Customer Reviews

An Innocent, a Broad

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Ann Leary's autobiographical account of her sons birth abroad, amidst the rise of her husbands comedy career, is well-written, interesting, and very truthful. Unlike some autobiographical stories, Ann doesn't attempt to present herself as some sort of hero, and she doesn't portray anything that happened to her in a way that is self-serving. She tells it like it is. And it is a very interesting story. From her son's surprise appearance, to her unexpected life abroad, Anne's story is intriguing, sometimes sad, funny, and sometimes happy. I would expect that anyone who's ever had a premie, or anyone who's lived abroad, would especially enjoy her story, but to the rest of us, it's still a good read.

I was just lamenting that it had been awhile since I read a truly good book, when I picked up An Innocent, A Broad by Ann Leary. What a fabulous book! I couldn't put the book down once I started. Ann Leary is a terrific, no-nonsense writer. She is humorous and sarcastic, able to poke fun at herself at a very serious time of her life. I laughed out loud several times while I was reading it. I recommend it for anyone - but especially for parents, who will reflect on their own experiences with a newborn, especially a preemie.

A self-described "master fretter," the pregnant Ann Leary worried over her first-born but could never have predicted what was in their future: the delivery, three months early, of two-pound, six-ounce Jack in a distant land. A quick jaunt to England, where Ann's husband, comedian Denis Leary, has a gig, is suddenly interrupted when Ann's membranes rupture. Ann, who once believed she was the type of person who would take charge in a disaster --- leading people from a plane crash, for example --- found that she was "in fact, the shrieking, running-into-the-burning-wreckage type."

After much hysteria and a cab ride, Ann and Denis find themselves in London's University College Hospital. She is put to bed in the hope that the delivery will be delayed as long as possible. Ann, who moved frequently as a child, sometimes feels like an awkward newcomer. In a roomful of British mums, she truly is out of her element. When asked if she is ready for tea, for example, she refuses while admitting she's hungry. She's concerned about caffeine and hasn't yet caught on to the fact that "tea" is actually a meal.

Ann makes friends eventually with the hospital staff and the other mothers, who help sustain her and Denis during the long ordeal after Jack is born. When Denis must return to New York to work, Ann stays nearby spending most of her time in the Special Care Baby Unit. She describes her admiration of the nursing staff: "If, for example, you haltingly inform a nurse that you have just passed what appeared to be a large part of your brain into the toilet, via the birth canal, the nurse will not gag but instead will admonish you for flushing it away before showing it to her." Yet, she admits feeling jealous and redundant in the face of their efficiency with her baby.

Ann, who went to England for a weekend and stayed for five-and-a-half months, felt frequently unprepared. Luckily, for her and her readers, one thing she didn't forget to bring was her sense of humor. As she tells her story, flashbacks to previous situations in her life point to the fact that, while she gives tragedy its due, she can often find life's inherent entertainment value.

From the first page, I felt that I had settled into the wry musing of a self-deprecatingly hilarious friend. Despite my frequent bouts of laughing, I also found myself moved, occasionally to tears. A sympathetic physical pang squeezes my heart when Ann speaks of staring into Jack's isolette and willing him to "Breathe, digest, grow." Sometimes laughter and tears come simultaneously, as in the epilogue, in which 13-year-old Jack, now tall and healthy, sees a photo of himself in an incubator with his mom at his side and is aghast --- at her haircut!

AN INNOCENT, A BROAD is witty, smart, terrifying, funny, heart-rending and heartwarming --- an absolute delight, from start to finish.

--- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

This is not just a memoir for mothers to be. It is Ann Leary's unique, self- deprecating, caustic and hilarious account of what it feels like to be trapped in a foreign country and at the mercy of strangers. Her fears are our fears, her insights become the reader's. You laugh along with her as you would laugh at yourself. She has a way of saying exactly what you would be thinking and nodding your head in agreement and talking back to the book as if it were a very close friend. I felt a need to read aloud passages (and did) to whoever I was near at the time, so that they too, could join me in my delight. I laughed out loud many times, in public places, while reading it on my trip to Ireland (it only lasted the plane flight and one day, as I couldn't put it down) and I wept openly at one point, sniffling into my pot of tea. If you are traveling abroad, it should be at the top of your list and if you are not, read it anyway and you will feel like you are. It's Postcards From The Edge, but without the drugs and rehab. Her own personal kind of hell that must have been brutal while going through it and filled with humor and wit upon reflection. What else can one say, except that as a personal memoir, this one not only delivers exactly why these books should be written, it makes you want more of them. Hoping she doesn't make us wait too long for her next book, to see how she further tackles life, in her own inimitable style.

