Customer Reviews

Hell Is Other Parents: And Other Tales of Maternal Combustion

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I have to admit that the title of this book was the one thing that grabbed me. As a mother I can also appreciate all of the author's stories. I am not sure that many of them weren't embellished for effect. Come on, lying on the floor of an NYC emergency room because you are in the throes of an acute appendicitis attack and a security guard is screaming at you to get up? I have a hard time believing this one because just a few short miles to the West, this sort of thing wouldn't happen.

I can see any of these stories being told as part of a much needed rant to a girlfriend, significant other, Mom, sister, what-have-you. They are stories to be relayed and replayed, laughed at over a glass of wine or run in the park but turned into a book?????

The author did not come across as humorous as she obviously intended but instead a bit pathetic, needy, and in need of ego-stroking. She obviously has nothing to prove in the way of mothering or any of her vast accomplishments yet one cannot help but get the sense that she is bragging for attentions sake. We get that she attended Harvard but still grew up middle class, gave birth to an actor whom we have had to have seen in something what with all the name dropping she did on his behalf. I really wanted to identify with this mom but because of the boastful way she came across, had a hard time doing so.

In addition to this, maybe I am old-school but I have always believed that a book was something to be elevated past an article written for any magazine or a blog on the internet. Nowadays, it seems that anyone who has any story to tell can tell it in a book along with a shiny new cover and prime real estate in any Barnes & Noble as long as they have the right contacts. This book was seriously a misguided attempt. It was literally all over the place, went off on unrelated tangents that seemed completely beside the supposed point. It just did not seem well thought out or executed but yet something that just met the requirements of a deadline.

The title was so brilliant I had to buy this book, but it disappointed me on many levels.

It is not a book about parenthood...It is a book about a Harvard-educated, whiny 40-something Manhattan liberal who made the ultimate sacrifice of giving up her photojournalism and network news careers to become an underemployed but well-connected freelance writer and sometimes parent of three children with little money in a cramped Manhattan apartment. The promised humor reeks of bitterness over life choices she made herself. Her poverty complaints wear a little thin intermixed with trips to LA movie lots and Paris vacations.

Instead of writing this book, the author should have gotten a salaried job, moved to the suburbs, or both.

I picked up this book in the PARENTING section and was so excited. I quickly opened to the introduction, a great story about the day-to-day reality of other people thinking they know better that you do how to parent your own children. Not a single one of the essays in this book have ANYTHING to do with living in a world of competitive parenting, or really parenting AT ALL. Just because you write a story about yourself and you happen to have children, whom you may or may not even mention in a given story, doesn't make this a parenting book. I might have enjoyed this book if I picked it up in the non-fiction section or biography section, but what a total disappointment. I wish I had kept my recepit.

perhaps i was mislead by the title of the book....based on the reviews i was expecting a book of hilarious anecdotes about the annoying things 'know it all' parents say to us regular schleps just trying to keep it together....boy was i wrong.....this author mom of an actor kid, cries the poormouth a bit too much for my taste and the stories about her kid's film making sundance is not something i think any parent can identify with....save your money and buy the stefanie wilder taylor books, though mildly famous she has a much better feel for what we 'real' moms go through....i forced myself through this entire book hoping it would get better and all it did was make me mad....HORRIBLE

I am one of those people who is compelled to finish what I start . . . Including this really annoying book which I thought was going to make me laugh but instead made me really irritated. Her stories seem so far of realistic and her protests over not wanting her son to act, well let me just say I think the lady protests too much. Oh, and she is really whiny!

The title of this book grabbed my attention right away. Unfortunately, the content did not live up to the anticipation. Hardly entertaining. A mere attempt to showcase her son's acting career and whine about her life choices. Sorry I paid list price.

I felt all the hype was about the tales of how other parents viewed her, didn't think she did that after the first chapter.

First I need to say, I haven't finished this book yet. I enjoyed the first two chapters ([...]) which were as I suspected and why I bought the book- details about unfortunate encounters with other parents. And then I got to the "my child is an actor" and "my poor appendix" chapters. God, no. I don't care about this stuff. After plowing through those two chapters, I almost don't want to pick it back up! I hope there are more stories about the other parents in there. If I am pleasantly surprised, I will be back to update.

Having attended the author's book discussion, let me first address the other reviews which complain about marketing! The author herself admitted that the title was somewhat misleading, but that it was her publisher's choice to market the book in this way. Sometimes, a writer has no choice in these matters. That said, most of the stories do address dealing with the naziism of other parents, as well as "maternal combustion."

I'll agree that it's not the best collection ever, by far, but there are several stories worth the read; funny, frustrating, sad, etc. If you do not feel compelled to purchase the book, at least borrow it from the library. You'll decide which stories hit you, and which do not.

As a NYC parent, I really identified with her stories. She has a great sense of humor and is very candid. She's one of those parents who "tell it like it is."