For those who haven’t yet sampled Zevin’s brand of comic memoir, try this: he’s Dave Barry but without the punchlines. He’s very funny, but he doesn’t just go for the jokes; his writing is more laid-back, letting the humor come from the people and situations. Zevin takes us through his transformation from cool dude—OK, he wasn’t that cool or that much of a dude—to a guy with two kids, a dog, a wife with a full-time career, and the most splendid, awe-inspiring, get-down-on-your-knees-and-worship-it minivan ever. It’s a book about a regular guy taking his first tentative, sometimes scary steps toward being a fully formed adult, and it is always funny and sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious. Misadventures include Zevin’s courtroom battle to get a bogus ticket thrown out; his being hired, inexplicably, to deliver a commencement address at a nearby college; and his and his wife’s borderline-frantic search for a new nanny. Highly recommended to fans of Barry, Roy Blount, and Bill Geist. --David Pitt
Review
“This is the funniest book about parenting I've read in a long, long time. Dan Zevin is a major talent. I want to kill him."
—Dave Barry“Dave Barry has made a career of writing about Dave Barry. P.J. O'Rourke writes about P.J. O'Rourke. And David Sedaris writes about David Sedaris and the strange Sedaris clan into which he was born. You could throw Zevin in with any of them and he would hold his own. He might even float to the top.” (
USA Today)
“Dan Zevin yanks the car seats and the sippy cups out of that minivan and sticks a blow Hemi dragster engine back there—I mean in his prose style. In his lifestyle it's, um . . . a different matter.”
—P.J. O’Rourke"It’s a book about a regular guy taking his first tentative, sometimes scary steps toward being a fully formed adult, and it is always funny and sometimes laugh-out-loud hilarious.... Highly recommended to fans of Barry, Roy Blount, and Bill Geist." —
Booklist"Zevin is a poster boy for egalitarian — even feminist — fatherhood. But at the same time, he presents himself as a loving goof-off: a guy who’s picked the most enjoyable option — parenting — over working a high-powered, full-time job…With nods to Woody Allen and Larry David, Zevin has forged a persona of half-dorky (yet all-devoted) Jewish dad that’s endearing.” (
Forward)
"Zevin, in the grand tradition of humorists, has made the most of his failures...What elevates his work above mere irreverence is the quality of insight he brings to relatively familiar terrain." (
Boston Globe)
“Zevin is one hilarious house-husband—like Seinfeld for the stay-at-home-dad set. Raise a sippy cup and cheer him on.” (
People)
