15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Honest and poetic, April 14, 2008
This review is from: Rockabye: From Wild to Child (Paperback)
When I bought Rebecca Woolf's "Rockabye: From Wild to Child", I was sold a misleading bill of goods. Like Neal Pollack's "Alternadad", Woolf's memoir was marketed as the story of a party-all-nighter's quest to transition to parenthood without losing her innate coolness. And like Pollack's memoir, "Rockabye" turned out to be so much more. It's a heartfelt exploration of a new parent's discovery of her heart and soul, awakened by the birth of her child, and how, in finding her own way to be that son's very best parent, she finds her true self. Woolf writes with unblinking honesty and a stunning gift for language. I've never been so happy to find that a book I'm reading is not the book I thought it was going to be.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Hilarious, honest, powerful, and fun: a truly original voice, April 5, 2008
This review is from: Rockabye: From Wild to Child (Paperback)
I'm a longtime fan of Rebecca Woolf and her blogs: she has a unique perspective, a clever writing style, and doesn't hold anything back. This book is just as I'd imagined it could be--she never gets formal or pretentious just because her medium has changed. Her independent spirit and undeniable writing skill shine through whether she's talking about diapers or sex, marriage or rock shows.
Whether or not you're interested in parenting (after all, she wasn't when the journey started) this is just a propulsive read about life, love, and what it's like to be young and faced with something unexpected. Cliched but true: you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll think. Heartfelt but subversive, this book is like sitting down with a great friend whose world has been turned upside down, dropping your guard, and letting it all hang out. Tuck it in your duck-print diaper bag or your Prada clutch. You'll be so glad you did...
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a ride., April 12, 2008
This review is from: Rockabye: From Wild to Child (Paperback)
I have been a loyal reader of Rebecca Woolf's since back in the days of the Pointy Toe Shoe Factory. This has been a journey that many of us have been riding in the Rebecca's VW carseat on the information superhighway for many years.
I think that there are many of us who have followed along through emotional last few years of her life feeling a bit voyeuristic. Other times I have felt like a passenger, a welcome one, as the dialogue she opens in her blog becomes so much about the reader, not the author.
Blogging about your life is so intimate for both the writer and the reader. It is impossible to not grow attached in this one way relationship. It is very similar for a memoir to feel this way.
I loved this book. So many moments of tears and laughter. Rebecca has an easy voice that is so welcoming. It reads very similarly to her blogs. Those blogs that have kept me checking in on regular day to day basis.
Some friends and I, who are loyal to Woolf's blogs, were worried that it would be too familiar; or worse, just verbatim from the blogosphere. I was relieved to say that isn't so.
For example, coming across the chapter "Things that are relative," It was from a completely different vantage point than when I first read about that time in her life. After reading the chapter, not in tears, but with a wide smile. I was taken back to the night when I sat alone in my office and read about Rebecca's Uncle Pete for the first time. It was dark. Everyone had gone home for the day. I sat there with tears streaming down my face and the blue light from my screen glistening on my face. It gradually grew to full on sobbing. Rebecca posted that in the www, I guess for relief, to get it out, to express those feelings in a tangible way, to share with strangers something so difficult and raw. I was sobbing first for her, but then for my own father, and my mother's father who were both gone from our lives too soon. I hadn't cried or frankly thought about either in a long time. I needed the invitation, from someone I trusted.
That night, her blogs, and especially this memoir, Rockabye, are all examples of how Rebecca has created a dialogue with her readers, that isn't just about her life. As memoirs go, that is trully unique.
A memoir that is less about the writer and more about all of us??? That's so... socialist? I don't know, maybe not, but I love this community that she has created by just having the balls to share.
I was swollen with pride when I got my copy from Amazon. I think many of us have grown from the ride in the passenger seat with Rebecca behind the wheel. At least I have. Thanks, Bec.
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