Customer Reviews

SAHM I Am (Life, Faith & Getting It Right #8) (Steeple Hill Cafe)

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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.

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!!!

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.

When I first received this book I was afraid I would not be able to follow with the email loop but I was WRONG! It's such a quick and enjoyable read. I absolutely loved it! I got so attached to these characters that I can't wait for a sequel! Because it was such a fun book and also one about SAHM, I have selected it as my MOPS Reading Club's first selection. Thank you Meredith for these new "friends" to enjoy!

I wasn't sure how I would feel about a book written in email form but I found it just as interesting(maybe more) than a regular novel. I felt I was a part of it and it made me want to join the chat. Lots of great stories to be a part of all in one book. I highly recommend the read.

The SAHM (stay-at-home mom) brigade is often overlooked as unimportant or as having nothing to contribute to society. But the women in SAHM I Am have not allowed their minds to turn to grape jelly. They provide each other a support network via their email connections and show how vital women's friendships are to their well being.

Having been a SAHM for twenty years, I completely identified with these women. I saw parts of myself in each character--yes, even in Rosalyn, the obnoxious list moderator. Efken does a great job of clearly portraying each character as distinct, and their problems are realistic. I laughed aloud at some of the antics in the book. Every mother has experienced a dire, but not life-threatening emergency like having her child's head stuck in a kitty scratching post.

Efken's wry humor and the book's unusual format (as a series of emails), reminded me of the hilarious Up the Down Staircase, published in 1965. I look forward to "@ Home for the Holidays," the second book in the series, due out in November 2006.

Many women know what it's like to be a stay-at-home mom. Those women who have sought information, friendship, and communication on the Internet also know what it's like to be part of email loops, both large and small. Meredith Efken has captured the best-and some of the worst-of both worlds perfectly in her new mom lit book SAHM I Am (Steeple Hill Café, 2005).

Rosalyn is the nearly-perfect list moderator for "SAHM I Am," an impossibly-large email loop for Christian stay-at-home moms. The characters we grow to love are actually a part of a smaller sub-group they've titled "Green Eggs and Ham" : Dulcie, the wife of a workaholic husband; Zelia, a free-spirited, artistic woman; Jocelyn, a typical soccer mom; farmer's wife Brenna, who was a teen mom; pastor's wife Phyllis; and Veronica, Rosalyn's younger sister.

Having been a part of many different email loops and Internet communities in the past several years, I related with much of this book. In fact, when I finished the book, I wrote on my blog: "This woman GETS it. In multiple personalities, no less!" How Efken was able to keep so many distinct email "voices" going for the entire book is nothing short of amazing.

The unique format of this book adds to its charm. It is just like lurking in an email group! (For those who are not Internet savvy, "lurking" is like eavesdropping on someone else's conversation, or reading someone else's mail.) It is so much fun to unravel all the different relationships, email threads, conversations, and tensions. These women are portrayed so accurately and with such wit and humor that it is very difficult to put this book down. I was annoyed by Rosalyn's aphorisms, chuckled at Veronica's digs at her sister, cried over Phyllis's parsonage pain, understood Zelia's desire to conquer creative clutter, and felt like Dulcie was a woman I could really relate with.

The support the "Green Eggs and Ham" women show each other is very much like an online community in which I'm involved. The women pray together over the challenges they face: unemployment, clutter, child's illness, infertility, and many others. They also laugh with each other when Zelia relates the story of how her son gets his head caught in the kitty's scratching post.

SAHM I Am made me laugh, made me cry, and made me think a lot about online relationships and communication as well as the challenges of being an at-home mom. In tone it reminds me of Robin Jones Gunn's Sisterchick books, with just the right blend of humor and pathos.

Expect more great things from Meredith Efken. According to her blog, she is working on a sequel. I'll be the first one to preorder it online, that's for sure. I'm a new fan.

Author's website: www.meredithefken.com

This book was wonderful. I am a SAHM. I thought that Meredith did an excellent job on the book. I loved all the relationships and the e-mails going back and forth. What a refreshing format. This wasn't just a fun book though, it was deep and caused me to think deeper about my life and my relationships with my husband, kids, and other moms. I read this book in about a day. It was too good to put down.

shannon

(And yes, I have read more than a few!) It was warm, funny, but also poignant. I laughed and cried. It's an easy and quick read, but not without some very deep thoughts as well.

The entire book consists of emails, which I thought was quite clever. Also quite a challenge for the author, to differentiate between the "voices" without having the usual writer's props like descriptions of the people's facial expressions, looks, etc. Meredith Efkin does a wonderful job with this new form. I have 6 friends and 3 daughters now waiting to read it, so this one will be well-read before it ever makes it to our library shelf.

The SAHM I AM email loop consists of several stay at home mothers (Rosalyn, Dulcie, Zelia, Jocelyn, Brenna, and Phyllis) sharing gossip, desires, and woes with one another. Self righteous and perfect Rosalyn moderates the discussions that focus on success, art, health, motherhoods, indiscretions, and amends. Because Rosalyn behaves like everyone is beneath her, a secret secondary loop the Green Eggs and Ham has formed, which mostly complains about Rosalyn' holier than thou behavior.

Rosalyn panics because her sister Veronica wants to join the SAHM I AM group. She does not want Ronnie as a member because her sibling knows the truth that Roz's life is far from perfect or close to living the pious life of the Proverbs as she implies she does.

SAHM I AM is a more a series of interactive vignettes rather than a prime plotted novel, but fans of contemporary tales with a web connection will appreciate this fine look at motherhood in the modern era. The tale emphasizes the many to many relationships that IT has provided without any of the participants having to come face to face. The characters seem genuine and though an ensemble cast has differing personalities making for a fun read.

Harriet Klausner