Customer Reviews

Tales from the Crib

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

 

 

I highly recommend Notes From the Underbelly and Tales from the Crib for anyone looking for a truly enjoyable "beach-read". Risa Green is outstanding at portraying the anxieties and pleasures of pregnancy and motherhood and I found myself laughing out loud when I read these books. Don't miss these- just because they aren't heavily promoted by the publisher doesn't mean they don't deserve the recognition of other (not as well written) books by popular authors! Can't wait for her next book.

This book was fun, entertaining, and well-written. However, the main character is a little whiny, self-obsessed, vain, and insecure. And most of all, her privileged baby situation evoked no sympathy from me. She whines and cries about how hard everything is, while she has a live-in maid and housekeeper, money for $600 pairs of shoes, lost her baby weight in like 2 seconds, has a husband who puts up with her extreme bitchiness, and a 6-month maternity leave from her job. Please. There are thousands of woman who raise one or two babies without all the fancy trappings, and THAT'S hard. I don't want to hear about the poor little rich girl's life. If the author would have spent less time trying to get the reader to sympathize with her main character who's life really isn't that awful, I would have enjoyed it more.

Risa Green is true to form and gives us the down and dirty truth about new motherhood with her signature wit. Lara Stone brings home her baby Parker and struggles with extra baby weight, nursing, explosive diapers, bonding, mommy & me class, sex, sleep deprivation, guilt, and everything else every new mom has faced. You'll laugh out loud as you recognize yourself in her account. As with Notes from the Underbelly, Green provides a plot to keep us reading and I thought this plot was more compelling than in the last book, so points for Green there. Green has been there, done that when it comes to being a new mom and she's isolated just about every single thing that is ridiculously funny (as long as you're not living through it at the moment). I recommend this for all new and expectant moms.

I really enjoyed this book, I am a new mommy and I could relate to this book so well! I would recommend reading the first book, "Notes from the Underbelly" and then this one. But I do have to say, this one was way better!!!

This is great book for anyone who understands that being a new mom is not all it is cracked up to be. I never felt that I fit in with the mommy groups, resented not having some time to myself again, and had an explosive poop situation too! She is honest that not all new moms love the experience as much as they love their babies. Read the "Notes Form the Underbelly" first to really understand Lara.

At first I thought "not another chick-lit waste of paper" but this book was a pleasant beach read. It is silly and harmless fluff.

Lara Stone is embarking on a new segment of her life, motherhood. Unfortunately, she's less than thrilled. None of her clothes fit, she's not in love with her new daughter, Parker, she hates breast feeding, and she has no time for herself. Moreover, Andrew, her husband, seems to be flirting with a Barbie clone from agility class- dog agility class, that is, and the nanny she hires out of desperations might be trying to steal Parker and Andrew's affections and hex Lara. She feels substandard at the momunists meeting, and her ex-father just showed up wanting to be her dad again. Oh, and he's engaged to a retired Madam. Perhaps we can understand why Lara's feeling a bit like a witch with a capital B, she has good reasons, but somehow, she needs to find a way to make her life work despite the mitigating circumstances. Help comes from the most unexpected Mary Poppins ever.

*** Even if you do not have a baby, a lot of what Lara says makes perfect sense. Reading this will NOT give you any desire to become a mother, and in fact may discourage you from it. However, it is a fun book, peppered with cultural references that make Lara seem like someone you might know. ***

Amanda Killgore

I have been waiting all year to see what happens to Laura Stone as a new mother. Risa Green does not disappoint. Once again her comedic and honest views of motherhood in Los Angeles are classic! From the opening scene (the theme song from Chariots of Fire playing in Laura's head as she disrobes and dashes for her bathroom scale after being released from the hospital) to the Mommunists in the Mommy & Me classes, Risa Green's second novel is smart, sassy and clever! I highly recommend this book as well her first novel, Notes From The Underbelly.

Read (and loved) the first book and this one -- following heroine Lara Stone's initial adjustment to mommy-hood -- did not disappoint. Cute! For me -- some of the wacky subplots distracted a bit from the sheer hilarity, but a great read nonetheless.

Just finished a great book...the title is above and the author is Risa Green. It is a sequel to Notes from the Underbelly, a book I one day just bought randomly at the bookstore. The 1st one dealt with being pregnant and the sequel is the aftermath of having a baby. The main character lives in LA, has a working dh, and is on leave for most of the book from her job. It is really funny and sometimes I got exasperated with her, but she is my kind of gal. There are some really funny lines and terms in the novel, one being "mommunist," which she uses to describe all the mommy clones in her Mommy & Me class (they all drive range rovers, have $800 Bugaboo strollers, and all plan to be stay at home moms). I enjoy taking a peek into her particular mommy world, quite different from mine (I don't think there is a Mommy & Me class within a 500 mile radius of my town). But I do like the points the book makes as the main character realizes there is no one way to do it and that if you try to force yourself into a certain mold, it may make you unhappy and that it may not be the best thing to do you for child.

I know I have had struggles with that as I have been adapting into my Mom role. The end of the book has some discussion/ interview with the author and she brings up an interesting point about motherhood and how it has affected some members of this particular generation. That more of us have lives before we become moms (esp if we have kids in 30s and 40s) and that we need to realize that although we may love having a child, we need to acknowledge that we mourn for our past lives. In previous generations, she notes, many women went from being a member of one household/ family (daughter) and into another (wife. mother) without having the "single" or "married without kids" life.