the oven -- or on the train. And it?ll remind you that it could be worse. Your mother could call you just to remind you to eat.