6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A clever commentary on the church, November 11, 2005
This review is from: SAHM I Am (Life, Faith & Getting It Right #8) (Steeple Hill Cafe) (Paperback)
SAHM I AM by Meredith Efken
From the back cover:
For the members of a stay-at-home-moms' e-mail loop, lunch with friends is a sandwich in front of the computer. But where else could they discuss things like...
Success: Her workaholic husband is driving Dulcie Huckleberry around the bend. It's hard to love someone in sickness and in health when he's never home!
Art: Let the children express themselves, opines artistic Zelia Muzuwa, and then her son's head gets stuck inside a kitty scratching post . . .
Health: Surely aches and pains are normal in an active little boy, yet those of soccer-mom Jocelyn Millard's son don't seem to be going away.
Motherhood: Teen-mom-turned-farmer's-wife Brenna Lindberg can deal with the mud and the chickens, but what about her husband's desire for a child of his own?
Indiscretions: However youthful, they can come back to haunt you, learns pastor's wife Phyllis Lorimer.
Amends: These could stand to be made between officious list moderator Rosalyn Ebberly and her pampered sister, Veronica. Perhaps the other SAHM I AMers can teach these two something about sisterhood.
Camy here:
This has got to be one of the funniest books I've read this year. That says a lot because I don't even HAVE children, and I tend to dislike books about moms since I can't really relate. But this book about stay-at-home mothers struck a deep chord with me.
The book isn't just about stay-at-home moms, although the heroines are SAHMs. The funnier, sassier theme is hypocrisy within the church. These Christian mothers connect via the internet, but their deeper characters come through despite the "impersonal" medium of emails. The things that happen to these SAHMs aren't as hilarious as the kinds of people they interact with on their email loop and the way they relate to each other.
The Christian stereotypes are all there, three-dimensional and easily recognizable. Those of us deeply involved in ministry and serving in our churches will recognize the different types of "Mary"s and "Martha"s and "Jezebel"s, but sometimes with an unexpected twist. The vibrant characterization made me laugh at my own preconceived notions but also think about my perceptions of my local family in Christ.
I spend a lot of time on email with my friends and family, so the email format was both familiar and a clever fictional tool. There is a wealth of rich, hilarious subtexting going on--things NOT said versus the things actually written in the email. There's also an incredible amount of tongue-in-cheek sarcasm that had me rolling.
The humor reminded me of Penny Culliford's British best-seller "Theodora's Diary." "SAHM I Am" has the same type of dry, clever wit that I love, moreso than the more common, obvious humor in slapstick.
The book is like many other Chick-Lits in that it's more character-driven (strong spiritual threads) than plot-driven by a single thread of action. However, there are five clear subplots interwoven together, taking the place of one main one, with Dulcie's plot taking precedence over the others. It wasn't difficult for me to follow them.
The heroines are relatively young (twenties to thirties) so young mothers will definitely relate. I also think this will appeal to singles, because the humor is not centered around motherhood as much as it's a commentary on Christians in the church.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fun Read!, November 21, 2005
This review is from: SAHM I Am (Life, Faith & Getting It Right #8) (Steeple Hill Cafe) (Paperback)
I am falling in love with "Steeple Hill Cafe!!!" This is just one of the books by this publisher that I have enjoyed reading as a Christian SAHM.
I applaud Meredith in her ability to portray different mothering styles. I laughed out loud at many of what these moms thought they were doing "right"! Many topics hit close to home, especially humility....yeah! gotta keep working on that one!
I also admire Meredith for completing this work. I too am a homeschooling mom and adoptive mom, and don't know how she has done it....Thanks!!!
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Delightful Book, December 17, 2005
This review is from: SAHM I Am (Life, Faith & Getting It Right #8) (Steeple Hill Cafe) (Paperback)
SAHM I Am is a funny, tender, touching book. SAHM stands for Stay at Home Moms, and is about a delightful group of on-line friends who share their joys, their sorrows, and their frustrations through e-mails.
There's Dulcie, whose husband, Tom, has a job that takes him away from home for long spells. Her marriage is in trouble and it's partly her fault. It doesn't help when Tom reads an e-mail about him she sent to the loop. She thought it was funny. He didn't.
Brenna, who has one daughter, the result of an earlier stupid choice, is now married and wants another child, but her husband is infertile. She has to put up with remarks like, "If my husband just looks at me, I get pregnant." One of these days she's going to slip and ask, "Really? What happens to the other women he looks at?"
There's Rosalyn, loop moderator, whose superior attitude and instructions as to how the others can attain her level of perfection makes them want to gag. They don't know Rosalyn is dealing with feelings of rejection from her parents and a younger sister who gives a new meaning to the term, "snotty." One of the gems in the book is Rosalyn's Bible based putdown to sister, Veronica. You'll want to cheer, "You go girl."
Other characters are Zelia, who is planning to adopt a child from Ethiopia. Jocelyn, whose nine-year old son has juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, and Phyllis, whose pastor husband has been fired from his job.
And last, but definitely not least, is Dulcie's mother-in-law, Jeanine's, wedding at the Shoji Tabuchi Theater in Branson, Missouri, onstage, as in a production. The groom rides in on a white horse and the bride descends on a crescent moon. I'm not going to describe the rest of the wedding, but that alone is worth the price of the book.
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