Ann Leary's book, An Innocent, A Broad, is true page-turner, a fascinating peek into the life of a young family faced with a harrowing experience abroad. The writing is crisp and witty, the story one of deep emotion told with humor and clarity. This reader could often not decide between laughter and tears as the Learys tried to cope with fear, money woes, separation and the unconditional love they felt for their newborn, premature (two pounds, six ounces!) baby boy. This book has it all. It would take a heart of stone not to root for these three and thoroughly applaud Ann's unique courage in dealing with circumstances beyond her control. I suspect Denis Leary will not be the only famous member of the family in the future.

This book is a wonderful example of the importance of good writing. The main topic here--having a premature baby--is familiar to many families. Yet Leary's writing style is so transparent, so direct, that the reader is just captivated. This is not a long book, not a technical or complicated book, and certainly not a gossipy book (even though she is married to a celebrity). It's just a wonderful and personal story. To be way more trite than she ever would be: you will laugh, you will cry, you will feel like you know her.

Here's an excerpt:
My mother does the Times crossword puzzle every day. On Mondays she can do the puzzle in ten minutes...by Saturday she sits surrounded by dictionaries and encyclopedias and solves the puzzle with the single-minded determination of a scientist unraveling the mysteries of DNA. On weekdays there's nobody around to admire her acuity with the English language, so on Sundays, when her husband and, often, one or more of her children are present, she tries to turn what should be a solitary diversion into a one-woman performance piece designed to showcase her superior intellect.
She usually waits until we're all seated in the family room reading the Sunday papers, and then she innocently settles herself into her favorite armchair. She works quietly for a few moments, then sighs and says, to no one in particular, "I'm having the hardest time with today's puzzle." In response we all shake our papers and squint fiercely at the pages, trying to convey the seriousness of our reading and the imperviousness of our concentration. This is lost on my mother, who then scans the room looking for her first victim...
And so she continued throughout the day, until the puzzle was done and the entire family was suitably demoralized by the fresh evidence of our staggering stupidity.

Enjoy.

Ann Leary tells it like it is! She writes that her husband has had to convince her that she should write, but she is a wonderful author. She describes having a premature baby in a foreign country as honestly and lovingly as possible. Her writing is funny. She made me laugh out loud. Mrs. Leary is able to capture the truth of the moments between herself and the British citizens she has to interact with during her child's birth and subsequent hospitalization. Reading about her husband, Denis, is hilarious too, as any fan of his knows he is funny on his own, but apparently he is also a loving husband and father. Most of the book is about Ann, though, who is just as funny as her famous husband. I cannot wait to read more from her!

This is a thoroughly delightful book. The tale of a young American woman hospitalized alone in London and delivering a very premature baby boy wouldn't seem to be the stuff of diversion. But Ann Leary's take on her situation, her family, and most of all herself make the book a treat. Her tenderness toward her baby, born three months early and weighing in at two pounds six ounces is also clearly apparent and touchingly rendered. Baby Jack came as alive for me as any of the other characters--though it is fun to have some information on Leary's good-looking, funny husband, actor Denis Leary, as well.

Leary is funny, and she's funniest of all when she offers up insights about herself in a manner reminiscent of Bridget in Bridget Jones's Diary--the contrast between the image of herself she creates in her mind and her behavior in fact are terrific, and even better when you realize she is growing as the story progresses. In the painful process of having Jack and enduring her fears of everything from his dying to offending the English and managing the ghastly breast pump, she gains in confidence and sense of self. She engages us, and we're with her every step of the way.

I was also enchanted by Leary's prose itself, which is clear and scrupulously correct, making her book a rarity and a joy to read in this day and age. I'm actually not much for memoirs, but I loved this one. If Leary were to write a novel, I bet it would be wonderful. Let's hope she does: I'll buy it for sure.

Ann Leary, wife of comedian Denis Leary, took a weekend trip to London during Ann's second trimester of her first pregnancy. The plan was for Denis (then practically unknown) to do a gig on a television show, do a little sightseeing and go home. What they didn't anticipate was Ann going into labor while walking along London's streets. Suddenly a weekend trip turned into a five month stay in Britain at the mercy of Britain's National Health Service. Leary hilariously recounts her attempts to avoid the American stereotypes while at the same time second-guessing every move the doctors and nurses make. It's scary enough to give birth to a two pound baby, but to do it in another country where the health care is FREE is quite frightening. At least to Leary. Thankfully for us she is willing to recount her fears, neurosis and ignorance of British culture.

This book was quite funny. Leary is an excellent writer and it's obvious that there is more that one comedian in the family. I really enjoyed reading this memoir. For anyone who's ever had a baby or traveled to another country--this is recommended.

I'm English. my wife's from NY and gave birth in the UK so I thought she'd like this, but we were both riveted. The book is fascinating on several particular and universal themes and I'm impressed by her clear, clear style. Well done, Ann Leary and please tell Dennis to do something edgy again.