Customer Reviews

Be Happy or I'll Scream!: My Deranged Quest for the Perfect Husband, Family, and Life

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As you will note from most reviewers on this book, we began as fans of the Bob and Sheri radio show of which the author is co-host, I fall into that category as well. I did not have any particular expectations about the book, but I found it very enjoyable.

From the viewpoint of someone who listens to the show A LOT you might find some of the stories repetitive because you have definitely heard them before, but there are new tidbits thrown in even for the most avid listener.

Sheri structures the book well and her writing style is very professional. This isn't just some radio personality who decided to write a book. She has a gift for storytelling that I think a lot of people overlook, whether it is on her show or in this fun book.

If you enjoy the show or enjoyed books by authors like Erma Bombeck (Please Don't Eat the Dasies) then you will enjoy this book as well. Hey, you don't even have to have kids to appreciate it! (That is for those married but without children like me :)

Great book - once again Sheri Lynch nails the "real life" situations families go through! Sheri is a genius and very entertaining! I loved this book!

I love listening to Bob & Sheri every morning on my radio. I couldn't wait to get my hands on Sheri's second book. After reading this...there is no doubt that she speaks the truth about what every working mother thinks, feels, fears and desires. Chapter 9, "Betty Briefcase," really spoke to me personally. I can't write enough positive things about this wonderful book.

Check out Chapter 12...I love all the behind-the-scenes of the local Tree Lighting ceremony on television! Who knew?!

Look out America...Sheri Lynch could be the next Erma Bombeck for the new century.

We can't have it all, I've heard before.

But I think the more appropriate statement is: We can't *do* it all...or can we?

Just open Sheri Lynch's new book, "Be Happy or I'll Scream" to see for yourself how utterly impossible it is to live up to the television standards of the fun, frolicking happy life that pop culture is shoving in our faces, and more importantly, our kids faces.

Sheri's book taught me a huge lesson: Our kids could care less about Tee-pee Hotels and the World's Largest Ball of Yarn...until they grow up and turn into adults, have kids of their own and then lament or wonder why they never did anything special when they were kids...

That's right...corn mazes are the work of a Sadist, RV campers are best reserved for old age (unless you want to feed your babies beer and fried fish and then clean vomit off the fold-up couch at 3:00 a.m.) and husbands are notorious for rolling their eyes at their wives until they have been convinced that "it" was their own idea. But, oh the places we will go, and oh the lessons we will learn if we travel with Sheri and her family up and down the east coast and it's interiors.

Sheri's book shows us that the lesson isn't in the history plaques on the sides of the highways, but rather in the journey...and that the most important lesson of all isn't that we need to spend more time "doing" with our families, but rather we should spend more time *being* with our families.

Because in the end, that's what it all comes down to...time. And it's a limited resource, so we should grab it while the gettin's good.

I'm laughing out loud when I read this. At the gym, I'm laughing out loud, I'm laughing in the bathtub, I'm laughing in bed. I can't put the book down and I can't stop laughing. I think she is living 85% of my life and it make me feel so much more normal. Not to mention, it's funny. I might have mentioned that already.

I found the author's views hilarious but her mad-cap versions of everyday life and her (assumed) exagerations of her trials as a working mother and wife got a little tedious after a while. I thought it was funny, but I got to the point where I had to either close the book or put out a 9-1-1 call to "Supernanny". I chose the former. Sorry. I just couldn't get over the urge to jump in the book to help her or call her to make sure she wasn't in an asylum. If you want hoots and giggles, this is the book for you. If it wasn't for the author's humor, I would probably have been really pissed off about the money I spent on the book.

In this memoir about life with kids and our crazy desire for perfectionism, radio talk-show host Sheri Lynch gives it up. Whether describing a trip to Chicago, the chaos of a toddler birthday party or the near-impossible task of marital sex, she bares her soul with transparency and humor, encouraging us to laugh with her. Poignant, funny and painfully truthful.

I purchased two copies of this book, one for my friend Becky, and one of course for me. We of course are familiar with Sheri through the radio show she has with Bob, we listen to her every morning in Minot, ND. When you let someone in your house, car, and workplace for four hours each morning you get to know them, so her stories are familiar and just as funny when she writes them down. If you are not familiar with Sheri sit back and relax because you will get to know her and her family very easily in her newest book. Sheri is a wonderful wordsmith with dark side in her.

Lynda Whitty

I loved this book. It is so funny! I laughed out loud many times. Sheri makes even the most mundane things funny!

She makes wonderful and funny observations about life,children and marriage.

Read it even if you aren't married or have children! It's funny to see how the other half lives!

If Sheri Lynch's mother-in-law encouraged her to pursue writing to publish, then I am one of her biggest fans. Be Happy or I'll Scream! was laugh out loud, can't hold it in - despite the fact that I'm in a public place, FUNNY! Not since Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series have I been so compelled to guffaw - and this isn't even fiction. Of course, that is what makes it such a hit, because it is the"real deal". Having admitted to myself that I am a wee bit of a control freak, OC, whacko mom/wife living a somewhat deranged life at times, Be Happy or I'll Scream! provided me confirmation and comfort in the knowledge that you can be insane and still be a great, loving mother and wife.

No doubt about it, this is a GREAT READ that can be devoured in a single afternoon, but I suggest you spread the wealth out over time. It gives you something to look forward to. I was saddened to actually reach the end.